Those Pesky Masked Bandits!
 

I had just dropped off to sleep when I saw startled back into wakefulness but a strange cat noise. All of the other cats, who were snoozing on the bed, jumped up to see what was the matter. Scoundrel, our watch cat, had discovered something.



Remembering my recent unfortunate surprise of a prowler at my back door, I tip toed through the house looking for the place that was getting my cats' attention. I got to the living room and peered out the large arched window. I saw nothing. So, I turned to leave to make sure all of the doors were locked when I heard the most interesting growling coming from under the living room floor. Four of the 5 cats were at full alert (Jack was still asleep with his daddy in bed). I stomped on the floor to startle the creatures, but only succeeded in startling my own creatures.



After a bit, I decided to go back to bed, but took one look out the window just in case. There, in the dark, were 2 sets of eyes staring back at me, surrounded by dark black masks, pointed noses and pricked up ears. Soon, they turned away and took their bushy stripped tails down to wake up some other neighbors.



Pesky masked bandits!

Hooray for racoons!!!!! Boo that they have made a home under your home....

I think they just come for a visit and a romp. They forage there, but don't life there.

As long as they aren't stealing thongs.

Awwwwww man! Think of the vet bills then!

There is no hooray for racoons! We have had a serious problem with them for the last 5 months!! They have decided that our roof is the Disneyland of the night! I can't begin to tell you how many times they have woken me up between the hours or 1 and 6 in the morning!! They run and jump with each other all over the roof. We have an aluminum awning over our backyard and they jump on that (and that's loud! It's loud when it rains, think how loud it is when a racoon jumps on it) and hide between the eaves and the awning. We have had to keep our fence open so the whole world can see into our side yard(that's how the cross over).

Oh, and I'm not quite done yet...when I came home the day we were leaving for New Mexico for 10 days, I noticed huge black markings up the posts in front of the house...they had made a whole in a vent and were getting in there! There are muddy black marks along the beam as well as the 2 posts! We had to leave, but my mom's boyfriend came over and checked in the attic=nothing, but there were sign that they had been in there. Little grooves in the insulation. He nailed a huge piece of wood to block it and we haven't seen or, more importantly, heard them in a while. You can tell they tried to take the piece of wood out because their little paw prints are on it!

So, no hooray for racoons. I used to think the same thing, but now all I want to do is camp out in the backyard and take pop shots at them!! Sorry animal lovers, but they gotta go now! Animal control can't come and get them until they are in the house.

NA, I hate to say it, but they will keep coming back and as cute as they are now, you will soon hate them. They are smart and creatures of habit!

Ok, I'm done now...I now return you to your regular programming!;)

okay, how about this.
I reserve the Hooray for the raccoons in the Lazy Boy commercials, and RJ in Over the Hedge.

The rest may be classified as noisy pests.

Though in pictures, or in the forest, I will still say they are cute.

Ok, I can agree with that one. But when they keep waking you up, it's hard to classify any as cute. :D

My sister has a mommy racoon that comes to visit every spring (she feeds them) and brings her new babies for all to see.

Damn. I can scratch them off. Who stole my thong??

I feel your pain Grumpy!
When I lived in the country, my house had a tin roof and an orchard in back. The raccoons loved the orchard for the fruit and my roof was their Disneyland!
The worst part is I lived alone and the noise on my roof was amazing. I had a metal pipe for the exhaust from the oil stove on the roof and it would shake violently. I got so worried I called my brother to spend the night with me to figure it out.

In the middle of the night it sounded like someone was knocking on the window in the other bedroom, so my bro wakes me up. So here we are in the middle of the night with flashlights trying to find the culprits. We finally spotted the little buggers playing tag! One would try to knock the other off the roof, so the falling one would hang on to the metal gutters and swing into the side of the house or window. Then he would claw his way back up and slam the other one into the metal pipe.
This continued for one whole summer!! That was the summer I decided to try a graveyard shift ;)

We live right next to wetlands and there are allegedly racoons out and about but we've never seen 'em. But there are a lot of cats on patrol outside and our two patrol the inner sanctum. Sashapants would killkillkill any that came near.

Those pesky little things are adorable.....ON TV... IRL they cause a lot of problems.....and the local animal control folk can't do much about them unless they are IN your house!

Yeah, we've chased them off with the flashlights and hoses! The longest we were ever out there chasing them off was about an hour! Like in the a.m. hours!

Animal control won't help. Someone gave us the idea of calling Fish and Game. Personally I'm looking for a racoon hunt!!

I think it must have been a coonish dream, I have no recollection of the events of that night

One time a pair of them ambled up to our second story deck. Eric slipped a bowl of water and some cat food out to them, and they ate it. Then, he gave them some marshmallows. It was pretty funny- they dip the marshmallows in the water, which of course makes the mellows disintegrate. Now that we have a large dog, they stay away.

