I was feeding the raccoons out in the breezeway for their morning meal since I thought it might be too cool outside. Everything went well. They're eating like pigs and getting just as fat as one. They were busily climbing about on my shoulders after eating when I smelled the unmistakable odor of fresh scat. I looked down on my smock and there was a fresh, ochre-colored string of it caught in a roll of the fabric. Okay, that's it. Everyone in the carrier to be transported to the outdoor cage. Deftly, I tore off a paper towel from the roll I have on hand and plucked it up. It looked kinda smaller than usual but I got it all. All that was on my shirt that is.

Out they went to the cage and were soon happily frolicking around in the larger space. After watching them for a little bit, I went back inside to do my usual cleaning up of the bottles and wash down my arms and face since they like to give me raccoon kisses after they've eaten and they've got sticky formula on their muzzles. I grabbed a cup of coffee, then walked back to the bedroom to ask Bill if he wanted to drink the rest of his coffee out in the gazebo since it was such a nice day out. Sure, he says. I walked back to the breezeway and there I saw that lovely ochre color in splotches up and down the rug on the breezeway. Oh, God!

See the problem is that a 60-70% of raccoons have roundworm eggs in their feces. It's not a pretty disease to contract although it is rare and uncommmon to get it. Here's a good explanation of it: Raccoon Roundworm - what you should know. So, I was freaking out about getting this matter all over the house. Bleach will dissolve the shell of the egg and make it difficult for the egg to attach itself to our organs so I went around with my spray bottle of bleach and water squirting the whole breezeway carpet, the whole kitchen and dining room, and the hallway back to our bedroom. Bill and I did drink coffee out in the gazebo for a bit but then he got the rug shampooer out and shampooed the carpet for me. I mopped the kitchen and dining room. That's the only bad part rehabbing. Those nasty parasites. Half the time I'm worried that I've contracted the disease already. But, Barb, the local rehabber says she's been doing this for 15 years and she's not very careful about cleaning up after all the animals she's taken care of. She gets tested every year and she has come out clean. So, that's reassuring but it still freaks me out wondering about it.

Other than that, I have been enjoying taking care of these acrobatic critters. It's been fun to watch them develop their skills at climbing and playing. All they have to do is master something once and they know how to do it for life. They've learned quickly how to climb up the sides of the outdoor cage. I leave the top open for now because they are just in the curious and exploring stage but very dependent on "mommy" yet. They climb all around the sides hanging on carefully, quickly mastering their balance.

I've been giving them a variety of items to play with. One thing they've like are unshelled hazelnuts and Brazil nuts. They love to sit there and pat intently on the round shapes. They pat intently on everything new but they keep coming back to the nuts and pushing them around. I slipped in a shiny Luna bar wrapper yesterday and they all ran over to investigate it. All three of them gave the wrapper a good patting and nosing around for awhile. They'd go off to balance on the log I put in there or knead and nip at the little teddy bear that's in there and then they'd come back to the wrapper fascinated with its feel and shine.

So, okay, other than that, Todd had a big interview today with Anthem Insurance for his co-op term that's in conjunction with his computer training studies at Cincinnati State. When he went to print out his resume, he found out that my printer wasn't working. The printing had gotten distorted and screwy so I uninstalled it and reinstalled it a few days ago and it wouldn't print at all. I suspected the driver needed to be updated but wanted to let Bill take a look at it before I tried anything. Thing was that Bill had been busy reconstructing his main computer over the weekend and week and hadn't had time for me to ask him about this problem. It figures that these things always happen when time is crunched. I dragged Bill out of the bedroom, where he was sitting at one of his computers after he had finished with the rug shampooing, to fix the printer problem. Amy was furiously typing away on Todd's resume doing a few minor changes and adding a contact page. I was trying to mop the kitchen floor.

Bill did his usual magic and got the printer working but not until he bugged me needlessly about calling up K-Mart to activate the warranty on the new VCR we had to buy the day before. Trouble was, that didn't need to be done because the VCR he got wasn't the kind we really wanted. We like the commercial advance VCR and the one he got was only a commercial scan one. So, he went over to Radio Shack the same morning and picked up the right VCR. So, he got his VCR's mixed up and was nagging me unneccessarily. But that was because he was ticked off at the printer problem and because there was a clock ticking on Todd to get all this done so he could leave for the interview.

All this and none of us had had breakfast yet. I think Amy made herself and Todd a power shake or something but Bill hadn't had anything and it was almost 11:30. My poor man just doesn't function as well when he's hungry. But I couldn't make breakfast while he was in the middle of fixing that problem.

I retreated to my room to fold clothes and to feel sorry for myself for causing such a commotion with the raccoon turds. Bill yelled in at me again for not calling the 800 number about starting the warranty and I finally mentioned that I thought that was for the K-Mart VCR and then he felt like a dope because then he remembered that it was for the K-Mart one that was going to be taken back. Immediately, he came to the bedroom door to apologize for being a jerk and when he saw me sitting there shedding tears he came on in to gave me a hug and a kiss. I wanted him to sit down but he couldn't because at that time he hadn't gotten the printer fixed yet. So, I let him get back to the task. I had just wanted a better hug but I could collect on it later.

Soon, he fixed the printer. Todd was in the shower. Amy was printing from my machine but there was still a problem. The printing was coming out skewed on the paper. I had finished folding the clothes and was rejunevated by the apology and the attention the jerk gave me so I came out and looked at the printer. The problem was that I hadn't put the back of the printer on properly after unlodging a paper jam last week. I fixed that and, finally, the printing worked beautifully. Todd was done in the shower. Then he needed driving directions to get to the place. The woman who had set up the interview didn't give him the address. For some reason, it was difficult to find the exact address of this place so Amy, Todd, and I all three immediately went to Google and began looking it up. Amy found it first. I put in the address on Map Quest and got the driving directions printed out for him.

Finally, I went to make Bill and me some breakfast. We sat down to eat at 11:58. Todd, at least, still had half an hour to dress before he had to leave. All problems had been solved. The flurry in the air sagged like a leaky balloon. Finally.