Raccoon Update

Thanks to a good set of pruners and the neighbor's saw, our tree, now looking a little naked, should no longer be an accomplice to raccoons getting onto our roof. Keeping our fingers crossed, and hoping the raccoons haven't done any damage already.

So I was breathing a sigh of relief, as this was yet another potential disaster averted, when my next-door-neighbor (who lives alone and is currently a little out of commission with a fractured ankle), phoned me. I have run a few errands for her already, getting her mail, picking up a prescription for her, etc. I was happy to help when she said she needed something from the grocery store, even though I wasn't planning to go there. Then she mentioned she needed dog food. Odd, I thought, as she doesn't have a dog. I thought maybe she meant more cat food for her many cats, so I was trying to come up with a time I could help her out. Then she dropped the bomb that she needed this giant bag of dog food so she could feed....wait for it....the RACCOONS!!!! She said she had enough for tonight but not enough for tomorrow. I just about fainted. I knew she feeds them already with her kitchen scraps, which we most definitely do not like, but she actually spends money on domesticated-pet food to give them??!? Truly unbelievable. I have since phoned her back and let her know I can't make it to the grocery store. I refuse to help with that. If she needed, you know, food or medicine, or toilet paper, I'd be glad to help. But since we just likely averted raccoons (see previous post) from getting into our attic (which would likely cost somewhere in the range of $1000, no joke, to remedy), I refuse to encourage those animals. I know they'll come around regardless, but I am not going to be a part of that. I'm just sayin'.

So, do I have a right to not help her based on what she asked me to do? It's probably not illegal, but it is stupid, in my (and many other peoples') opinions. Would I have said no if she wanted me to pick up cigarettes for her, or something else along those lines? It really does not sit right with me. Anyway, that was my day!

'Coons on the Roof, or, Why My Husband was Hanging out the Window Holding a Water Gun in the Middle of the Night

It's 11:11pm. I've turned out the light, a little later than I might have liked, but 8 hours of sleep should be just fine. I'm tired after working today and getting ready for the kids to be off to school in the morning. It doesn't take long for me to drift off to la-la land, not really awake, but not really sleeping yet. My eyes pop open at 11:23 as I hear the pitter patter of little feet walking nearby. I look to see which child has come into our room, but there is no one. In fact, it is extremely rare that any of the kids come into our room at night.

And then I remember, as my mind clears away the fog of dozing off to sleep, just who is making those footsteps. Just a couple weeks earlier, we had heard this same noise as we were falling asleep, and had finally thought to look out our bedroom window at the roof that is just below. We had stared straight into the face of a raccoon, just 2 feet away, not the least bit concerned that he'd been found. I ran straight to the open window, and looked out just in time to see a raccoon creeping carefully beside the drainspout, down the roof. I made a scary noise (at least I thought it was scary) at it, but it just looked dolefully at me and kept walking.

By this time Stefan was awake, but the raccoon was now out of sight. How I wished I'd had a spray bottle to spray in the critter's face. I went and rounded one up while Stefan kept an eye on things from all the windows. (We actually have windows facing 3 directions in our room). The spray bottle turned out to be pretty wimpy, so I ventured out into the backyard, hoping no raccoons were going to leap out at me, and managed to round up a couple of the kids' water guns. Stefan was now looking out, or rather hanging out, the front window. The raccoon had started around the back, and was now at the front. He was watching not one, but two raccoons, as they used the tree beside our driveway to get onto our roof and the roof of our neighbor's garage. At least now we knew how they were getting up there - previously a mystery. While I was getting the water gun filled, Stefan had thrown the spray bottle at the raccoon that was slinking across our driveway, and had hit it, likely scaring the cr*p out of it.

But there was still one raccoon on the roof, carefully trying to stay out of water gun range. Stefan kept shooting, but that was the last of the raccoons that we saw. It was actually quite hilarious if you could have seen the two of us, prowling around our open windows, armed with dangerous water guns, just waiting to attack. We eventually got back to bed, but I didn't fall asleep until well after 12. So much for getting a restful night's sleep. We are getting very concerned that these critters are trying to get into, or have already gotten into, our attic. That would be a disaster, and very expensive to remedy. From now on, those water guns are loaded and ready to go by the window at night and hopefully that will be enough of a deterrent. Oh, and Stefan is going to do some pruning this evening as well.

I tell ya, last summer it was the snakes that always seemed to be hovering around. This year I've hardly seen any, but the raccoons are now hovering around brazenly. It certainly doesn't help that my neighbor treats them like pets and feeds them on her back deck. These creatures should be a little more afraid of people, but they're not.

I've had a very successful summer of gardening, and am already starting to rip out some of the plants that are done. I'm still having a bounty of tomatoes, chard, spinach and kale, but the cucumbers, corn and lettuce are done for the season. My carrots never amounted to anything, but I'll try again next year. I will post a few garden photos, most of which were taken at the end of July, so you can see how much it grew in just one month. I'm already plotting out next year's garden.

Two out of three of the kids are back to school today. Connor is off to grade 4 and Taya is off to grade 1. Logan has a (very slow) gradual entry over the next week and a half. It's a little quieter around here without them - I sure hope they're having a good day. Taya's teacher seems very nice and I've heard a lot of good things about Connor's teacher, his first male teacher. Can't wait to hear all about their day! Tomorrow is the start of piano lessons - Taya's first one! We'll see how that goes!