Raccoon Reconnaissance

We can catch him—we have the technology!

I have beefed up the raccoon early warning system with more electronics. I’ve added a wireless video camera to the setup. That’s in addition to the baby noise monitor. Now when we are alerted by a noise we can look at the TV monitor (our little 5-inch emergency light/radio/TV like the one we gave Tim and Christian) and see if it is Rocky III or just a cat..

I’m setting the trap in the same manner I used for Rocky II. There are a few crumbs of food outside the trap. Inside, however, is an overflowing bowl of food deep enough that the critter has to commit to get it and a nice bowl of water to wash the food in. Everything Rocky III could want. Rocky picked the feed tray clean last night and it had probably 3 days worth of kitty food in it. The tray looked as if it had been vacuumed.

We spent most of our day today preparing for and talking with a married couple who are having trouble and want to work things out. The girl is the daughter of one of my work friends. They knew we did this stuff with marriage preparation and called and asked if we would talk with them.

We are not trained in marriage counseling and it is drastically different than marriage prep. This is a situation where the couples lack of relationship skills has resulted in actual problems. Marriage prep is a hopeful preventative for problems. Once the couple is wed and had problems for a number of years I’m not sure our help will be enough.

At least they both showed up and were willing to talk with each other. The situation is complicated because they just had a baby. We can use all your prayers for this couple.

Tomorrow we have the marriage prep couple in for their 2nd session. We like to think our help will make their upcoming marriage stronger.

I’m hoping tomorrow morning I’ll have a raccoon to release by the lake. This guy has not established a regular schedule so it may take a few nights to finally get him. He’s probably still full from last night’s feast. He showed up right at 10PM yesterday so that’s when I’m expecting him. Penny’s hoping it doesn’t last too long. The wireless camera transmission blocks out the wireless internet transmission and she can’t get on-line back in the bedroom.

Our new computer arrived today and the monitor was shipped by Best Buy. We may get it Friday, but that is July 4th. I don’t know if UPS delivers on the holiday.

Penny and I haven’t had a good opportunity to take a bike ride since we’ve been back. Weather and other things have gotten in the way. If I don’t have Rocky to take care of in the morning perhaps we will ride the tour de neighborhood.