My Irrational Fear Is In My House - Part 3

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I hate to admit it, but the raccoon has become part of our routine.  Daily feedings, check.  Keep Dixie out and away from the garage at all times, check.  Container of kitten milk replacement and bottles on the counter, check.

Who am I?  What has become of my life?

Rocky, as my husband named him, seems to be thriving in our garage.  In addition to the bottles of kitten milk replacement, he has also started eating grapes, bananas, and kitten food.  I am pretty sure the raccoon thinks Matt is his mother and Matt is ready to trade the dog in for the baby raccoon.

The routine seems to be working, until the raccoon escapes.  Again.

It was a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon and I was settling onto the couch for a nap.  Matt was out in the garage, doing whatever it is guys do in garages.  He comes back in several times asking me why the dog keeps scratching the air return grate by the door and why wasn't I doing something about it.

Uh, I was trying to take a nap.  That's why I wasn't doing anything about it.

Again the dog is written off for being crazy, which she has been because there has been a raccoon in the garage.  Except there is a problem with Matt's assessment of the situation.  I watched Dixie because my nap ambiance was disturbed and she wasn't scratching at the grate.  She was intensely staring at it and her ears were perked up and her head was cocked in such a way that says, something is not right out there.

I fear the worst.

Matt quickly came in and confirmed my fear that Rocky, the raccoon, had escaped again.  And then he quickly added that I shouldn't worry because he had the situation under control and the garage is sealed off from the house.

We all know I am useless in these types of situations, so I stayed on the couch and took a nap.  Dixie was once again retrieved to locate the raccoon which this time had crossed the garage and was located on top of the small fridge.

I drew a terrible picture of our garage layout to give you an idea of how far it escaped as compared to the first attempt.  Nothing is drawn to scale and the measurements are not even close to being right.  And yes, that is my attempt at drawing raccoon tracks. 

 When I woke up from my nap and ventured into the garage.  I was told that the raccoon had been found and was placed back into his clearly-not-secure-enough-because-he's-escaped-twice-now container.  I was very alarmed at how quickly he had gotten to the door that leads to the house and that he was climbing all over stuff.  I feel like the entire garage needs to be decontaminated from the raccoon germs (I call it raccoon juice) that are everywhere.  And why are we not paying more attention to the signals Dixie is giving us? 

Needless to say, it was time for Rocky to go.  Everyone, except for me, had gotten a little too comfortable with the raccoon living in the garage.  Matt had accomplished what he set out to do which was to get the baby raccoon healthy enough to live on its own outside.

Part 4, Rocky's Release, is coming soon!  Again, thank you so much for your interest and raccoon stories.  If you like the story, share it on Facebook and Twitter with your own irrational fear or raccoon story!