I was in my barn one day, up in New Hampshire, and I was getting ready to feed and give water to all of our animals. I usually began by letting the chickens and turkey out to roam, followed by the retrieval of water for everyone. In the winter time, this meant hacking a hole into the stream nearby, on which emptied into the pond next to the barn. Lucky for me, this was mild spring morning and no such tedious acts were required. After the buckets were filled, I carried them one by one into the stalls for the respective animals. Our cow, pigs, and sheep all happy to see me (or so I liked to think). I recall then, having been butted out of the pen, my usefulness to them through, by the sheep, and I stood in the center of the barn. My next task was to get their food. To store grain and feed in the barn, we used an old broken freezer. it had a heavy lid and was sealed and water tight. a very good place to store the grain. I opened the lid, nothing out of place here i could see. The first bag i opened was for the chickens, and then the sheep, who i *politely* reminded that they were in fact dependent on me. the last bag after the cows was the pigs food. when i opened this bag, to my surprise, sat THREE BABY RACCOONS!
i opened the bag wider...not sure if i was mistaken or not as to weather i had really seen three puffy raccoons plopped down in our pigs food. Lo' however, there they sat. Squinting from the light the opened bag produced, the critter looked up at me, unabashed about there presence there. It may not be common knowledge, but raccoons have interesting physiology. there front paws are very hand like, with fingers and opposable thumbs and the like. With these little hands, they sat, almost reminiscent of 'Indian-style', and put handful after handful of pig feed into there little mouths, and munched away.
they were truly adorable i thought. with there little black masks and bushy tails. they seemed so utterly pleased with themselves, having found this plentiful food source. i though then that they would be positively tickled to find out that what they were doing was also inconveniencing the large, strange creature above them i.e. ME.
"where is you mother you little devils?" i asked them. they blinked up at me, struggling to tear themselves from there gorging. i sighed. as much as i would love to accommodate such expressive and clever little beings, this would not stand for long. i gave them the look a disapproving father gives, you know, that horrible one, the one worse that them using words. they were unfazed, and , not surprisingly, began to tuck in once more, entirely uninterrupted by my discovery of them.
All the while, just behind the wall that the freezer of thieves was up against, i could hear the pigs squealing. they knew i was in the barn making my morning rounds and they wanted their food NOW. i reminded them that i was just gonna eat them anyway...but if they wanted fattening up, who was i to argue. pigs are impatient.
I walked up to hill to our house. it was early yet, but my father and i were both awake, a necessity of taking care of a farm. I found him in the kitchen, just finishing his breakfast.
"i found something in the barn just now." i said to him
"and what would that be?" he asked me, his voice giving away apprehension.
i chuckled and replied "i really think you should come and see for yourself."
We walked down to the barn, and i pointed to the freezer. He sighed and went up to it, opening its lid.
"well?" he said to me, "what is it?"
"open the nag for the pigs," i said to him..." you will see"
gingerly, he pried open the top of the bag, a sleek masked head popped up. i laughed when my dad jumped a bit, no one could be prepared for that.
he sighed and, with little hesitation handed me a a pair of thick work gloves. in knew then what to do. we had to pick them up and remove them from the barn, but not leave our scent on them as best as we could , for they were still young and needed their mother. I put the gloves on and reached my hand into the bag to lift one of them out. the one i grabbed was reluctant to leave the buffet, and wriggled out of my grip. I resorted to clasping it by the scruff if its neck,a gentle way i knew, used to pick up puppies. although the little one did not take to kindly to this, he went with out much struggling. i had one and my father had the other two, one of which put up quite a racket of yowls and screeches. we placed them on a large wide tree stump just a little way in the woods next to the barn. we backed a way to a spot we could watch and we waited.
it was not long before their mother came around. she fidgeted around them in what appeared to be a worried manner. they chittered away at each other as they departed. i imagined they were being scolded for 'running off like that' as children do. the little ones were saying who started it or whose idea it was, and yet all were secretly pleased with there full bellies and feeling of being clever and lithe. i laughed and wished for a moment to be a raccoon too.
