Reggie Raccoon is honoured to be the selection for the letter R in our countdown.
He’s waiting for that woman with the camera to go away before he’ll come down from the safety of the tree.
Next time he’ll only visit after dark when there is no danger of getting his photo taken, and when that curious Emma-dog is in the house.
That might be a good time to check out the garbage can by the back door. Last time there was a stick of pepperoni. The wind helped knock the can over, and I had a buffet midnight snack.
It was almost midnight when Reggie Raccoon came to visit. He was blinded by the light so he didn’t do anything but squirm in this eight-second video clip. Then I took pity on him and turned off the camera.
It’s nowhere near dark, but Ralph Raccoon felt safe enough to come check out our yard.
Just then, the Captain brought Emma (our English cocker spaniel) outside for a pee and in no time the barking and growling started. Luckily, Emma was on the leash because she has a pulled muscle in her leg and we don’t want her tearing around the yard just now.
With one last growl, Ralph clambered up the tree for safety.
Once Emma was out of the scene, Ralph wondered what to do.
“Should I stay here where I’m safe,” he wondered, “or should I come down while I can and get out of here before some crows find me and try to peck my eyes out?”
Turn on your sound and watch what Ralph decided to do.
To watch the video, you have to be very quick. It’s only about 4 seconds long. You may have to replay it a few times to see the top raccoon stuffing his face, with the feeder at an angle so the seeds fall out better, and the other raccoon sitting underneath him, cleaning up.
I should be thankful that they clean up after themselves.
I think I see him. I hope he’s got my bag of grubs.
Yes, you’re right! And I see the big sack full of hazelnuts for me.
Er, ah, HERE I AM, Santa. OVER HERE!
Where? I don’t see anything.
When he does come, I hope he brings me a lot of rosehips. Wonder what they’d taste like. In the winter I get tired of these holly berries and mountain ash berries. But maybe the rosehips are too fuzzy inside. They look good though.
Oooooh! Look! He’s got sleigh troubles. His reindeer are conking out. Should’ve got a Tesla Sleigh. With inflation, the price of reindeer food today is high, even for Santa. But even so, the cost of the Tesla Sleigh itself is enough to break the bank.
Yeah, he’s in trouble all right. Look! He’s turning around. Sniff… there goes that box of dog biscuits I asked for.
I see that. Hmm … I think I hear them complaining about being hitched up so close. Something about social distancing.
Sigh! No herring for supper tonight. Not by special delivery, anyway.
Well, I never! He’s going back to the North Pole. There goes that bunch of tree bugs I asked for.
I’ll go round up some recr-hoots.
Hey, you. Santa’s looking to hire you, Al and the Paca, to be his reindeer substitutes.
What’s that you say? You don’t play second fiddle? Huh! You’d think that in the spirit of Christmas, you’d oblige an old man. I see you are related to those llamas next door with all their llammering. You’re just lazy, the All Packa ya. Well, see if I give a hoot.
Here’s a likely crew.
Say, would you pronghorns like to save Santa’s bacon tonight?
But we’re in Montana.
That’s okay. He’ll have to go by there when he limps home with his rainydeer crew and drops them off. Maybe you can hop on and help get them home before the nightshift begins. Thanks a lot.
I’ve been watching and I don’t see him coming back yet. Must be in the workshop, adjusting the harnesses to the new team.
I think I see him now, with his fresh crew of pronghorns. Funny-looking reindeer. Better than nothing, I guess.
Oh, this is so exciting. We just can’t sit still.
Children, children, not so loud,
Reindeer’s nervous of the crowd,
Send a delegation out,
Find that sleigh, and kids don’t pout.
Let’s go meet him.
This way! This way!
Santa’s big sleigh.
Sliding, gliding,
Santa’s riding.
Now settle down or Santa will think you’re all quackers.
Look how well behaved we are; black and white, eating at the same table together. One big happy flock. We’re a “blended flock.”
Oh, listen to you guys. You think it’s easy being the black swan of the family?
Whaddaya mean? You think you’ve got it bad? You try being a rat. All I did was chew on a few of those lovely black licorice cords in the truck and WHAM! They lifted the trunk and exposed me to the elements. But they won’t see me hiding in the corner. Bet you can’t see me either. I’ve got a really good hiding place in the door well too. I’ll just wait there until Santa brings new wiring for me to nibble on.
