Hello Friends and Welcome to the 21st installment of the Critter Cafe.

For anyone who is new to us, this is a place where Critter People come together to chat.

We have two rules for this thread
1. All are welcome
2. Nothing is "off topic"


To start us off, Eric managed to get a picture of Snowball, our blond raccoon, this evening.

Here she is, obviously having more fun!!!

Nice pic Angela! Thanx for the new thread:)

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

I see Eric has got the pic of the 1st member of the Raccoon Basketball Squad. ;)

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

I didn't know that blond raccoons existed either, until Snowball showed up. In all the years I have been feeding raccoons I had seen only raccoons with typical black/brown/grey/white coloration. A little internet research revealed that I was not hallucinating. Blond raccoons and cinnamon (red) raccoons do exist, as rather rare but normal color variations in raccoons. Blond raccoons are not albino raccoons. As you can see from Snowball's picture, she has the typical markings of a raccoon, just in much lighter shades. An albino raccoon would be white all over with pink eyes.

(And thank you, CC, for the kitten. Eric will be just thrilled.)

As we work on socializing Snowball, I hope to eventually be able to get a picture of Snowball next to Aeh-tune, who is obviously her litter-mate. The two of them have been showing up together lately. Aeh-tune and Snowball are about the same size and each tolerates the other in his/her personal raccoon space, which means they are siblings.

All three of our current "regulars" showed up for dinner tonight. Herman Von Vermin came first and ate all of Spawnie's food. After he left, I put out a little more cat food and I scattered some grapes. (Snowball really loves grapes!!!) Anyway, about 40 minutes after Herman Von Vermin left, Snowball and Aeh-tune showed up.

Aeh-tune was named by our two year old niece, Claire. Eric and I were outside in our backyard one evening with Claire. Aeh-tune had climbed the back of our fence and was peeking over to see if it was safe to come into the yard. Claire pointed at him, lit up like a Christmas tree and exclaimed "Aeh-tune!!!" which is "raccoon" as a two year old would say it. Eric and I decided that was a pretty good name for a raccoon. Claire has excellent raccoon awareness, as I have gifted her with various plush toy raccoons, books featuring raccoons and articles of raccoon-wear.

Great pic of Snowball :)

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Member of the People Encouraging Niceness In Society club.

Scrolling up and down and looking at it in the meantime gives a funny effect:)

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

Oh she's beautiful Angela!!! :) Well done Eric for getting a picture of her! :)

The two of them have been showing up together lately. Aeh-tune and Snowball are about the same size and each tolerates the other in his/her personal raccoon space, which means they are siblings.

Slight drift mid-post but that ^ ...

reminded me of this...



:)

I think I mentioned this before Angela, but we get a few of the cinnamon raccoons around here. Like you, I though I was going crazy until I Googled it.

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Was just reading an article in The New Yorker, and when it mentioned raccoons, I thought, hey, I'll post a link ~ http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/15/let-go

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Annie, lol, but in the case of the biggest personal space hog I know, it's not worth it.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Articles like this scare me a little. What will they do? Hopefully they will
have a humane solution.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/12/18/west-harlem-residents-are-fed-up-with-aggressive-raccoons-terrorizing-neighborhood/

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~Sue~

Hoarding, I've read about that, one case where a person had newspapers and such stacked inside their house. That's not good, one could get caught under an avalanche of newsprint and it wouldn't be good.

Me I've just started to go thru My bedroom storage area(this takes up a whole 2nd bedroom, which would otherwise go unused), somethings I hope I'll use(XMAS stuff and aquarium supplies, I need 3 MAME seismic aquarium isolators that are only sold in Japan) and some I will use(for My PC), some of what is in there is from the Kitchen, some things I have no place to store in the kitchen for use, I'm working on getting some larger/longer stainless steel wire shelving (72"Wx24"Dx74"H) to replace the shelving that I use as a desk (48"Wx18"Dx74"H) in the kitchen and some large clamps to make a printer stand out of 4 pieces of 0.50"x9.25" wood that I have(stored in My bedroom, all screwed together badly by who ever left it all behind, it's mostly good straight wood), so I've got quite a few projects to do and lots of time, and stuff here takes a lot of time, it's like moving thru molasses, though for the next 8 years I'm not going anywhere it seems... Lately though I've not felt like doing a lot, one of these days I'll feel like doing some vacuuming of most of the house(only storage doesn't need that) and cleaning the ceiling in My bedroom. It's a challenge to get anything done sometimes, even with about $262.00 a month extra in My budget(this amount varies from month to month, as do My bills), but I do better than I used to since My income has gotten bigger over the years, not a lot, but it's better than in 2004 when I only had an extra $50 or so a month after My bills and such were paid, but then I had a lucky break in late 2006, though I wish I could do that time over again, since I've learned quite a bit since then. So I live in a fixer, that is partly fixed, in Feb I may be spending about $120 on the gas heater to connect the blower to the thermostat and in late Jan early Feb a new larger case to fix this PC(It's an unavoidable expense) when I try to apply for a LiHeap grant, which can only be applied for by mail and only once a year, last time I got $270.00, since I have to deal with a sub meter for My electricity, I get a check, if I had My own account with SCE(Southern California Edison) I'd get a credit on My electric bill instead.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Hi Vic!

