Adios mutha' fockas

I couldn't be happier to announce the end of an era.

After almost 4 long, arduous years of battling the raccoon population of our little domestic neighborhood, we WIN.

They had the upper hand on us for the first 4 years we owned this home. Let's just say that because of them, we...

...had our eucalyptus tree professionally cleaned out by the tree guy so that we could evict them from their tree home, if in fact that was where they were domesticating (and fornicating, apparently..the population has grown year after year..first we had 2, then 3...then 4..I think you get the picture) there. We learned after all that work of cleaning the tree out, that they were not residing in the tree. On the bright side, the tree looked fantastic with it's new trim..so it wasn't a lost cause afterall..

... had our kitchen trash ransacked by the bandits more than once..Nothing like waking up to dried egg yolk paw prints all over the kitchen floor ( yes, egg yolks, have you ever seen the amount of egg whites we consume in a week? I'd say 99% of the time, if you went through our trash, there's be at least half a dozen yolks kicking it in there)..And egg yolks, for those of you non-eggies, are a pain in the butt to try and clean up when dried..Anyone ever had their car egged? Yeah, it sucks...especially when it's your entire kitchen floor that is covered in them.

...fed the bandits $40 a bag cat food, not on purpose, of course. We originally stored Beav's food in the house, in a nice big bin with a "locking lid". Uhmmm, those bandits were able to get that lid off on an almost nightly basis, and with that, ate/spilled a good portion of our $40 a bag cat food! They were the best fed coons on the block! So, along with egg yolks, we also had a spilled bin of cat food all over the floor. And of course we would hear the commotion in the middle of the night, and NZ would get up with his "coon stick" ( a handle off of an old broken shovel) to go get them..but those suckers are fast, and would always beat him out the door and ride off into the great wild yonder.

...had to make our kitty an outdoor cat ( well, sorta..we also bought a new sofa, and beav likes to "knead" on it when left unattended, so he sorta made his own bed with this cause and effect). After a few months of the bandits entering our house (ick!!!) we decided to get rid of our cat door that lead into the house. NZ went out and bought a new side access door, and put the old door (cat door included) onto our garage back door, so that Beav still had a place to get out of the elements ( hah! What "elements" in SoCal? Spoiled cat...even on a cold day) and the garage became his sanctuary. The food bin got upgraded to a twist top bin, AND Beav got a brand new cat bed on top of the fridge for added warmth.

Problem solved, right?

Yeah,right.... I wish!

The coons quickly learned about the new enterance, and for the past 2 years have tipped Beavs food bowl and water over on a nightly basis. So, we've still been going through cat food like crazy, and afraid our kitty is getting bullied out of his meals. Add to that the fact that we have (on more than one occassion walked into the garage to find that something has sprayed my car, my sewing machine bin, NZ's lathe, toolbox, our washer/dryer and his fishing boots. DISGUSTING.

So, guess what???..TONIGHT WE WIN.

CHECK IT....

An electronic cat door..Beav's going in, you're staying out. Beav will get a brand new collar with a microchip that allows only him to enter and exit the door..Any non -invited guests will be greeted with a head butt to the door.

Adios, mutha' fockas!