A few nights ago my mom got up at 3 am to let her dogs outside to do their business. Now, she didn’t just decide 3 am was a good time for this venture, one of them woke her up demanding it. I can’t remember which one.
Background for the story: My parent’s have 2 Yorkies and 2 Chinese Crested (hairless). Hobo is the male Yorkie and the oldest, then Tessie the female Yorkie, Tinker the small female Crested (Naked Bimbo) and Willow the male CC. Willow’s the biggest and he doesn’t need a middle of the night potty break so he stayed in bed with my dad.
So, mom took Hobo out and noticed what she thought was a gray cat in the small fenced in yard (they have several acres but only a small area for the pups). She figured Bo would chase the cat out and as she turned to get the girls out she heard it thud against the fence. She thought, “silly cat”, normally the cat would jump up and over the fence, but this time not.
As she turned to look again at the mystery animal, she discovered it was a raccoon. A rather big raccoon, and it got Bo down. Mom, in her nightgown, shoeless and weaponless, used the only thing she could to try to save her beloved Hobo. She doubled up her fist and beat the coon on the back a few times. As the coon raised up to get her, she used her other hand to pull Bo to the safety of her arms.
She headed for the door, when Tessie saw the coon and the coon saw Tessie and before she knew it the coon had Tessie down. Mom could not see Tessie at all and she still had Bo in her arms so she kicked at the coon with her bare foot until she saw Tessie’s butt. She yanked Tessie out by her butt fur, poor thing hanging upside down. She barely had Tess in her arms when. . .
Yep, Tinker saw the coon and the coon Tink. Mom thought, “uh-huh” and stuck her hand in Tink’s “mane” and twisted, lifting Tink’s feet off the ground. She quickly made it to the door before she dropped any of them and fell into the door with a thud, still yelling for dad.
She had been yelling for my dad this whole time but he slept through the commotion. Finally, he woke up and stumbled in to find the heap of mom and dogs. The raccoon managed to get away and none of the dogs were hurt. Tessie had a bite on her belly but no broken skin. Mom has a bruised hand but all is well.
I probably laughed harder than I should have over it all. It could have been really bad. But since I knew they were all safe, the whole scene sounded rather funny. And, get this, as I told Dennis the story, I hit with my fist - yes, I talk with my hands - and hit the computer and cut my knuckle. So you see this raccoon was really bad to have hurt me from that many miles away!
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Yesterday evening we had a baby bunny fall down into the area by the basement window. It’s a good three foot drop. The poor little thing was skinned up and frantic. He kept hopping the perimeters and banging himself up more.
Haden and I examined the situation and the best way to get him out safely without getting bitten.
Finally, Haden brought the pitcher I use for my birdseed. We tried to catch him without him hurting himself further and finally was able to scoop him up. He sat in the pitcher even after we laid it on its side a ways out into the yard.
Eventually, Haden slanted the pitcher and the bunny slid out. He stayed still for a bit then happily hopped away, yelling, “Mom, I’m free! Do you wanna buy some portraits?” and his mother grounded him for causing her to worry so.
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We leave on Friday, heading to Colorado and then to Missouri. We need the break. Really looking forward to the vacation! It’ll be great getting some new photos (like I don’t do that anyway LOL), and sharing them. I will be sharing photos from our trip on the nights we’re in a motel but a few nights we will be camping so I’m working on some bird posts for those days. I will come by your place when I can, but please understand if I don’t make it by until we’re back home. This is our first vacation since my cancer diagnosis in 2005 and we are celebrating our 5 year anniversary on May 24th.