One thing we all got for Christmas – not sure if Santa had anything to do with it – was darn cold weather. So when Santa had to fly back to change his Rainydeer tires for the more heavy-duty Pronghorn brand, he asked the North Wind to provide some Puddle Puzzles for us to play with while we await his return.
Actually, I thought the puzzles were more like A-maze-ing. You just try it. See if you can find a path out of this maze.
I hope your Christmas holiday time is amazing too.
Did you find the rat in the truck? Look on the far back right-hand corner of the picture (actually the left side of the truck).
If I’m not already a nut job, then after doing this nut job, I will be one.
I had thought there were no hazelnuts on the trees this year but I was wrong. They were a bit late to develop, but they were quite prolific. When I saw that the raccoons and the squirrels were harvesting them, day (squirrels) and night (raccoons), I thought I’d better get in on the action. Looks like a little black cocker is also wanting to get in on the action.
I let the nuts sit out in the sun to dry out for a couple of weeks, and then, as the nights grew cooler I had to do something with the nuts or watch them go moldy. It’s not cold enough to make a fire in the woodstove so hanging the nuts in burlap bags by the fire was not an option.
I decided to crack them and put the nutmeat in ziplocs and freeze them. This way I can take out what I need to use for baking through the winter.
I tried them out in a batch of banana/blueberry/hazelnut muffins. Turned out quite good.
It was quite dark when I took these pictures and then I tried to crop and lighten them somewhat so you could see the invasion of masked terrorists entering illegally.
They will take whatever they want: beetles, garden plants, and anything left over in bird feeders, or sunflower seeds that the squirrels missed.
Last week there were first four and then five raccoons. Now there are six! We are overrun with them. Will it ever end?
Carping and barking, we all go a-larking,
When daylight has faded enough.
Leaping and creeping, while folks are a-sleeping,
Avoiding a doggie’s rebuff.
Scratching the hatching of June bugs we’re catching,
The sun has just dropped below the hills. The first bats of the evening flit spastically through the air, looking for those giant beetles that helicopter around on hot nights. Once the bats go to work, the raccoons know it’s dark enough.
One muted sharp chirping bark calls the team together.
It’s time to go to work.
They creep through the hedge, sniff the air, and advance towards the safety of the island of trees.
“Now, Ralphie! Stick close to Mama,” says Rebecca. “And keep that mask on. There’s still Covid around, and even if masks don’t work, it’s better than nothing.”
Rhonda’s family comes out too, gathering around for a quick meeting to discuss the best route for foraging through the yard. Richie, Ronnie, and Rachel mill around waiting for someone to make the first move. “But what’s the bright light?”
“Don’t worry. It’s too dark for anyone to see us now. That’s only some would-be photographer. Just hide behind your mask.”
The group scratches and paws at the ground. Some of them find the ten-lined June beetles that foolishly think they are safe to fly around at night, landing on anything and everything.
But any that land near a raccoon, on the ground or in the trees become just another hors d’oeuvre. Chomp! Chomp! Another one down the hatch.
“But where are we going? Are we going to check out the squirrels’ sunflower seed leftovers first? How do we get through the gate? ”
“Oh, come on then. I’ll show you the way. Never mind those squirrels in the woodshed.”
With a snort, Rebecca motors through the space in the fence, and all four of them follow her on the next stage of their nightly trek.
Once the raccoons started to run for cover it was hard to follow them with the camera, so apologies for the scrambled ending of the video below, but I did spy a small set of eyes hiding behind the tree.
The Captain and I were having an afternoon coffee on our deck when Randolph came to visit. He’d been lurking around the yard late at night and usually disappeared in the wee hours of the morning. But lately he is getting braver about being seen in the glaring daylight hours.
He wasn’t too concerned about anything – even took time to scratch an itch.
He came right out in the open, looking for dandelions in the grass, and this explains his more frequent visits. Our grass is loaded in weeds. Definitely not a Scott’s Turfbuilder lawn. I don’t really mind him digging out the weeds to get at the roots or bugs, but I wish he would refill the holes.
Until now I had been blaming Bonnie and Benny Bunny for all the holes dug in our “lawn,” and they do their fair share of digging, but I saw Randolph in action this day, and knew I had to allow the bunnies some leniency. They are probably only guilty of digging a third of the holes in the yard.
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