Y’all, we have moved into a lawless neighborhood: there are masked bandits at large, wreaking havoc.  The other day, Steve noticed a small patch of bare earth in our front yard, where there used to be grass.  He assumed that it was Nugget, digging in the dirt, and made a mental note to have a word with him about restricting his digging activities to the sandbox.  But the next day, the patch was bigger – really big.

That same day, Peanut and Nugget reported that there was a raccoon in the neighbors’ yard, and that they’d seen it out Nugget’s window in the middle of the night.  They do tend to be midnight wanderers, but their information was based on some trash cans that were upright when they went to bed and knocked over when they got up the next morning.  A raccoon is certainly a plausible explanation, but so is a late night automotive encounter, if you catch my drift.

But then we discovered this:

Why yes, those are muddy footprints on our trash can.  We showed them to the kids and they both immediately insisted that they didn’t do it!  Well, kids, of course you didn’t.  Do you have paws?  Do you walk around on trash can lids in the middle of the night?

Nugget has become determined to catch these masked bandits in the act of terrorizing the neighborhood.  We went for a walk between rainstorms the other day, and he made a list of the clues that he spotted.  In addition to our torn-up lawn and muddied trash cans, we noted the following:

• A plastic water bottle on the side of the road.  The raccoon must have put it there!
• Critter poop.  Raccoons for sure!  Probably a daddy raccoon!
• Scratch marks in the gravel by the side of the road, one street over.
• A small divot in someone’s driveway.  Raccoon footprint!  Powerful enough to make an impression on dried pavement!
• A small box midway up the neighbors’ chimney.  Raccoon door!  (Side note: I don’t actually know what it is.)
• Overturned trash cans by another neighbor’s side door.  (I pointed out that they are oriented the same and neatly arranged, so it was probably an intentional act by the neighbors to keep them from filling up with rain during one of our recent storms.  But: no, Mommy!  Raccoons!)
• Torn cellophane around an old bookcase that a neighbor set out for garbage pickup.  Trash panda attack!
• Missing branches on a cherry tree across the street.  The raccoon must have bitten them off!

I’ll tell you guys, this raccoon is a pest but he sure is delivering endless entertainment.  I know that raccoons can be an urban problem, too, but we didn’t encounter any in Alexandria.  (We did see some roaches that were almost as big as raccoons, though.)  But out here, we are surrounded by wildlife – deer, foxes, wild turkeys, and it looks like, raccoons.

Do you get nocturnal visitors to your yard?