Connected and (a few) Posts of the Week

If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man. All things are connected. ~ Chief Seattle of the Suwamish Tribe

Lest I leave blogging behind all summer, I figured I'd better get a post up now and again. This is the now. Before too long, there'll probably be an again.

Below are a few images of creatures I've happened upon in one way or another - at or close to home.

A few weeks back, Frank discovered a large hole near one of our pine trees. He surmised that it could belong to none other than a groundhog.

Sure enough, a few days later, a glance out the kitchen window, toward some movement in the garden prompted me to grab the camera and capture this little cutie.





Nom, nom, nom.






We're hoping that none of the neighbours see him. Some didn't take kindly to the beaver in our lake - understandably since they have done serious damage to trees on the property. We know that groundhogs aren't generally very popular critters either so stay less visible, little guy!

Early summer is a busy time for egg-laying, if you're a turtle. Unfortunately, very few of them seem to make it to maturity since other creatures, like raccoons are quick to find the unattended eggs. The sides of the road (near the swampy areas) are strewn with small white opened and empty egg shells.


I was driving along our road when I saw this Common Snapping Turtle busy laying her clutch. She's way bigger than she appears, and gave me a few warning snaps even though I never left the car to photograph her.






Later that same day, I was driving along a country side road when I saw this little guy sloooooowly making its way across my path.






I got out to have a closer look, and found that it was a very pretty Painted Turtle. It was only halfway across the road and I figured it needed a bit of help getting to its destination safely.






Of course, I took the obligatory up close photo before sending it on its way. He's a bit shell shocked. ;)






Benny spends a few active hours after dark, looking for and chasing night creatures. Ninety-nine percent of the time, his chase is only in his imagination - although he was observered by our neighbour cavorting with a red fox a couple of weeks ago. He charges, snuffles, barks and then disappears for a few minutes, until call back. Most of the time, he returns all proud of himself for playing the fierce doggie cop - to nothing.






But every now and then, there's truly a reason for his guarding duties - like this young raccoon raiding the bird feeders.






He's managed to get himself stuck between the feeder and the lamp. Help! He left soon after Benny came back inside. I love his little foot print on the siding.






Last, but not least, this odd looking creature is a very wet, Skittles. He needed a much-hated bath after a two hour round trip to the vet. He didn't like traveling in the carrier without his brother and had a couple of accidents - there and back. "Smelly cat, oh smelly cat, what are they feeding you?"

Hopefully there'll be more photos coming up soon. Blog visits will happen sporadically. I hope everyone in the northern hemisphere is enjoying this wonderful summer. I know I am, and that's the main reason that I haven't collected too many Posts of the Week, recently. I do have a few photography posts for you to visit, and a couple of our regulars have sent me posts which they have recommended. So please do visit the few offerings that I have for you, and I'll try to have more for you soon-ish.

❀  ❀  ❀  ❀  ❀

And now, without further delay, here are the Posts of the Week. The icon below is yours for the taking if your blog post is named as a POTW.

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PHINE PHOTOGRAPHY

Brian II
by Adrian
at Adrian's Images

Macro With Red Background
by Linda
at The View From Squirrel Ridge

Stormy Beauty
by Fiona
at Lady Fi

Close That Oven Door
by Tabor
at Room WIthout Walls

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READERS' CHOICE
 
Recommended by:  Joeh
The Satellites are Laughing
by Murr
at Murrmurrs

Recommended by: Eddie
D-Day Remembrances: 70 Years On
by Hilary Melton-Butcher
at Positive Letters ... Inspirational Stories...

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Please drop by their blogs for a visit and leave a kind comment if you have the time. Also, please feel free to add your own choices (for any blog except this one) for a specific blog post in the comments section below, where others can see them.

Thank you

It Has Sprung

Spring has finally sprung around here. Today's temperature reached a sunny 16C (61F) and snow piles have almost entirely disappeared. It's been lovely for walking and snapping photos.

Just a quick update about the repairs that were necessitated by mamma raccoon. The roof has been repaired by an outside contractor. It rained heavily the following day and I heard nary a drop. The interior work has been on hold while the insurance company's contractor got their act together and presented an estimate. They're booked to come in next Monday to start doing the rest of the job which includes repairing my ceiling and wall, painting both and cleaning the carpet. The insurance company has agreed to pay all of my bills in full. That includes the interior and exterior work, the bill from the animal removal service, a bill from my neighbour Lloyd for his emergency repairs, the replacement cost of lamps, shades and venetian blinds, and a fair compensation for a water-damaged night table. Lombard Canada, Ltd. was cooperative, helpful, supportive and reliable in every way that I had hoped, and I highly recommend them.

