Tag: Raccoons

Concern for Hecate

Sometimes The Wild isn’t kind.

It’s not so much a matter of kindness as it is…well, it is what it is.

We’ve known Hecate for quite a while in raccoon years. This Hecate, anyway. There have been others, long gone and passed into memory.

“Hecate” seems to be a favored name among them. Perhaps a family name.

We think “family” because raccoons share traits through generations. Some like to sit on their butt, some like to dunk their food, some like to hold a conversation, some like to nibble toes, …

Okay, that last part, the toe nibbling, usually only when they’re kits.

This time Hecate returned to us with a significant chunk of fur missing from her back. The missing piece had a distinct “V” shape.

I can’t imagine what caused it. An animal bite wouldn’t leave such a mark, and my mind goes to something man-made.

Only humans could be so cruel to The Wild.

After all, have you noticed how cruel we are to ourselves and each other?

 

Colder and Colder Nights

Recorded in early November 2021, our raccoons prepare for winter.

I wanted to write something witty and frivolous at this point.

Wasn’t happening.

As I type this, it is late May 2022 and so much of our environment has changed. Not just locally but in the world.

I watched Ricky Gervais‘ Supernature and Humanity Netflix shows last night. I admire him immensely, perhaps more so when I don’t find him funny. Sometimes he skates a thin edge (to me). I appreciate his humor and recognize (as he admits) there’s a difference between the subject and the target, the content and the context of his jokes.

I also recognize sometimes it’s difficult to see the two as separate, unique, and distinct.

Gervais is an active supporter of many things I support.

I wonder what he’d have to say about my work with raccoons and various other Old Ones.

 

Hyacinthe (Again)

Last week I wrote about Samuel, the grand old man of our local coyote pack. This week, Hyacinthe, who (interestingly) first entered out lives about the same time Samuel did.

Wild raccoons have shorter lifespans than coyote and, being open to the Universe, I appreciate this is probably her last season with us.

I’ve often wondered where The Wild go to pass.

Is there a Raccoon Graveyard somewhere in the woods behind our house I’ve never found?

When Samuel walks the Blue Path, will I find his trail marks in the grass and come upon him deeply sleeping never to wake in this world again?

Our world shrinks…exponentially? Definitely geometrically. Humans have affected the environment far more than via an arithmetic progression, me thinks.

As our world shrinks, so does theirs, only more so.

Human – Two-Legs – extinct species only slightly quicker than we extinct ourselves.

And here in the first quarter of the 21st century, I’ve noticed we’re damn good at it.

 

It was a dark and stormy night

Welcome to Chez Carrabis, the only wildlife 24×7 in our neighborhood.

This night, this scene, reminds me of my days long-haul trucking. No matter the weather or time of day, rack up the miles, deliver the goods, pickup the next load for backhauling.

I (and most others I knew back in the day) preferred traveling at night. Less traffic. Staties pretty much knew who we were (we had regular routes) and would let us pass by way over the posted limit.

I remember meeting one fellow who told me he clocked 120mph+ on the Queen Victoria from Montreal to Toronto and down onto Detroit.

Wow (on so many levels).

My personal best was Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Washington, DC in 17 hours. This was before the Trans-Canada went to Sydney and, if you remember the roads back then, you’ll appreciate I was low altitude flying.

When we did stop (rarely), it was in midnight diners that catered to long-haulers.

Made some good friends. Excellent teachers, they. A few years later the CB craze started and the air got polluted so we found other ways to talk to each other.

And a bit after that, I was completely out of the game.

Sad, but I still remember those good times, good friends, and good diners.

Eat hearty, all.

 

Fat and Sassy

The families return.

This middle fall visit thrilled us because…

Because we’re easy. Especially when it comes to The Wild. Show us Old Ones of any stripe or form and we’re there for them.

Probably faster than we would be for most Two-Leggers we know.

Sad, that.

Much like Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea fame, we’ve found interactions with our own species less than optimal and often less than minimal.

Not so with The Wild. I’ve walked among wolves and bears, been close to mountain cats, never a worry.

Smile incorrectly at a Two-Legger?

All hell breaks lose.

It would be great victim mentality if I thought the fault was mine.

But I’ve given up doing so.