Raccoon Rain

A friend was helping me move a large cabinet yesterday and asked where we should store it. I opened the the shop door, turned on the light and we walked toward the side wall, beside Pop’s boat that is stored for the winter.

The shop is a 40+ year old wooden building with a metal roof. The roof has been repaired many times to stop leaks – just last year there was a nasty leak that dripped right into the boat – onto the engine and created a huge problem. We had that fixed and the roof has been waterproof since.

The rain was pouring down really hard and as we walked in I noticed a stream of water dripping beside the boat. Of course I said, “Oh, s**t, the roof is leaking again.

As we stood there, with me contemplating how I was going to get “someone” to go up on the steep pitched, very slippery, dangerous roof once the rain stopped to repair the hole, the stream of water stopped. What the f**k? We could hear the rain still pounding on the roof but now there was only a few drips falling.

My friend, being a man, held his hand under the drip. “It’s warm,” he said. I said, “What, how can rain water be warm?” It was just above freezing so that was just not possible. I thought he was kidding so I put my fingers in the puddle – yep, it was warm, and yellow and when I put my fingers up to my nose to smell it, it didn’t smell like rainwater.

Suddenly, I remembered the raccoons that I had seen climbing a ladder and through the rafters. They had been living in the attic but once we moved the ladder I assumed they had no access. They’re smarter animals than I gave them credit for, obviously.

So, when we walked in and started talking, we scared the p**s right out of one of the little bandits and he let go. When my friend realized I was right, he made a beeline for the door. I followed and we both picked up snow to wash our fingers, then he headed for the house at a rapid pace. I was ready to carry on with the moving of the storage cabinet but he had gone in to scrub his hands – lol.

City Boy…