2012.09.22 13:00 - Raccoons and Security Blankets

The Guardian for this meeting was Bruce Mowbray.  The coments are by Bruce Mowbray,

It was just Kori and I  -- and the raccoons, and Linus, and the blanket.

The raccoons have their roof refuge; Linus has his blanket.

Korel Laloix: Heya
Bruce Mowbray: Heya, Kori!
--BELL--
Bruce Mowbray: How do you get raccoons out of your roofing?
Korel Laloix: No idea on that one... they have to eat though... so leverage that.
Bruce Mowbray: kk.. Eat away. . . me too, actually.....   afk for a sec.
Korel Laloix: OK
Bruce Mowbray: [back]
Bruce Mowbray: Oh, you meant the raccoons have to eat through the roof -- I thought you were saying you needed to get something to eat for yourself!!!
Korel Laloix: Just had a late lunch.
Bruce Mowbray: Little likelihood of their eating through the roof.
Korel Laloix: But yes, they have to eat.
Korel Laloix: Unless they are mutants.
Bruce Mowbray: They have made a home between the old metal roof and the new one that I installed ten years ago (also metal).
Bruce Mowbray: But there is the NOISE -- in the middle of the night... you know.
Korel Laloix: Noisy?
Korel Laloix: Oh Ok.
Korel Laloix: Yes... fresh black pepper can discourage them I am told.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, and also noise when they jump from tree branches onto the roof in the middle of the night ---  KURPLUMPPPPP.
Bruce Mowbray: Oh -- Great idea!!
Bruce Mowbray: I was thinking about smoking them out...
Bruce Mowbray: but don't want to set fire to the house.
Korel Laloix: http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Raccoons
Bruce Mowbray: AHHH!
Bruce Mowbray: I like the tennis balls soaked with ammonia suggestion.
Bruce Mowbray: Wouldn't need to be tennis balls, would it.
Bruce Mowbray: Could just be rags.
Korel Laloix: Not sure.
Korel Laloix: But experimenting could be fun.
Bruce Mowbray: I will buy some ammonia tomorrow.
Korel Laloix: They can be silly stubborn critters.
Korel Laloix: So be ready for a long struggle.
Bruce Mowbray: I've caught some with a live trap and re-located them
Korel Laloix: Or start designing your fur hat.
Bruce Mowbray: My worry is that when I'm away from the farm for several days, they will eat all of my dog's food - leaving him hungry.
Korel Laloix: They will do that.. or worse to him.
Bruce Mowbray: I will be four days in Chicago at the end of next week -- and four days in New York after that.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, also worries about rabies, of course.
Bruce Mowbray: Saw a fascinating study on PBS about raccoons and how they build their territories in cities.
Korel Laloix: Maybe get someone to check in on the dog while you are gone.
Korel Laloix: Have not seen that.
Bruce Mowbray: yeah, good idea.
Korel Laloix: Or maybe a friend will take him on for a week.
Korel Laloix: He have any doggie friends he would like to chill with?.. smiles
Bruce Mowbray: Raccoons establish remarkably small territories - - sort of like clans.
Bruce Mowbray: My dog does not recognize himself as a dog -- so doesn't have doggie friends.
Korel Laloix: Oh OK.
Korel Laloix: Dogs can be such high maintenance.
Bruce Mowbray: In an area of a city for example, there can be a dozen or more "territories" for each clan of raccoons. . .
Korel Laloix: That is a deal breaker for me dating...
Bruce Mowbray: My dog is the lowest maintenance of all.
Korel Laloix: Interesting.
Bruce Mowbray: He is very independent.
Bruce Mowbray: He prefers to be outside. . . and -- like his hermit master -- he accommodates all strangers happily, but he's also quite happy to be left alone.
Korel Laloix: Nice...
Korel Laloix: Well I am glad you have the company.
Bruce Mowbray: I have left him alone for up to two weeks with absolutely no problem.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, he is a wonderful companion.
Korel Laloix: Did you ask him if it was an issue?
Bruce Mowbray: Nope.
Korel Laloix: A very large cat has us.
Korel Laloix: And he comes and goes as he pleases.. we feed him a little.
Korel Laloix: Not sure where else he gets his meals.
Korel Laloix: He catches a lot of things though..
Bruce Mowbray: Nor do I ask him where he's been when he leaves for four days and returns to the farm utterly exhausted with big gashes on his face.
Korel Laloix: Just wish he would chase off the rabbits a bit more.
Korel Laloix: Best not to.
Korel Laloix smiles
Bruce Mowbray: cat -- I don't understand them as much as I do dogs.

