Yep, it was a big day today.
The sun was shining. The back yard where we were working felt pretty warm. And we had all hands on deck (in an attempt to beat the rainy/snowy forecast that's coming). The goal...project summer kitchen clean up.
Jake and Joe helped by trying to sled down the hillside...while we worked. But it worked! :) Josh, Jack and I started pulling lumber to the burn pile. Then, Debbie joined us and we picked up "sticks". Then, Eric and Rachel showed up and we cleared the ground from there.
In the midst of it all, we discovered there was a raccoon in the trap. I guess we've gotten so used to not catching anything, that nobody bothered to look. I had taken Jake to see how Trent was removing the staircase and decided to take him out through the kitchen. I glanced over and then did a double-take because there was a big fur ball in the trap. I knew Jack had gone through the kitchen earlier...so I yelled out to him. We all got excited...enough to halt work for a minute and celebrate. So, our "trick" must have helped trap him (a mouse glue trap at the back of the cage in front of the last marshmallow...so his hands getting stuck would distract him and lower his back end...allowing the trap to shut). Jake and Joe wanted it to stay in the cage, Rachel wanted to take it home for a pet, Eric, Josh, Debbie and I wanted to shoot it, and Jack wanted to let it go. Jack won! :)
In other news...we found another chimney (in the kitchen wall near where the raccoon had made his bedroom). And we discovered a well opening under the summer kitchen. Praise God there was a solid piece of wood over it because it is a good sized opening...that we had been repeatedly walking over among the clean up. Any one of us could have fallen into it.
The sun was shining. The back yard where we were working felt pretty warm. And we had all hands on deck (in an attempt to beat the rainy/snowy forecast that's coming). The goal...project summer kitchen clean up.
Jake and Joe helped by trying to sled down the hillside...while we worked. But it worked! :) Josh, Jack and I started pulling lumber to the burn pile. Then, Debbie joined us and we picked up "sticks". Then, Eric and Rachel showed up and we cleared the ground from there.
In the midst of it all, we discovered there was a raccoon in the trap. I guess we've gotten so used to not catching anything, that nobody bothered to look. I had taken Jake to see how Trent was removing the staircase and decided to take him out through the kitchen. I glanced over and then did a double-take because there was a big fur ball in the trap. I knew Jack had gone through the kitchen earlier...so I yelled out to him. We all got excited...enough to halt work for a minute and celebrate. So, our "trick" must have helped trap him (a mouse glue trap at the back of the cage in front of the last marshmallow...so his hands getting stuck would distract him and lower his back end...allowing the trap to shut). Jake and Joe wanted it to stay in the cage, Rachel wanted to take it home for a pet, Eric, Josh, Debbie and I wanted to shoot it, and Jack wanted to let it go. Jack won! :)
In other news...we found another chimney (in the kitchen wall near where the raccoon had made his bedroom). And we discovered a well opening under the summer kitchen. Praise God there was a solid piece of wood over it because it is a good sized opening...that we had been repeatedly walking over among the clean up. Any one of us could have fallen into it.
Progress! That's one fat coon. What are you going to do with the well?
ReplyDeleteWe decided to fill the well we found under the summer kitchen b/c there's a cistern right next to that area...and we later found a pipe leading us to believe that there is another well right next to the one we found. It started raining Tuesday so we couldn't investigate more.
ReplyDelete