Hiway

I'm a proud coonie mom. The good news is .... Hiway snarfed at me. The bad news is .... Hiway snarfed at me. What this means is that Girlfriend has learned something from Shazbot! Only took her six months, but she did it!! She also managed to jump down off the chair instead of falling off! [Yes - after she climbed up all by herself!] It may sound like an awfully small thing to do -- but for Hiway it's progress!

She was sitting by my feet eating her dog kibble while I was admiring her and stroking her. She gave the cutest little snarf -- but had no idea what it meant. Just kept eating like it was nothing. Later on yesterday Hiway took an outing to Doug & Mary's farm. Everyone agrees that Hiway has grown incredibly. My guess just by holding the big baby, would be 25 pounds. She was quite eager to go on her outing. She likes that. She climbs right in the van and into her travel kennel. After our visits, she climbs right back in. Come home and she's ready to check everything in the orphanage is correct. Shazbot is usually quite happy to see Hiway back home as Shazbot doesn't like to be without her now. But Shazbot is a sassy little honey -- she doesn't need to learn things like Hiway does. Shazbot's a pretty smart little coonie and her wild instincts have been apparent for months. Was hoping she'd help Hiway wild up a bit. And now? Hiway can snarf thanks to miss sassiness roomie Sarah Shazbot. Yup. A proud moment.

Lillian and Benjamin will have run of the perimeter today. Didn't work out too well in the perimeter for Hiway. She climbed the door and fell off of it. So she and Shazbot are back in their mini-coondo for now. Lillian & Benjamin have grown -- well -- huge in the past few weeks. They are going to be quite excited to run around in the perimeter today. But with only one CoonCam functioning, don't know how much we'll be able to see -- only half of the perimeter area. And with the weather dropping below 30 lately, the swimming pool is now just a toy box.

If you've been watching the CoonCam - you've probably seen Benjamin has started pacing a lot. He may be asking to go on his Big Adventure, but Lillian is not ready. He can't go alone, so let's see what Lillian does in the next week or two.

Rescues for today

The rehab season has just gone into it's 'fall mode'. The time of year that we learn about the critters the good hearted people tried to help, but don't know what to do now that they've grown a few months and become the wild animals that they are. And the babies born so late in the season that the weather itself would do them in are starting to be found as well.

Today we're working on finding a rehabber in different states for a 5 month old flying squirrel kept in a hamster cage all summer and a baby coonie found on the road in Florida. Thanks to all you rehabbers out there for being there and doing what you do. The world is starting to wake up to the plight that has been caused by human overcrowding resulting in wildlife evictions. And a big thanks to all the humans that have the courage and sense to contact a rehabber for help!

If you or anyone you know finds wildlife -- please encourage them to contact a rehabber to help. We will help find rehabbers for those who are looking if needed. Let's all pull together and help our native wildlife. Together we can change the way the world treats our creatures.

Mini-Coondo Graduation Day

With Lillian and Benjamin in the big Coondo, now that the big boys have gone onto their Big Adventure, things at the orphanage are changing. The weather is getting down to the 20's and 30's at night.

Lillian & Benjamin have settled nicely into the Coondo and are enjoying having more room to roam around. Plans are to introduce Sarah Shazbot to Lillian & Benjamin at around 3:30 p.m. Central time, when her Mariah comes home from school. This is hard for Mariah watching her Sarah grow so quickly. She won't even listen to any discussion of future Big Adventure plans for Sarah Shazbot. The twins already know Hiway from being cagemates a few months ago. But they don't like Hiway much. Since Hiway doesn't bother to fight back if someone challenges her -- she just sits there trying to figure out what's happening -- the transition may not be able to be completed in one day. Shazbot needs to be caged with Hiway and they cannot be separated. For all practical purposes, they are now littermates and need to stay together.

Shazbot gets pretty testy with Hiway at feeding time. She tries to nab all the food for herself. Hiway, being the gentle soul she is, just moves over or goes to do something else. Shazbot always was a lot more feisty than Hiway. Even though Shazbot's half Hiway's age, she calls the shots in the mini-coondo. This attitude may cause problems with Benjamin, since he considers himself the 'big honcho' of he and Lillian. But -- he's got a surprise coming with Shazbot I think. She doesn't back down too quickly.

