Like a Rat in a Trap....

Rocky showed up at 4:00 yesterday afternoon -- getting to be like clockwork. I put Roxie in her crate -- didn't want another broken window. Jack had gotten the squirrel trap out of the attic and I put dogfood in it. I went back later only to discover that Rocky had moved the trap -- the dog food fell through the bottom -- and had cleaned up the food. Imagine my surprise when Jack came in this morning and said that Rocky was in the trap. Poor little guy! But he made very large, very ugly noises when we carried it to the car. He pretty much filled the trap and we weren't sure he could turn around. I'd called animal control but they couldn't say when they'd pick him up and I didn't want him spending any more time in the trap than necessary, so Jack and I took him to the woods close to Lake Arcadia. Always prepared, I had a pair of needle-nosed pliers and a 7-iron. Jack got the door open easily (no need for pliers) but Rocky didn't seem to catch on. Jack picked up the trap and tried to dump him out, but he clung to the bottom of the cage. We set the cage back down on the ground and, using the golf club, I tipped it up a bit. Rocky figured it out and scampered away, but, oh, the language he used as he headed for the trees would probably get him bleeped on Animal Planet. My biggest concern now -- I hope he was an only child!

In the Doghouse

We live on about an acre in a wooded part of town. When we first moved here, we were in the country. We had quail in our back yard. Over the last 35 years, town has grown up around us. Wildlife has suffered from loss of habitat. I've always enjoyed the critters who wandered into the yard -- the ugly 'possum we named Ol' Roy and his daintier partner, even the mother skunk with the two babies who visited summer before last. But our latest visitor is on my last nerve. It's a precious little raccoon. Roxie has taken an extreme dislike to this little interloper and is determined to put an end to the invasion. I saw the raccoon in the yard last week, then heard a loud crash. Yep, Rox had spotted Rocky Raccoon and tried to go through one of the panes in the front bay window. The glass man came yesterday and quoted us a price of $125 to replace the pane and said he'd come back tomorrow afternoon. The raccoon returned this afternoon. You got it. Rox did it again. Perhaps we'll get a deal on the second pane. There are 30 panes in the bay window so Rox has 28 to go. Realistically, she can probably only reach the bottom 12 panes -- but she can always do the same ones over again. We now have the baby gate up so she can't get into the living room. I may have to buy another baby gate to go over the low window in my office -- she knocked that one out year before last. I love the decor -- vintage prison!!!!!!