OH NO!

Our raccoon family up at the cabin have been into mischief lately

as the babies are growing and turning into challenging teenagers.

This year we have two raccoon families.

One mother with 2 babies who seems to be managing them pretty well,

doing a lot of tree climbing and begging at our screen door at night.

Mommy #1 showing one of the little ones how to climb our tree outside kitchen window

And then a second mom with 4 underfoot.

Her young ones are at an age where they aren't wanting to listen and follow her anymore

and I feel for her.

No matter how much she scolds them they are constantly disobeying her,

and she is forever rounding them up and trying to corral them

with not much luck.

Second mom scolding her babies to come down out of tree

They've been tipping over pots, 

moving my well placed border logs to look for grub to eat,

digging in planters, 

and eating the Blue Jay's eggs and knocking down their nests.

I know,

all typical things raccoons do I have learned.

So every morning I have new surprises in the yard to deal with.

She finally gets them down so she can come down herself

The nest (top pix) belongs to my favorite Blue Jay family.

 The mother returns each year to make her nest under our front porch eaves

on a wooden platform that the owner before us nailed into place just for her. 

But the teenage raccoons found it before the eggs hatched,

made a delicious dinner of them and knocked down the nest for me to find on the ground. 

Needless to say I was very sad for the Jays.

Mommy #1 at our screen door at about 11:00 p.m.

not afraid of me

I don't know about all of you but I have loved bird's and their nests forever.

And this one is a beauty filled and woven with so many ingredients from our mountain community.

Look closely and you will see dried up thins of mud, 

dried wildflowers (I believe they are Fever Fews),

a piece of plastic string,

bites of cloth strips I put out every year for them along with dryer lint,

pieces of paper and lots of different sized twigs.

It is such a masterpiece of ingenuity.

I've got it displayed on our porch railing for Jim's grands to see.

Still waiting patiently for some grands of my own 

ha ha!

NIGHT VISITORS

This past month we've had several raccoon sightings thru our cabin yard,

and last night our neighbor was able to capture the entire family on his camera

as they were headed our way.

I love how each of their tails looks a little bit different.

I believe this is mom and dad and their two teenagers.

PART OF OUR FAMILY

This past spring we had two large raccoons living in the trees around our cabin property.

And then this summer we had 5.

The daddy took off for parts unknown,

or at least we haven't seen him tending to the little ones,

but the mommy is constantly with her 4 babies.

During the day they travel back and forth across our back property

 and climb the trees,

hanging out,

alternating between sleeping in the shade and sun,

 and enjoying each others company.

Then all night long they play and eat,

and eat and play.

They make a mess of both our front and back porches and yards,

overturning the carefully stacked logs that I've built a walkway with,

digging in my planters for grub to eat and spilling dirt all over the porches,

tipping the birdbath over trying to drink the bird's water.

We never know what we will find each morning.

They are mischievous,

but oh so cute to watch.

The mother is such a good mommy.

She makes the kids march in single file across our yard,

standing up on her back legs to scold the last one in line who isn't keeping up.

She is loving and they adore her,

wanting to sit and lie all over her.

And they watch us too,

and don't seem to be afraid of us.

I think it's only a matter of time before they come up on the porch wanting us to feed them.

Everyone tells us not to,

but it's really hard not too cuz they are so dang cute.

What to do?????