Rocky Raccoon checked into his room... only to find his ASS DEPORTED!

Two down, who knows how many to go.

This is part of a recent eradication project championed by my wife and I. The situation had been worsening, more holes to cover up each morning, torn grass, broken veggie stems, etc. But last night it boiled over. Sometime around 2AM we hear this loud racket and open the front door just in time to see a skunk, two raccoons, and an opossum, nonchalantly saunter out from the back yard, in file, tossing loose nods up to us as if to say, "whah, djoo wanna piece o'me?"

Back Story:

So, I live in what could be politely referred to as...THE GHETTO. Not that I mind this, it is far better than apartment life. But it is the ghetto. Not bad ghetto, as in no hookers on the corner, no gunshots, no murders, just ghetto as in a older low income neighborhood that is starting to show its age. People fix their house when they can, with what they can, making for an eclectic mix of well trimmed, nice houses, corrugated roofs, converted garages, a few bare slabs, a few more bright blue houses, and some dilapidation. These houses are also duplexes.

So my attached neighbors have some problems with good judgment. Would you buy a brand new car, or patch the huge gaping holes in your garage? Well, new car showed up, and huge gaping holes were left alone. Well, all except one that was covered with a dry erase board held in place by an inverted laundry basket. Classy, huh?

I am sure the rest is pretty easy to piece together. Once the holes opened up, the 'coons moved in. For a while things were semi-tolerable. The raccoons would eat occasionally from the yard, hitting up the compost, stealing the cats food, etc. These were things we could work around by covering the compost with leaves and bringing Princess McFurBucket's food inside. But not long ago they found the grubs, and have since made sowing seed virtually impossible. It was the loss of the carrot seedlings and the utter decimation of our quicky green bean crop that brought this whole thing to a head.

So a short drive and deposit later, and I had two have-a-heart traps.

Our first night netted two 'coons, one at midnight and one early this morning, which is why I am up blogging right now. We relocated them outside of town, near several creeks and streams. We can still hear a few more up the rafters scratching, but once we get them all out mothballs and some clever partitioning (oddly absent from the shoddy original build job) should keep them away, we hope. If not, at least the traps are not all that expensive to rent. Sadly though, they will still be able to live in our neighbors' side, just not ours, so regular trapping might have to occur.

Fare the well, Rocky 1 and Rocky 2. I will drop off your brothers and sisters tonight or later this week.