A spot of sun! No, really! Finally we can peek at what’s going on around Colehaus, other than to watch our Pacific Northwet “liquid sunshine” falling from the skies. We’re on track to set another month’s record of rain here and we just might do it by midnight tonight.
Outside, our pretty primroses are blooming. Dad always asks, “Tell me, when AREN’T primroses blooming?”
Spring Primroses – © Colehaus.com
When nearly everyone else’s bulbs have already bloomed around the country, our grape hyacinths are the first bulbs blooming here.
Grape Hyacinths – © Colehaus.com
Somewhat near the grape hyacinths, neighbor cats Z and Scruffy discuss the weather, as all cats do. We imagine their conversation went something like this:
Z: “So, it’s not raining at the moment.”
Scruffy: “Can’t get nothing past you, can we?”
Z: “Well, I mention it because while my butt isn’t wet, the rock I’m sitting on is still cold on the bits, if you catch my drift.”
Scruffy: “. . . . .”
Z and Scruffy discussing the odd lack of rain – © Colehauscats.com
Meanwhile, Mom was so inspired by our day of dry weather, she cleaned up the strawberry baskets and found new leaves coming out.
Strawberry plants coming up – © Colehaus.com
The squirrel we call Tilt (because he has a head tilt) isn’t so sure Mom should have removed all the dead strawberry foliage. Word has it squirrels are avid gardeners when not raiding bird feeders, so they should know.
The squirrel named Tilt – © Colehauscats.com
Our Star Magnolia is bursting with white flower buds. After years of living in gloom, half-hidden behind a big birch tree that was removed two years ago, this magnolia has blossomed into a real beauty (pun intended).
Star Magnolia buds – © Colehaus.com
Remember back in January, when we mentioned we saw a new cat in our backyard? Mom called it Teese because, well, only she understands her misspelling, and slowly, Teese started trusting Mom. Now, Teese is at the feeding station most mornings waiting for the food bowls to be set out.
Teese in the feeding station – © Colehauscats.com
And look who’s become an outside friend!
Sweet Teese is a talker – © Colehauscats.com
Sweet Teese likes Dad – © Colehauscats.com
Mom’s pretty sure Sweet Teese is a spayed girl but then again, she’s been known to be wrong half the time. She’s also pretty sure Teese has a home on the next street over down the hill, and when the weather warms up and dries out, she’ll take a walk down there to ask around.
BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS!
Old raccoon (Happy?) returns – © Colehauscats.com
Forgive us for the poor photo. This is the best picture we’ve yet to capture of an old, but somewhat-speedy raccoon who is staying in one of our heated feral shelters. Can you see it there on the fence behind the evergreens?
Mom and Dad both have seen an old raccoon hanging around for the past few weeks, eating from one of the feeding stations during the day, in the pouring rain, something that is a bit unusual for a raccoon around here. It doesn’t act sick, it just looks old and clearly, it’s hungry.
Upon a single closer look last week, we think it might be partially blind, yet it knew directly where to go for food. And this pleases us.
Background info: We’ve been setting food out in our side yard during daylight hours since 2005, and we’ve been aware of recognizable raccoons, ones with distinctive markings or behaviors, returning year after year since 2012. Could this be Happy, the raccoon mama who brought her three babies to meet us in 2013? It could be. Happy had a darker raccoon mask than any other raccoon we’d ever seen, with significantly less white/grey on her face. She had a very, very pointy nose. And her tail was never full and puffy like typical raccoon tails are, and with her darker fur, the rings on her tail were very faint.
This raccoon is almost completely dark faced, has a sharply pointed nose, and has a thin furred tail. If this is Happy, she is the daughter of Sunny who, in 2013 along with her three babies, were the very first raccoons we’d ever seen during daylight hours. One of her babies was very dark compared to the other two. We named that one Happy.
In 2014, Happy returned with her three babies, one we called Lily who returned with her three babies and with Happy in tow in 2015, making Happy a grandmother.
Happy became a great grandmother last year when one of Lily’s babies whom we called Daisy, returned with her two babies.
In the wild, raccoons only survive between one and three years. We never know if we’ll have raccoons come visit us at all because a few people in our neighborhood feel the need to go on “raccoon relocation” forays. This raccoon somehow must have been spared that horror and we are so thankful we have a kind of sanctuary for it here. Here, this raccoon, be it Happy or not, will be safe with a warm shelter, food, and water for as long as it likes. That said, the neighborhood greenspace with tall native trees, a creek, and open access for animals is a quarter mile down the hill and this is, undoubtedly, where Happy and her extensive family normally resides.
We fully understand this is a wild animal and will conduct ourselves accordingly. There will be no attempts at petting, brushing, or feeding of snacks from fingers we wish to keep intact. We won’t try to pose the raccoon with toys, try to entice it to play with a feather wand, or make it wear a hat. We will however, keep working toward capturing a better photo of this raccoon while following all safety precautions.
Lastly, let’s take another look at Sweet Teese, because she isn’t wild, the camera seems to like her, and simply because we can.
Sweet Teese – © Colehauscats.com
