As I sit working on a plan, my poor dog is stressing. She keeps trying to go up and lay on my bed to sleep but every few minutes she hears something outside and comes back down to check it out. She heads straight for the side window, paces around the table, looks out back, paces again, whines just slightly, then sighs. After a few minutes of looking into the darkness with her head cocked, she gives up and heads back upstairs. Minutes later the whole thing starts over.
A few days ago this went on for a couple of hours in the middle of the night/early morning. It’s hard to get much rest with all of this going on. Not to mention I get tired too!
My house is made of natural stone, not smooth river stones, but kasota and limestone. The side of the house isn’t smooth. Each stone steps in or out just enough to create a great climbing wall for raccoons.
Lately the raccoons have been spending a little too much time hanging out again, so I’m trying to figure out a deterrent for them.
Garden stuff I can handle, even when they climbed the Shepard’s hook that holds the bird feeders and bent it like it were a piece of wire I can handle it. It’s when they’re peeping in my bedroom window that I get a little freaked out.
The problem is that they’re bold. They’re afraid of nothing. They’re not afraid of my dog or I’d let her out to chase them away. Plus they’re almost as large as her, so I’m afraid they’d just hurt her. (Unfortunately I’ve seen what raccoons can do to pets.) They’re also definitely not afraid of humans. I’ve been nose-to-nose with them on more than one occasion only separated by a pane of glass.
Having them transplanted would be pointless. I live behind a nature center, so where there’s one, there are definitely more. And as I’ve mentioned before, I typically don’t mess with the critters, and I don’t really want to mess these either. I would just rather they reside in another portion of my yard. Perhaps under the shed with the 60 lb. woodchuck.
So, I’m off to find some deterrent to sprinkle or spray to the perimeter of my house and roof.
I’ll keep you posted.
Kate
Walnuts n Pears 