Sunday:
Sitting downstairs taking a trip down memory lane with my bestie, when all of a sudden I hear a noise. Not only was the home video we were watching terribly embarrassing, but I had secretly been looking for an excuse to run away from my 13-year-old self dancing around in my PJ’s on the big screen! So when this noise came I practically leaped out of my chair even before it dawned on me that what could have made the sound could be worse then my past. Luckily, my bad year has taken a turn for the “mediocre” so when I saw a raccoon out there and not a black bear, I let out a sigh of relief.
Now don’t get me wrong, the number one wild animal all houses in the country have a hatred for, are those vicious garbage-craving, cat-food-eating jerks called raccoons. So it wasn’t unusual to see my dad holding a shot gun in his hand as he begins to tell me how this raccoon tried to “break into our house.” As I take a look at this raccoon my dad is now calling a “crook”, I can’t help but let out a big “AWWE!” This baby raccoon is lost, tiny and just looking for someone to point him in the direction of his mama. He is far from the crook my dad was willing to give a B&E too, that is for sure. I will give my dad credit – he was trying to get into the house and he was running up and down the porch trying to trick us to open the door, but this raccoon was nothing more than an adorable, cuddly animal I was willing to bring into the house [if only my dad didn’t stop me.]
He cried outside our house all night long and was even there the next morning for a bit.
Monday evening:
My sister and her boyfriend were out in the driveway saying goodbye, when all of a sudden we hear a high-pitch scream, which could only have come from a girl. Turns out the scream came as this cute raccoon started chasing my sister’s boyfriend up our drive. And when we tried to chase him away, he came up to our other porch and just kept reaching out his little paw to us. Having had a run in with a bit bigger wild animal myself earlier in life, I knew I was not touching this thing without a rabbies-free, clean-bill of health. Next thing I know my sister has her hand out, and its crawling all over her like that’s all it was wanting this whole time; a little human contact. Well that was the end of it. I was no sooner sticking my hand out, only to have it suck on my finger thinking it was miraculously going to be getting milk out of it! I stayed outside with him sitting in my lap, feeding him milk and crackers till 2a.m. I’m a tough person, but I’m a sucker for animals. Thankfully I wasn’t alone, as my other friend came over to see what all the fuss was about… and one minute after meeting Doug (yes, I had gotten so attached I had already given him a name!) he was convinced he was going to take him home. After giving him five to many crackers, I thought I had killed the poor bugger as he was desperately in need of water, but he lived to see another day… that was after he ran around from porch to porch for an hour after I left, crying for me! Damn he is so cute, I don’t know how I am going to give him up.
Tuesday:
It’s raining when I wake up. And its immediately clear to me that Doug doesn’t like getting wet, as his head is wedged between my house and my bench, under our canopy outside, while his back end is hanging out for me to see he is still alive. I come back from town and he is awake when my friend and I try to go in the hot tub. A small fact I misjudged about Doug, he doesn’t hate the water, he loves it. Not only does he pace back and forth trying to get on my shoulders and grab at my bikini strings (Doug is also becoming a little pervert!). But he is putting both his front paws in the hot tub, and is ready to make a long leap into the water with me! I fed him (against my mom’s dismay) and start playing with him, as Doug also gets quite frisky. He is throwing up his toy Garfield in his hands and strutting with him in his mouth as he wrestles with my sister and I. Doug gets more visitors then someone in the hospital, so the rest of the day people were coming by and playing with him and feeding him scraps. He was getting really attached to me, so whenever he got scared or unsure of something, he would run to me and jump on my lap for comfort. Doug was soon becoming my new favourite animal, and my cats are now ignoring me because of it. And just as I was becoming this little rascals new mama, my one friend and his mom came and picked him up to take to their home. They’d raised raccoons before, so I know he is going to a great home! I still miss the little squirt, but on the plus side, I no longer hear his sad crying whenever I am inside trying to sleep.
Wednesday:
Long story short, Doug was not liking the counter tops at my friends house and was clearly trying to get into the redecorating course at Georgian by throwing everything off that he could grab. Needless to say, it was just after noon when I picked him up and brought him inside my house instead. If I thought he was curious outside, you should have seen him inside. Sniffing every single thing, and jumping around on the couch, like I use to do when I was four! It was very cute. Not to mention, he would not let me out of his sight, so he followed me up and down every flight of stairs I went! (Doug definitely got his work out that day.)
After dinner Doug decided that it would be a good time for us to take a nap, so we did. He had a few more visitors, and I am sad to say, that Doug is now more popular then I. Later that night, I curled up on the couch with Doug and him and I slept sound fully until 6 a.m. the next day, when he wanted to play. This is when we parted ways and I went to sleep in my bed and he wondered around outside!
Thursday:
Doug and I spend our last few hours together fighting, napping and him following me around the house in the morning as I got ready for the day. Side note # 123, he does not like the sound of a door shutting loudly by the wind; in fact, he hates it and jumps 2ft in the air when he hears it.
Dad and I drove Doug to his new home. I like to call her “The Coon Lady,” and yes, she is just as crazy as you would imagine someone who surrounds themselves with raccoon’s day in and day out. It was a tearful goodbye but it was fun while it lasted!
