The Wild – Page 14 – Joseph Carrabis, Author Blog

August Kits and Worries

I’m posting this in January 2020 and the video is from August 2021.

There is hope and worry in this video.

The worry is because we had not seen kits in a long time, nor any raccoons, in an unseasonally long time.

Fortunately, and as posted last week regarding Lucinda, they made their return (albeit slowly).

And here, once again, The Wild continues onward, another healthy retinue of kits.

Hence the hope.

As noted in the video, if I’d been quicker with the camera you could have seen a Herne’s worth of Old Ones moving through.

Herne being The Horned One and, if you follow the folklore to its earliest sources, a Guardian of The Wild.

I want to warn those involved in the construction, tell them Herne is watching in all of his many guises.

And that, unlike Two-Leggers, Herne and The Wild are patient.

Lucinda

Ah, another raccoon lass makes her appearance.

As you watch this, you can hear the construction on the other side of the woods.

We are seeing a greater diversity of wildlife and few individuals as of late, largely in part to the construction. There are three multi-unit (with the emphasis on “multi”) buildings now. Plus storage and community center. Parking.

Our woods were so peaceful for so many years.

We can see their lights through the trees now that most of the leaves have fallen.

And a greater diversity of The Wild come to us.

Perhaps for comfort.

Perhaps for peace.

Definitely for peanuts, cookies, and dog food.

And we are happy to give.

Because the return is too great to do without.

Toe Nibblers

Toe Nibblers.

They come in all shapes and sizes, and we’ve documented the various toe nibblers in our yard since 2018.

They were here before, like the indigenes and paleoliths before them and megafauna before them and the …

A long while, anyway.

Most of the toe nibblers these days are in the “fauna” class. Not megafauna and definitely not flora although, if you’ve read some of The Shaman chapters, you know that can change rapidly and without warning.

But not to anyone’s detriment.

We have had bear, Lucien and Horace specifically, but both were extremely shy. They huffled off when I came out to say hello.

Might have been different if I had honey.

Bet they would have nibbled something then.

Might not be here to talk about it, if they had.

So it goes, huh?

The Rablet

A long standing question here at Chez Carrabis is “What do we call the young ones?”

Consider: Our dog, Boo, is always called “Pup.” Okay, he’s also called “Boomeister,” “Mr. Boo,” “Bootosky,” and you get the idea.

And often, just Pup. So what did we call him when he was still a young thing?

Doglet, of course.

I’ve written of our Turklets.

And, of course, there are Rablets.

I last wrote of Rablets on Christmas Day 2020, so obviously they’ve been around for a while whether seen or not.

I wonder where they go when they’re not seen?

Do their numbers diminish such that there’s less competition for food so they have no need to forage in our yard? We’ve known for many years the local wildlife prefers our yard to our neighbors’ and suspect it’s because our yard is all natural, no artificial anything, no fertilizers, no pesticides, just life as life would have it.

Wonderful, that.

Try it. See who shows up.

You might be surprised at what they have to teach you.