The Raccoon Makes a Statement

Long ago, a raccoon ransacked the home next door to my grandmother's home. Rumor has it that Mrs. Savage (the neighbor, who has since died, although not because of this incident) thought her house was robbed until she and several others spotted the paw prints on the piano, made from soot where the raccoon entered the home through the chimney.

My family's house is near a farm, and because of this, we have had several wild animals take up residence. The skunk that was accidentally shut into the garage, the deer who eat the plants, the hundreds of fish that reside in the old farm pond in our backyard.

And raccoons. Lots of raccoons.

Recently we've had a number of experiences with the raccoon. Last week, Layla, who was innocently leaving the house for a nighttime sniff around, inadvertently treed the raccoon, who was outside eating birdseed. I brought the confused Layla in immediately, because raccoons are rather mean. Mom, Dad, Hal and I stared out the back door as the raccoon, who wasn't scared a bit, climbed to the bird feeder and shook it, trying to get more seeds to fall on the ground. Of course, he had already taken all the bird seed, so he didn't get any more at this particular moment.

But Sunday took the cake. (The bird seed?)

My aunt Lisa brought her daughter Kayla over so she and my sister Jennie could ride back to school. Kayla and Jennie live together at UK in a super cute apartment I got to see last night for the first time (they only moved in 2 weeks or so ago).

Lisa and Kayla ran into my house screaming.

The raccoon was in the garage bustling around, and he startled my aunt and cousin. Lisa said he was two feet away from her.

The raccoon is not frightened by people.

The raccoon waddled out of the garage and we closed the garage door. Jennie and Kayla got everything together in Jennie's car.

Finally, it was time for everyone to leave. As mom, Jennie, Kayla, and Lisa walked out to my sister's car, they noticed a strange sight.

The raccoon was sitting in Lisa's front seat!

After leaving the garage, the raccoon noticed that Lisa's car window was open. I can only assume he smelled the peanut butter pretzels though the plastic jug. He climbed into her car, unscrewed the lid of the jug, and was contentedly eating pretzels when he was discovered by the humans.

Perhaps I shouldn't say discovered. Perhaps I should say startled.

Because the raccoon bolted from the car, leaving behind one last present.

Lisa sat on a towel the whole way home, hoping to protect herself from the raccoon pee all over her seat.