It wasn’t quite so funny again this morning around 2am, when once again I was awakened by a ruckus in the kitchen. Of course, after the adventures of yesterday morning, we’d closed the kitchen windows tight. But there it was, in the kitchen again. How could this be?
Early yesterday evening, Jack took this picture. Who knew that raccoons could climb walls? Not me.
The creature was pushing the cat dish around the kitchen, but when we appeared it made a mad dash–not for the open door, but for the pantry, where Mr. Raccoon (I feel quite sure of its gender) settled down on a shelf, crashing numerous ceramic bowls in the process. Luckily, there’s no shortage of those around here.
Those of you who know this house know that the pantry is a cul-de-sac. A narrow space with cupboards along one wall and shelves at the end. How to get him out? And how did he get in??
These critters can be vicious, and neither of us (especially me) dared go into that narrow space and try to pry him out of the corner. We made a lot of noise and banged on the walls to frighten him out of his perch, but we only succeeded in scaring him–um–shitless, as you can see. Finally, my personal prince charming donned his battle gear, grabbed a shovel, and succeeded in pushing and shoving until the fellow found the way out. No photos of the action itself–I was busy blocking the way back into the kitchen.
I spent the morning scrubbing…a not-particulary-welcome opportunity to do some deeper-than-usual cleaning.
And…here’s how he got in the second time. Remember the wall-climbing? An upstairs window that opens onto the little roof above the bay window below. Today, we really will get that live trap baited. And until we’ve got him, I guess we’ll be closing windows at night.
These two parts should be in a memoir chapter in your next book?
Not so funny to you now but quite amusing to your reader. 😊
Sounds like quite the adventure.
I assume you have properly thanked Mr Racoon for providing you with memorable journaling opportunities. He surely recognizes a talented writer when he sees one.
Were you always such a smooth talker?
Thanks for continuing the tale – hoping you have a wonderful uneventful night’s sleep tonight…Raccoons – cute as they might be especially as babies, I grew to dispise them when I had my sweet country house in Stockport, NY – they ruined my veggies, invaded the house and perched on my garden fence – were they laughing at me and my puny efforts? The trapper said, living near a stream, I would always have them…..
Well…we had a lot of them a few years ago, but we haven’t seen them around lately. This guy is obviously trying to make up for that!