| It started with the fish. Bill has plastic fish that reside in the fountain. They were taken out and strewn around the deck a few weeks ago. That was nothing new. The raccoons that frequented our deck last year liked to play with them. They were in water and no raccoon can resist water. Especially if the creek is dry which I don't doubt that it is since we have had a pretty dry spell of weather this summer. Last year the lips were bitten off one of the fish. Bill tossed it out.
After a usual summer of routinely tossing leftovers to the ground below the deck so the raccoons could feast, things started heating up on the deck. The cherry tomatoes were regularly sampled and left uneaten under the buckets where they hung along the deck railing. Unripened ones and ripe ones. A couple of bites were taken out of a bigger tomato as it hung on the vine a day away from me picking it. A big green one was tossed down to the pavement below. The fish were played with nightly. A week ago another fish got the raccoon kiss of disfigurement plus a couple of fins were chewed down. And then raccoon hell struck. The three plastic water lilies that were also floating in the fountain were totally torn apart and bite marks featured on them. The plastic pot of ferns kept getting knocked over. The pot of live rosemary got knocked over a couple of times. Then two nights ago it seemed like raccoon rage intensified. Do raccoons start acting up when the weather is really hot and humid? I'm wondering. We've had a record spell of days that reached 90 degrees and more in August. We've hit 100 twice now, too. The birdbath down below kept getting knocked over. The fish were played with, of course, but the greatest loss was a huge blow-up ottoman that I used to put my feet on while sitting on the swing. I don't know if they bit it or if they pierced it with their toenails. Yesterday, Amy found one of the beach balls that had been lying around the yard all deflated and the plug chewed out. But the topper came when Bill noticed that the Chinese lantern that is supposed to be hanging from the middle of the Catbana (re: May 11, 2007 entry) was no longer hanging in the middle of the Catbana. It was lying on top of the Catbana. The screening over the top was torn out on one side. Bill is fuming mad and I don't blame him. He had to repair that top screen once already because of a stupid cat that got up there and wanted inside. He's sitting over on the other side of the room here right now brainstorming ideas to fix it again so that it won't get torn down anymore. And in between thinking of ways to fix it, he's lamenting that the whole thing will probably get torn down tonight because of the raccoon ruffians. I think it is a gang of four youngin's that we saw in the yard with their mamma earlier in the summer. At that age, they are frisky. I don't put food up on the deck so as not to encourage the critters to come up, but come up they do anyway. It's the water fountain that is probably attracting them. And the occasional piece of food that I do drop accidentally as I'm trying to get it over the edge. I totally understand why people consider raccoons a pest. I know how destructive they can be. But I still can't be mad at them. I raised five baby raccoons three summers ago and grew to understand how and why raccoons are like they are. They are too intelligent for their own good. They are a lot like a cat but more damaging because of their insane curiousity, playfulness, and intense search for food. It's hard not to love them when they look so darned cute.
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