As I thought about Raccoons, it made me think of my sister, Nani Power, a wonderful writer, who incidentally has a new book (can’t wait to read it!) coming out this month, called “Feed the Hungry”, a memoir about growing up in Virginia and her immersion into the culinary world through family and friends.

There’s a great coon recipe in the book via a tale by our father, which begins; “Shoot, skin, gut & cover a medium-sized coon in saltwater.“, you can imagine the rest… read an excerpt here.

While searching for Narwhals the other day, I came across a site that sells oosiks or baculum (yes, the name of penis bones found in some animals such as walruses, seals, Coyote, Raccoon, even chimps!).

It seems ladies in the South carry around Raccoon oosiks, fondly called “pecker picks” which they use as toothpicks at their luncheons. This led to another search (as I thought, wow, are they really called that?!) which led to this site, that offers a strange array of party pecker favors for bachelorette parties, and yes, you can buy “pecker picks” here and they come in a multitude of colors and are sure to “add a little spice to your bachelorette party.”

“Pecker Pick” or Raccoon Ooslik

Seems they also have a game on their site called, ” Un-Uh! No, He Di’int!” described as a “a game of secrets and laughter for women…” So you can play Un -uh, dis your men as you pick your teeth with your pecker pick…(the d in didn’t is dropped due to the pecker pick in your teeth.)

Girls displaying their “Pecker Picks”

My father, Mark Power, has waded …or rather jumped wholeheartedly into the world of blogging and I must say I’m pretty impressed– he’s a far better blogger then me and much more diligent. A renowned photographer and great writer as well, he writes about photography and art and sometimes random whimsies-always thought-provoking and at times very hilarious….above photo is from one of his photographic series from the ’90s.

Li Wei, son of a farmer turned performance artist…and amazing gymnast…

“He delivered food and worked as a housekeeper, an experience he says was key to his artistic vision.”

Certainly a phallic theme going on here and unfortunately, his piece, It Would Not Die Away Such doesn’t seem to have been photographed. He covered himself in earth and lay in a bed, with only his erect penis visible.

“…..We cut back to Madge, who now appears to be wearing some sort of cross between a full-body support body stocking (ask your mum) and a comedy fat suit. Seriously, what’s going ON here? Is it a beige corset with beige pants and a beige top? Is that REALLY what she intended? Via Anna Packard from the Guardian. Here’s the video...