The Raccoon

We have a raccoon in the back yard. He's in 'Coon Heaven. There are cherries, strawberries & raspberries. A smorgasbord of vegetables. All kinds of places to hide and hang out. And best of all ... his own personal pool!!!

Arghhhh.

And I'm jumping up and down like Elmer Fudd screamin', I'm gonna shoot me some wabbit waccoon!!!!

He's a destructive little creature. Tearing branches off the tree. Bending & breaking the bushes. And strawberries? What strawberries? There are cherry pits all over the place, he's washing them off in the pool, and at the bottom of the cellar stairs where water collects briefly after a storm, plus he's pooping down there. Now he's started on the pool cover and has torn bits off the edge and someone has pulled the sealant from around the bottom of pool steps and I do believe the pool is leaking again because of it. And my fish in the front yard pond are turning up dead...

Friend Gladys has a wonderful way of comparing situations in life to the gospel. She, unlike me, has a real knack for turning the ordinary into a spiritual moment. But I'm going to take a stab at it...

Because really, I know he's one of God's creatures. And he has his place in this world.

Just - not in my mine.

And that's kinda like a lot of things and people in this life. There are different politics, religions, creeds. Just because someone doesn't agree with you doesn't make them wrong or bad. But so much of the time we're just going to have to learn to agree to disagree, and grow some tolerance. But we still don't have to be on top of each other. We can appreciate each other's differences.

From a distance.

And so dear raccoon, this week I will find a live trap for you and we'll figure out how to sucker you into it. Some nice, fresh, sweet corn perhaps????

Then you will take a trip and leave the farm.

Now those other folks I'm trying to learn to be tolerant of?

It wouldn't do at all to stuff them into a live trap to transport...would it???

And I don't suppose anyone has a spare wizard's wand? I mean, how much fun would that be - poof, they're gone. Problem solved.

Silly me, of course not.

We're not at Hogwarts, and I'm sure glad I'm not back in grade school. I'd be at the chalkboard writing one hundred times...

I will be nice.
I will be nice.
I will be nice.
I will be...
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