Saturday, February 21, 2009

Sunny Saturday


Well, a beautiful, albeit cold, Saturday. Willie is up taking a nap and I am baking a whole wheat, oatmeal, granola, flax seed bread. This morning Willie and I went out to run a few errands and as we were pulling out of the driveway, saw a big racoon run off of our back patio and into the woods. Now, it was about 11 AM and racoons are noturnal by nature (kind of like New Yorkers, actually), so I was immediately convinced that it was rabid. We watched it run along the hillside into the neighbor's acreage and then disappear. I'm ready to buy a gun or a cannon or something, but Willie seems pretty blase about the whole thing.

What can I say - I just don't like racoons much. Oh, sure, they have those cute little faces with those adorable little bandit masks on, and they're all fluffy and then there are their little striped tails. But, I'm telling you straight up, they are mean, vicious little suckers. Years ago, I had one that had made it's home in my roof, which resulted in me hiring a "humane" pest control guy to come trap the "cute" little racoon and relocate it. Well, they trapped it all right. And, you have never heard more snarling and hissing in your life - it was as if a grizzly bear was channeling through the racoon - about 25 pounds of shear fury. I was terrified that it was somehow going to escape the cage and kill or maim me. The pest control guy, who had gone back on the roof to set another trap "in case it's mate is also living up hear" (what???) told me not to get near the cage, "just in case." Is it any wonder I've made it a mission to stay away from the little monsters??

Well, I'll keep you posted on any more sightings. And, I'll keep a baseball bat at the ready...

8 comments:

  1. Baseball bat would mean you're to close to one if you have to use it. Bow and arrows maybe? Air gun? Hose? I'm glad (occasionally) to be living in this country. No vicious beasts here, other than the inhabitants further north that is. :)

    He/se does look cute though. No not the locals up north, the racoon!

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  2. Don't let the looks deceive you - that's how they get you, you know!

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  3. Won't happen. None here. But I'm warned if I ever see one in the wild somewhere in the US. Now spiders, that's a different thing...

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  4. Oh, spiders! Hate them more than anything - anything with that many legs should just die.

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  5. I kept thinking about the pest guy on Over the Hedge!! :o)

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  6. Over the Hedge? I think I'm missing and entire layer of culture / knowledge in my life.

    Spiders just do not make me feel comfortable. Way too unpredictable as of their movements when I try to put them out of the house. I now use a BIG jar. Eurk.

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  7. Splat? Eurk. Messy. lol

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