Wild Kingdom

I caught another raccoon in the ceiling of the shop again. I'm fairly certain I know how they are getting in but was waiting for the frost to hit because I've got raspberries growing along the edge of the building. I figured I would cut the berries back to give me some working room and then I could get up under the overhang of the metal roof and close in the spot where I think they are getting in. It's amazing that big fat coons can get into such small spaces.

I've got a pair of two buckle rubber boots I was going to dig out figuring I could take them to work to keep my feet warm and dry when I need to shovel snow this winter. I'm required to wear steel toed boots, so a pair of two buckles work well. I keep them on a shelf in the stairwell going to the basement and when I went to grab them I saw something fall. I keep a pair of muck boots at the bottom of the stairs, so I stuck my hand inside one of the boots and felt something try to bite or grab my finger. I jerked my hand out, turned the boot over and a bat fell out. Must have decided to hibernate in the stairwell. Seems we get a bat in the house at the rate of about one per year. I've got no idea how they get in but get in they do.

I went out to the big barn after dealing with the bat and found a burrow under the old manure spreader. It's a big hole and the dirt's been thrown a long way from the opening. I'm guessing it's from a woodchuck but with my luck it could be a badger or even a Chupacabra for all I know. I'll have to see what I can do about filling in the hole and getting whatever it is out of the barn.

Later that evening while I was washing up I felt something on the back of my arm like a loose flap of skin or something. I looked in the mirror and found a tick hanging off. I jerked it loose but there was a red spot about the size of a quarter with a dark spot in the middle. It didn't look like the normal wood ticks we have around here, so now I'm on a two week course of antibiotics to prevent me getting Lyme disease.

As Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say - It's always something.