Mama mia!

The other morning at dawn I was sitting at my desk when Mama Raccoon strolled by the window with several babies. They were playing around like our front yard was just a nice city park. Which of course it is to them. What's more fascinating than watching animal parents with their young? 

By the way, female and male raccoons are called "sows" and "boars." Their babies are called "cubs."  A family of cubs is a "nursery" or "gaze."  All of this according to a fun elementary school chart I found on EnchantedLearning.com. 

I grabbed my camera and ran out to get a cute picture of the "gaze" but the "sow" started growling like a wolverine (female wolverines are called "angelines") so I stayed on the porch and left the raccoon "nursery" alone.

Young raccoons pester their mother for over a year before they go their own way. When I see raccoon families, mom always looks exasperated because the cubs are busy playing with each other, running off, or messing around.  She has to feed everyone plus teach them at the same time. The "boar" is long gone.

Let's see. What else is new this week?  Mama mia! We got a $400 water bill yesterday, a new personal best for us in consumption.  In Seattle, the electric utility bill compares your usage to your neighbors in order to shame you into using less. I suppose water peer pressure is next. I talked to my friend Diane across the street, and her husband had a fit because their bill was $275.   Ha! Ha! I said, you call that a water bill?

No rain since late June.  There was a little sprinkle at SeaTac on Friday, which broke the string of continuous dry days, but it wasn't enough rain to water diddley squat.

On the bright side, there's a mess of dahlias and fragrant lilies blooming right outside the bedroom window, so I told John at least we have something to show for our conspicuous consumption. Along with a few cherry tomatoes.