I've heard the raccoon kits under the deck as recent as yesterday. My cat Skittles, Frank's dog Benny and my neighbour Caroline's dog Raven can all smell them. They head over to that corner of the deck to sniff around as soon as they are outside. I'm concerned that one of them might try to corner them sometime when they venture out, particularly Benny who seems to be hardwired to chase. I'll be happy when the kits are old enough to leave their nest behind so that we can seal up their point of access. Aside from my concerns, I'm happy to know they're still around, and hope that all four babies are still thriving.

Please enjoy some random shots taken over the past week. Please remember to click on them to enlarge.

Other birds are just as representative of the season, but get shortchanged by the popularity of the robin as the first sign of spring.

This mourning dove was busy gathering nesting materials.




This little guy watched me closely and suspiciously until I lowered my camera and moved on.



A walk along a nearby shallow creek offered this view.



Frank almost always finds something when he's out walking. This time, much to Benny's delight, it was a frisbee.



Here's a view of the willow tree that appeared in the last foggy image, two posts ago.



The setting sun always warms the lake with its golden light.



An out of focus shot of a duck taking off, rendered this image a suitable Photoshop experiment.

Things That Go Bump, Crash (and Oh Sh*t!) in the Night

This is the Final Part of the two previous posts "Things That Go Bump in the Night." You can either scroll down for two posts, or find Part One here and Part Two here.

Depending on the reason, it can be anything between mildly frustrating and seriously infuriating when somebody hangs up on you. In this case, I met the situation with anger and bewilderment. I had just been told that I would have to deal with a mother raccoon trapped in my house without the help of experts. She was confused, frightened and desperate to see her babies, who were nestled in a bucket on the roof. I hung up the phone and stared in disbelief. Now what?

I no sooner stood to see how the raccoon was doing, when the phone rang. It was Sean, a supervisor over at the wildlife removal service. Evidently Mr. Nameless at least had the sense to let him know that he had just talked to one irate and very unhappy customer on the phone. Sean immediately returned my call to let me know that he fully grasped the urgency of the situation and that he was sending someone over right away. That someone was Sande, who also made a point of phoning to reassure me that he was on his way, but that it would take him about a half hour to forty minutes. I felt very grateful and hoped that the raccoon could hold on until then. She did.


We had the better part of an hour to kill before Sande arrived. I went next door to get my neighbour and friend Caroline. I knew that this was something she'd want to see. She and her husband Lloyd came over to share stunned expressions over the mess. Lloyd is from Newfoundland, and I mentally predicted the very words that he uttered. "Lard Tundering Jaysus! What in the hell happened here?" I guided them to Alex's room where the poor frightened mother raccoon continued to stare back at us. Lloyd and Caroline's daughter had an important hockey game to play that night, but Lloyd promised to return afterward to board up my ceiling.

Shortly after they left, Sande arrived and set to work immediately. "Where are the babies?" I told him their approximate location on the roof and he climbed up there in the dark to retrieve them and relocate them to a sheltered corner of my front deck. I asked how many there were and if they appeared to be okay. He counted the same four that were there earlier that afternoon and reassured me that that seemed to be just fine. Sande then came into the house with one of those poles that have an adjustable loop on the end of it, so that he could capture the mom.


He approached her slowly, and spoke soothingly to her. She began to panic. Amid much pole-biting, growling and flopping about, he managed to get the loop around her neck and cinch it. She fought like her life was at risk, and to her, it was. There was no way to communicate to this poor beast that we were going to set her free so that she could reunite with her babies. She hissed, growled and struggled until she manage to work herself out of the loop. She ran downstairs. Sande was adept at his job though, and soon had her cornered in my kitchen, this time fastening the loop around her abdomen. He guided her outside my front door and onto the deck where her litter of kits were blissfully asleep in the Rubbermaid tub.

She continued her chorus of fierce noises and he persisted in trying to sooth her with his words. Out of exhaustion, she eventually calmed down enough for him to reach into the tub and remove one of her kits. He slowly brought the baby close to its mother and she snatched it from Sande's hand at the same time he released his hold on her. With her baby clutched close to her, she ran up and over the snowbanks on my front lawn, across the street and out of sight.

