A week or so back I came out each morning to a mess around the garbage cans. Lids off, tipped over, bags chewed up, trash everywhere. Hmmm... a raccoon.. or at least I hoped so. We have coyotes & even the occasional bear has been spotted in these parts. And my neighborhood is considered "in town".
Tonight, I'm relaxing with a heavy dose of "reality" TV, door to the deck open, enjoying the wonderful fall air. Jake & Annie are both hanging off the deck totally transfixed by something below. I peek over the deck & there he is working very hard to get the lid off the trash can. I shine a flashlight on him, he gives me a "go to hell" look & keeps working on that lid.
The only flashlight I could find is this handy pedometer thing they gave us during Employee Appreciation Week at work. It is a pedometer, flashlight & alarm. I guess when you are out tracking each step at night you can see who is trying to attack you & scare them away with the alarm thingy.
Well, it works with raccoons too. When I went to turn off the light I hit the button for the alarm by mistake. It is loud! At that exact moment the raccoon had managed to lift the top up. The alarm goes off, the raccoon jumps into the trash can & the lid pops right back down trapping the raccoon in side.
He wasn't too thrilled & for the next 20 minutes he tried in vain to open the lid from the inside. And of course this Fretful Southern Woman just had to figure out how to save the possibly rabid raccoon without having to make a trip to the emergency room.
I go downstairs, turn on all the lights & stare at the trash can. I had several plans but the one that seemed to make the most sense was put into motion.
I got a broom & placed it in my car. Stay with me..
I then backed the car out of the garage so that it was close enough to the trash can to reach it with the broom.
I then closed the garage... I didn't want Rocky heading for the house once I had freed him.
I then climbed into the back of the Canyonero, opened the rear window & proceeded to poke at the trash can with the broom.
The original plan had me neatly lifting the lid off so the raccoon could jump out but that just wasn't happening. After about 5 minutes of trying to pry the lid off with a broom handle I decided to go to plan B.
I pushed as hard as I could, tipping the can over and Voila! The lid came off & the can was on it's side. No raccoon. Hmmm... I poked the can a couple of times & it was obvious the damn thing was still in there. Then I noticed this little raccoon hand protruding from the BOTTOM of the trash can.
The little bastard had already chewed a hole in the bottom in his efforts to free himself. Who said they aren't smart? And I was the one prostrate in the back of my SUV with a broom because I was convinced this little varmit was going to go all Cujo on me & eat my face off.
I gracefully climbed into the front seat of my car, gingerly opened the passenger door & tip toed over to look in the trash can. He was gone.
In the time it took to haul my ass over the seats he had made his escape.
Next time he can just chew his way out. I missed The Situation on DWTS.
No comments:
Post a Comment