The Raccoon Blog

So my favorite Kate in the whole world shared a story with me about Raccoons having a garbage ice cream party in her cabbage-town apartment. The saddest part was that the blighters didn't even invite her, it was a secret and exclusionary party held to spite her.

Normally I would tack something on to the end of that sentence, like 'well it wasn't' , but with raccoons you really can't tell. They seem all cute and cat like and then you realize they are wearing tiny zoro mask and are looking to scratch you. When Kate suggested I blog about raccoons I was worried that after being asked to blog about squirrels people were thinking this was a nature blog or if they weren't they might start to. But I cannot say no to Kate, she is so darn witty and thus today you are getting the Raccoon Blog.

When I first came to Canada people warned me of two things, raccoons and leaches. Not necessarily in the same conversation I should add. This has led me to freak out when I see a raccoon especially at night and has prohibited me from ever going in a lake. It isn't the actual raccoon that worries me, it is the whole 'don't back it into a corner it has rabies' panic people have instilled in me. If I am being perfectly honest, my natural instinct is not to back anything into a corner, unless it is a sofa, but now I feel I have to be double careful that I don't do it. Telling foreign people that leaches can only be removed from oneself by burning them off is just not good manners. Until I figure out how to take a lighter into the water, and still have it work, I'm sticking with foot dangling. A better piece of advice for newbie Canadians would be that dock spiders can swim, although that is a frightening thought also.

I think now I have been here a few years I am less worried about Raccoons, they really will leave you alone if you don't bother them. They also like to sleep, a lot, so it's not like you have to dodge them in the street. Because of the cartoon I was under the impression that they mostly work for the newspaper, reporting news from around the forest but that myth has been dispelled. I'm calm about it now but  I did freak out in my first year here when one followed me towards my house. I had one of those fight or flight moments, and I worried running away would only cause them to chase me. I think that is bears though? What I do know is that if you are being chased by a crocodile run in zig zags to confuse them.

Oh and don't play with stingrays they can be deadly - too soon?

Meryl xxx