Ever tried to sleep with stoneheng in your bed?;)

Yes, yes I have ;)

Worse yet if he does hear a noise late at night it's " Jill, go see what's going on out there." :eek:

I guess you are the conquering hero when it comes to defending the home! ;)

Yes! It's me a Scoundrel to the rescue. :rolleyes:

One of you has to be The Protector!! Sounds like a bad Marvel Comic.:p

Where's my cape?

I love them in theory. My first and favorite stuffed animal of all time was a masked bandit.

But, dude, saw one in the street once that was as big as a medium sized small dog, and I nearly pooped myself with fear. Those things can be fierce.

Well, either they didn't visit last night or I joined the Stonehenge revolution.

I love them in theory as well, Eliza. They've just got so MUCH personality.......and tiny little hands.

Oh! I do love their little teeny-weeny hands, too.

So, my brain is a strange place. Racoons to e.e.cummings in one easy step.

"No one, not even the rain, has such small hands."

I don't have racoons, but I have squirrels from hell... Well, they're pretty ****ing cute. It's a good thing that airport has kept me relatively relaxed when the worst of pounding goes on above.

I know we've like "invaded" their territory and all, but my house has been here longer than the racoons came bounding on my roof! Go back to the park!!!:mad:

I live near Central Park in HB

Hehe, I have a pet rat that I let loose in the morning... she wanders down the hall, trowing herself at doors until she gets to The Boy's room. It is the only one open.

Who needs an alarm clock when you have a rodent licking your nose at 6am.

I did a bad thing.

I put out the grapes that were starting to go bad. I put them on the front yard for the racoons.

I will pay for this little stunt, I am sure. Sadly, I won't be awake to see their cute little hands grasping each and every grape. :(

Oh no Lisa! They are smart little critters and if the birds didn't beat them to the grapes.....you're sure to have return visits.

Well, this morning, there are still grapes on my front lawn. I didn't think about THAT, did I.:rolleyes:

At least you don't have massive ladybug invasions. Eiw!

The racoons or Swankers?

At least they didn't come so now they won't be coming back for more!! And if you put grapes out, put a little "bad" pellet in them:p .

Oooooh, you be a VERY baaaad cat!


So far, I still love my racoons. I'm loving the grapes less.

I'm sorry to hear about all the racoon problems. I like the little critters. I'm scared to death of them because of the whole rabies thing, but I think they're pretty neat.

For many months now, I have heard an odd thundering running sound on my roof. Matterhorn Fan has heard it too. We narrowed it down to one of two things, either Racoons or Ghosts. There hasn't been any damage to the roof, and for the life of me I havn't been able to catch what's making the sound. If is racoons, then they're really sturdy little things, because after the three hurricanes that hit my house last fall, they must still be alive. Or maybe before the storms the sound was created by live racoons, and since the storms I'm being haunted by Ghost Racoons.

Raccoons are like cockroaches. I'm convinced that when all other living things are dead and gone, the earth will be populated with raccoons and cockroaches.

I've learned to live in peace with my raccoons, it's a lot easier for me to accept them then to do battle with them. Although, this spring I will need to have my backyard resodded for the third time in 4 1/2 years. Raccoons are like little rototillers when they are looking for grub worms.

Grumpy ~ I was told by Animal Control to call Vector Control for help with wild animal problems. They will supposedly come out to your property and survey it. They will then give you suggestions on how to discourage the animals from being/making a home on your property.

Here's a link to the Orange County Division:

http://www.ocvcd.org/index.htm

You can find information about raccoons on their site too. Btw, we pay for Vector Control in our property taxes. It's a service many people aren't aware of.

My brother had a plush raccoon when he was little. He named it Badger, for some strange reason.

Ghost Raccoons seems the most likely answer. It would explain why you've never been able to see them.

It could also be Ninjas, you know. But it would have to be a Ninja-in-training, because I'd think a full-fledged Ninja would be a little lighter on his feet.

Possibly Non-Flying Ninja Racoons. That's my suspicion.

Ninjas don't normally fly. They leap and do acrobatics and they disappear at the drop of a hat, but they don't fly. Well, maybe ghost ninjas could fly.

You never know. It could just be the Great White Shark-Ameoba-Gator.

When Buster is a Ninja, he flies.

You're just jealous because your cat doesn't fly.

Perhaps HTH should leave some grapes on his roof.

Or Ninja Squirrels- we have several, and they are quite loud.

It's not squirrels. When HTH described it as "thundering," he wasn't exaggerating. There's plenty of Ninja Squirrels at my place, though. Want some?

Lol- no way! We've got a bazillion of them here. Hmmm... What about Ninja Possums? Armadillos?

