June 27th, 2011
A Family of Bandits
A few weeks ago, I realized that new neighbours have moved in up the street. I was walking the dogs with Jesse as the sun was beginning to set, and as we crossed the street onto our block I looked up to find a racoon had locked eyes with me. He was on the roof of a house, next to a racoon sized hole that led to the attic. His head lowered and he sunk down close to the roof he was perched on, watching me closely.
I yelped, moved sideways so fast I almost knocked Jesse into the street, and completely disoriented the dogs.
Living in a city that has two rivers running through it, I’ve always heard a lot about raccoons- mostly that they come out at night and they’re to be steered clear of- but I’ve also always thought that they’re incredibly cute and misunderstood. Seeing that little masked face in person was alarming initially, but after I got past being startled and had assured myself that the racoon was not going to leap off the roof and onto my head? After that point I was curious. The racoon was just quiet and stared at me, moving its head slowly as the dogs and I passed by.
After the first sighting, it was official: they’re here to stay! And more than that, they’ve become characters in my daily life.
In no time I had the family situation assessed: there was a lady racoon inside the house’s attic, and her escort was sitting guard outside. In the morning they sit on the roof together, lapping water of the eavestrough. In the afternoon one of them sleeps on the corner of the roof under a shady tree’s branches. In the early evening the gentleman racoon surveys the activity from the peak of the roof. As the weeks have passed they’ve been getting comfortable and relaxed, and when we go trundling by the house they barely blink.
Then last night I hit the jackpot of cute: the babies are starting to play outside!
So far it’s always been too dark to get photos, but they’re the size of this little guy and were tumbling around on the roof with each other while the mom and dad looked on. I’m going to plan our walks carefully for the next little while so we’re not on the same side of the street in case the parents get protective, but it’s been a sweet highlight in my day to see their little racoon family going about their business in their attic condo.
I’m glad that it’s not my attic that they’re living in, but I’m happy for our bandit neighbours. I think they’ll only stay until the river goes down and then they’ll be back to their normal lives, but in the mean time I hope they go undiscovered. For what it’s worth, their secret is safe with me.
Edit: If you’re having raccoon problems check out this great resource on humane ways to manage them and brush up on your facts! Special thanks to Jesse.Anne.O for the links.
{images: Berkley Illustration, Sharon Montrose, neonman}
He he – oh my, they’re cuties, aren’t they?? I live right in downtown Vancouver, but it’s *so close* to Stanley Park, here, that we see them daily. At first I was a little wary – and then I realized that it’s the skunks you have to watch out for. the raccoons here will literally walk up to you and sit on their hind legs looking for food – goodness! they can get a little scary at night (in groups!) or if you have a dog (I’ve seen some pretty scary dog-on-raccoon attacks), but they’re pretty darn harmless and cute. I love the spring days when the fuzzy groups of babies waddle around with their mums – love! :)
I came to comment on the cute little critters and was taken aback by your beautiful blog design. Looks amazing!!!
Raccoons are so adorable! I love that print.
Also, your new design is adorable and so cool. Love it!
The cutest raccoon encounter I’ve ever had came last spring when my husband and I stepped outside to find a momma raccoon and three of her babies crawling up the tree next to our house. They froze when they saw us and then scampered off onto the neighbor’s roof. They’re SO CUTE!
creepy! what a great new banner though!!!
raccoons are such interesting creatures! whenever i see them in big cities like sf, i always get disoriented as they are HUGE and so smart and darn cute too but i would never mess with one!! such crafty clever little or should i say big things! hehe
xo,
cb
I LOVE THEM!!! When my dad was a child, he had a pet raccoon in Florida. :D And when I was a child, we had them in our trees surrounding our house. We fed them, gave them big bowls full of water and my dad and I actually would sit out on the drive way at night and hand feed them. EVERYONE tells me this is dangerous, but eh. They sat on my leg, took cookies and such from my hand and were as sweet as could be. I don’t recommend doing this with an unfamiliar raccoon, but yeah. :D
Love the tale that you’ve spun about the family of bandits living close by. We used to have several raccoons but they have become fewer over the years (thankfully, there were some really mean ones who would hiss at the neighborhood dogs).
