Wildlife

I swear the neighborhood wildlife is taunting me. I mean it. The various species have come together to drive me crazy. I am not exaggerating! It's been a while since our last late night visit from Mr. Raccoon. Honestly, I had written him off because we got creative and secured our trash can lids with bungee cords, and that seemed to do the trick. After knocking the cans over a few times with no success, he gave up and moved on to another free buffet.

Well, it seems we now have a much bigger and wiser raccoon stalking us. What makes me suspect this? My keen detective skills led me to the conclusion after waking up twice this week and discovering trash all over the patio. This new fella' is strong. He can't unhook the bungee cords, but somehow he manages to pry the lids open far enough to claw at the bags near the top. While not completely destructive, he does manage to make just enough of a mess to annoy us.

Aunt Nguyen actually watched the sneaky critter in action one night. She wanted to check out his method to see if there was any way to way to better secure our tasty trash goodies. Sadly, it's not our method that is a failure. We just happen to have WORLD'S LARGEST RACCOON living in our vicinity. Lucky us! This thing is the size of a small bear, but Aunt Nguyen assures me it is in fact a raccoon. Too bad it's not a bear because then animal control might deem us worthy of a visit. Other communities are dealing with actual bear invasions, and go figure, that trumps raccoons.

If only my problems ended there, but they don't. It seems like the snakes are also teaming up to stage a takeover. Now, in case you aren't ware, I have a debilitating fear of snakes. I can't handle them on any level. Worms freak me out because they resemble snakes. Irrational...yes, but I can't help it. So, of course, the snakes have discovered this, spread the news throughout their population, and are now declaring war on me.

I've seen two small to medium sized snakes in the yard over the past month, and the security guards have warned us that they've spotted several on our street during their patrols. Lovely! Oh, it gets worse! This weekend, I woke up to discover a snake skin on the back porch. If that's not taunting, then I don't know what it is. It's like the snake got tired of waiting for me, but left a calling card so I'd know he was there.

If this sort of activity continues, I will become a shut-in. For now, I stick to paved surfaces during daylight hours. I figure the odds are low that Mr. Raccoon is out & about, and I should be able to see the snakes coming. At least, this is what I tell myself.