Delusions of... Everything

Lab Vs. Raccoon

Scout, our yellow lab, has always been a winner when going up against the nasty, annoying raccoons who visit our backyard.  His barking, grunting and general badass attitude have scared off many a raccoon over the years.

Maybe you remember this story?  I’ve been angry at those critters ever since they ate the heads off every one of the gold fish in our pond.  They continue to make a mess of our pond, uprooting plants, throwing rocks and eating tadpoles.  We’ve been able to relocate a couple we’ve caught in a trap to a rural location, but they continue to harass us with their destruction.

Yesterday morning was the final straw in my mostly gentle attitude toward those little beasts.  As is normal every morning Handy Man let Scout outside to do his business.  We can always tell if we’ve had or are currently having a visit from a raccoon because Scout starts making grunting noises and runs back and forth between the pond and the gate sniffing like crazy.  That did not happen yesterday.  What happened instead was the scariest and creepiest howling and crying I’ve ever heard come from my dog’s mouth.

Handy Man ran outside and kicked the raccoon who had attached it’s mouth to Scout’s leg and was refusing to let go.  The raccoon escaped over the fence and Handy Man brought Scout in the house.  After an inspection blood was found and it was decided HM would take Scout to the vet when it opened.

The vet said the raccoon basically “corn cobbed” his leg leaving multiple lacerations requiring 15 stitches, a rabies shot and 3 different medications.  On top of the injuries on his leg, the raccoon also got a claw or tooth in one of his ears, where the vet also discovered he had an ear infection (totally unrelated to the raccoon attack).  The vet also said the raccoon just missed severing a tendon which would have required surgery and 12 weeks in a cast.  Anyone with a lab knows what a nightmare that would have been.

It’s truly amazing how much destruction one little animal caused in a manner of seconds.  Please send healing thoughts to my puppy, he needs them!

The Fishless Pond

I've written a few posts about out little back yard pond, like this one and this one.  It's been a labor of love for Handy Man.  It turned out beautiful.  In fact I was planning to take Fall pond pictures this weekend to share with all of you.

Last summer when the pond first went in, before the waterfall or the filtration system, we dumped in some feeder goldfish.  They all lived through the winter and we were thinking of getting some more expensive fish, like Koi.  Then this guy showed up and we decided to wait on getting Koi.

We did get some really pretty fan tailed goldfish and they had grown and thrived in the pond along with the older fish.  The dark one on the left side of the picture had started turning orange on his underside and had grown bigger than any of the other fish.  My friend Chrissy named him Abraham.

When we had friends over they loved to feed the fish.  My friend Chrissy, from Boston named a few of them.

The only major challenge we've had all summer is raccoons draining the bog, hence draining the pond of all but about 8 inches of water.  While this has been a nuisance, it hasn't been horribly damaging.  The fish and plants have lived through it all.  Handy Man built the pond deep enough and straight enough on the sides to make it very difficult, if not impossible, for raccoons to get in and grab fish... Or so we thought. 

As a precaution with winter coming and the raccoons being hungrier Handy Man worked on shoring up the bog over the weekend.  He used a wood board and plexi-glass to make the sides stronger, hopefully preventing the raccoons from knocking then in. 

Unfortunately it didn't work and apparently the raccoons were hungry enough or finally smart enough to figure out how to get to the fish.  Although how they did it I really can't tell.  The following pictures are icky, so you might not want to look.

 

I'm not sure what our next move will be.  I got this text from Handy Man this morning (this is how I found out about the fish)... War is declared against the raccoons.  They ate all the fish.  He should have told me they only ate the heads so I wouldn't have been so shocked when I finally looked.

Do you have any raccoon stories or advice about how to get rid of them?!

Waterlilies

Our pond has been an endless place of enjoyment.  The plant life around the area is growing in beautifully.  I've seen red, black and white striped and brown dragonflies and all kinds of birds bathing the flat area right before the waterfall.  I'm still axiously awaiting a frog or two to join in.

In early spring we purchased two dwarf waterlilies, dwarf because our pond is small.  It seemed like they would never grow, but once it warmed up they took off.  The pink one, pictured below has already bloomed, we are still waiting on the yellow one.  Hopefully I'll have pictures of that one in bloom soon.

We had two flowers blooming at the same time, one was a little faster to bloom than the other!

The bud:

The next day, just starting to open!

Two days later all the way open and so very pretty!

Drops of Water

We've had some much needed rain the past couple of days.  I was outside taking pictures of a waterlily bud in a partially open stage to post in a few days when it's all the way bloomed and I noticed drops of water on everything and took some shots.

I took this one, because who doesn't like bubbles?!

Happy Monday!

Red Dragonfly

Here is the visitor we had at the pond over the weekend.

It flew around and would always come back to land on the dying flower of the Pitcher Plant.

I have to tell you, I had never seen a red dragonfly before.

I could get pretty close without bothering it.  I just think it's so pretty.

It hung around for a very long time.  I could have taken 100's of pictures, but I settled for a few.

I wonder what other creatures will show up at the pond as the summer goes on?!