The Raccoon

It was early in June that we saw the raccoon.  I opened the blind after the children woke from nap and there it was – sleeping in the tree in front of my house.

The children were very excited and had so many question. ‘Where did she come from?’ ‘Why is she sleeping there?’ ‘How did she get up there?’ ‘How will she get down?’ ‘When will she come down?’ ‘Why doesn’t she move?’

I didn’t have all the answers.  In fact, now I too was wondering why she didn’t move.  We’d been watching her for close to an hour now.  We had gone outside to take some pictures.  Other people in the neighbourhood had come by to see what all the fuss was about.

Was she really sleeping? I began to feel a little uneasy.  The branch she was on hung directly over my front sidewalk – if she slipped off the branch she’d land in a heap on my steps!  Then she DID move.  She stood up, stretched, turned around and lay down again.

As parents arrived to pick up their children they too took some pictures.  So much excitement!  The two year old wanted to take the raccoon home – stood on the sidewalk, unzipped his backpack and told the raccoon to get in.  It didn’t comply.

Periodically throughout the evening crowds of onlookers would gather to look at the raccoon.  Sometimes it would non nonchalantly look back.  Shortly after 9 pm it was gone.  I never saw it leave and I don’t know where it went.

For weeks the children continued to check for it – wondering when it might return.  Then it was vacation time so none of them were here for two weeks.  When the children first returned after vacation we were so busy I forgot to tell them what happened while they were away.

On the third day of my vacation we saw someone sleeping on the garden shed in the back yard.

The children would have been thrilled!  This spot is almost within reach of where we play – but I wouldn’t have let them try to touch her.

On this day the raccoon was much more active than before.  She got up and scratched several times. Tried to rip some branches off my willow and had a standoff with the neighbour’s cat on the garage roof.  The neighbour’s cat sleeps on my garden shed roof every day – except this one.

At one point the raccoon was walking on the fence and I was about to take a picture when it slipped – oops!

Again, I didn’t see when it left or where it went but it hasn’t been back since – at least not that we’ve noticed – but we still check.