I have recently been diagnosed with pneumonia. Thankfully, I have only gone to the ER to get supportive fluids. I have managed to stay out of the hospital. But this bug has got me wiped. If I can make it out early in the morning to feed, for me that’s a good day.

I wanted to say “Thank You!” to whoever it is that is sending Friskies canned food to us. To say that we are grateful is an understatement. The kitties inside the sanctuaries are enjoying this to the max. I cannot feed wet food outside. The neighbors cat comes over every morning and if there’s wet food out, she eats it.

Plus, few months ago, I noticed a new visitor on the property- one lonely raccoon.  I haven’t seen any wildlife on my property since the Holiday Farm Fires That was over three years ago now. This raccoon was acting a bit odd. Coming out early in the morning, peeking around the barn at me when I was feeding. Generally, when I did see raccoons in the past, it would be at night or super early in the morning. I was hoping it was a male, But males generally don’t stick around they wander.

Yesterday when I went to feed at 4 AM. I didn’t see one raccoon. I saw 10! Mama has had nine babies! That’s pretty rare, but I believe they know that their numbers were decimated during the fire and they’re making up for it.

I’m going to call Fish and Wildlife today and talk to them and see if I can get some of them to come out if I can get these some of these babies trapped. I’m hoping they’ll be able to come by and pick the babies up and take them somewhere where I know they’re not going to end up on the highway . They deserve a chance at a normal life.

It’s so funny to watch these babies scamper around in the grasses early in the morning. I’ve been putting out nuts and berries, hoping that that will stop them from eating cat food, which is not the best food for them. But in all the years I’ve been here I have never seen a mom raccoon with more than four babies. I have a feeling fish and wildlife are going to tell me that they want the raccoons to repopulate in all the areas and I’m kind of stuck with them. So this means that my free roaming ferals that come and go here and eat early in the morning will have to change their schedule or find someplace else to get food.

The cats are curious about the newcomers. But I believe mom has already made her intentions known that they are to leave her babies completely alone. Kota already knows not to chase any wildlife so I’m not worried about him. What I am worried about is the traffic that sometimes goes as high as 90 miles an hour on Highway 20. It would break my heart to have to pull these babies off the road. I will see what fish and wildlife have to say. I know that it’s against the law federally to relocate skunks in Oregon. But I don’t know if that applies to raccoons or not. I hope not.

All cats are doing fine. They don’t like the extreme heat and then the sudden snap to colder nights. It’s been a strange start to the summer.

Again, many thanks to the person who sent the cat food for our rescues.