Remember the raccoon that I thought was just visiting a few weeks back? I was getting very suspicious that it was taking up a more permanent residence recently and sure enough, within the last week it was obvious that it was kinda liking his new living arrangement. So, it was time to call in the experts. These outfits are pretty much a hit-or-miss affair, because the bottom line is you want the animals trapped, you don't need theories or even patience on what's going on, you just need them gone. I used Critter Control and they set up some traps on my roof on Saturday. Per usual procedure, you have to call each morning by 8:00 to report any success.

Sure enough, by Midnight, the raccoon was trapped. Unfortunately, that meant almost zero sleep for me, because all you hear is clawing and cage rattling all night. Especially me, because I always worry if the cage is anchored properly, can the raccoon get out, can it bend the steel bars to leave, is it a shapeshifter, things like that. Finally, around 6:30, it finally gave up the ghost and I felt sorry for it. You see, it rained half the night and it looked completely exhausted and awfully wet. Yikes, the guy got here before 8:00 to pick it up and reset the traps for perhaps more visitors. Well, it was a female and you know what that means. It's the birthing season, so we have to find out if there are any little ones. Great, we may have to play midwife.

You have to wonder what the other nocturnals think about those who get trapped, because I'm sure raccoons are probably in the cool section of the population. You know, smokin' a cig, and holding a longneck in the same hand. I can imagine this conversation:

Oscar the Owl: "Where's Rocky?"
Samuel the Skunk: "Didn't you hear? She fell for that damn marshmallow and apple trick...the oldest one in the book."
OtO: "Shut up!"
StS: "And to top it off, It rained on her half of the night!"
OtO and StS: "Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha."
StS: "Shit, that could have been us."

Meal of Links

Here are some office pranks for April Fool's Day. This day really loses it's steam after you're what, 12?

Tooling around a Vegas speedway in an F1 car. It is way cool.

How are things in the Falklands? Some rough edges, but not bad overall.

Exercise Yard

The Cavs were in trouble late in yesterday's game. Then they remembered LeBron James plays for them.

National Anthems

Since this is the start of the new baseball season, leading up to Friday's Home Opener for the Tribe, let's look at some different ones.

Dropkick Murphys at Fenway



Visitor

None, it's Women's Final Four Sunday.