Hope you get the heater fixed. That's not just for your comfort, but for the infrastructure of your house and the stuff in it. Of course, it's dry where you are. Here, houses rot without heat. Take care, guy! And Merry Christmas!

:-)

CC

I live in a dry desert, moisture is a bit lacking out here, even termites don't live out here, I just turn the oven on for about 1/2 an hour, that raises the temp for a few hours, I'm lucky that I'd caulked the wall joints at the junction with the ceiling in 2013, except in 1 small bedroom(I have kitchen/living room, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a combo washroom/hallway), last time I had a working heater, I noticed My gas bill had dropped from about $65 a month in the winter to a bit over $49. This place was built in 1987, I was told it was 840sqft in size, I measured this place pretty accurately and it's only about 677 sqft in size, even if I added the outside walls in, the square footage doesn't get to 840, all walls are about 5" thick here, though since this is a single wide mobile home(this single wide refers to the fact that when the house was transported it was the only section to be transported, there are mobile homes known as double wides and triple wides), there aren't very many interior walls, most interior walls go from one side to the other side of the mobile home, there are 5 rooms and 4 closets here, 6 rooms if one includes where the washroom is at, the washroom has My clothes washer and gas dryer, the kitchen is only separated from the living room by some kitchen cabinets. with the walls added in the width adds up to 13.5', not quite the hyped 14' and the 60' length? That I don't know for sure, My tape measure only goes 25'. This place might be only 733sqft in size... This place is more like 13.5'x54.29' in size, than the 14'x60' I'd thought I'd bought back in 2006. Sorry if I rattle on a bit. You too CC.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

A short from the PBS show:

http://youtu.be/ocf1iweoGxM

The full-length won't play on my iPad, and it won't play outside of the U.S.
You can see it on Netflix.

:-(

Still, these little guys are great.

:-)

Brain games for raccoons? How to go about getting a meal.

Full length Raccoon Nation episode. U.S. viewing only.

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Gordon, the New Yorker piece you linked to infuriates me. The author, a dance critic, takes it upon herself to rather make light of the truly serious problem of hoarding. She has absolutely never dealt with people who are serious hoarders. She dismisses the true health problems endemic to the problem. If you've ever been on a volunteer clean-up, you can only go home and cry, or drink or do whatever stills the human reaction that allows a person to learn to not see the filth around them. Dead animals in the refrigerator? Used diapers, or less, stacked in the bathroom, because the water has been shut off? Climbing over several feet of things on the floor, slipping and falling, the fire hazards ... I could go on and on. There is absolutely nothing heroic about hoarding. I have to stop, now. I hope she volunteers to go on a really bad de-hoard sometime soon.

I didn't really get a flippant vibe from that article. She certainly did make light of some famous hoarders, though.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Admiral G.! Thank you!

And, well, Gordon, that was my take. I just got the feeling that she didn't take it seriously, and saw it as a concoction of the DSM folks and people cashing in on it being "medicalized," and, thus marketable. And other things, but I'd have to go point-by-point. All's good, here. Thanks for the article. Got me stirred up!

:-)

CC

Oh well definitely the tv people are cashing in. I'm a hoarder in my own right, too. I save New Yorker magazine covers, ;~}

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Well, who doesn't?

;-)

CC

Absolut Vodka had a cool series of ads in there too, that I saved, and framed.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

I suppose I'm something of a hoarder too. I don't deliberately keep trash, although I do let it build up longer than I should before I get rid of it. I don't keep newspapers, but I do keep magazines. And I have a lot of general clutter. I keep thinking I can sell some of it on eBay or something like that. I also have a lot of empty boxes I think I can use to ship the clutter when I sell it. I suppose the boxes would be a good place to start. I can always get more boxes if I need them for shipping.

And I keep forgetting to get rid of the really disgusting old stuff in the fridge when I take out the garbage.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.