8:27 PM 7/18/08 · For the most part I've never had a problem with raccoons. It's not just that they're cute or fascinating to watch or that I think they're slowly working on a scheme to eliminate all the skuns (wish I'd see some quicker turnover on that) and frankly I'm not sure what it is I love about them...
...the one and only time I had a problem with one, about a year back when one on the opposite side of the street from me growled at me, I largely attributed to it being drunk.
Two nights back I ordered a pizza, which isn't all that unusual. I don't really keep peeking out the window to see when it gets here so much as listen. Car pulling up, crunch of wheel on gravel, there's any number of things that signals to me that it's arrived. Hell, sometimes I miss it entirely but I tend to get the same driver and he's gotten used to me popping out almost as soon as he gets there.
Otherwise he calls my cell.
I was watching something or other on the boob tube when I heard the fence rattle and a sorta of sliding noise. Was really into whatever I was watching, which is funny as I'm blanking on what it was, so the sounds I heard equalled pizza to me. I got up, opened my door and leaned out...
...and swishing tail brushed past my nose.
I live in an RV and there's a fence around the whole structure, it's in easy reach of the door if I reach out and leaning I can pretty much peek over it. There's also a really bushy cat that lives next door so I figured that was what it was until I realized it had stopped and turned around about a foot and a half away.
The cat is skittish as all Hell. Usually when I open the door he bolts!
Didn't take much working out what it was from the illumination of the kitchen window. That and despite a vague resemblance, once you're eye to eye with one there is absolutely no remsemblance between a cat and a raccoon.
I'd guesstimate we had about 3 feet between us, crouched on the fence we were exactly at eye level. It didn't seem at all nervous, I was a little surprised but remarkably calm, and we just checked each other out for about 5 minutes.
Most of the conversation was handled by me.
Poor lighting makes it tricky to be accurate but it seemed more brownish than this one...least around the edges. I took a step further out and it leaned down a bit to watch my foot before coming back up to look into my eyes again. It didn't make so much as a peep and the only reason it ended as it did was because I went back inside. Just before I closed the door, it turned to leave and gave me a parting glance as it went.