Varmit Report
Aug. 16th, 2004 04:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tenayaThursday night I was relaxing at home, playing on the computer, the window open so we could enjoy the summer night. Suddenly, there was a terrible noise up the hill under the elm. I could hear snarling and growling and fighting and raccoon cubs crying out, plainly terrified. I thought I heard a coyote yipping, too. I was outside instantly with that stick I keep by the door, running up the hill shouting out and beating the stick against the foliage. There was the sound of a lot of bodies climbing the tree. Unfortunately, there are a lot of suckers coming off the base of the tree, making it impossible to see around. It got quiet...and I began to wonder what the hell I was doing out there without a flashlight or even shoes. I called out for mom to bring a light and we peered around in the grass, and checked out the perimeter to see if there was, in fact, a coyote in the yard. Nothing. We shone (shined??) the light up the tree and saw a lot of racoons up there, all somewhat stark and peering back at us. I spotted Cutiepie and she was staring at something further up in the tree, growling, snorting and plainly still after blood. We reclassified the incident as raccoon politics and I limped back into the house, leaving a bloodly footprint as I'd sliced open the sole of my foot on the sharp, rock outcropings that is part of the berm (it's some sort of decomposing rock.) I'd just begun to wash out the wound when the conflict began anew outside, but it quickly evolved into some sort of chase that moved clear of the yard.
I thought we wouldn't see the coons again since we'd been outside and therefore must be counted as scarier and unpredictable, but hours later, they did come back. They were very, very skittish. I could only count Cutiepie and 4 cubs. All seemed to be in good shape but it was very hard to tell as two of the cubs seemed glued to momma coon's sides. As she moved slowly through the courtyard picking up and eating kibble, her two little ones moved in synch with her, like a pair of grey furred waterwings or pontoons. The world had become very scary and those two thought the only safe place was right beside Momma.
Since then, we've recounted and everyone is present and in good shape. In fact, tonight they were lounging around under the elm. Momma coon gave a big, contented stretch and lay down, her kids nearby and busy digging up my bulbs and rooting around in the leaf litter for other 'munchies.' Probably the only blood spilled that night was mine, though at the time, I thought my little raccoon family was the victim of murder and mayhem. At least my foot is healing up very nicely, btw, so no worries. Mom did see a pair of adult raccoons on Friday night. One was the three legged fellow, so he's still coping quite well. We think he could be Cutiepie's brother, which would make him over four years old and pretty amazing to survive all this time with that handicap.
Anyway, I promise to keep a very strong flashlight beside the door in future.
I thought we wouldn't see the coons again since we'd been outside and therefore must be counted as scarier and unpredictable, but hours later, they did come back. They were very, very skittish. I could only count Cutiepie and 4 cubs. All seemed to be in good shape but it was very hard to tell as two of the cubs seemed glued to momma coon's sides. As she moved slowly through the courtyard picking up and eating kibble, her two little ones moved in synch with her, like a pair of grey furred waterwings or pontoons. The world had become very scary and those two thought the only safe place was right beside Momma.
Since then, we've recounted and everyone is present and in good shape. In fact, tonight they were lounging around under the elm. Momma coon gave a big, contented stretch and lay down, her kids nearby and busy digging up my bulbs and rooting around in the leaf litter for other 'munchies.' Probably the only blood spilled that night was mine, though at the time, I thought my little raccoon family was the victim of murder and mayhem. At least my foot is healing up very nicely, btw, so no worries. Mom did see a pair of adult raccoons on Friday night. One was the three legged fellow, so he's still coping quite well. We think he could be Cutiepie's brother, which would make him over four years old and pretty amazing to survive all this time with that handicap.
Anyway, I promise to keep a very strong flashlight beside the door in future.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-17 06:57 pm (UTC)Maybe they knew/sensed you were trying to protect them, and that's why they came back - they forgave you for being noisy & scary.
Thanks for the update!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-18 07:59 am (UTC)I asked Mom if the coons were by last night and she grinned and said yes. She was watching the Olympics and noticed the willowly night blooming jasmine was shaking, and then shaking harder. Two of the babies had climbed up and were swinging back and forth on a branch. Our own furry gymnastics were taking place.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-19 08:15 pm (UTC)Wish you could just set a video camera up in your back yard and I could actually see some of this! You could tell Cutiepie and Co. that they'd be famous. You could be their agent ;-)