Wildlife in the suburbs...
Recent stories of coyotes, deer and bears being spotted in suburban areas brought a memory to mind.
The first house the Englishman and I purchased was at the end of a long, narrow lane, bordered by a thick woods along one side. Our property also abutted an acre of woods at the rear. I was to discover that in addition to the wonderful privacy and views this afforded us, it also brought with it an assortment of interesting critters.
The previous owners had installed a series of three metal garbage containers, set deep into the ground at the edge of the driveway. Each were accessed by way of a handle attached to the lid. I never gave it much thought as to why the cans were "buried" and simply used them as they were.
Until one particular morning.
While bustling through my daily routine, I headed out to the driveway to place yet another bag of garbage in the cans. As I raised the lid, I was very surprised to find a pair of eyes staring up at me! My brain quickly registered that they belonged to a rather large raccoon.
Now, after years of watching Disney cartoons and other favorable versions of tiny animals, I have a tendency to think, "oh, how cute!" when first coming face to face with say, a mouse or squirrel. However, at this moment, my brain screamed "danger," causing me to quickly drop the can's lid back down and rush into the house.
I tried not to panic, remembering the Englishman was miles away in NYC and unable to come to the rescue. As luck would have it, there happened to be a couple of workmen in the house that day. I quickly related what I had discovered. Without hesitation, one of the men rushed outside. Picking up a large stick, he used it to open the can's lid and coax the trapped raccoon out - as much to the raccoons relief as ours!
Thereafter, I made sure to place a large rock on top of each and every garbage can right up until the day we moved out. Thankfully, I have not been confronted by a furry masked bandit since.
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