Jean, not sure how big the little guys (and gals) would be after a year, but here's some info from this site - "After mating has occurred the gestation period for raccoons is 60 to 73 days. Then the females give birth to one to eight cubs, with an average of three or four cubs. At birth the cubs are helpless with closed ears and eyes, but they open after 18 to 24 days. The cubs nurse for a weaning period of 70 days, and the mother still continues to give protection up to one year (Fox, 2001). At this point the yearlings will disperse for up to 75 miles to find their own home ranges. The time that the mother and young spend together represents the most significant bond in raccoon social behavior, but it ends after about one year (Graham, 1997)." Maybe you already knew all of that! It could be that the young'uns are off on a new life adventure. :) Brenda

I got a birdfeeder with a cylindrical baffle as shown by terrene. All cost me $200. My birds have no problem with squirrels which are not able to climb over that baffle. On the birdfeeder I have two dispensers with black sunflower seeds and one with suet. There was no demand for any other birdfood which my birds did not touch or simply shoveled to the ground. Since we view the birds from the kitchen's sliding glass door, over the deck, the feeder was placed about 8-10 ft further from the deck, also sufficiently away from pine branches. Squirrels could not jump to or drop onto the feeder. Prior to that I used a very low cost construction with the same good results : a long fence post with cedar post bolted to it for height, all covered with a 4 inch diameter 5 ft long plastic pipe. I used an upside-down plastic pale as a baffle. (make sure that the pale sits on the pipe, and that the pale has the rim cut off, or squirrels will use it for leverage. Fill up the lower part of the pipe with gravel or mice will climb up inside) Then on top of all you can bolt horizontally some wood to the cedar pole and hang all the feeders from it as you wish.

Since bacon is a brined meat I doubt you will ever find unsalted bacon except for what is sold as fresh fatback. You can remove much of the salt by putting in a pan of water and heating. Stir while melting. This will disolve some of the salt in the rendered grease into the water. Let the solution set in a cool place to firm the fat. Remove the fat cake that should form on the top and throw away the water. This can be repeated several times to remove additional salt. If your bacon fat is fresh you can dice up potatoes and cook in the water. This is a method that is used by cooks to reduce oversalted dishes. If the bacon fat is fresh the potatoes can be eaten or thrown away. Only eat if the bacon fat is VERY fresh.

He is part border collie and not very energetic yet but seems to be very smart. He learns very quickly. When I got him he had a tooth abscess so he's on antibiotics and found out today he has hook worm. Not happy with the shelter from where I got him because they said he was wormed. Never ever had a dog with hookworm or any kind of worm before. He is on medication for that now, too. No wonder he is not energetic. I am sure once he gets well he will be running around. I called the shelter today and told him of his hookworm and they wanted to know if I was bringing him back. No way, he is my dog for better or worse. He is in his forever home.