Oh what a Weekend!

Let me first say... Bless me for I AM DONE SHOPPING!!

Next.. All weekend we've been kept awake by this crunch crunch crunch..gnaw gnaw gnaw in the ceiling of our bedroom. Its been driving us both crazy.
THEN I come down to make coffee Sunday morning and notice alot of bits and pieces of ??? on the counter and on top of the canisters. Oh Geez, what now?? AND..there is a little hole in the ceiling where something has been trying to get in! I look outside puzzling it over and see Squirrels chasing each other around our big maple tree. As I turn to continue making coffee something hits the house with a huge thud and scrabbling up the side of the HOUSE!! WTF was THAT!! I turn to tell my husband about the hole in the ceiling and that I'd just heard the loudest noise.. thinking a squirrel had scaled the wall again (I've seen them do this plenty of times) when what drops down onto the deck but the BIGGEST Raccoon I've ever seen! Now, I don't normally worry about them. They're cute and they don't live in our yard. Its not possible that it was the one gnawing on the ceiling..can't get in there (to fat). Bill points out that Crystal is in the back yard not 6 ft away from the Raccoon. I've heard they will kill cats. Bill takes off out the back door. OH MY GOD.. you should have seen that Raccoon. It wasn't afraid of anything. It stood up on its hind legs with its arms out stretched.. like "Bring it Buddy.. ya want a piece of me?"
I thought we were gonna have an incident but he at the last second it backed down and ran when Bill started yelling and I never saw Crystal run for the house so fast!

As he was searching the garage to see how the "squirrel" was getting into the kitchen ceiling he discovers a broken hot water pipe spraying water all over the wall next to my kiln! Wonder how long thats been going on!

So, I delay my grocery shopping to stay to call the para-medics if Bill falls off the ladder putting up thick metal screens on all the soffits to keep the lil tree rats out. We'll finish the soffits in the spring when its not so windy and wet.
And, It worked like a charm.. slept like babies. The water pipe is fixed and so is the hole in the ceiling. That was more excitement then we usually have around here.