Twice now I’ve been awakened between 2-3 am by something in the garden—it’s dark out there, I had the window open, it being a nice night in both occasions, and I heard this eerie chitter-chitter-murble from close by my window.
Well, Sei was interested, but his tail wasn’t bushed; the light by the garage won’t illumine the garden, but I figured we had a four-footed problem and decided light would be a good thing, so I turned on lights in the office and bath, which shine outward and illumine part of the path.
Happened again, 2 nights later.
It had rained. I went out and renewed the anti-critter sprinkles, but it’s a rainy patch of weather. And I got on the internet and looked up ‘raccoon sounds’ with the intent to look up ‘skunk sounds’ if that wasn’t it. Bingo on the first try. Raccoon. The pond is much overgrown about the edge, which we intended as a raccoon deterrent, and the lily pads likewise are protection, but the surface water is still warm enough in this transition of the seasons that the koi lounge near the shore at night. Worrisome.
I decided, hmmn, wonder if there’s a lantern that’s also a spooklight. So I searched for same, and turned up a lantern designed as a perimeter alarm, to protect campsites against straying children outbound and straying bears inbound. I got one, set it up. It has modes for mild light, strong light, strong light on motion detector for 15 minutes, and strong light with screaming alarm. In consideration of our neighbors and because the police have better things to do, I chose the silent spooklight mode, and set it up. We shall see. It has a 35 foot range, and is moderately weatherproof. I set it in the side entry to the garage, which is somewhat sheltered by the clematis, and let it be. It continues rainy, and we did not have any incident last night.
I’m aware that they can be nippy if cornered and are a rabies hazard. Firearms in the city are a no-no for very good reasons, besides the risk to garden decor. I might risk the literal 10 foot (bamboo) pole of which we have several, but I really had rather just scare the raccoons off (I’m pretty sure there are at least two, or it’s crazy and talking to itself)… We’ve also seen tracks the size of a larger monkey’s, so I imagine mama at least is the size of a bushel basket or more. Wish me luck with the spooklight approach—they’re kind of spendy, but cheaper than buying canisters of coyote urine—those coyotes don’t work cheap! and it washes away in the rain.
They can be nasty critters and can do severe damage to the house. I came home from an interlude of parent care to a night of horrible sounds through my ceiling -family of young raccoons who were squabbling and clawing all night. They had gotten in through the soffit vent -bent the covering bars to a fair-the-well. It was expensive to get them removed, worth every penny. I would not have gone up into the attic crawl space after them. (Then the pest guy told me that he just took them away and released them. I had a mental picture of him doing that in a new neighborhood and then going around with business cards a week later! And at least in this state it is illegal to release wildlife away from the property that they were caught on. That practice is why we had rabies get into this state.)
After two sleepless nights I also was not feeling at all kind hearted towards the blasted things.
You might find it interesting to buy or borrow a “trail camera”. Hunters use them. It’s a weatherproof camera with a motion detector. It takes pictures any time something walks in front of it. The good ones see in the dark pretty well. Then you can see exactly what you’ve got. I set one up once to look for an escaped house cat (who was fortunately recovered over in the next state, thank goodness for microchips), and it spotted a feral cat I’d never seen before who regularly cruises through the neighborhood at 3am.
I wonder if you could get a nighttime video camera similar to whatcwjordan suggests. Photos or video might be very interesting to you and Jane, both for the “alien” and the animal behavior aspects.
Raccoons are cleer, curious, sneaky, omnivorous, feisty so-and-sos. They adapt to city and country life.
good candidates for evolving sapients.
If they get in your attic, insist on a security deposit against two months’ rent and a limit on the loud partying after midnight until dawn, at least.Yes, they can get pretty raucous.
Trail cameras can be as “inexpensive” as about $90 or upwards of $400, depending on what you want. Cabela’s, Gander Mountain, Field and Stream, Bass Pro Shops….they usually take an SD card. Some of them are capable of IR, which is useful at night if it’s a warm-blooded creature.
You attach it to a vertical surface, such as a tree trunk, fence post, or maybe even your patio table’s center support. Some have wireless capability, although I’m not sure that it’s built in to the camera or if you have to buy a separate modem for that.
Anyway, good luck with getting to the bottom of this latest mystery. Perhaps you need some Guild to stand guard?
Well, two nights with the lantern and no alarms. If the past is a guide, they do their visitation and migrate on toward the cliff that leads down to wild land, along the Little Spokane River…which some of you may recall. Moose, deer, coyotes, marmots, raccoons, various birds, eagles (usually bald eagle) and osprey, herons, ducks, geese, and the occasional bear or cougar, though there’s only been one bear and several moose incidents in city limits since we’ve lived in Spokane—a cougar was recent memory in the apartment complex when we first arrived, back in 2000. I love the wildlife—but not so much in our garden. 😉
I vividly remember the canoe trip down the Little Spokane….all of the people who ended up in the water, including me when I was checking on other people (Kroyd and I were enlisted as “assistant guides” since we have water experience in small boats). Early June, snowmelt off the Cascades, and a decent current to carry me to shallower water. I loved every bit of it, except that I couldn’t get the seat back to fit properly on the kayak after I got back in…..
I thought you dealt with raccoons some time ago? Take care of the fish.
They’re annual visitors. I hope the light proves scary enough.
Very off topic, but I have recently turned on one of the ladies in my knitting group (and her daughter) to the Foreigner series. She’s just started book 1 last week and I am doing a “companion reread” along with her to refresh my mind on the details. (Part of the “group” thing in knitting group is the conversation — there’s enough of us that there are various conversations on a wide range of topics going on at any one point.) One detail pinged loudly, though, as I was surprised I didn’t remember it — Toby buying a medical practice with the help of Bren’s living allowance. What kind of medical practice? — I didn’t think Toby was a doctor. … Kind of a “wait, what?” moment for me.
Weather wise, it’s finally dropped down into the 60’s, although it’s going back up in the 80s by the weekend. Made my first pot of tea of the season.
Phlbtt! Last weekend I changed the sheets to flannel, and put the comforter in its duvee cover for the top of the bed.