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Description
Sooner is on the right

Anyhow, I saw the momma coon & babies in the small dogwood right out front on 7/31/13, & they were trying to empty my bird feeder which was already emptied by Squirmils the gray squirrel earlier in the day. I stood at the door with the flood lights on watching and laughing at the 6 coons' antics. Well, at some point they saw me and scattered. One baby went up the tree, Momma frantically jumped to the ground & ran off leaving her babies behind, and this little Boy had jumped onto the feeder and then just flip-flopped all over it, trying to cling to it when he finally found himself hanging from the bottom of it. It was sooooo funny to watch. After a minute or so, I realized he was kind of 'stuck' there slowly spinning, not knowing what to do with himself! (the feeder is only 10" across the widest point, and is only about 8" - 10" from the tree) He could have let go & landed on the soft earth below the feeder, (or grabbed the tree trunk not 6" from him) & the fall is only about 3.5 feet down from his back, so he wouldn't have been hurt if he fell. lol But instead, he just hung there grunting. I finally decided that since he wasn't going anywhere & Momma was no where to be seen, I grabbed the camera & the regular lens & went outside & began to pop off as many pix as I could. When I realized he was REALLY 'stuck' there, I moved in closer & got about 18" away from him. (I didn't wanna seem like a good escape rout & allow him to reach out for me in panic... ) But I still managed to get these great pix!!!

After washing up & brushing my teeth, I went back to the front door & found that Boy coon had managed to get back onto the tree & had scampered up the tree with one of his siblings. Still, Momma and the 3 other babies were no where to be seen, so I got 2 more pix. (not posted)

I went back inside, locked up, turned off all the lights and went down to bed. Ev was still awake watching TV when I climbed in next to him & began showing him the pix. He was like "Haha, that's cool, did you just take them now? That's really good, Sooner looks really good. What prompted you to do that now?" I had a good chuckle! I was like "That's not Sooner! That's a baby raccoon! Didn't you hear them on the porch? I thought Josh was awake fooling around in his room, but when I went to scold him, he was asleep. So, I turned on the porch lights to see if Zipper (our only outdoor kitty) wanted in, then I saw the raccoons again. They all ran off except this little boy!" Ev replied, "Ohhhhhhhhhh. LOL> I thought that was Sooner, your plush!" - Then he suddenly took more interest in my pictures. LOL He made a nice comment or two on how realistic Sooner looks while looking at my pix. It was ironic that the Boy coon was the same size...etc.. I was really excited about that!... Anyhow, that really set a fire in my brain, and I decided that if Ev thought so too, then I'd kind of have to prove it to myself!!!

This morning, to prove my theory about everything I know about how pelts stretch, and more so about my beliefs in Sooner, & related to a dream I had where I had to keep plucking a 'baby' Sooner off of high, various household items... I stuck Sooner in a reasonably similar position to that of Boy coon from last night. Besides, I wanted to REALLY know how old she is/was & conduct my little experiment. Her feet, head size, and overall body size are identical to Boy coons, except for the fact that she's longer. It is after all difficult to get a plush back into it's original shape. Sure, it can be done w/in reason, but not realistically unless it's on a well filled out l/s form. Naturally coons have some bulk to their bodies which would account for Sooners tanned & elongated body type as a plush. So, I figured out when the coon babies were probably born, and that these babies I saw last night have REALLY grown in the past month +, since last I saw them, to double their size. (how I saw them before I went to Maine - they were what I call a 'steal-able' size. lol) So, that puts Boy coon & his siblings at about 4mos old, so that means that Sooner was probably about the same age when she got herself perished.

Lol Momma coon has grown too. She's pretty big now. I put her at about 11 pounds. And (live)Sooner & the live baby coons about 3-5 lbs. They were mostly fur. lol

Description
Sooner is on the right

Anyhow, I saw the momma coon & babies in the small dogwood right out front on 7/31/13, & they were trying to empty my bird feeder which was already emptied by Squirmils the gray squirrel earlier in the day. I stood at the door with the flood lights on watching and laughing at the 6 coons' antics. Well, at some point they saw me and scattered. One baby went up the tree, Momma frantically jumped to the ground & ran off leaving her babies behind, and this little Boy had jumped onto the feeder and then just flip-flopped all over it, trying to cling to it when he finally found himself hanging from the bottom of it. It was sooooo funny to watch. After a minute or so, I realized he was kind of 'stuck' there slowly spinning, not knowing what to do with himself! (the feeder is only 10" across the widest point, and is only about 8" - 10" from the tree) He could have let go & landed on the soft earth below the feeder, (or grabbed the tree trunk not 6" from him) & the fall is only about 3.5 feet down from his back, so he wouldn't have been hurt if he fell. lol But instead, he just hung there grunting. I finally decided that since he wasn't going anywhere & Momma was no where to be seen, I grabbed the camera & the regular lens & went outside & began to pop off as many pix as I could. When I realized he was REALLY 'stuck' there, I moved in closer & got about 18" away from him. (I didn't wanna seem like a good escape rout & allow him to reach out for me in panic... ) But I still managed to get these great pix!!!

After washing up & brushing my teeth, I went back to the front door & found that Boy coon had managed to get back onto the tree & had scampered up the tree with one of his siblings. Still, Momma and the 3 other babies were no where to be seen, so I got 2 more pix. (not posted)

I went back inside, locked up, turned off all the lights and went down to bed. Ev was still awake watching TV when I climbed in next to him & began showing him the pix. He was like "Haha, that's cool, did you just take them now? That's really good, Sooner looks really good. What prompted you to do that now?" I had a good chuckle! I was like "That's not Sooner! That's a baby raccoon! Didn't you hear them on the porch? I thought Josh was awake fooling around in his room, but when I went to scold him, he was asleep. So, I turned on the porch lights to see if Zipper (our only outdoor kitty) wanted in, then I saw the raccoons again. They all ran off except this little boy!" Ev replied, "Ohhhhhhhhhh. LOL> I thought that was Sooner, your plush!" - Then he suddenly took more interest in my pictures. LOL He made a nice comment or two on how realistic Sooner looks while looking at my pix. It was ironic that the Boy coon was the same size...etc.. I was really excited about that!... Anyhow, that really set a fire in my brain, and I decided that if Ev thought so too, then I'd kind of have to prove it to myself!!!

This morning, to prove my theory about everything I know about how pelts stretch, and more so about my beliefs in Sooner, & related to a dream I had where I had to keep plucking a 'baby' Sooner off of high, various household items... I stuck Sooner in a reasonably similar position to that of Boy coon from last night. Besides, I wanted to REALLY know how old she is/was & conduct my little experiment. Her feet, head size, and overall body size are identical to Boy coons, except for the fact that she's longer. It is after all difficult to get a plush back into it's original shape. Sure, it can be done w/in reason, but not realistically unless it's on a well filled out l/s form. Naturally coons have some bulk to their bodies which would account for Sooners tanned & elongated body type as a plush. So, I figured out when the coon babies were probably born, and that these babies I saw last night have REALLY grown in the past month +, since last I saw them, to double their size. (how I saw them before I went to Maine - they were what I call a 'steal-able' size. lol) So, that puts Boy coon & his siblings at about 4mos old, so that means that Sooner was probably about the same age when she got herself perished.

Lol Momma coon has grown too. She's pretty big now. I put her at about 11 pounds. And (live)Sooner & the live baby coons about 3-5 lbs. They were mostly fur. lol