Tax Day and Racoons

Tax day. Got the taxes back from the accountant and woo-hoo we're getting money back. But wait! What's this.... a mistake!!! Argghhh. Looks like we'll have to file an amended return and the money I thought I would get back (along with appreantly more) goes the other way now. Curses!.Pays to look over the stuff.....

On a more positive note my mother has had the cabinets in the kitchen of her new condo removed and she has agreed to give them to us for the kennel. That's good, it will save a bunch of money and they're brand new and easily matched!

Little Peanut, our foster racoon, is growing and growing, eating like a pig. She's still only on milk (KMR actually) but she's reached the stage were she is developing a personality. I really need to start posting some pics of all this stuff. One of our other fostered racoons (Babette) has reappeared! We finally got her released and she was hanging out in the woods behind the house and eating the food we were leaving out for her but we hadn't seen her for several weeks. On Wednesday when I went bcak to keave the food out she came tear-assing out of the woods, jumping around and playing with the dogs. She was looking good, fat and healthy without any visible marks or scars. Yesterday when Dolly went out to feed her she followed her back to the barn and was teasing Dolly and most resistant to going back to the woods (and feeding station). She finally got her to go back but it was difficult. A fearless racoon is cute but dangerous for the animal. Our dogs and horse and goats are used to her but other folks will not be so understanding. Racoons are a major resiviour for rabies in Florida and people are naturally skittish when they see racoons in the daytime. They are normally nocturnal.. So although she is surviving well on her own, it is a bit dissapointing that she is so friendly. When I say friendly I mean she wants to be near us but she has given us clear direction that she does not want to be petted or picked up. Hissing, barking and growling when we try. But even so, she enjpys being around us. Oh well, we'll keep working with her. A note about how we end up with these guys. Dolly volunteers for Florida Wildlife Care. They rescue, treat and release orphaned and hurt wildlife. We are the racoon peolpe. After they are weaned they usually come to us for several months until they are old enough to survive on their own and we "wild" them up. Usually this is not a problem. Sometimes, however, we get racoons that are a little older and someone has taken them in as a pet until they get big enough to be a problem (up to 40 pounds of curious, cranky raccon is something to behold) then they turn them over to us. The problem is that these folks over socialize them and they are not fit to be pet but not skilled enough to live in the wild on their own. It can take considerably longer to "wild" them enough to release them. Babette is a case in point. We got her at about 3 months? old. Hard to say sometimes. The woman that had found her (Babette was her name, hence the racoons name) had treated her as a pet. She had moved the racoon into the house. She slept in the ladies bed, played with the cats, ate cat food, used the litter box, became a pet. She ulimately realized that as cute as they are when small they don't remain that way forever. So we got a "ruined" racoon to rehab. I'll keep you posted.......later, gotta go back to work (ugh)