i opened the bag wider...not sure if i was mistaken or not as to weather i had really seen three puffy raccoons plopped down in our pigs food. Lo' however, there they sat. Squinting from the light the opened bag produced, the critter looked up at me, unabashed about there presence there. It may not be common knowledge, but raccoons have interesting physiology. there front paws are very hand like, with fingers and opposable thumbs and the like. With these little hands, they sat, almost reminiscent of 'Indian-style', and put handful after handful of pig feed into there little mouths, and munched away.
they were truly adorable i thought. with there little black masks and bushy tails. they seemed so utterly pleased with themselves, having found this plentiful food source. i though then that they would be positively tickled to find out that what they were doing was also inconveniencing the large, strange creature above them i.e. ME.
"where is you mother you little devils?" i asked them. they blinked up at me, struggling to tear themselves from there gorging. i sighed. as much as i would love to accommodate such expressive and clever little beings, this would not stand for long. i gave them the look a disapproving father gives, you know, that horrible one, the one worse that them using words. they were unfazed, and , not surprisingly, began to tuck in once more, entirely uninterrupted by my discovery of them.
All the while, just behind the wall that the freezer of thieves was up against, i could hear the pigs squealing. they knew i was in the barn making my morning rounds and they wanted their food NOW. i reminded them that i was just gonna eat them anyway...but if they wanted fattening up, who was i to argue. pigs are impatient.
I walked up to hill to our house. it was early yet, but my father and i were both awake, a necessity of taking care of a farm. I found him in the kitchen, just finishing his breakfast.
"i found something in the barn just now." i said to him
"and what would that be?" he asked me, his voice giving away apprehension.
i chuckled and replied "i really think you should come and see for yourself."
We walked down to the barn, and i pointed to the freezer. He sighed and went up to it, opening its lid.
"well?" he said to me, "what is it?"
"open the nag for the pigs," i said to him..." you will see"
gingerly, he pried open the top of the bag, a sleek masked head popped up. i laughed when my dad jumped a bit, no one could be prepared for that.
he sighed and, with little hesitation handed me a a pair of thick work gloves. in knew then what to do. we had to pick them up and remove them from the barn, but not leave our scent on them as best as we could , for they were still young and needed their mother. I put the gloves on and reached my hand into the bag to lift one of them out. the one i grabbed was reluctant to leave the buffet, and wriggled out of my grip. I resorted to clasping it by the scruff if its neck,a gentle way i knew, used to pick up puppies. although the little one did not take to kindly to this, he went with out much struggling. i had one and my father had the other two, one of which put up quite a racket of yowls and screeches. we placed them on a large wide tree stump just a little way in the woods next to the barn. we backed a way to a spot we could watch and we waited.
it was not long before their mother came around. she fidgeted around them in what appeared to be a worried manner. they chittered away at each other as they departed. i imagined they were being scolded for 'running off like that' as children do. the little ones were saying who started it or whose idea it was, and yet all were secretly pleased with there full bellies and feeling of being clever and lithe. i laughed and wished for a moment to be a raccoon too.
Oh my goodness, your little free loaders seem adorable. They are truly buffet crashers, that is for sure. I actually have had a similar encounter with raccoons myself, except in a different setting. We live on two and a half acres, so our trash cans are located in a fenced area near the house. One evening I was taking the trash out and realized the gate was open. Strange noises were coming from that direction, and with my curiosity peaking, I went to see what all the ruckus was about. Well, true enough the little fur balls were pigging out in our trash cans. The older one, Jefferson(By the way I named them), was holding the lid open while Harry, the younger one, was in there digging for gold. I had to admit, it was hilarious, but they had to soon be shooed away. Your story described the raccoons with some great details. Awesome post Robbie!
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