Raccoon War I (and an announcement at the end)

It all started about 10 PM last night when Scrappy and I chased Mr. Raccoon off the porch.  Of course, Scrappy gets lauded as a hero and receives a bone shaped biscuit as a reward.  Then about 2:30 AM, he woke us up again, but we chased him off with a few barks/words from the bedroom window.

However, it all broke loose about 5 AM.

We spotted him from the bedroom window again, and this time, shouts didn't faze him.   He climbed up the side fence, over to the shed, up the shed and across its roof to the side with the feeders.  After puzzling how to get at them for a moment, he slid down to the gate and reached out for the feeder.

Yeah, pictures didn't work out so well.

Thus, I threw on some pants and we went downstairs, and Scrappy promptly ran him off again.  But not for long.  As soon as we went to bed again, I could see the little bugger walking the outside of the fence, which is a concrete ledge about 2 feet high.  So I said, "Okay, let's go settle this.

Scrappy and I went out the front door and looped around in hopes of catching him unawares.  He was gone, but not far.  Scrappy tracked him down to the 10-inch space between our outer wall and the neighbor's shed.  And that's when we discovered where he got his sudden bravery.

There were two of them!  One was wedged in high up towards the shed roof, the other sitting on the ledge against which the shed sat.  Scrappy pondered how to get at them, and I solved that problem- I found a large stick in the yard.  The lower one quickly moved onto the neighbors porch; the other one wasn't quite sure what to do, but a couple of whacks and a sore butt later, he joined his comrade in mischief on the neighbor's porch.

Of course, it isn't cool to enter a neighbor's porch uninvited, especially at 5:15 AM.  So we backed up for a while to see what they would do, and they decided to just chill.  All I saw of them was one of them jumping the fence onto the next neighbor's porch.  So we went in.

But not to be fooled again, we opened the kitchen blinds, cracked the door enough for Scrappy to smell any incursions, and we waited.  By a little after five-thirty, Scrappy declared the scene cleared and we called a cease fire.

Which brings us to the announcement.  If you remember a little while back, I gave you a link to Mynx's blog to see the drawings I submitted to her art contest.  If you were too lazy to hit the link and check them out, I think I have them here somewhere...

 

 

 

The top one is based on ancient Chines writer Wang Wei's poem.  It goes like this:

Dismounting, I offer my friend a cup of wine.

I ask what place he is heading to

He says he has not achieved his aims,

is retiring to the southern hills

“Now go, and ask nothing more;”

White clouds will drift on for all time.

A morning shower in Weicheng has settled the light dust;

The willows of the hostel are fresh and green.

Come, drink one more cup of wine;

West of Yang Pass, you will meet no more old friends.

 

 

The other is Attila the Hun's unhappy honeymoon.  Mynx intended to draw one or so from the entries (without judging, because they were all good), and the winner got a piece of her artwork.  Well, I found this e-mail after the battle:

 

 

You are a winner and an awesome artist

Thank you so much for taking part in my giveaway

Can you please send me your address again so I can send you your art?

Big hugs

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!??!! was my response (with my address, of course).  And just so you know how good an artist she is, take a look at the prizes here, and you can even vote for your favorites!


Returning to the war-at-hand, this afternoon, we took prisoners, as Scrappy discovered this on the greenway road:

He likely climbed up the nearby marker smelling "food", and couldn't give out.  In the interests of peace between our nations, we tipped the can to set him free...

...but he decided to wait until after we left, choosing to hide in the trash until after we took off.

We did a preliminary perimeter scout about 10:30 tonight, and saw no evidence of further infiltration, but I may well look again later.

In the meantime, here are some other pic to amaze yourself with.

Just another day at the water cooler feeder.

Ran up inside one of the fallen trees and came out here.

A golden-crowned kinglet- not supposed to be common around here, teeny-tiny, and cute as a button!

Tearing down the old sewage station on California Road.

Stony Run close to its entrance into the river.