Sande assured me that she would almost certainly return for her other babies through the night, once she found another safe place for them. He suggested that we keep away from the deck for tonight, but to check on them in the morning. He was betting that they'd no longer be in the tub. I thanked him profusely and told him how much I appreciated his concern for the creatures. He told me that he has spent time raising abandoned raccoon kits himself, so he felt quite confident when it came to handling them under this sort of circumstance. We chatted a bit more and he had me sign a "no charge" invoice before he departed, and I went back into the house to figure out what to do with the mess.

Water was still dripping slowly into the bucket below. I retrieved my iPod and portable player speaker from underneath some of the mess. It escaped most of the wet insulation and works just fine. I picked up enough junk from the floor, nightstand, bed and from behind the furniture to half-fill a garbage bag. I stripped the bed of its covers and pillows, pulled it from the wall and vacuumed everywhere. Aside from the ceiling and roof, the damage was restricted to the lamp, the nightstand which seems to have become discoloured from the water (perhaps raccoon urine) and the blinds in Alex's room.

As promised, Lloyd returned around midnight with large sheets of plastic which we placed over the bed, nightstand and floor. He then proceeded to remove the excess debris that was still hanging from the gaping ceiling. A few loose pieces of plaster and drywall were taken down to make the job of covering the hole easier to do.


Lloyd located the beams and with Frank's help, expertly nailed a few sheets of plywood to cover the unwanted skylight in my room. He then stapled another plastic sheet all around it to give it a tight seal from the cold air and moisture.



I filled another trash bag and a half with the excess debris and the plastic sheet, and then vacuumed again. My room was toasty warm all night - a testament to the quality work that Lloyd does.

Early the next morning, I just had to head outside to see if the babies were still in the tub. I grabbed my jacket and went out on the deck. I slowly peeled back the protective layer of insulation and saw only more padding beneath that. I touched and gently poked it all over the place but the tub was empty of baby raccoons. The mother had retrieved them all, and I breathed a sigh of relief. For a second or two, I thought I heard the familiar chatter sound that they make, but chalked it up to my tired mind playing tricks on me. The sound is not unlike some birds, so that was probably what I'd heard. I went back inside to make tea.

Later in the day, Lloyd climbed up onto the roof with my camera, to take pictures of the hole (with the one-way door in place), and to lay a tarp over it as required by the insurance company. They'll send someone out today or tomorrow to investigate the situation. I hope to have the roof and ceiling repaired shortly.



I'm very grateful for a number of things:

I glad that Frank was here for an early weekend visit. He usually arrives on a Friday, but decided to come out on the Thursday for the long weekend. I wouldn't have been able to keep reasonably calm on my own, and his suggestions certainly helped to minimize damage. Thanks, Frank.

I'm grateful for wonderful neighbours that are always reliable. That hockey game ran late, and Lloyd was tired but he returned to help me out of a jam. Thanks, Lloyd.

I'm appreciative that the two K's (Kyle and Ken), supervisor Sean and rescuer Sande were all kind, caring and compassionate people who understood my distress and made the animals' safety a priority. I don't know what happened with Mr. Nameless, but I am glad that he ultimately made contact with someone who had a brain and who cared.

I'm very relieved that this didn't happen a few hours later while I was sleeping. I'm so much happier telling this story, than the one that would start out with "I awoke to a face full of raccoon and wet insulation."

I'm thrilled that the mother and her young were reunited safely.

I'm thankful that this whole situation was as minor as it turned out to be. I got to thinking about the suddenness of it all. One moment we were chatting and playing cards, anticipating a quiet weekend, and then all hell broke loose. In an instant, everything changed. I related that to how the unforeseen happens to people all of the time with car accidents, fires and illness. My incident will be costly, inconvenient and frustrating - nothing more. I'm very thankful that in perspective, it was pretty small and really rather funny - at least in retrospect.

Epilogue: On Saturday afternoon, my son Jeffrey was playing around with Benny in the front yard - throwing small chunks of snow around for him to chase. At one point he stopped tossing the snow and called me over to the deck where the kits' tub had been. "Do you hear this?" I did. It turns out that the chatter I'd heard that morning was not a bird. Mama raccoon decided to keep her babies close to home. This family of five now lives under my deck.

Part Two of Things That Go Bump (and Crash) in the Night

This is Part Two of the previous post "Things That Go Bump in the Night."

