Gugblog: A Mixed Day

The day started in a normal manner. I got up at 6AM to the alarm (which still plays “It’s 3AM I must be lonely”), made my breakfast of cereal, juice and coffee, gooked my hands and sat down at the computer to check the mail. Penny got up and made her breakfast and went back to the bed room. I hadn’t finished my coffee when I heard a scratching sound. I thought it was Penny ripping fabric but when I called to her she didn’t answer. I got up and started walking back to see what she was doing and I discovered the sound was coming from outside on the back patio. There had been no cats outside earlier. I went to the door and looked out.
I have had the trap set up all week because some critter was eating all the food. It had seen no apparent activity and it wasn’t sprung at 6AM when I checked it this morning. Now it looked like I had caught a big grey tomcat. No, as it moved and looked at me I saw it was a good sized raccoon! He had reached outside the trap and moved the trap along the ground by lifting and scratching. He mad the mistake of setting the trap down on a board that made it so he could tip the trap when he stood up. So now the cage was on its side and he was still scratching and trying to move.

I left my coffee half drunk and made a raccoon transfer run. This guy was mean when I first approached the trap. He hissed, jumped at me and made a sharp growling bark when I went to grab the handle on the trap. He scared me.

I loaded him up and took him to raccoon lake and released him. It was a beautiful morning so I took a picture.

Back when I turned off the highway to get to the lake a old pickup truck went by sputtering and coughing and holding up the fast lane of traffic. Now as I came back onto the highway after releasing the raccoon I saw the truck pulled onto the median abandoned. As I drove home I passed the driver walking on the side of the road. I knew it was the driver because as he chugged by me earlier I got a good look at him with his bright red ball cap. He was carrying a thermos and not trying to hitch a ride. I pulled over and asked him if he needed a lift. He said this was his first day at a new job and he was afraid he blew it. He looked like he was down on his luck and stank of cigarettes. I drove him to his work, he got there on time. He thanked me sincerely and went to work. I hope my little bit of help provided him a second chance. His truck had run out of gas. His work was a lawn maintenance company. I figured he could get back to his truck with some gas with help from his work later in the day.

The rest of the day was cleanup of the shed and garden area, fixing the flat tire on my bike, putting on the rope trim on 1 shelf of the lighthouse and running the generator to keep the thing in working order. Here's what the garden looks like. 4 of the 6 tomato plants put out buds since they've been planted.

I didn’t buy enough rope to do the whole lighthouse—just enough to do the small shelf and see if it looks OK. I’m just using hot glue to attach it. C&C—let me know if this looks OK to you. The shelf is white the color of the picture is messed up.