Thank you all...VERY MUCH!

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to everyone who came by Saturday to help me get some projects done around here! Kristen, Ryan, Sue, Jim, Celine, John, Pat, Mom, Dad, Christine & Ella....you are awesome!! And for those who couldn't be there in person (Pericles, Kim, Kristy, Jeff, Donna- to name a few!) you were there in spirit and your donations are greatly appreciated!
I wish I had thought to take before and after pictures...but my feet hit the ground running in the morning, starting with a round of feedings and I didn't stop all day..it was all a blur.

My yard is neat and clean now...not a mess....it's actually a pleasure to look at.
And my basement......where do I begin! It no longer looks like a bomb exploded in there! The guys worked on getting the shelving moved and set up so I could clear a nice space to have enclosed as an isolation area. Dad is working on that and gathering easy to disinfect materials to build it.

Everything else is cleaned up and organized and in its place. A lot of large garbage bags were hauled outta there too!

All the babies are doing great. 2 new 5wk old squirrels were added to the mix. I anticipate they will be joining Luci and Sweetie in a few days.

All the baby coonies are doing great. The youngest 4 are all taking the bottle now...no more tube feeding! Yayyyyy. Look at the difference in colors on them....ranging from quite blond to very dark brown!

Look at her go! One of Stony's girls, only 4 days old and eating like a pro. One last attempt to reunite was unsuccessful so I'm taking over as mom.

While I was out taking care of the gang last evening I was walking up the trail from the downtown pen when a raccoon ambled across the path in front of me. After my initial heart attack thinking I left a pen unsecured and someone came out to play, I realized it was Scrappy. Must have decided to come out early to cause trouble! LOL

He picked a nice spot in a tree to watch something exciting happening on the pond.


He seems to have finally found a better den than the tree next to his pen to spend his days at least. I still haven't seen Vin in quite some time. If he is still around, he's not coming by until the wee hours of the morning, unlike Scrappy who is out there most early evenings....and still happy to say Hi to me when I check on him. Hopefully Vin's fine. I have heard the familiar sound of an annoyed raccoon in the woods behind the pens and can only imagine he's up to his usual trouble-making activities with the locals now.

The new gang so far.

Well it appears our 2 little one's that got off to such a rough start have decided to stick around and enjoy the pampered life here. They are eating great, gaining weight and using a bottle now so no more tube feeding. They are lucky duckies for sure! So Lucky (left, the female) & Ducky (right, the boy) it is! An unexpected surprise in the girls pen showed up Friday. I walked out there to the sound of crying babies, and on further investigation discovered Stony had given birth to 2 little girls in one of the hammocks in the pen. Not a good spot, but OK for the day while everyone else was holed up in den boxes. Near the end of the day I moved the babies and mom into the pen vacated by Vin and Scrappy. I couldn't trust that any of the others in the pen wouldn't hurt the babies. Unfortunately after the move Stony wouldn't take care of the babies. I gave her time to settle in, but it was cold out and the babies were getting cold. So I brought them in for the night and cared for them and tried to bring them back out to here the next morning after she was settled into a den box. No luck. I put them in there and she just ran past them out of the box and began pacing the cage again. So Stony's newborns are happily settled in with Lucky and Ducky and eating well from a bottle and doing great. They are actually a little bigger than Lucky and Ducky despite being a week younger. I may make one last attempt to reunite them. Tonight when I went out there she didn't just run out of the den box, then I began tossing her some treats in there for some positive reinforcement...giving her an incentive to stay in there. Tomorrow I may try to add the babies to the treats and see if she takes over with them again. If she doesn't take them I'll bring them in permanently.

Another pair of sisters that made it here. The homeowner did something at the house and mom ran off with one baby. A fellow employee of the guy contacted Lisa and it was hoped we could try to reunite them but she said the guy was a real jerk and she was pretty sure he would just kill them. So she ran over there and grabbed them and safely delivered them to Lisa who kept them nice and cozy for the day and got them to me when I got out of work. Both are also doing great. They were in great shape to begin with having just been separated from their mom that day. One black and one brown girl.

Rounding out the raccoons we have Trooper here. The Animal Rescue League got a call from the Brighton state trooper barracks. A couple had come across this guy while walking along the Charles and brought him in. Unfortunately they didn't think to remember exactly where they found him. He was in top shape! Most likely mom had been moving him and something happened. Had we known exactly where could have attempted reuniting them.

When Brian from the ARL went in to pick him up, one of the troopers wanted to be very sure this little guy was not going to just be euthanized and told Brian as much! LOL He was reassured by Brian that he was there to rescue him, not kill him! So Brian got the absolutely adorable, chunky little guy to me and he was in such great shape my job was easy! He's huge for his age....a monster coon like Baloo was.

Thanks to the troopers that made sure he was safe!

Only 2 squirrels so far. A couple girls.

Little 5 week old Lucifer here (Luci for short)

And the 6wk old Sweetie here. I think their names speak for themselves! The picture of Luci above is her attacking me as I go to feed her....teeth gnashing and growling and charging me the whole time! Trust me the name fits! LOL

Both are doing great. Sweetie was a little emaciated when she came in but is filling out quickly and looks great and Luci calms down a little once I get a nipple of formula shoved into her mouth. Once it's gone she's Lucifer again though! LOL

An invitation to all.....

HI friends and family are meeting at Deanna's home this sat, the 16th to help her out with the already arriving animals!!! Please come and lend a hand if you can, for an hour or more. The more the merrier!!! We will meet between 9am and 10 am. Bring your tools and snacks for your favorite friends of course!!!!! Kristen

From one of my many wonderful friends and supporters! She has organized a day of help at my place to assist me with getting some of the many things done around here that I will never get to on my own now that the babies have begun to arrive! I know most of you are probably out of state...but if you happen to be in the Billerica, MA area and want to come by you are more than welcome!!! Come help get this place in shape for baby season :)

The gang's all here.

A couple days sitting at my kitchen table feeding pinkies as I stare out the kitchen window has given me the opportunity to see that most of the usual gang is back this spring.

OK so the foxes were here all along, but they have now come to think of my squirrel feeders as a possible new feeding station for them! I'm not impressed, however, with their skills.

I think this is Mr. Fox.....on his fourth unsuccessful attempt. By the time I get up to run out there and prevent a breech of the peace, he's already heading off empty handed! The weed whacker is back to keeping the lawn nice and trimmed.... ...and my favorite turkey girl is back for her usual spring retreat. She's pretty good at helping protect the squirrels at the feeder also, when she's there. The fox steers away while she's out there. She is, after all, just as big as them...if not bigger! They know better than to mess with her.

So far so good with the little coonie babies, the pinkies have gone to Lisa and although I didn't have to trade anything, I did end up with 2 more squirrels that are older and only need to eat 5 times a day instead of every 2 hours! A couple girls..1 is 5 weeks and the other 6 weeks. I'll get pics eventually!