Raccoon Pal

Again this morning, and by that I mean 3 am, I was awakened by a noise out in the back garden. After lying there for sometime waiting for the noise to repeat itself, suddenly I heard it again. Not exactly the same noise but enough to let me know something was up in the yard that needed investigating.

I crept downstairs and tip-toed across the kitchen to our back door which had been left open. Whatever it was, only a screen door separated us. I stood there listening in the dark and heard a soft purring, the pitter-pat of little feet and a swishing sound. Flicking on the porch light a large raccoon suddenly froze in the middle of a swim in our fountain. His fun and games were evident all over the deck. Tiny wet raccoon footprints were repeated over and over, the table, the lawn swing and covered the deck. After staring at me for a time, I suppose waiting to see what I would do next, and finding I seemed frozen in my own tracks, the raccoon slowly climbed down out of the fountain and carefully padded over to the screen door.

We held the first annual raccoon/human staring contest for a good 60 seconds, little growls emanating from his throat before he decided he'd let me go my way and he his. He waddled over to the edge of the deck, slowly crawled underneath the tip of his handsome ringed tail the last bit to disappear.

We usually see the evidence of our little raccoon friend nearly every morning and for a long time though most of the evidence was dried up. We have been both convinced and frustrated by the fact that our beautiful fountain seemed to have sprung a leak. Most everyday we find the water level is significantly lower than the day before. Glancing around the deck it appeared the raccoon had had a water fight with the neighborhood raccoons. Now we know the source of the leak and I suppose the small inconvenience of having to refill the fountain everyday is a small price to pay for our furry animal friends to enjoy the ritual of their nightly nocturnal fun.