The Visitor

This afternoon around 3:45, I was working on the computer and heard a scrub jay squawking in the tree. I looked out and saw a ringed tail in the crotch of our big maple and went outside to try and frighten away my neighbor's d@mn cat. I banged on the screen door and there was no response from the cat. I came out the back door and ran at the tree, angry to have to come out in the 100+ degree weather. As I reached out to drum my hands on the tree a foot below the "cat", I saw an unhappy masked face looking down at me.

"Whoa," I breathed and slowly backed away. The creature looked at me and I could almost see it sigh as it begrudgingly climbed higher into the tree. I came back inside and tried calling my conservation biologist friend with no luck. I looked online with an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach and found nothing but unhappy words about finding raccoons in daylight hours. With a heavy heart, I finally called the sheriff's non-emergency line/animal control... only to have it ring for a HALF AN HOUR. God bless speaker phone, otherwise I'd have been locked in one place and that's dangerous while watching twins. Secretly, I was glad I couldn't get ahold of animal control. Even if there's nothing wrong with the poor guy, I don't want to think of what MIGHT happen once he's in one of those traps.

The girls got up at about 4 and I forgot about the poor overheated creature while I got them a snack, played for a while and started dinner. I looked outside. No raccoon. I bravely ventured out to the patio. No raccoon even higher. I went out on the lawn and searched for any sign that the raccoon was up in the tree. No Sparky... er, no raccoon. I went about my business and continued my evening as normal. After putting the girls down at 8, on a whim I turned on the patio lights. There, from the crotch of the tree...

:::sigh::: If he's still there tomorrow, I'll call animal control again :(