It sure was a *wild* day at Wishful Acres Farm

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How do I describe yesterday?  The first term that comes to mind is WILD!

The day began with the removal of 2 live birds from our woodburning stove chimney (we ended up taking a part of the chimney apart, with the birds inside, and released them back into the wild outside).  They had worked their way into the chimney the day before, and when I tried to light a fire, it became obvious that they were in there... to my horror and the horror of my 3 young sons.  Needless to say, no fire could be lit until they were removed.

Then the day continued with my husband's efforts to remove a squirrel from our attic.  This darn squirrel got in through the attic roof - in a place my husband had patched last year when repairing the raccoon damage (those who have been reading my blog for a long time remember when we first bought our abandoned, foreclosure farm last year that we had to remove 9 raccoons from the attic).  So this squirrel has been in the attic for a few weeks... we've tried trapping him, but he was a wily one & way too smart.  He evaded our efforts.  In the meantime, he's been waking me at all hours of the night, crawling through the wall next to our bed, scratching in the ceiling, chewing who knows what in the floor crevices.  Arg!  So, my husband climbed on the roof to patch the tiny hole in the attic roof.  While up there, he could hear Mr. Squirrel running through the attic soffit (did I spell that right?).  Then, he saw the squirrel stick his paw out the attic hole.  My husband, who had gloves on and was quite sick of this squirrel by now, reached out & grabbed his paw!  The scene that followed can only be described as a tug of war.  The squirrel began pulling back.  My husband didn't let go.  Finally, the squirrel freed itself and began running through the attic soffit (the part of the roof that overhangs).  My husband followed it along the roofline, banging on the wall as he followed it.  It worked!  Mr. Squirrel quickly ran out of the attic hole, which was immediately patched after him.

Then.... I was re-stocking our Farm Store refrigerator (we've spent the past several months renovating the 2 mobile homes located on our farm, one into a Farm Store, the other into Intern Housing).  So.. I'm putting eggs in the fridge, and I hear something from the back of the mobile home, in the bathroom.  When I enter, I hear something rustling under the bathroom sink, in the cabinet.  We have a cat who finds her way into the mobile home (it's a work in progress, there is still a small hole in the floor under the bathtub).  This cat is about to give birth, so I'm wondering if perhaps it's her, and she's hiding her kittens.  Well, I've lived here long enough to know better than open that cabinet.  First, I went outside and called the cat.  She came waddling up, still very pregnant... and obviously not inside the Farm Store.  I called my husband off the farmhouse roof, and we went to investigate.  My husband slowly opens the cabinet, looks left, then right, then quickly jumps up and slams the cabinet.  "A coon"?  I ask.  "Yep", he replied.

Mr. Coon has since found his way back under the mobile home.  We've blocked the holes out, and today we'll set a trap.  Once we get him, we'll remove him to a new home and release him (at least 10 miles away).  And yes, we will get him out.

Wow!  What a wild day.

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The world is now less one raccoon.

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There was a raccoon living in our farmhouse.  The place has been vacant for 3 years, so a coon moved in.  We suspected one may have gotten in, but we had no idea the extent of damage it caused, nor how far into the house it actually was. 

We tried catching it in a live trap.  It broke out of 2 of them, one so mangled it can't be used again.  I began to wonder if it was not a coon, but a small bear.

Yesterday we bashed down an upstairs wall to connect a new addition with the old house (hard to envision, I'm sure).  My husband looked down into the floor (there is gap between the hardwoods) and saw fur.  Needless to say, I'm glad my brother-in-law was there, and prepared.

We were all ushered out of the house.  Let's just say that I now have a bullet hole in my living room ceiling and the world is less one 25 pound raccoon.

Wow, I'm being initiated into country living quickly!