The four of them have been side by side in two separate mini-coondos for the season, so integration shouldn't be a big issue. But - as always with coonies -- we'll just have to watch and see what happens.

Photos are me and my bestest girlfriend Hiway the other day. She's just such a big baby ... and getting quite heavy besides. She is approximately 6.5 months old now and it's a miracle she's here.

Another Big Adventure Day

Well. If the weather cooperates today, Leon, Louie and Oliver will be on their way to a new life on their Big Adventure in the forest.

Sleepless in Chequamegon

So-o-o, Matzo is posting in at 2, 3, 4 o'clock AM...perhaps all the grey days have thrown off the internal clock, or being a seasoned rehabber she just doesn't sleep? No, i know, i know! Hangin' round with coonies all these years she has developed nocturnalism?!
Can't wait to see the "little" guys tearing around the coondo when the bruins move out! Wonder what we'll overhear in the woods then?
Which reminds me, we never did put the "Overheard" in from the last release...here it is, or something pretty close to it:
Overheard inwood from the vicinity of Stanley, Kudos, Lillith and Blondie's release site:

Hey, anybody see MatzoMom today?
Nope. Hmm, wonder if she's ok?
Wonder where she is?
Wish she could see me climb this great tree...way better'n the fence!!! Up 'n' up with no wire ceiling..wo-owwww. And look how much we can SEE from wayyyy up here!!! oh-oh. pretty high. hm.. (scrabblescrabblescrabble). huh? I did NOT get skared, i WANTED to come down fast.
How is she gonna spend her days without us?
And where'd those other three go anyhow? How come they didn't get to ride in the box out here to this giant coondo?
Bet Matzo still thinks a wasp got Ollie's ear... wonder if he'll ever tell her it was me??? Well, he shouldn'ta gone after MY apple...
Boy, i got an itch right...there. sure wish MatzoMom was here to scritch it for me...hey! lookit this! BARK works for scritchin', too!!! Hey you
gu-uys!!! lookit this, didja know? bark works for scritchin' !
Wish MatzoMom was here with apples...Hey try these little crunchy bugs!
Nah, i like the swimmy things better.
This place is SO cool!

Nite, Mom, wherever you are.
Miss you, but This is so great! ................. and Hey? .......thanks.

Rain in the Northwoods

It's been raining off and on for a few days now. Appears the rain you folks have had down in IL has gotten here. Supposed to hang around for the next ten days or so.

CoonCam 2 is down indefinitely. My laptop lost over a dozen drivers and I haven't been able to reinstall any of them.

These pics are for those of you having baby coonie withdrawals:







Hard to believe something this tiny can become a thirty pound juvie in a mere five months.

Holy Mackerals!!

32 degrees this morning -- feels like 26. Pretty quiet out in the Coondo. I wonder how much of the water has frozen?

Yesterday my laptop lost about a dozen driver files somewhere, so CoonCam 2 is not running for now.

Here's the pic for today: Jedi Squirrels.
Seen recently in a park near you these squirrels were debating who the tree belonged to. My Aunt asked me how I got the squirrels to do that, and I told her "just hand them the handle and show them where the button to turn it on is". Well. Had to fess up that it was sent to me by a fellow rehabber, Suzie.

Websites down today

Dory & the Orphans website and the Cooncam are down today for a while {hopefully only for a while!} My server seems to be having an issue. A trouble ticket has been submitted so it's just a waiting game for the server in Texas to get back up to speed. I have been informed that the upgrades being done by the server may take several hours.

Thanks for your patience!

The Northwoods got cold!!!

Seems the weather has gotten more to a 'normal' October up here. 44 degrees, feels like 38. It would have been nice if Mother Nature hadn't dropped 3 degrees an hour from 90 degrees and sunny on Monday to bleak and raining -- feels like snow could hit if it really felt like it. Good 'ol Wisconsin weather.

