Raccoons are too darned smart!

Two nights in a row we discovered the door to what we call the “back room,” which we use as a pantry, was opened to the outdoors. Inside, it was chaotic with stuff on the floor and a mess that convinced us that the room had been invaded; it looked like raccoons had been inside. To make sure that was the case, we sprinkled ashes on the approach outside the room and locked the door.

Sure enough, the next morning we saw coon tracks in the ashes. In the area under the doorknob, the tracks were feverish. They had been able to reach up, turn the doorknob, and open the door!

My evil dark side kicked in—it was hard to suppress. I made a plan where I would stack a heap of pots and pans against the inside of the door so when they opened it they would be startled by the crash of falling stuff.

But that was sissy. My next plan had me constructing an elaborate electrically-triggered waterfall that would douse them when they touched the doorknob.

Still being evil, I imagined an overhead net full of big heavy rocks that would crash down on them when they approached.

Finally I decided that locking the door every night would be the simplest solution.

That works, but it’s boring. Hardly blogworthy.