With two cats who like to wrestle occasionally, crashing sounds are not all that unusual at my house. Benny was here for the long weekend and Raven was visiting from next door, and cat-chasing can be a very amusing game when bolstered by your best friend. So when we heard the crash, we scarcely reacted, assuming that one of them ran clumsily into a door while in chase-mode. The only problem with that scenario was that both dogs were playing quietly, right here with each other. Hmmm, what could have happened up there? Three seconds into pondering this, a series of hisses, spits, growls and yowls assaulted our ears. My cats play-fight with each other a lot, but they never react like that. I rushed to investigate.

I headed upstairs to a continued chorus of angry cat sounds. Near the top of the steps, both cats had their backs to me and were staring fixedly toward my bedroom. Their tails were enormous, as cat tails get when felines are extremely angry or fearful. A split-second later, a third bushy tail rushed past them from my bedroom into my son's room. I let out a short string of mild to moderate expletives, and yelled downstairs to Frank that the raccoon was in the house.

My mind reeled as I tried to figure out how she could have gotten inside from the attic. While ascending the stairs and shooing the cats, and the now curious dogs away, I surmised that this desperate creature must have seen how K brought her babies through the small door in the ceiling of my closet, and summoned up her maternal strength to lift it out of place and follow their scent. I knew that wasn't logical because according to K, she had already seen her babies on the roof right by the newly-built, one-way exit. She had also supposedly escaped the attic at that time and she really couldn't lift that door, so none of this made any sense. But what else could it be?

I rounded the corner and stole a quick glance into my bedroom. A long string of moderate to censor-worthy expletives escaped my mouth as I looked up to see this gaping, dripping hole above my nightstand.



Frank was soon behind me, helping me to assess this situation, deter cats and dogs from approaching the raccoon in Alex's room and to shut doors to the other rooms so that we could isolate her as much as possible. At one point she ran back into my room where I have a balcony, and Frank suggested trying to usher her safely to the exit where she could then easily climb to the roof to reunite with her babies. The poor mom was in ultra panic mode (not unlike myself) and ran back to Alex's room where she climbed up on his bed, scurried along his headboard, up onto his desk, toward the window. And there she stayed, entangled in the Venetian blinds.


The poor thing was terrified. I went back to my cold, dripping bedroom. A growing heap of wet insulation, crumbled drywall and plaster chunks littered the nightstand, floor and bed, and the wall lamp was twisted off to the side like a badly-crippled limb. Following Frank's suggestion, I placed a bucket under the hole to minimize further damage.

I located my phone and the phone number for the wildlife removal service who guaranteed their work for a full year. This had been a full seven hours. Surely they'd send someone out to help immediately.

I spoke to a most unhelpful person. I could practically hear him scratching his head when I told him that I had a raccoon in the house and a hole in my ceiling. He asked for my location and determined that he didn't have anyone in my area right now and that the soonest he could get someone out here would be the following morning.

"Tomorrow? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???" My panic increased, as did the volume of my voice. I knew that because I looked up a couple of times to see Frank giving me the "tone it down" signal with his hands. At the same time, the guy on the phone was also telling me to calm down, try to forget about if for now and just deal with it tomorrow. Once again, I explained that I didn't just have a raccoon isolated in my attic anymore, but that she's clinging to the blinds in my son's room.


I expressed very clearly that I needed him to send someone out here immediately. He repeated that he would have someone come out in the morning. I tried one last time. "I have a RACCOON in my HOUSE. She's scared, her babies are alone on the roof (this is where I blew it for K. It slipped out before I could think clearly. I'm so sorry.). This HAS to be taken care of tonight. You advertise 24/7 service." Once again, he repeated that he couldn't do anything until morning. I asked for his name and he told me "That's not important." I tried to let him know that it was going to become important, but at that point he hung up on me.

I was livid, worried and totally unsure of what to do next. I did not want to further traumatize the raccoon. I didn't want to call in anyone that wouldn't also take her life and her babies lives into careful consideration. I was afraid for any of us to try to handle her ourselves. My son Alex was going to come home soon to find a raccoon in his bedroom and my older son Jeffrey was about to arrive home for the long Easter weekend. My ceiling continued to drip, and drop chunks of insulation, drywall and other debris. There was a raccoon clinging to the blinds and four hungry babies in a bucket on my roof. And then my head exploded.

To be continued over here (sorry!)...

