Visitor�

2003-04-23

There are problems with have a nice, inviting garden. People invite themselves to visit it. And have a little snack while they're at it.

We had a visitor this evening. Of the furry variety. I was already asleep when my husband upstairs and said "Come downstairs, quick! There's a really big raccoon in the yard!"

I ran/tiptoed down the stairs and looked out the sliding glass door. No raccoon. I check the ponds through the living room windows. While they all seem to have been visited, no raccoon.

But it's hard for an animal to get out of our yard. We've done a pretty thorough job of putting cat escapee preventatives. So I step out of the front door and take a look around. Sure enough, one raccoon goes scuttling by. I was going to have my husband open the gate and try to get him to go out that way, but he climbed one of the patio supports, squeezing his way through the chicken wire cat blocks.

Now I live in suburban Orange County. We have had raccoonish visitors before, though I haven't seen them. They're the main reason I keep ten cent goldfish in my ponds. I still think it's kind of cool that they can co-exist with us when there's this kind of population density.

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