we begin the begin,
said goodbye to the end.
that unhappy clouding-of-self, laughingly revealed
in the Sun-Expanded-SELF … can never again return.
karma evaporated, carried by her solar wind.
leaving us ‘tear-full’ naked,
toes in the wet Earth-womb, as Raccoon-family
is teaching us, Mother Raccoon this morn placing
HER hands on my knees, and acknowledging ‘me’,
returned to HER family,
Millennium (with Megumi), Year 2009
day three of adoption by five-member Raccoon family …
{ 10 comments }
nice story and pic, MT… happy Gregorian Calendar new year…
You are blessed to have a family like that!
Happy New Year MT!
So nice to see the raccoon family in your garden. I enjoyed these photos.
I have a question about how tame your raccoon family is.
The other night I came home and found an empty bag of dogfood stuck in the cat door… If I come home late the raccoons raid the cupboard and help themselves to bags of catfood which they pull through the cat door.
The first night that my newly adopted dog was home, I noticed her staring at the cat door. Sure enough, “Bright Eyes” was staring at us through plastic see-through cat door…
Have you read, “Raccoons Are the Brightest People,” by Sterling North?
Published in 1966, this book is filled with amazing photographs of
raccoons that come for dinner, both inside the house and in the garden, relax on the couch with the author and his family, etc.
Most of the raccoons in the photographs live in the wild, but others are survivors who lost their mothers as young kits, and thus are “pets.”
I first realized that mine have lost their fear of me when I went out late one night to call my cats…and instead of a cat…a raccoon appeared.
I have known the kits of one family since they were balls fur playing on my patio, and watched them grow up.
So, I am most curious,
when you wrote:
“Mother Raccoon this morn placing
HER hands on my knees, and acknowledging ‘me’,
returned to HER family,
on day three of adoption by five-member Raccoon family”
Are you saying the Mother Raccoon actually put her physical hands on your knee?
Over the years, I have read and heard a wide range of viewpoints on raccoons. They are not popular among some of my neighborhors as they eat chickens and have been accused of killing cats.
(So far the cats and raccoons in my yard co-exist peacefully.)
Am most curious to know how tame yours are.
Thanks!
Correction to Comment #3:
I meant to say, “this photo,” but hope you will post more!
en la’kech, Suza,
“we are another one.”
yes, I was sitting still in the garden on a bench watching the raccoons, and after one of her 6-8 month old youngsters passed by, the Mother wandered up to me to say hello, and put her hands up on my knees to look me in the eyes and to ascertain who I was.
the young one had merely touched my feet.
yesterday two came up to Megumi and accepted a walnut from her, and the Mother came up to me in the evening to say hello and see if I had anything to offer.
we don’t keep any cats or dogs, and thus no cat or dog food for them to raid. they do eat the acorns floating on top of my acorn-soaking buckets, but most of the best acorns sink to the bottom, and escape eating … they are the ones that we plant. they ate a lot of a basket of carob pods, before we but it away in a cabinet.
yet mostly they have lots and lots of wet garden and yard this time of year to dig around in, and lots of compost and mulch to dig around in, so lots of bugs and garden waste to eat.
we don’t have any neighbors, accept the coyotes and deer and wilderness, bobcats etc. for them to contend with.
over two years ago, while bicycling on Rice Road, two young ones, about 3-4 months old were playing in the road, and saw me on my bicycle, and came up and climbed aboard me and the bike. turned out they were tame, and I eventually found their ‘foster home’, though we could not yet accept them (for returning to the wild) ourselves because we hadn’t moved out to the woods yet.
this morning, while I was working in the garden, the first young Raccoon wandered in about 7:30am, followed by the mother maybe twenty minutes later.
a couple hours later, after eating the carob pods I left out for them on an Oak-log-seat, while I sat and watched them cleaning themselves and each other for half an hour, they simply curled up in two balls in the sunshine and went to sleep.
Wow! I love reading this!!
Thank you, Millennium, this is so wonderfully interesting. I can see that I have lots more to learn about Raccoons!
Have been very careful not to let my dog startle them. The first night she barked just once when they came around. I let her know they are part of the scene here and not intruders.
Two different raccoon families (and occasionally a loner) play in the piggie pools and frolic in the pine tree right outside my bedroom window…
These “so-called” Darling racoons attacked my little dog and almost destroyed the doggie door trying to get in. They clamor on the roof at night and make more noise than a cat in heat..they’re pests…
watch me Wallabies feed…
Raccoon lovers and dislovers alike – have you seen Pom Poko? Great movie, highly recommended. It tells the story of magical shape-changing raccoons who are trying to deal with mega-development encroaching their habitat.
To anny (Comment #8),
I want to clarify that I don’t consider raccoons “Darling.” And I don’t think any one else does either.
I realize they are wild animals and their priority is to survive. I know firsthand that they kill chickens and other animals.
However, it has been most educational and entertaining to observe them, especially watching the kits growing up.
They seem to have different personalities –some seem nicer than others.
I look forward to seeing the movie, Pom Poko, recommended by anonymous in Comment #9.
We need to see our neighborhoods from the point of view of the raccoons, the humble possums, the skunks, and other creatures that move about in the shadows, and figure out how we can co exist with them.
They have a right to live here too…
Comments on this entry are closed.