Thanks for the info. When we found that they had been in the attic, we blocked the entrance. We firgured the went in there a night or two after we started leaving the gate open. So, they haven't been living in there. In fact, I don't think they live on our property. There is a fig tree in our neighbor's backyard so that is their food source. So, they must live nearby. I'll check out the website and see what's up. Animal control said to put an ammonia soaked rag by the entrance to the awning and under the eaves, but they just grabbed it and moved it out to the middle of the awning. They're not stupid animals. We thought about putting tack strip across the top of the fence so they will stick their little feet when they try to cross over. People say that because they are so smart that they will figure out a way. We haven't closed the gate to see if they're gone yet, because that one time we do, they will be back!!:mad:

With everybody's help, I think I've got my problem figured out. I bet my house is being haunted by the legendary Flying Ghost Ninja Squirrel-possum-armadillo-shark-Ameoba-Gator-Racoon beast that has never been caught on film, but is know to exist in high mountainess areas.

Count your blessings- here in the PNW, we have to contend with the dreaded Ninja Sasquatch as well.

But........with the highest mountain in your area being a measly 400 feet, I am not sure we could classify your house as being in a high mountainess areas.


Did I get that right? 400 feet?;)

Well, he didn't say "mountainous." That means "having many mountains," which this area most certainly does not.

He said "mountainess," which would mean "the wife or widow of a mountain."

That's WAY different.

OOOOOOOOOoooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I'll have you know that I have the five tallest mountains in Florida with in a 40 mile radius. They are as follows:

Iron Mountain (Lake Wales, FL. Approx. 350 feet above sea level.)
Space Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain
Splash Mountain
Mount May Day

And soon Mount Everest.

350 feet? Boy! I was sure generous! I guess living in a state that has the HIGHEST mountain in the continuious US might make it difficult for be to understand why 350 feet is called a mountain.

I don't know. Just something to think about. ;)

I moved to Florida shortly after Mount St. Helens blew up, and I used to show the natives all my pics of that and the mountains around Wa state. It was kind of amusing to see some of the reactions- like I was from some sort of exotic locale. I eventually moved back, because I really missed the mountains and forests. (And we don't have cockroaches or cottenmouth's here).

But you a have raccoons.

Yeah! I agree with my friend with the Italian accent. At least in Florida we only have Ghost Ninja Racoons.

(Actually, WendyBeth, it sounds like I great place. I hear the North-west is beautiful. I'd love to see it sometime. Although it's hard to imagine a place without roaches and poisonous snakes. The next thing you're going to tell me is that you don't have hurricanes and butterfly ballots. :))

Lol, Matterhorn and HTH!

Yes, we have raccoons- very large ones, in fact. I'll have to dig out the pics of the ones Eric was feeding marshmallows to. We don't have butterfly ballots, but we do have dead people that vote! I think they have cockroaches over on the coast, but none that I'm aware of here on the eastern side.

Italian accent? Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be in HTH's head, but then I think about that for a bit and it really, really scares me.

I'm sad that I didn't get a butterfly ballot this year--after waiting in line for an hour to vote, it's the least they could have done! My ballot did fall under the floor when the stupid zip your ballot out of the secrecy folder machine thingy didn't work right (of course, maybe that was user error, but when the amount of instruction given is "put it there," I can't be blamed).

wendybeth--HTH has never seen real snow.

I have to seen real snow. I was in the first grade. We went on motor home trip up north to the southern states. I think it was somewhere in Tennessee that I saw the snow. It wasn't very deep. All the same, I had lost my mittens, and whined to my mother about not wanting to go outside with my brothers. My mom replied, "We drove all the way up here so you could see some snow. You're going to go out there and have fun in the snow, if it kills you."

Today's word is OXYMORONIC.

As absurd as it sounds, many of the Southern states don't concider Florida as part of the South.

No raccoons, but I do have wild turkeys wander by in my backyard, and there are usually deer in the winter.


I don't consider FL part of the South either. :)

Is it considered part of South America? The Carribean?

You people are all FREAKS!

I used to live in Panama City. It's south, believe me. And I was a Damned Yankee, even though I was a better shot than those good ole boys....:rolleyes:

HTH- that pretty much soounds like most of my childhood snow experiences.

Hey! HTH isn't a moron!!!

OK, maybe he is. Because he's told me before that he's never seen snow.
Just figuring that out?

Wow, this got thread was totally derailed! How swank-aayy!

Some of us have had practice.




And warnings.

HEHEHEHEHE!

MatterhornFan's in trouble! Nener nener nener.

Was. And not just me. HTH, too.

Hmmm..no raccoons, no deer, but I do have Wild Turkey in the cupboard!! :D

I have never been party to derailing a thread. Time to get back on topic. I think we were talking about skinning a zucchini.

Hee heeeeeee!! Derail!!