Love the new header, so pretty and colorful!
Definitely feel sorry for the people who’s roof they’re in!
All animals are cute til they get in your roof and cause havoc.
Because it’s winter here, brushtail possums seem to think our roof is a great place to fight and sleep etc.
They’ve been messing with roof tiles and other stuff in there so we have to trap and relocate them. Poor little evil things, haha.
I totally agree- the raccoons are lucky that they chose the only house that’s actually a rental on our block. It’s been poorly maintained and the attic has been left open for years- they should have put out a welcome mat!
I think the only reason they’re still there is that we’re having an incredibly wet summer and our river is very high. I hope it goes down soon, because while I don’t think the renters really care, the racoons are getting very comfortable and bold now and that’s not safe for the people in the area or good for the raccoons themselves.
It’s getting to the point that I think if they had access to a phone they would be ordering in chinese food. The river needs to go down, stat. lol
I can’t stop staring at your new banner – SO nice! :)
I’d be so afraid to go near the Raccoon’s but that sounds like fun!
Sounds adorable, too.. hope you get some nice shots of them to share!
how very cute.
I’m kind of a sucker for things that are furry and cute, racoons included. I love that you’ve gotten to know your bandit friends and baby racoons? Too adorable.
I’ve never had an issue with them, usually just see them crossing the street or looking cute from the sewers (yes, they go in/live in perhaps, the sewers where I’m from).
Oh, and the new header looks fantastic! Always in awe of your designing ablities.
For being viscous little garbage eaters they are pretty stinkin’ cute!
Kacie
http://www.acollectionofpassions.blogspot.com/
Aw, I think raccoons are cute too! Although I feel bad for the home owners, as they can be pretty destructive. For all kinds of raccoon cuteness, you should check out the Raccoon Willie vids on youtube!: http://bit.ly/66vt8u
I love this! What a great way to look at something that lots of people might be angry or bothered with :)
Precious! And how lucky that you were able to capture such a great picture!
This is so sweet. :) I’ve seen a few raccoons in Winnipeg. It’s always so exciting to spot one!
I really love the new blog look. Is the dress your wearing in the header from Lune? If it is, I was *this* close to buying it a few months ago. I’m so happy you got it, though! It looks awesome with everything else in the header.
That’s too cool! Yes, Jill was sweet enough to let me borrow it for a photoshoot a little while ago! I love that you’ve been into our space, and that we’ve even tried on the same dress without knowing it! lol That’s just all kinds of cool :)
Such a cute header! Love it!!!
We have racoons that live in the woods across the street, we also have an outside cat who we leave food for on the porch. Last year Momma coon discovered the food bowl and started to make visits to the porch in the near dark. Late in the summer we understood why… she brought her 4 babies with her!!! OMG so flippin cute! We watched thru the door’s window and they watched us. They cleaned the dish and left. They came back once or twice but that was it. :) I took a ton of pics though lol.
Verrry cute! Where I live in Brooklyn, we have a ton as well (I’m near a huge cemetery).
If you ever run into neighbors who *are* having issues with wildlife, HSUS has a whole host of humane deterrents you can use. (Unfortunately a lot of people move to trap-and-kill exterminators right away.) I had raccoons trying to rip a hole in my bedroom window screen to come in and nest and with a few simple things (lamp, radio, ammonia) I was able to keep them away.
Here is some info if you ever need it!
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/raccoons/tips/solving_problems_raccoon.html
http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/raccoon-fact-sheet.pdf
Aw, you’re such a sweetheart! I’m going to add these links to my post :)
I haven’t seen any racoons since moving out west but when I was home in the fall my Mom told me about the family of these little guys living under our front stairs! My Dad was really mad and wanted to get rid of them but my Mom wouldn’t allow it :)
All we have are TONS of skunks out here. Gross.
