Our Little Visitor

The last few days have been pretty interesting at our house.  It all started Thursday night when "Rickey" the raccoon decided to visit our house.  Our little dog Rusty found him when we let him out to do his business.  They had a little scuffle but I could tell Rusty was afraid because he went to the other side of the lawn with all the hairs standing up on his back.  Rickey on the other hand was not. 

I told Adam about him and he proceeded to go out and give the raccoon some crackers to eat. Probably not the best idea. The raccoon took them and then Adam came back in the house.  I thought that was the last we would see of  Rickey but I was wrong.  He decided to make a home for himself under some wood in the back yard. 

Rusty found him again the next morning.  I was a little nervous but Rusty stayed a pretty good distance away from him and the raccoon just looked at Rusty.  He was pretty slow moving.  It was really kind of strange because the raccoon would come out and just sleep in the middle of the yard.  I guess they are pretty brave. 

Next thing I know, our other nuisance that we happen to have in our yard an armadillo decides to confront Rickey about using his hole under the wood pile.  Surprisingly he won the battle.  I told my sister about all this and she said it was like the zoo came to us. The kids had a lot of fun watching the raccoon and armadillo from the kitchen window. 

Well, the next day I let the dogs out again and next thing I know the raccoon is standing right by our sliding glass door.  I was a little nervous, so I called the dogs in quickly and shut the door.  Of course, brave like they are (as long as they were behind glass)  they barked at the raccoon.  It was cute because he kept coming up and putting his paws on the window. Little did I know Rusty had rolled in raccoon poo while he was outside and needed a bath.  I decided to give our bigger dog Hannah a bath too while I was at it. 

A few hours later, I let Hannah out front to use the bathroom and I looked out the window low and behold she was rolling in poo out there.  I quickly called her in and gave her a second bath for the day.  By this time I was pretty frustrated.  I wanted Rickey and his poo to go away.  Adam was working, so when he got home he shewed the raccoon into our front yard. 

After that, we saw him a few times but we think someone might have killed him because we heard two gun shots and our neighbors have cats that they probably didn't want him bothering.  I am so glad he is gone (not that I wanted him to be killed) because I was afraid to even go outside when he was around. 

Here is a blurry picture of our friend...