the raccoon story

This is my tent. The tent design is significant to the raccoon story.

You'll notice there are three "rooms". The center one is a screened area, where our supplies were sitting. The left side is where we were sleeping. The right side is empty, and only set up because we were too lazy to figure out how detach it.

Among the supplies in the center section were a couple bags with bread and hot dog buns.

We had gone out to a free concert by the Niagara symphony on one of the canals in Welland. It was beautiful, and got us back to the camp-site quite late.

Not thinking much farther than the pillows, Caroline and I tucked in and went to sleep. It was cold, and she thought that zipping the flap between the small section and the screened section might help keep us warmer.

Then, in the wee hours of the morning, raccoons started fighting outside the tent, and sniffing around the base.

It was then I remembered that I hadn't put the food away properly.

It was also then I heard activity INSIDE the tent ... just on the other side of the flap into the screened room.

There was much flailing about, as our nocturnal friend got the food he smelled, and then discovered he couldn't get OUT.

I got up and unzipped the screen room doors, but it was impossible to tell when the critter(s) were exiting and entering, so I never dared zip them back up again, lest we have another prisoner.

It was a MOST long night (for me). Caroline is gifted at being able to fall asleep immediately, and in almost any circumstance!

At one point, I realized that not only was the food in the center section, so were my car keys. Raccoons love shiny things. Car keys are shiny.

I woke Caroline up to mention this. She mumbled something about raccoons not being able to drive, and went back to sleep.

When the sun came up, the fuzzy fellows retreated to the woods. Any un-sealed food was picked clean, but there was remarkably little chaos otherwise. They did refuse to eat the heel of the loaf of bread, and left it crumbled in the middle of the room, but other than that, everything was fairly orderly. I was picturing what a fearful animal could do when trapped in a room, and the mental picture was everything-but-orderly!

We made the choice to spend the next night at her parents' house. It was much more peaceful. :)