Living in a Zoo

I know my last entry was on bats in our attic so this is going to make it seem like I live on some rodent/ pest infested property but...

We're watching the World Cup final when my FIL went upstairs to use the bathroom. The next thing I know, he's running down and out the garage yelling and screaming about some jerk ruining his tomatoes. What's going on? I later find out that he was looking out the bathroom window when he saw what looked like a raccoon eating one of the tomatoes in his garden. Whew. I thought he was running after some burglar or someone. The man has no fear.

We finally discovered who or what's been eating the tomatoes (actually it was only one) in our garden. At first, we thought maybe it was a neighborhood kid but why? We live on a pretty decent street and I just can't picture any of the kids snatching a tomato... and an unripened one at that. My FIL did a little investigating and discovered deer tracks so we thought it was a deer. Well, the little masked bandit was caught red handed.

During the past 3 months that my in-laws have been with us, my FIL started a small garden and brought a dead looking yard to life. He takes his handiwork very seriously. I see him out in the back creating some makeshift scarecrows to scare off the rabbits. I don't know if you can call them scarecrows but he found some random colorful plastic bags and posts them around the garden area. I don't think they work too well because every so often he's running out of the house yelling like he did today. You'll see him swinging whatever he has in his hands (usually the shirt he takes off his back) scaring them away. Well you know that's quite a site with him in his wife beater trying to scare away whatever dared to cross our yard. What must our neighbors think.

Once upon a time, he thought it was so odd and cute seeing rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks wandering around but once he saw what a nuisance they were, that's no more. I don't want you to think he's some animal hating old man. Not at all. When he first came to visit us, he found small baby rabbits and he was afraid they'd get cold and wet in the rain so he placed them in a small crate inside our garage and gave them food. It took some convincing to let them go and leave them where their mom can find them. He loves animals and is used to caring for pigs, chicken, dogs, and whatever little pets his grandkids ask him to babysit while they try to convince their parents to allow them to raise them themselves. BUT... be warned all you little pesky animals out there. Don't let his small frame and old age fool you. He doesn't let anything or anyone get in between him and his garden/ yard.

Anyway, my FIL and MIL went to the wooded area of our property to see where they came from. Good thing they did because they discovered what might be the raccoon's den. My FIL covered it with a bunch of rocks. He saw an even bigger den in our neighbor's yard and blocked the little path that they made under the fence between the two properties. I feel a little safer. It must be my kids' diaper smell that's luring these critters onto our yard. LOL.

Aigo... bats in the attic, deers, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, some other creature that my dad said might be a groundhog, and garden snakes that the lawn care folks said they saw outside... I'm leaving in a freakin' zoo except we're inside. I know these things come with living in the suburbs on a wooded lot but WTH? I momentarily thought it might be better to live in the city... but I've heard about the cat sized rats living in the subway tunnels. I'm just going to have to live with Alvin and his furry friends.