Upon pulling the covers over my weary body, there was an eruption of growls, barks, and snarls involving more than one animal.
Off fly the covers, I immediately grasp the bedside pistol and flashlight, and fly to front door, turning on the porch light which cast a yellow glow upon the scene.
In this pale light I see our animated chocolate lab, who appears fine but highly agitated. As my eyes rapidly scan the seen they settle upon another animated body, though much slower. A raccoon. Since there is a space between the two, I allowed the dog in, quickly deciding to let the dog stay in the garage until the next morning.
This accomplished, I returned to the door and proceeded to the porch, as the raccoon preceeded to climbing the posts. By this time my wife had joined me, and we both wonder where the children are, wondering to find a camera. Shortly however, we decide to return to bed as adrenaline declines and weariness returns.
Exciting, but I assumed that life would return to normal the next morning.
As we were making preparations to gather with the church known as Grace Place, I noticed that dog, after being released, is again become very animated.
Our raccoon has not departed as expected.
Nor does he show signs of departing.
Rather, he seems to advance when approached, arching his back as he does so, obviously preparing for conflict. So I contact our pastor, who is an avid outdoorsman, for a consultation. I was seeking a second opinion about the potential rabidicy of the 'coon. I then informed our worship leader that the trombonist will likely be late this morning.
Deciding on a course of action, I instruct one of my daughters use a hoe to 'encourage' the raccoon to leave the sidewalk area, the other to return the dog to the garage, as I retrieved my 12 gauge shotgun. Upon returning, I find my daughter has retreated to the house, the raccoon is again climbing a post and I am left wondering how to get him off without damaging my porch.
While I take one last picture with me cell phone, our visitor decends from the post on which he took refuge. He was generous enough to move to the edge of the porch, at which time I became convinced of the effectiveness of 00 buckshot at close range (about 5 feet).
Had this been the end, we would have been quickly on our way. However, we took the next 15 minutes waiting for the animal to die, moving the corpse, incinerating it, disinfecting the area and mothballing it (as we didn't want the dog getting into any of the remains, however, the dog did receive its vaccine in September, so I am thankful for that visit to the vet).
After an exciting morning, we finally found ourselves heading off to church, with a story to tell.
