(Not Too) Close encounters of the Procyonic kind

[truepenny]

So last night I went out on the porch to bring in the food and water bowls I put out for the feralistas. And there was a raccoon.

I learned something instantaneously, which is that I had not known how big raccoons are. I mean, I thought I knew, but there's a difference between that and being less than ten feet from one, at which point it upgrades immediately to BIG MOTHERFUCKING RACCOON ON MY PORCH.

Happily, the raccoon had no interest in tangling with me. It did what the feralistas do, which is to retreat to the other side of the porch railings and pretend to be invisible. And since I had no interest in tangling with the raccoon, I about-faced and went back inside.

Later, mirrorthaw told me that when he checked again, the raccoon was happily making use of the water bowl in exactly the way stereotypes about raccoons would lead you to expect. (Dude, free water! Most excellent!) And this morning, the water bowl has been moved about a foot--and has significantly less water in it than is usually the case--and someone's busy little paws have peeled half the protective rubber strip off the rim of the food bowl.

I'm going to be more conscientious about bringing the bowls in before sunset and hope the feralistas can keep from tangling with the raccoon. I'm sure it's not new to the neighborhood--possibly it's not new to our porch. But although I have nothing against raccoons, I would really prefer it not become a regular visitor.

(BIG. MOTHERFUCKING. RACCOON.)

Comments

[jackdaniel.livejournal.com]

We used to have raccoons living in the empty house next door (now it's no longer empty so they moved into one of our trees). Because of these 'neighbors' we're careful about what trash be put outside in relation to trash collection day. Back before this lesson was fully learned, we had a raccoon bring some garbage up onto our deck to eat. My mother went out to shoo it away but then noticed that one of its claws was the length of her pointer finger. Needless to say her next words were, "have a nice dinner" and she came back in side.