Sleep!

Talk radio + light + mothballs = no raccoon for a night!

I was actually able to get seven hours of sleep last night, my buddy seems to have either stayed in for the night or has taken off to never return. I actually stepped out the door very apprehensively this AM expecting to be accosted by a masked bandit wearing little brass knuckles for being such a home wrecker. Luckily my adversary was no place to be found, but I'll be watching my six and keeping my fingers crossed. Something tells me I have not seen the last of my squatter.

Let there be light!

Shock and awe phase three has begun, mrs. coon is going to love her new lighting in the crawlspace.

Day two and a new idea

Last night's trapping attempt was fruitless, something had stolen the bait and left the trap empty by 11:00 at night. I re-baited and set the trap but it ws undisturbed this AM.

I however was not left undisturbed, the raccoon was indeed back and romping around in the wall again. A couple good knocks on the access panel shut her up long enough for a little more sleep, but nothing of quality.

So this morning I was thinking about how dark it was under the house and in the wall. She stumbles around and finds her way to the same place every morning in the dark, and seems to like it. What if I were to light up the crawlspace like Las Vegas on Christmas eve? I know that if I were nocturnal I'd hate living in bright place that had shitty top 40 playing all day and smelled like moth balls.

After some googling, apparently I'm on the right track:

http://blogs.salon.com/0001772/stories/2004/04/06/theRaccoonStories.html

So I need to switch out the top 40 for Rush Limbaugh. If I had to listen to any pundit for hours on end I'd either leave or shoot myself as well. I'll change the station up for day three if needed.

Sonic warfare

So my under-house buddy was back this morning around 5:30, bumping into things and creating a ruckus. It's actaully starting to crack me up a bit as it reminds me of my early 20's. Stay out late, party, come stumbling home, sleep all day on Saturday and go out to do it again the next night.

Unfortunately Mr. Nocturnal is in direct conflict with my sleeping habits so I'm trying a new idea before just shooting the bastard.

Before I left today I took a bookshelf stereo and pointed the speakers at the wall by the bathtub that he likes to hang out in. Just before leaving the house I turned it on, cranked the volume a bit and walked out. he stole precious sleep from me, I shall do the same to him.

Tonight the live trap goes under the house, we'll see how well it works.

31 years and a thanks

This Saturday marked the 31st year after having been given birth at good old Providence hospital in Southfield Michigan. To celebrate my 31st it was road trip time to Northport to camp and to watch the Tour De Leelenau come storming through Northport and various other cities north west of Traverse City.

Saturday night we camped in Northport with Erin and Bryce. We had fantastic campfire food, a couple beverages and proceeded to freeze as it got chilly that night. Sunday started sunny and warm, but got cold and overcast, we packed up the camp sites and it soon began to rain. Scrap the plan of riding into Northport to watch the race, we drove to Suttons bay and watched there and at the finish line instead. The finish was amazing, those guys were sprinting 22MPH+ up a giant hill at the end of nearly 110 miles of riding, incredible!

Today was a relaxed morning and a triple loop of Hanson Hills before I had to roll south on I75 sharing the southbound lanes with half the population of metro Detroit. The first two loops were great, loop # three had my legs feeling like lead as I did a near time trial pace loop for #2. Overall the third was still worth it, gotta keep the base alive for Ore To Shore. And if I'm feeling stupid enough, perhaps the Boyne Marathon.

On a final note, I'd just like to officially thank all the vets and those lost to preserve my freedoms so that I can enjoy not just memorial day weekend, but every weekend in my lifetime. I'm truly blessed to live in such a great country and I owe it to every man and woman who puts on a uniform to protect this country.

He's baaaaack

So this morning I'm sound asleep and I wake up from a bit of noise which I attribute to an animal drinking out of the beer bucket I left on the back porch filled with water for cleaning. An hour later I'm woken up by something that sounded like it was ready to crawl into bed with me!

I could hear some type of critter scaling the inner wall of my house up around the pipes and into the open space around the bath tub. While pulling the access cover off the pipes and proceeding to go hand to hand crossed my mind, I figured the ensuing bloodbath would end up with me getting rabies shots and having a hell of a mess to clean up. Clearly this was a wise choice as the moth balls seem of little deterrence, either this animal has no sense of smell or he's a badass capable of defeating my weak LAN geek fighting skills.

Unless the elusive acrobatic climbing skunk has found my crawlspace habitat I'm pretty certain I'm dealing with just a raccoon so a live trap and a drive down the road to the park should be all I need to address this one. Then up goes the razor wire over all the access points.

Still alive

The melting moth balls have yet to kill me, but for some reason my sinuses have never been more clear...

Great day today! Commuted via bike, transfered the fat tire ale clone wort in to the big carboy and I got out for the ride of silence. I'm already up to 378 miles for the month of May and my legs and lungs feel great. Time to hit the pool at least twice a week and get ready for the Motor City Triathlon.