I woke up early this morning.  After making use of the time to get a little work done, I lay myself down to try to sleep a little bit more.  It was working too, however just as I was about to doze off I heard a strange sound … like a cooing.  I discounted it at first, but the cooing persisted.  It was coming from outside, I could tell, so I wasn’t worried about it.  I knew it was likely a raccoon.  As long as it didn’t find its way through the cat door and inside to the cat food, we won’t have any trouble.  There hasn’t been a raccoon invasion in a long time.  Until now I had not known if they had just not been around or if they had given up trying to get through the cat door.  I used to block it off every night since the last invasion.  However, I had grown lazy about it after a month or so of consistent cat door closure and stopped doing it.  Six or so months had past without an incident.  I, as well as the cats, have been happy about that.

The cooing outside continued.  Sometimes closer, sometimes at a greater distance.  I had to investigate, and I looked out the window into the dark street.  I could hear the cooing across the street.  Then I got a visual and saw the critter running down the sidewalk.  The silouette definitely looked like a raccoon, but I was not sure.  I watched as it crossed the streets, up and down, back and forth.  Then into our yard where it climbed up the tree.  I had to go out to investigate, and I put on my robe.

I turned on the porch light and cracked open the front door.  I heard nothing so walked on out onto the lawn.  Then, I heard the rustling of the tree and the scampering of the critter as it ran away.  That would have put an end to my raccoon adventure for the night, had it not been for my curious and humorous mind.  “What strange behavior,” I thought, for a creature of the night … the scampering back and for and the constant chattering.  Wouldn’t a thieving animal want to be more stealthy as it went about its mission?  The only thing that I could think of is that it had a partner in crime and had been separated from it.  It was running around looking for it … back and forth, calling out to its friend “coo, coo.”  No, the poor raccoons did not have the convenience of cell phone technology to text each other, “Where the f$#% are you.”  Or did they?  Perhaps it was running back and forth and up the tree trying to get the best signal.  The cooing … the phone seeking out a signal.  Raccoon Cellular is just not that strong in Southampton, Benicia.