This is a photo of one of our raccoon teenagers, taken while she was eating a snack this morning. The name "raccoon" comes from the Algonquian word aroughcoune, which means "he who scratches with his hands." The kits are spending less and less time with their mamas and we expect that come spring they'll wander off to seek their place in the larger world. I frequently joke that I should have been a zoology major but in reality I almost always find natural history boring compared to the lovely jolt of actually encountering a wild animal face to face.
And apropos of nothing except the fact that it amused me, here's quote from Annie Dillard's sublime book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek:
I wake up thinking: What am I reading? What will I read next? I'm terrified that I'll run out, that I will read through all I want to, and be forced to learn wildflowers at last, to keep awake.
Today's front yard critter count:
Raccoons:
Morning: 2 teenagers
Evening: 4 teenagers
Deer: 0
