Ah, they joys of country living (in town) never cease...
Raccoons insist on making daily uninvited visits to our deck, where we keep the garbage and compost cans. These visitors always persistent, noisy, and always leave a mess. Garbage day is always a challenge. Often I leave for work that day only to find compost all over the driveway (the compost bins are "supposed" to be critter-proof - obviously not so). Last night they visited 3 times - once before we even went to bed, leaving a mess on the deck for me to clean when I let our dog out for her night time routine. Again in the middle of the night, a visit which our dog alerted me to, leaving another mess (albeit a smaller one). And again this morning when I got up, catching him in the act - that masked bandit! I could have banged on the window or opened the door to chase him away. However, he was actually being neat and discreet this time - entering into the compost bin to pull out his next handful; looking over his shoulder like a child on guard because he knows he's doing something he's not supposed to be doing. Maybe I'd just let him do his thing, and finish off the whole compost...then I'd have nothing left to clean up (would this work on children too???).
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| "maybe she doesn't see me" |
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| "I'm being good...honest" |
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| "Mmm, thanks for breakfast!" |
Raccoons insist on making daily uninvited visits to our deck, where we keep the garbage and compost cans. These visitors always persistent, noisy, and always leave a mess. Garbage day is always a challenge. Often I leave for work that day only to find compost all over the driveway (the compost bins are "supposed" to be critter-proof - obviously not so). Last night they visited 3 times - once before we even went to bed, leaving a mess on the deck for me to clean when I let our dog out for her night time routine. Again in the middle of the night, a visit which our dog alerted me to, leaving another mess (albeit a smaller one). And again this morning when I got up, catching him in the act - that masked bandit! I could have banged on the window or opened the door to chase him away. However, he was actually being neat and discreet this time - entering into the compost bin to pull out his next handful; looking over his shoulder like a child on guard because he knows he's doing something he's not supposed to be doing. Maybe I'd just let him do his thing, and finish off the whole compost...then I'd have nothing left to clean up (would this work on children too???). 
Yeah, not so lucky - made a mess by the time he was done :(
ReplyDeleteTie the bins to your deck so that he cannot knock them over. That is what we do. If they can't knock them over, they can't open them. My husband uses rope to tie the handle of the green bin to the top of the deck ledge - this prevents them from knocking them down and having their meals.
ReplyDeleteThank for your comment - we hung the green bin on the siding last year...but as you can see - no siding at the moment. My husband made a wooden box to keep all this in...it's just waiting for stain (might just use that rope instead for now - Thanks.).
DeleteTied the compost bin to the deck with bungy cords...worked for a week, and this raccoon (we knnow it's the same one by its limp) finally figured out how to get into it again last night - the bugger! I caught him in the act, and he just stood there with "puppy dog eyes".
ReplyDelete