Rocco The Raccoon

I laid awake at midnight the other night as I heard noises coming from my carport. It was too dark to catch a glimpse, but from the sounds I imagined that Rocco the Raccoon was having a party going in and out of the trash can and  drinking the last drops he could get out of the cans in the recycling bin. I'm pretty sure I heard him texting his other raccoon friends to come, Lady Gaga playing in the background. And it's true, raccoons will eat anything. ANYTHING. Even month or so leftovers that you find in the back of the refrigerator.

As I left for work yesterday, I drove past a raccoon that had been hit by a car. I thought maybe it was Rocco. (We previously thought he might have died in the great Hurricane Irene Tree Incident). As I took out the trash last night, I thought about poor Rocco and his potential demise.

Luckily, Rocco is still alive and kicking. How do I know?

Well I heard Paige pull up in the driveway just after 8. A minute later, I heard screaming. My-life-is-in-danger, running away kind of screaming. I peeked my head out the door  and saw nothing. I waited. Looked. And then Paige ran back out of the house to get her son from the car. She was in such a rush and panic. She had attempted to take out the trash and Rocco was IN the trash can!

He was unphased. Paige ran off screaming while he got back to work foraging for food. I was on the phone with Paige when she watched him leisurely climb out of the trash can off into the unknown about 15 minutes later.

So Rocco is alive and kicking, and apparently not as afraid of us as we are of him.