Some of the girls.

Took a quick run out back after work & feeding the babies. Daisy was dining at one raised feeder. I went over to give her some treats and she crawled into my arms. OMG...what a fatty!!! I can't believe how heavy she was!! She's obviously doing great!

Brownie was out and about with her 4 kits and Belle was quick to come over and say Hi! and grab a treat. She was equally as quick to run back into the bushes where the girls were churring away calling to her.

Vetrans & Rookies hanging out back

I just came in from a visit out back to check on the gang. I couldn't believe I ran into Brownie! Wow...I haven't seen her in a while! She is Ringer and Belle's sister from my first gang. She was more than happy to get some treats and a good back scratch from mom again! It was good to hear her bark too! Yup....she actually barks at any of the other coonies that come near her. It is a very distinctive bark and I would recognize it anywhere. And why was she barking do you say?? Because she had 4 little ones in tow now! She's the most protective mom I have out there, keeping everyone at bay when she has kits and it's good to see that hasn't changed. They were at a different feeding station than the "kit daycare tree" and everyone else was more than happy to give them their space.

Next in was Ringer, Lexi and their crew. They and their kits get along very well together. It was very cute watching the kits greet each other and say hi!

Daisy came in next, followed by Popeye. He's walking around fine on his foot again. On my way out I ran into Screech, also walking well on his foot. The newly released gang seems to finally be settling in to their new domain. I think Foxy was out there too, there was a pair of eyes with Daisy, but a little too shy to come in to say hi. Last time I saw Daisy the same thing happened but I managed to get a peek at the body behind the eyes and it was Foxy so I think this is the same situation.

Lots more racket going on in the woods, but the massive swarm of mosquito's got the better of me....even in my goofy looking mosquito netting clothes!

The early birds.

It's 9pm. I just went out back to throw some treats out for the gang and ran into Belle with the girls Bella and Macy. They are doing great and sooooo cute!

Daisy showed up as well. She grabbed a cookie from me and brought it to the waters edge to dunk it. I brought her a few more and snuck out of there. I didn't want her to follow me near Belle and the girls and get herself in trouble! I think she will avoid them if I'm not around to draw her in towards them.

Mom's and kits

Here they are! Finally a sighting of Belle, Bella and Macy! They hung out for quite a while down here and at one point there were a few mom's and their kits all hanging out.

It's hard to see in this picture, but both kits are at the bucket on the platform.

Here we have Ringer and her kit. I think she only has the one. I was out at 1am yesterday and found her at the platform along with a pair of eyes up in the tree. A little one too shy to come down. Seeing these pictures now I'm pretty sure she's just got this one.

And the lovely Daisy is still hanging around. I have been finding her hanging in the den boxes in the release pen during the days. No sign of the rest of the gang when I do get a chance to get out there. Daisy must have been grabbing a small snack before heading in for the day.... while there were no other mom's or adults around to hassle her!!

The Un-Released gang!

Popeye and Daisy have been re-joined by Foxy and Screech now. I found Foxy curled up under the tarp on top of the release cage. When I opened the door later in the evening she ran down and went straight for the open door and into the cage. I found Screech up in the squirrel pen! God knows how he got in there. I let him out and when I saw him take a limping step, got closer to look. He's got a wound on his foot too...and he begged me to pick him up, climbing up the front of me to hold him. So I brought him back down to nurse his wounds as well.

The girls are uninjured for the most part. It's the boys getting the crap beat out of them! I have a feeling that baby season has a lot to do with it. We'll let them heal up and plan to re-release them later in the summer when all the babies should be old enough to create less conflict between the resident mothers and our gang. No sign of Buddy or Whitey. Whitey was timid to begin with so I am guessing he was avoiding the local natives with all his might and not running into any problems.

What the......?

So I get up at 6am this morning to feed the new babies. I'm at the sink looking out my kitchen window overlooking my back porch. I notice it is in disarray....the bird feeder bungied on the railing is pushed over, hanging over the side, a potted plant is dug up and scattered all over the floor, and the drawers under the gas grill are wide open. I sigh, go out and pick up the mess and fix the feeder. It had to be the actions of a raccoon! I get back inside and realize I didn't close the drawers, so I go back out and....SURPRISE!!....there is Daisey looking out at me! Well she found a nice dry space to hole up in in the pouring rain I guess! I brought her out back and put her in with Popeye for now. She can go back out when the weather clears up again! Silly girl! I'm thinking maybe she followed my scent up there, looking for one of her mommies to take care of her?? She's never been up by the house before.

Popeye is back in the big kids pen!

The gang was all worked up about Popeye coming back into the pen, but luckily it didn't last too long. Daisy was down right nasty to him, poor guy! Once they all settled down they pretty much treated him like the kid at the playground no one wants to play with! haha Never fear though, he's already cozied up in the box with the gang again!

Here are a few pics of the kids hanging out after getting all worked up!



Here he is, new nose and all! Finally got that matt taken off and the sutures out and it looks great! Just some crazy pink lines all over it now.

Here he is for the big trip back home! He was very excited...he knew where he was going.

Daisey's less than friendly reception....she was not happy about it at first.

Foxy didn't have much to say one way or the other.

Now it's time to set them free as soon as we get a few good days of weather in a row!