Beavers and other Scary Creatures

In our backyard here we have an ample supply of wild animals. You know like frogs and rabbits and opossums. But the worst one of all is our backyard raccoon. We all hate Coony, with the possible exception of Spike, who seems to not be bothered by Coony at all. A wonderful guard dog if there ever was one. Here's our first encounter with Coony:

I was going through the heart of my chemo and was, of course, very sick. My dad was in town helping out. Tom and Dad were in the living room watching tv and chatting when they hear what sounds like Spike either going in or out of the doggy door. Now, I should point out that when Spike needs to go outside, he just quickly jumps through the door. On this particular night - Tom said it sounded like Spike just couldn't make up his mind. He'd start to go in, change his mind and go back out. Of course, all Tom could hear was the clicking of the doggy door plastic.

Finally after 5 minutes of indecision Spike comes in. After that Dad and Tom hear some munching going on at the ol dog food bowl. Once the meal was done, it was time to head back outside and more indecision of in or out with the doggy door. It was at THIS time that the crack detective team of Dad and Tom decide something just ain't right. Spike ALWAYS goes straight in or out - why wasn't he this time? So, Tom decides he's going to stand up and investigate the matter. When Tom stood up he saw a beast of an animal going half way through our doggy door. (While Spike would tell you he himself is a beast, in reality he's a 7lb Maltese, who obviously is as good at watching the house from intruders as Dad and Tom.)

Tom only caught a glimpse of the animal so his first guess was that it was an opossum. I'm thoroughly grossed out when I hear the story. This animal casually came into my house with people less than 10 feet away. He ate all the dog food, tried to dig into the bag of dog food that was sitting in the kitchen and the only reason he left was because he was full or bored. He didn't leave because a silly human scared him off. He didn't leave because a dog was angry that another animal was eating his food. No, he left because he was done.

Now when the sun starts going down, we have to remember to lock up the doggy door, because our night creature knows that inside our house is a wonderful source for food. Of course locking the doggy door on an animal with a brain the size of a pea isn't all you need to detoured the creature. Every night after that we hear first a loud THUMP as he tries to run through the locked doggy door. After that it's non stop little thump, thump, thump, thump while creature bangs his head against the door in an attempt to get it to open again. That thump thump sound in the middle of the night? CREEEPY!

Tom finally saw it bright and clear one night after it gave up on trying to get in. The world's biggest raccoon turns around and sits on the deck and stares up at Tom who is staring down at him. It was at this time that animal control was called. Here's how animal control works: if you have a raccoon INSIDE your house, they will happily come out and catch the varmint for you... outside your house? You're on your own! Helpful!

Here is the best story I've ever read about catching the wild animals of the night: It is by a wonderful blogger name TexasHolly I hope you read and enjoy.