Raccoons were my fave animal when I was a kid. I still think they are cute and adorable, but I did realize they aren’t so friendly when I had a few run-ins with city raccoons in Berkeley. The ones that live in alleys and dumpsters are not nearly as charming as the ones in the attic – trust me!
Raccoons are so cute. I hate that they have such a bad reputation. They look like you want to pick them up and cuddle them.
We do have raccoons in our neighborhood as well, but I haven’t seen any lately. I do try to stay away from them, when I see them, but I love to watch them.
Amazing pictures! They are so adorable!
We used to have raccoons in our neighborhood when I was growing up. I hated them. They were stubborn and mischievous. They’d try to get into our trash cans … and the better we secured them, the more noise they made trying to get into them. Ugh.
Cute, for sure, but… oh, God, raccoons are such menaces!
Kyla your new banner is so awesome, it is just right for your blog and it really pops.
I have never seen a raccoon in real life before but I’ve basically been obsessed with them ever since watching the cartoon version of Pocahontas :) They are SO CUTE, I’m jealous of your new neighbours ;)
PS, your header image is BEAUTIFUL! I always admire your design aesthetic and the colors in the header are absolutely stunning.
Too cute! They are terribly misunderstood little creatures. I’m so jealous you got to see the babies!
Love the new header :)
In the hick town where I grew up, it was considered cool to have raccoons as pets. Like, housepets. I had three different friends in high school that had raccoons that lived with their families like they were cats. We always had a couple that ate cat food off our back porch (skunks, too!) – but I never tried to tame them. They kind of creeped me out.
Oh my gosh, that’s wild!! I don’t think that I’m pro-taming wild animals, just because unless they’re domesticated I feel like they would still have a lot of wildness in them, but I would love to play with a raccoon that wasn’t afraid of people! It would pretty much make my life :)
Awh! Baby raccoons?! That sounds so sweet. Also, I’m loving the new look that you’ve got going on! <3
What an adorable picture! I saw my very first raccoon in real life a couple weeks ago and had the exact same reaction as you. I was in a car and my mom slowed down and I gave a little scream and rolled up my window in fear. I mean really, it’s not like they were gonna jump at me through the window, but I guess it’s just that we’ve learned to fear them? It’s so cute to see them just playing around though, after you get over that initial shock!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who had that reaction! I think it’s warranted- they are very large and not tame in the least. I saw them again last night and was reminded that I like them…. from across the street. lol
I think I can root for them and be a little afraid at the same time for now :)
I’ve always felt the same way about raccoons – cute and misunderstood. Unless they have rabies, in which case I understand them very well. :) Raccoons used to eat our cat food right off our porch, they were wicked brave. So cute that they’ve become “characters” in your life :)
Raccoons are so cute! when I saw the tag and the portrait of the raccoon I thought for sure you were going to mention the episode of little house on the prairie where Laura tries to keep a raccoon as a pet and ends up getting bit and they think she has rabies. But I guess instead I’m just revealing what a huge nerd I am. ;)
Can I tell you what a terrible prairie girl I am? I’ve literally never seen an episode of Little House! I think I should probably start with this episode :)
I haven’t seen a raccoon in a really long time. They used to go through my trash at my old place a lot.
Absolutely adorable!
Love the new Banner {YAY to me for knowing what it’s called!!!!} LOL
Thanks again for all your help, your a sweetheart,
Cheers,
S.
http://www.shelleysarina.blogspot.com
Love the new header it looks great!
Ahh, raccoons. I think they are cute in cartoon form, but they have been the cause of so much chaos at my parents home, I can’t force myself to like them… I realize this makes me the grinch of animals. ;)
How cute (and creepy!) all at once! (And LOVE the new header!)