Leon, Louie and Oliver were just laying around in the Coondo door around 4 a.m. grooming each other. The things the CoonCam isn't powerful enough to witness really is a shame. To see these 30 pound boys in a pile grooming each other's necks -- and then Louie snapping at Oliver for doing it wrong. These orphans should have cameras and sound like Animal Planet does. Ever watch Sunrise Earth on Animal Planet? 6 a.m. it comes on. My parakeets really like it. You hear the sounds of the birds and creatures stirring and waking up. They answer back and get all happy about it. Hiway tries to catch things on the tv screen -- she hasn't figured out yet she isn't going to be able to.

Off to Lakewood in the Chiquamegon Forest today. I will try to take some video footage of how autumn looks with so many trees missing, but no guarantee with the nasty stuff going on out there right now.

After looking at the blog progress, and seeing how boring it looks when there are no pictures with the articles -- I was looking at some old photos. So here's one of my favorite pictures of one of my favorite rehabs. My princess Arwyn, the little red squirrel. This photo was just a few days after she arrived. She'd been thrown from her nest by a tornado, and a small branch pierced her on the way down. She hit a sidewalk and was found by a very nervous and extremely caring lady. This lady wrapped Arwyn in a little piece of shirt fabric and brought her 30 miles to the Orphanage in the aftermath of the tornado.

She wasn't well, her body functions weren't working. Her entire stomach was so brusied and the puncture didn't look good either. I was holding her in my hand asking her to go potty so she could heal. Mariah walked in the room with the camera and declared a Coondak Moment and started snapping shots one after another. Only this photo had that tranparent figure in it like that. All I can say is that Arwyn did potty for me and the rest is history.

Hiway gets the matzos

It's difficult enough to get matzos up here in the Northwoods, but now Hiway has found my matzos and decided they are good.

New Orphan at the Orphanage

You know you are making a difference in the lives of the critters when on a Saturday night just before midnight the local chief of police knocks on your door with a stray kitten in arms. She didn't know what else to do at that hour. Chief Soletski had gotten a call about a stray kitten near the highway by a local day care facility. She went to retrieve it, but at that hour no shelter is open. Here at Dory & the Orphans orphanage, it doesn't matter what time it is if a critter needs help. Very bad timing for this little one though. The Homecoming dance was in progress and when the police show up at the door at that hour and you have a teenager at that event? Well. Kittens aren't the first thing that cross your mind.

This little grey kitten isn't a feral. He's not wild enough and he likes Kamir {my guard dog}, however doesn't seem to be too friendly for a 7 week old baby. He does have an injury to his lower jaw, an abrasion or possibly some type of burn. But he eats like a horse and complains about having to be in a large kennel for now -- he seems happy on Shazbot's old halter and leash -- he just doesn't want to be in the kennel with only stuffies -- can't say I blame him for that. He won't be staying at the orphanage long. Monday Chief Soletski will take him to the animal shelter in our county. She will check the area for siblings in the event this little one was dumped at the day care by an irresponsible pet owner. Hopefully it wasn't an entire litter of kittens and this little guy just wandered away from his home. But such a little kitten shouldn't be left out to wander alone at night in the Northwoods [anywhere actually], and he's safe for now.

Update:
On Monday Chief Soletski brought a new human for the little kitten to live with. He will not have to go to any shelter and will have a couple of dogs and other cats for companionship.

October already?

It would appear October has snuck up and gotten here. Balmy day in the Northwoods at 58 degrees and sunny. Weather reports say it will get a bit warmer for a few days and to expect 70's and 80's.

No new pictures to post this morning. So thought I'd post a picture of my Peepers for those of you who might be wondering about her Big Adventure. She was a tiny baby when she came to me - just days old. She had been run over by a disk on farm equipment while coming out of her egg. It split her head open pretty badly. At that point, she was given "24 hours to live". So I was called to care for her. The photo on the right is her 'success story'. She is shown on the photo with her mate of many years now. Both have only one eye and will remain at the Chippewa Falls preserve for life.

The photo on the left is my first success with Peepers. Getting her to eat. She had not eaten for anyone and was seriously stressed by this point. She was terrified of everyone and everything. But she found comfort with me. That's about the point the Zoo owners began to call me "Mother Nature". I made her some Mother O'Malleys Crane Stew which she was eager to devour. And the rest is history. Perhaps one day those photos can be organized and shared with you as well. Sandhill Cranes are very special and intelligent creatures. Once you share your life with one, you are never the same.