My Neighbor & The Raccoons!

I have this neighbor. She is an elderly woman, whom no one ever seems to visit. I rarely see her out, but am happy to give the friendly neighborly wave when I do. She was having trouble one day with getting her garbage cans in, so my son and I crossed the street to lend her a helping hand. It was my first real encounter with her, and what an encounter it was. She told me how much she had wanted to meet me because she knew that we were “kindred spirits”. Uh-oh, what have I gotten myself into. We were invited in to the house, and it was just hard to say no, though I have to admit my instincts said get out while you can. The conversation took many strange turns.

The first of which was about my “dad”, who she thought had dropped off my son. However, I embarrassingly informed her that it was actually my son’s dad. She was very quick to tell me her thoughts on how old and bad my son’s father looked. She was apparently across the street taking some notes, as she advised me to tell him that he was looking old and really needed to take care of himself. It’s not that I didn’t agree, but really thought it best that I kept that information between my neighbor and myself. So I and my kindred spirit were off to a great start. We got a tour of her house, which included many paintings that she had done of a cat that had long since passed away. And we got to see the room and bed that she had especially for her cat that is her current roommate. Anyway, after an hour I decided that it was time to head back to my world across the street. This is when she showed me how she prepared the food for the raccoons in the neighborhood. Yes, you heard me. She actually prepares them a meal every night, and puts it out for them. Her theory is that we invaded their territory when the neighborhood went up, so this was the least she could do. Now this is truly a kind thought on her part, however, I am not sure that she realizes what she is doing. The woods are infested with these little masked creatures, who thanks to her, have become increasingly brave over the years, not too mention the fact that their population is ever increasingly growing. Now in case you don’t know, raccoons are not well known for coming out in the daylight, however, this is not the case in my neighborhood. I had witnessed one of the older, and larger, ‘coons going into my other neighbor’s garage where it proceeded to open their refrigerator door and start pulling out food. About this time the racket had gotten the attention of my neighbor and came out into the garage. Ok, this is when the ‘coon is supposed to run out, right? Wrong! It just went on about its business, eating her food! She eventually shoed him out, as I sat safely across the street finding this mildly amusing. I should have known better than to laugh. Over the past few weeks one of the medium sized ‘a coon has been visiting our front yard and porch area in the afternoons. I’m not sure what he is looking for or what he thinks he will find, but at the time I thought it was cute. My son and I would perch ourselves at the kitchen window and watch the little masked creature. That is until he started taking out the coins that my son so fervently throws into the wishing “birdbath”. This did not make my little one too happy, so I ran to the door, made a lot of noise, and he ran off ~ with the coin that is. Now, today, I find that same little masked thief in my garage, ripping into my garbage, which I sat RIGHT next to the door. I hear something, open the door, and he just stands there, as if I invaded his territory. I went in, back out, back in and back out before the little devil took off!! What nerve! And 30 minutes later, I walked out the front door and he’s sitting across the street under a tree. I could just see his little mind scheming and plotting!! What to do, what to do!