Things That Go Bump in the Night

About a week ago, I awoke to hear a series of persistent bumps, thuds and scratching sounds coming from above my bed. The scratches turned into scrapes which in turn became more of a ripping sound. My guess was that a raccoon was trying to get into the crawl space-sized attic in order to find shelter from the windy night. I heard the ruckus intermittently through much of the night and by morning, I had circles under my eyes that could compete with the little bandit who had caused my sleeplessness. Nobody else had heard it and it didn't seem to reappear for the next few days so I put it out of my mind - mostly.

The critter reappeared late Wednesday with some distinguishing scratching, walking and chuttering sounds. I asked my friend Google to help me find a simple, safe and humane way to rid my home of this potentially destructive animal. Several of Google's offerings suggested spreading mothballs or ammonia-soaked rags in the area (but not if I suspected there might be babies as it can damage their mucus membranes), setting a radio to a talk show and playing it loudly, and shining a bright light in the space. The only access to my attic is through a small wooden entrance in the ceiling of my closet. There are no stairs leading to it. To get inside, I'd require a ladder, a flashlight and dexterity - along with a fearlessness of heights, small spaces and confronting a wild animal under those conditions. I had the ladder and the flashlight. The rest not so much. Google also impressed upon me, the understanding that raccoons can do a great deal of damage, and with this being nesting season, I figured it was wise to call in the professionals.

I'd heard about a wildlife removal service that had the reputation of employing a particularly humane approach, and so I phoned them early yesterday morning. The woman was up front about the costs of their service which would include removal of the animal, removal of any young that might be present, relocation of the young so that the mother could find them, and placement of a one-way door at the raccoon's point of access. There were additional costs for each roof vent and exhaust that would require screening to prevent the animal's return. A quick estimation in my head told me that I was looking at upwards of $500. She told me that they could have someone here by the afternoon, and I was grateful that I wouldn't have to spend another sleepless night.

Ken and Kyle, two friendly, young guys arrived even earlier than expected in their bright yellow van. After asking a few questions they set their ladder up at the back of my townhouse and inspected the roof for holes. It was clear to them that the raccoon had entered by a large opening it had created at the juncture between my roof and my neighbour's. They brought their ladder inside to my closet and hopped up into the attic with the agility that I so clearly lacked. Their muffled voices indicated that they had found the culprit. Ken or Kyle (since I don't know one from the other, I'll just call them K) poked his head back out of the attic to ask me if I could find a small box for them. I asked if they had found babies and K told me that she had in fact had her litter in my attic. The plan was to bring the babies out through the house but to leave the mother trapped inside temporarily, put the one-way door in place and hopefully reunite mother with babies once she escaped through her new exit. I emptied a Rubbermaid box that had just been holding some junk in the garage and handed it to K. A moment later he emerged with the box full of insulation and four adorable baby raccoons.




I oooed and awwwed over them for a moment, and resisted the strong urge to touch them, knowing it was not wise. K stroked them with a gloved finger and agreed with me that they were beautiful little creatures. I was happy to see that he genuinely cared about their welfare. He covered them up with more insulation and a loosely-placed garbage bag, and set about finding a safe spot for them in a sheltered corner of the back yard.

After screening off all of the roof vents K spoke with his supervisor who suggested that once the mother emerged through the one-way door, it would be best if she could find her young nearby. The two Ks worked together to secure the box to the roof and even before they descended, they saw the mother raccoon exit the attic and discover her litter. K also asked me not to mention their location to whomever I spoke to in a few days when I'd make the appointment to have the one-way door removed. That was above and beyond what they were supposed to do, and their extra effort might not be appreciated by their boss. I understood, was very appreciative of their caring natures and told them that I would remember not to mention it. That was a promise I ended up breaking (sorry K).

I was instructed to make a phone call to their office in about five days, when I was certain that the raccoon activity had ceased. Someone would come back to remove the one-way door and place some more screening over the hole. It would then be my responsibility to get the roof repaired. I worried about the safety of the young and hoped that the mother would find a new, secure location for them quickly.

This being a long weekend, I was expecting my son Jeffrey to arrive home from university in a few hours. Frank makes the best beef ribs ever, and Jeffrey has the best beef rib appetite ever, so there was no guessing what was on the menu for dinner that night. Frank set about simmering ribs and I poured myself a drink and we soon settled into a game of cribbage. That's when we heard the CRASH!

To be continued here...