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: I have admiration for cats, though.
Korel Laloix: You have to build a relationship with a cat from ground up.
Korel Laloix: Not like dogs where leader of the pack automatically give you street cred.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, best to start with a kitten -- that's also the case with most dogs, though.
Bruce Mowbray: If you can get a puppy before he's enters a pack,
Korel Laloix: And I find cats are a lot better at reading you and reacting to your emotions.
Bruce Mowbray: then... you can raise him the way you want him to be....
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, cats are amazing creatures -- like psychic vacuum sweepers.
Bruce Mowbray: For example....
Korel Laloix: And when a cat that weighs ten pounds sits on you, you are OK.. vs when a dog that weighs as much as you tries to sit on you.
Bruce Mowbray: when I got Bear, he was only about 8 wks old...
Bruce Mowbray: I knew that he needed to know two things:
Bruce Mowbray: how to get out of the way of a car on the road (since we only get about one per hour)....
Bruce Mowbray: and not to bark at strangers coming on the farm ---
Bruce Mowbray: to read electric meters, deliver mail, fill up propane tank, etc.
Bruce Mowbray: So, those are the two things I taught him.
Bruce Mowbray: and now, after 13 years ---
Bruce Mowbray: no human has ever been barked at...
Bruce Mowbray: and he's avoided all cars on the road.
Bruce Mowbray: Of course, it takes a bit of native intelligence on the dog's part.
Bruce Mowbray: My father was a vet.
Bruce Mowbray: and he used to say,
Bruce Mowbray: The first step in training a dog....  is to be smarter than the dog.
Bruce Mowbray: But I disagree.
Korel Laloix: lol....
Bruce Mowbray: My dog is vastly smarter than I am -- and yet I trained him well.
Korel Laloix: Would be hard for a lot of people I know.
Bruce Mowbray: yeppers.
Korel Laloix smiles
Korel Laloix: Cats are very self training.
Bruce Mowbray: Do you have pets now, Kori?
Korel Laloix: A cat has us.
Bruce Mowbray: ahhh!'I do understand.
Bruce Mowbray: Cats have sort of a regal quality --- they own the palace, as it were.
Korel Laloix: Evidently, about a month before I moved in, he just walked in the house and made himself at home.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes.
Bruce Mowbray: No ammonia-soaked tennis balls for him.
Korel Laloix: Grandma enjoyed the company so she did not shoo him off.
Bruce Mowbray: ;-)
Korel Laloix: And he hunts quite well.
Bruce Mowbray: a mouser.
Bruce Mowbray: Surprisingly, my dog also used to hunt -- in his youth.
Korel Laloix: And snakes and other critters.
Bruce Mowbray: He would bring in rabbits...
Bruce Mowbray: but he quickly saw that that did not meet with my praise...
Korel Laloix: But he does not go after the birds.. or at least he rarely brings us the proceeds.
Bruce Mowbray: so then he still hunted them (the rabbits) ...
Bruce Mowbray: but he sort of gave me a cold shoulder as he took them behind the barn.
Korel Laloix: I think his territory is rather limited though.
Bruce Mowbray: Cats are natural bird hunters.
Bruce Mowbray: Did you ever have the feeling that you might have once been an animal, Kori?
Korel Laloix: I know.. but maybe his previous family did not approve.
Korel Laloix: No... never been even remotely moved by the idea of reincarnation.
Korel Laloix: I do have affinity with certain animals though.
Bruce Mowbray: Hmmm. Me neither... but I have a sense that I was a dog once... not necessarily through reincarnation, though.
Bruce Mowbray: I think in my case it was a very early child-identity thing.
Bruce Mowbray: because the first thing I remember in my whole life was the birth of nine English Setter puppies under our kitchen table.
Bruce Mowbray: And their mother wouldn't nurse them, so my mother fed them with a baby bottle.
Bruce Mowbray: and one of them we named "Count" and we took him when we moved to to Iowa on my fifth birthday...
Bruce Mowbray: and Count died when I was 16.

--BELL--

Korel Laloix: wow...
Bruce Mowbray: He was probably my best friend when I was a child.
Bruce Mowbray: (afk for a sec.)
Bruce Mowbray: [back]
Korel Laloix: I did not grow up with pets.
Bruce Mowbray: Since we lived in the country and I never saw kids my own age...
Bruce Mowbray: I think I sort of identified myself as a dog. . ..
Bruce Mowbray: since there were a lot more dogs around than people.
Korel Laloix: Interesting... maybe part of your desire for solitude with a hound now?
Bruce Mowbray: The first time I ever saw kids my own age was when I was five and my mom took me to kindergarten.
Bruce Mowbray: I thought I had gone to another planet---- the outer darkness!
Bruce Mowbray: I still remember the trauma -- vividly.
Korel Laloix: I can only imagine.
Bruce Mowbray: If the room had been filled with dogs instead of kids my own age, I wouldn't have had any problem, I'm sure.
Korel Laloix: Must have been a shock on many levels.
Bruce Mowbray: yes, I think it might have affected my emotional development, for sure.
Bruce Mowbray: perhaps also affected my need to become a hermit.
Bruce Mowbray: I especially enjoy reading the works of Winnicott (child psychologist) on this...
Korel Laloix: brb
Bruce Mowbray: he is the dude who talked about "transitional objects" and "good-enough mothers...." etc etc etc.
Bruce Mowbray: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Winnicott
Bruce Mowbray: 'Donald Winnicott came to psychoanalysis from pediatrics, and...through his analysis with James Strachey', and his work with children and their mothers fed into the experience on which he built his most influential concepts, such as the "holding environment" so crucial to psychotherapy, and the "transitional object," known to every parent as the "security blanket."
Bruce Mowbray: My security blanket was a dog named "Count."
Bruce Mowbray: (and still is!)
Korel Laloix: Read of him before.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, very important dude in early childhood psychology...
Bruce Mowbray: Probably as influential as Dr. Spock...
Bruce Mowbray: but more based on clinical research.
Korel Laloix: brb
Bruce Mowbray: Influenced Charles Shultz with Linus -- who always held the security blanket, you'll remember.
Bruce Mowbray: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_van_Pelt
Bruce Mowbray: http://www.toddlittleton.net/linus-b...urgical-escape
Korel Laloix: Sorry... back in a bit ... Darn RL.
Bruce Mowbray: np., Kori. Be well.
Korel Laloix: Talk to you later... smiles
Korel Laloix: ciao

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: http://ramblingsfromtheleft.files.wo...us-peanuts.gif
Bruce Mowbray: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SRebQG7JBU...1600/Linus.jpg
Bruce Mowbray: http://favim.com/image/5478/
Bruce Mowbray: http://peelslowlynsee.files.wordpres...pg?w=300&h=276
Bruce Mowbray: http://animatedtv.about.com/b/2011/1...rlie-brown.htm
Bruce Mowbray: http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/...s=0,0&format=0