outwitted!

Comic updated yesterday




In one of my earlier entries, I proudly declared my suet feeder to be critter-resistant (except to birds, of course). Jeff expressed strong doubts, and even made the brazen prediction that my feeder would be pulled down within a few days. I laughed at him.


Shortly after posting yesterday's entry, Jeff came out to the boathouse and told me to check out my feeder. Apparently he had been woken by the sound of the raccoon on the roof, and then saw it wrestling with my feeder. I snuck out to watch.









Wow...I had no idea that raccoons were so tenacious, and had such agile paws. This furry guy -really- wanted to get into the feeder. He'd alternate between sticking his paws into the cage and pulling out little bits of suet to munch on, and trying to get the cage open and/or off the tree by pulling, shaking, gnawing.









In the end, he managed to pull the cage off one of the nails I had hammered into the tree, finally leaving it dangling, suet partly eaten. He even started using the free nail as a paw support so he could get a better grip on the suet cage (see top photo).









Last night, Jeff and I heard a small commotion outside the cabin. Peeking out the window, I saw -two- raccoons fighting over the suet. One was slightly smaller, so I assume it was the female. The male gave up after a short while, but the female persevered.


And here's what I found early this morning:









Sigh. Even though the raccoons were not successful in pulling the feeder down, I must give Jeff points...I had no idea that they could be so resourceful. And I consider myself outwitted by a raccoon.


An Aside...


Yesterday, someone posted the following complaint in Blatherchat:



"How on earth do you think up these idiotic questions for your daily "polls?" Surely you can think of something more intelligent to ask..."



In reference to my bathing poll yesterday, for example, she pointed out that "there are a great many people in the world who don't have the luxury of running water. Or live where they have a reliable source of clean water. And a great many more who live in regions where water is extremely scarce and it is therefore a great luxury to bathe. So I imagine that going six months without a full bath or shower would not be a hardship for many, since that is normal in their lives. And I bet they'd love the million for doing so."


In case others have strayed over from Inkspot or my LOTR page, perhaps I should insert a gentle reminder here: This is my personal journal. It is not meant to address the socio-economic issues of the day, nor intended to be particularly deep or thought-provoking (though it may do so on occasion...be assured that this is almost always by accident). It was created primarily as a personal and creative writing outlet, and secondly for the interest of those who know me. If others are entertained as well, so much the better. Anyone else is probably better off looking for an online journal which has more serious aspirations.


Today's Blatherpics:

A raccoon takes on the challenge of getting into my suet feeder. In the third photo, note the attempt to chew through the chain holding the suet to the tree!




Today's Poll:

Have you ever gone to see a movie by yourself? (on purpose, not just because your friend didn't show up)