Adventures

Okay, I understand that a lot of people are upset by the fact that User A can directly connect her comments in User B's LJ to User A's own Facebook account, including linking to the post where the comments were made, even if it's a locked post.

What I'm not understanding is everyone's threats of "If you, flist, do any of this, you are dead to me."

1) While this enhancement implementation is new, the concept has been possible ever since copy/paste was available (ie, since before LJ existed). If I wanted to, I could copy and paste a comment that I made in a friend's LJ and put it as my Facebook status. I could even copy/paste the link to that entry, regardless of it's security-level, and put it on my Facebook. Does that make it right? Of course not. But if you think that this new feature somehow makes your content less protected, you're mistaken - it's already subject to copying and pasting at someone's will. And now that Facebook has the ability to do @Usernames which will show up on that @user's wall, it's even EASIER to connect the two social networking sites.

2) If you are really concerned that some people on your flist may do this, then you need to evaluate who's on your flist. Or at least evaluate what filters they're on. It's easy for people to connect LiveJournal Lizzie9208 to the Elizabeth Hartman on Facebook (after all, my AIM nickname listed on FB is Lizzie9208), so all of my public LJ entries are things I wouldn't mind my mom reading. Most of my flocked entries are things I wouldn't mind my mom reading, either, to be honest. I have other filters based upon who I want reading the content, which is also based upon how much I trust them. If someone abuses that trust, then they're immediately kicked off that filter. But they're also on those filters because I *know* they wouldn't post comments - their own or mine, or my posts - in other places, regardless of whether LJ has a fancy tool that does it or not.

So, y'all, calm down. I don't like this new feature and I hope LJ creates a way to disable it, but please do not think that just because those checkboxes are there means that your LJ is suddenly a lot less secure than it has been in the past. This is just a tool that skips a couple of the steps you would otherwise have to do on your own if you wanted to copy/paste a comment into FB.

No matter how long I've been rehabbing, I don't think I'll ever get used to some of the positions the raccoons sleep in. They contort their bodies around toys. They'll all pile on top of one another. They'll sleep sitting up inside the water bowls. They'll sleep in ways that look so unnatural and uncomfortable to me, I can't possibly imagine why they're doing it. Sometimes I think they're dead. There's been more than one occasion where I've run outside and poked them, or yelled at them just to make sure they're still alive. Because why else would you sleep like this?

Hanging upside down from the hammock.


( Click the cut for more pictures and a video! )

On Saturday, I released three adult raccoons that I had in the outdoor habitat. Dustin and I made the trek up to North Georgia and released them into a large forest where they will have plenty of places to play, eat, swim, and live in the wild. I'm so relieved I was able to release these guys - they had been kept as pets passed their sexual maturity, so they were tamed to human interaction. Over the course of the past few months, I've been hands-off with them and they've realized that I, nor any other human, is supposed to be their friend. They had reached all other goals in my release criteria, so they were ready to go! The release was a complete success!

This release also meant a big change for some of my raccoons at home - the juveniles got to move from the ferret cages on the porch to the BIG habitat outside! My outside habitat is 16' x 12' with an 8' tall ceiling, so it's big enough to house a lot of raccoons until they can be released. Even though I think the adult males would have gotten along with the juveniles, I didn't want such a wide age-gap between the raccoons, so I decided to wait until the males were released before putting the juveniles in the habitat. I did it just in time, too - things were getting a bit crowded in the ferret cage! Even though there was technically enough room for all the raccoons that were in there, they LOVE to pile on top of one another, which made them all look a bit squished.



After the outdoor habitat had been cleaned and sanitized, it was ready for the next batch of raccoons. I picked the oldest of my babies - 13 raccoons ranging from about 14 weeks to 8 weeks old - to put in the habitat. They are SO tiny in the big habitat, but I know they'll grow into it soon! This is the last "move" they'll make until their release. This is where they'll learn to fish, dig for grubs, and other important life skills before they get released into the wild.

Here are two videos of them exploring their new digs. :-)

Last Friday, I was really having a rough day. I had to turn away taking in a mother raccoon and her three babies due to the long commute to get them and the lack of space for them at my house. I felt so awful and I came home emotionally exhausted from work and rehabbing drama.

So when I checked the mail and found a package from papayarain, I started to cry because a care package of love was exactly what I needed right then. It was a delightful surprise, and the contents made me laugh and smile for the rest of the evening.



( Pictures of what's inside! )

Mo, thank you so so much for this wonderful box of love! It came at just the right time, when I was stressed out and in need of some support. You rock!

