Friday, October 14, 2005

Things I've Missed

There are a few things I've meant to blog over the past month or so of 過労死 — giant squid on film, gator-eating snakes, and I'm sure other things I just can't think of right now.

Last night, Evelin reminded me that I never blogged about being awoken in the middle of the night by a potential intruder.

I don't remember exactly which night it was, maybe a Tuesday night, so I wasn't getting up early, but Evelin shook me awake around 2:00 a.m. saying she thought there was an animal either trying to get in or already in our bedroom. The nights have turned cooler and while I don't like having the windows open if it's raining, Evelin's been pretty insistent about having them open at night no matter what. But on the night in question there was no rain. There was, however, an odd noise just outside the window. Listening closely while trying to find my glasses, I figured there was something outside ... a raccoon (Procyon lotor) was in the cedar tree on a branch not too far from the window. It was too thin of a branch for the raccoon to come any closer to the house, and I wonder what it was doing there — maybe poaching eggs from a nest (although it seems late in the year for that) or going after some sleeping birds? I got a flashlight and kept the raccoon spotlighted until it got tired and decided to head down the tree. I then followed it with the light across the backyard and over the neighbor's fence.

1 comment:

T. Carter said...

No doubt, like any of the animals that have adapted to ubran/suburban life, they can be pests, but they are kind of cute and very resourceful. When we still had the pond, I didn't like that they'd go fishing in it, but (especially since I didn't have expensive koi or anything in it) I didn't really begrudge them. Of course, if they start breaking into the attic, I will do a complete 180° in my opinion of them ...