Happy Springtime Folks !!
So..before I launch into my new "story"....a reader of my last blog, " pet peeves

when eating out " offered this "peeve".....while you are eating at your table...the

folks next to you get up and leave...immediately an employee swoops in with the

disinfectant and starts spraying it on the table...you can see AND smell the

germacide as it floats toward your table. NICE ! Good one reader !

Ok...on to a much lighter subject !
Abigail and Zorro ...brother and sister. I met them in 1975 under not too wonderful

circumstances. I was heading home after a marathon recording session for Jesse

Colin Young...a 10 hour session at Jesse's studio in Pt. Reyes for the Songbird

album on Warner Bros. I was on " D " street just outside of Pt. Reyes at 4:00 in the

morning. I happened to look to the right and saw a mother raccoon who had been

hit and killed by a passing car...probably not long before I showed up. I noticed

that there were 2 baby raccoons on top of their mother clinging to her. It was an

awful sight. I stopped about 20 feet away and exited my car and slowly walked

toward the " kits" talking to them in a very calm voice. They were obviously

distraught but trusted me. I knew that if I left them, they probably wouldn't survive

in the wild. So I slowly made my way towards them and after 15 minutes or so, I

was within a foot or two from them. I reached out to touch them and they were

VERY receptive. I picked up each one of them and took them to my car. They

climbed into the back seat and as I drove off they looked back at their slain

mother. It was a very emotional sight !! We arrived at my home in Petaluma at

about 5:00. I picked up my new friends and brought them into our home. I took

them upstairs to our bedroom. Judy awoke to see two baby raccoons staring at

her on the bed. She couldn't believe her eyes ! I told her what had happened and

we went downstairs to get some food for the little "orphans". Not knowing what

raccoons eat, we brought a buffet. They ate almost everything and then settled

down on our bed for a snooze. It was now 6:00 in the morning and raccoons being

a nocturnal animal, were also ready to go to sleep. We all woke up at noon. I

realized that I needed to find a home for them pronto. I called the Humane Society
and told the lady my story and asked if I could bring them in. She informed me that
they couldn't take in wild animals but did I live on any amount of property ? I said

that we had an acre of land...she said..."you just became dad" ! HUH ??
She said that putting such young raccoons back into the wild would be a death

sentence for them. I immediately " snapped into action " and called my

construction friends. We set out to build THE best raccoon resort in North America

!! While we labored to build the cage, Abigail and Zorro lived in our home. One

week later it was done ....replete with a HUGE swimming pool, rope swing, a" nest "
up high in the oak tree where they would sleep during the day and many toys for

them to play with at night. We would hear them tearing it up ALL night and in the

morning we would go the the cage and sit on the floor while they were sleeping in

their "nest". We always came armed with goodies which we put in our various

pockets for them to find. Slowly Abigail would open her eyes, yawn broadly, look

down at us and eventually make her way down the ladder to our laps. Knowing

that we had goodies hidden in our bathrobes, she would gently search in each

pocket to find the treats. Meanwhile, Zorro could care less. Raccoons have 4

fingers and a thumb so they are very adroit...they are extremely smart and strong.
They are in the bear family and when they would sit in their haunches, they would

look just like little bears. Every year our veterinarian would come to give our furry
friends their rabies shot...this was always a " battle"! We had to get them into a

burlap sack and the vet would find their butt and "bingo"...
Abigail and Zorro lived to be 12 years old. They would have lived longer but the

neighbor's teenage son who had a history of problems with cruelty to animals

came to the cage at night and fed our babies snail bait. We came out in the

morning to 2 dead raccoons...they were lying on their sides with foam coming out

of their mouths. The autopsy showed that it was snail bait and everything pointed

to our neighbor's son. Obviously a very sick thing to do from a very disturbed

person. However, Abigail and Zorro had 12 GREAT years at the Raccoon Ramada.
It was overall, a wonderful experience for all of us.
Until next time...enjoy our beautiful springtime in Sonoma County !

***Please check out... www.peterwelker.com