I am feeling a bit anxious this morning. It's probably stress-related, after all, it's finals week and I have a couple of large bills looming with no real means of paying them without giving up lunches for the remainder of the month. Could also be nervousness regarding my dentist appointment this afternoon. I also did not get to sleep until 2am last night, after battling the evil raccoons. Yes, my old nemesis returned and this time with a sidekick. I scared "Rick" out of the garage quickly and then closed it, with Kitty still inside. I returned to my schoolwork and 20 minutes later, heard something else crash in the garage. I opened the door to find "Robin" trapped in a corner and cowering. I opened the garage door again, the sound startled him, and he ran and hid amongst the boxes. I entered the garage through the other door (we have two entrances from inside the house) and tossed a handful of fish rocks into his area. Robin made a bunch of noise and I thought he exited the garage, so I closed the door again.
This morning, with kids in tow, I entered the garage to find boxes knocked down, a small piece of drywall missing, and the rubber trim at the bottom of both garage doors chewed off. I opened both doors and made some noise to scare him off. Nothing happened, so I escorted each child separately, got in the car and revved the engine. Still no sign of Robin. There is no way he could have got out last night. I left the garage door cracked when I left, hoping he will exit during the day. I would really hate to throw down with him upon my return this evening.
One of my clients lives on a farm and told me there are two ways to get rid of raccoons. You either shoot them, or catch them in a cage and throw it in a pond until you see the bubbles stop. She said you could not catch and release because they will just find their way back. Since I own neither a gun or a cage and a pond, I will not be pursuing either suggestion.
