11 little maniacs having fun!

Finally some good (by that I mean at least is was dry...no torrential rain and thunder storms) weather! I took the opportunity to add some fun to the big release cage out back. A huge pine tree came down in the woods so with a little help from dad and his chain saw, the gang got some new branches to climb and play on. Now instead of the usual flat shelves, they have a more natural, horizontal plane to run and climb on.

Of course, it took them a while to figure it out!!! Ha ha!!

But once they figured out how to climb ON TOP of the branches instead of under them, there was no holding them back!!

Throw in some chicken wings................

And a new, big pool.....yahooooooooo...........

.............and boy what a fun time was had by all! Yes, that is a slide on the pool...and Buster was the first to learn (much to his dismay!) that step on that the right way, and all the way into the pool you go....like it or not!

Rollo and Quinny are here now too so I'll be figuring out how to integrate them into one of the groups soon. That will be interesting! The work on Mary's pen has already begun, so once that is done and the older gang is moved over there I'll have a little more room to work with here.

Growing like a weed!

Baby Bella is growing fast! She's up to 158 grams and cute as ever! I can't wait until her eyes open. She's got such long fur for a little girl too....she's quite fluffy.

I ended up releasing Red last night. Her foot was so much better and she was able to run around like a maniac trying to play with me when I went in to see her. Since we are going to have such nice weather it was a good time for it. I'm sure I'll be running in to her again!

Belle was hanging out early last evening in the tree above her den box. Taking a much needed break from her kids I imagine since the weather was mild! She watched Laurie and I in the pen with the overwinters for a few minutes before climbing back down into her den box.

Spring...where are you?!

It was a busy night for the coons last night! Looks like the gang is still getting along with each other so far. Look at them all behaving and sharing out there. They make me proud! hehe

We went from a nice, beautiful, spring day yesterday to a cold, miserable, wintry mix type of day again here! Aaagggghhhhhh! I just want the nice, warm weather to get here and stay here!

Not to jinx myself or anything, but so far all is quiet on the baby front. This years rehabs have not started to trickle in yet......KNOCK ON WOOD!!

Daytime raccoon appearances.

Dandy roused herself during the day for a brief moment to say Hi while I was cleaning her pen. I got this quick look from her as if to say "why are you disturbing me?" then she went right back to bed. She's looking good!

The rest of the overwinters also seemed happy with the sunny weather today. Whitey, Screech, Daisy and Buddy all popped out to say Hi and check out the food I was leaving.

Whitey was the first to check it out.

Daisy made an entrance next and they both played with their food for a few.

Daisy decides to pass on the food I think! ha ha

Screech and Buddy find out the hard way they can't both fit through the hole at the same time.

It was a brief visit since everyone quickly decided they would rather be sleeping and went back to bed. Popeye and Foxy never even bothered to emerge!

With the weather starting to get nicer it's going to be time for this gang to start their next adventure and get released soon!

Home Sweet Home!

What a terrible night of travel! After getting on our delayed flight, we proceeded out onto the tarmac only to sit for another hour waiting in line to take off! Instead of getting home at the reasonable hour of 10:30pm, we dragged our asses into the house at about 1am!

This is pretty much how I felt by then.......

It wasn't over there! We still had to trudge out back and take care of the overwinters in some very windy, cold weather. Some of the released gang was out there too. Red was there in her usual "I wanna play, give me some attention!" mood. What a great coonie.

No sign of Paleface in the den box since I returned. She must have just needed a temporary place to hole up for a while.

The overwinters were happy enough to have us back to poke their heads out for a visit before the wind drove them back into the warmth of their den boxes. Don't let the sun fool ya....it was cold, windy and miserable.