Double Trouble

It might not be uncommon to see a raccoon scampering around in a small, country town but for me, it was a real treat. Meet Rocket and Rocky, the two little raccoons that lived in my backyard.

About a year ago I took notice of my trash cans being raided almost every single night. I assumed that the guilty party was either a neighborhood stray or a possums (Opossum). I always thought that possums were rather cute and I sure didn't want any harm to come to a stray so I started leaving bowls of cat food sitting out. I figured that it was better for them to get an honest meal rather than raiding the trash and making a big mess.

One night I heard the dogs outside barking and throwing a fit. I tip-toed out onto the porch and saw an adorable raccoon family taking advantage of the free meal that I had left. There were two big ones and two babies. I watched them in total admiration for a long time. Afterward, I made it a habit to start leaving bowls of food sitting out. Every night the masked family would return for their meal and I was usually sitting outside waiting for them.

After a few weeks, the two big raccoons stopped coming but the little ones made it for dinner on time every night. After they ate I watched them climb the tree in my back yard. Sometimes during the day I would see them poke their little heads out for a peek around.

A large limb in the tree had broken during a storm and was hanging by a mere thread. The two little bandits had decided to make it their home. Every time that the wind blew I worried about the limb possibly falling out of the tree. Watching these boys grow up was a very stressful ordeal. I even prepared baskets with blankets for them to sleep in, to no avail.

I don't know why the rest of the fuzzy little family vanished, leaving behind the two young ones. It makes me uneasy and sad to imagine the possibilities.

My grandson would bring his drone over and fly it around the tree so that I could check on the two raccoons. I enjoyed having them around, not only because they were absolutely adorable, but I had seen them eat mice and snakes as well. Plus, I had grown rather fond of their nightly visits.

A neighbor advised me that it was illegal to feed the raccoons. I feared that she might try to have them removed, so I stopped leaving nightly snacks for them. They continued to come around (but not too close) for some time. Eventually, they moved out of the big tree and left. Before they moved away, I was able to take at least a hundred photos of them with my grandson's drone and with my Nikon camera.

I surely miss my little buddies, whom I was calling Rocky and Rocket. Wild animals deserve to be free and I wanted only the best for them. Sometimes I think that I still see them scurrying through the bushes and it puts a huge smile on my face. I have even seen another raccoon family roaming around at night and I wonder if that could be the parents of Rocky and Rocket with their new babies. Maybe R & R even have families of their own now and bring them by for a quick visit.

Either way, I will never forget the Summer that I spent babysitting two little raccoons. I know that they didn't need my services and would have been perfectly fine without me overseeing them. But I like to think that I had a hand in possibly saving a life and allowing them to grow.