A week ago, I got a phone call from a homeowner, Sam, who had a mother raccoon and her baby kits living in his attic. When I talked to him, a trapper had come and caught the mother, but the babies were still stuck up in the attic. After being without their mom (and thus, without nourishment) for three days, I told him that we were on a race against the clock to get the babies out before they died of dehydration. If he could get the babies out of his attic, I would take them. If he could get the mother back from the trapper (who was keeping her until they figured out what to do), then I would take her, too.

On Thursday, he called me with fantastic news - he had gotten three raccoon kits out of his attic and the trapper had given him the mother. He and his wife, Sharon, were awesome enough to meet me at my office to give me the four raccoons - the babies in one box and the mother in the have-a-heart trap. I was so anxious on the drive home with these guys - I've never taken in a mother and her babies before, let alone reunited a mother with her kits, so I was unsure what to expect. Plus, the mother was SO upset that she could hear her babies in the box next to get, but couldn't get to them. When I got home, I prepared a temporary cage for her outside and then reunited her with the babies. She was upset to be in a cage, but very, very relieved to have her babies with her.

Over the next couple of days, I made sure she had food, water, a litter pan, and food for the babies in case her milk had dried up and she was no longer able to nurse them. I tried to keep my distance as much as possible so I didn't stress her out any more than she already was.

On Sunday, Sam called me up again because he heard more chirping in the attic and found baby #4. We met up and I took the baby home to momma raccoon. As soon as I put baby #4 in the cage with the mother, Sam called again because - you got it - he found baby #5. We met up again and I reunited the mother with this baby, too.

By that point, I could tell that the mother really wanted to get out of the cage. She was anxious about being in there, searching around for a way out. I didn't want to risk her freaking out so much that when she left, she wouldn't take her babies with her. I opened up the cage door for her and added a portable fence to the front of the cage so hopefully the babies wouldn't escape on their own. She scoped out our farm and came back a couple of hours later to collect her babies and take them to her new home.

Here's the video of her grabbing each baby and taking them to the tree hollow where they now live. It's not too far away from our house (I was taking this video outside my bedroom window), so I'm still able to keep an eye on her and feed her until she finds enough food on her own.

I drive an SUV.
I use plastic grocery bags.
I drive 60 miles daily to and from work.
I buy bottled soda drinks.
I shop at chain grocery stores instead of local farmers markets.
I buy things from online vendors.
I get leftovers from restaurants boxed in styrofoam containers.
I use a tractor.
I buy prepackaged meals and products wrapped in plastic.

I am the oil spill.

I am the ocean waters, muddy and opaque.
I am the marine life, struggling to survive.
I am the birds, unable to fly.
I am the fisheries, unable to make money.
I am the people who lost their lives in the explosion.
I am the beaches, covered in tar-balls and unfit for summer vacations.
I am the land animals, losing their food source and habitat.

I am the oil spill.

We aren't BP, Transocean or Halliburton, but we all contributed to this oil spill due to our consumption of products that use or contain oil. We are a country dependent upon oil. While we can blame those three companies for the direct cause of the oil spill, we have to point the fingers at ourselves, too.

What should we do about it? Personally, I am not in a position to go off the proverbial grid when it comes to oil usage. I like my SUV - ironically, I bought it *because* of my wildlife rehabbing. I like shopping online due to my hatred of shopping. I like getting to-go containers from restaurants and living on my family's farm, where I have a longer commute to work and have grass to mow. I am not in a position, either through necessity or desire, to stop using all products and services that use oil.

But I CAN start using oil-based products more wisely. I can't save the world single-handedly, but changing some of my habits will make a difference, however small. Recycle more. Bring reusable bags to the grocery store or reusable containers for to-go food. Compost. Combine errands. Carpool or work from home one day a week. Buy energy-star appliances. Support legislation that makes offshore oil drilling safer, or legislation that explores alternative fuel sources.

Friends, I challenge you to make differences in your own lives - instead of selling your cars and buying bikes (unless you really want to), try to find smaller ways to help our environment. These little changes add up. Let's take that guilt and turn it into something positive. Maybe if we all work together, we can move towards a nation that is less dependent on oil.

Dear lady,
If you call me at 8 a.m. on a weekday (ie, while I'm at work) about a baby raccoon in your yard and then proceed to tell me that you live two hours away from where I work, you will not drive anywhere to meet up with me, and you are leaving at noon TODAY to go on vacation, don't be surprised when I tell you that I cannot help you. This is not my job - this is volunteer work, and I cannot leave my paying-job for four hours in order to meet up with you so you can get a pat on the back for saving a raccoon.

