Disgruntled Raccoons

I upset the raccoons by making food unavailable and they made a gorilla raid on my feeder. They found the weakest point, the thin strip of wood holding the feeding wheel and pulled and chewed and yanked until they actually snapped the board off. The result was the wheel shaft dropping out of the motor. They did not get at the food inside the feeder; the opening they made wasn’t big enough for that. You can see in the picture that one of the critters actually chewed the dowel that is the axle for the feeding wheel. The inside of the board had lots of claw marks. Those guys were persistent. I expext them back again tonight.

I spent about an hour fixing and reinforcing that part of the feeder. Now instead of a wimpy 1/8-inch slat of wood holding the axle there is a ½ inch board held in with 4 deep screws. I also went over the entire feeder and put extra screws wherever there was the slightest chance they could get their claw under the wood and try to pry it off. Will it pass the test tonight? Tune in tomorrow and find out.

The rest of the day was spent following Penny around in stores as she shopped for clothes for the upcoming trip. I am now looking over information about Las Vegas trying to map out a flexible itinerary. I went by AAA today and got maps and books to look at. There is also a lot of good info on-line (have I mentioned how much I like the internet?).

Tomorrow is our Waffle House breakfast.