I told her to call the other raccoon rehabber in metro-Atlanta, but the other rehabber lives near where I work, and will ALSO not travel that far to get a raccoon, so I have no idea what this woman is going to do. Sadly, she'll probably just leave it in her yard to die.

I'm so sick of people expecting me to do all the pick-up for these guys when that's just the beginning of my investment into these animals. Even after I explain that I don't get paid for this and how much each raccoon costs me to raise and release (~$300), the majority of people are still only willing to drive 20 minutes out of their way in order to deliver the raccoons to me and expect to get a huge pat on the back for their "help." No.

No love,
Me

PS. Ha. I just finished writing this and our local Fox news station called me to see if they could come out and film video of my raccoons for a story they're doing on rabies vaccine bait drops in north Georgia. After hearing what the story was about and finding out it's NOT an anti-raccoon story, I said it'd be okay for them to film my raccoons. "Okay, we can be there in an hour, will that work for you?" HA! Um, no lady, I have to work.

I lost one of the new raccoons early this morning.

It was bound to happen. He and his sister had been found in the attic SIX DAYS after the mother was captured and released elsewhere. A third baby, Oscar, was found three days after the mother was evicted, and the (human) mother and her daughter managed to feed him kitten milk replacer and get him to a rehabber. After I met up to get Oscar, the woman called me about an hour later saying she had two more for me. I told her I'd meet her at the gas station in 35 minutes. She said she was going to try to give them a bit of water, then bring them to me.

Instead, she gave them cow's milk with a spoon. Giving the liquid with a spoon, an instrument that is WAY too big for the 4 inch long from nose-to-tail animal's mouth is a recipe for disaster. It'll almost always cause aspiration and once that liquid gets into the lungs of an already immuno-compromised animal, it's very hard to reverse the damage.

Believe it or not, cow's milk is one of the WORST things you can give an emaciated, dehydrated animal. Not only is it the wrong chemical makeup of protein, fat, and fiber for every animal except a cow, but it's also a really heavy, strong milk. WAY too strong for an animal that has gone without food for nearly a week. Dehydrated animals need to be pumped full of electrolytes first - dehydration is a much more dire problem than emaciation and if the animal is extremely dehydrated, the digestive system has already shut down. Giving the animal full-strength cow's milk is a terrible idea. For the first 24 hours after I get a dehydrated, emaciated animal, they don't get full-strength formula. I start out giving only electrolytes, then a very, very diluted form of the milk replacer, and then I slowly ramp up the ratio until the animal is getting full-strength formula. Giving an animal any kind of milk when it's on death's doorstep only hastens the death.

If the animal can be brought to a rehabber within a couple of hours of finding it, the best thing is to not feed the animal anything. Not only can their system not handle it, but the risk of aspiration is too great.

I don't know if this little guy would have made it even if she hadn't fed him cow's milk and made him aspirate. He was looking pretty rough already, but his chances would have been greater had she not tried to do the very thing that most people think they SHOULD do - feed the animal. I've started his sister on antibiotics and homeopathic treatment, hoping I can change her fate, but it's not looking good. :-(

Three hours later: I had to euthanize the sister. :-( She had moved into agonal breathing, so it was best just to end her suffering.

On Friday, I picked up five newborn raccoons from Cobb County Animal Control. The mother was trapped in someone's attic and released outside, leaving the babies behind. Thankfully, the homeowners brought them into animal control, and a rehabber who works there contacted me. The raccoons are currently about a week old and weigh 125 grams, measuring about 4 inches long. They're so tiny! They're in that so-ugly-they're-cute stage: their eyes and ears are fully closed, and they're pretty awkward creatures, as you'll see in the video below. I think these are the youngest raccoons I've rehabbed. Thankfully, they're all healthy and in great shape - I don't expect to have any problems with them. In a couple more weeks, they'll look more like raccoons and have fine motor skills down pat. Until then, they're just balls of awkwardness:
Four of them:


And a video of their awkwardness:


They look just as awkward as I felt in middle school.

Last Friday, I was looking forward to releasing my last four raccoons so I could have a couple weeks off before "baby season" begins. Ha! Instead, I got another juvenile on Sunday and tomorrow I will be picking up five (!!!!) newborn raccoons. For three days (Friday - Sunday), I will have three different age groups of raccoons with wildly different needs.

After the release on Sunday, I will be working like mad to get the floor ripped out of the habitat, get the rhino lining guy out here for an estimate, and hopefully get that installed asap so I can move the newest juvenile into his new home.

Oh, and on Saturday evening, we're hosting a barn concert. Which means all the organizing/cleaning projects I've been putting off for months have been full-swing-ahead, as 100 people are going to be milling around the barn and our house all evening.