On November 8th I forgot to close the door to my shed. On Friday November 9th I walked out, opened the door and found it was partially blocked and the entirety of my shed had been ransacked!! I thought I had been robbed!
In my confusion I quickly turned to the most valuable items which are my computers and I saw that the Mac was on the ground, my work computer closed and in place and the monitor on its face over my work computer. I then became quickly aware of the overpowering stench of a furry animal and had thought a coyote might still be inside!
I could only push the door open a little bit as it was blocked by all my belongings now on the floor but was cautious as I thought a coyote might be inside. I poked my head inside, had a look around but thought the animal might have escaped? But how could it the door was closed? I then looked up and saw this.
I couldn’t believe it! Three raccoons had gotten themselves trapped in my shed and destroyed the place!
Suddenly a deep fear ran through my chest in that my work computer could be destroyed? Thank the Gods it was not. But, the monitor was broken and the Mac missing the q key but still worked..
The other think to note is that these raccoons treated my shed as their toilet and it smelled terrible. There was poop everywhere!! So I had to disinfect the entire place with bleach and now it seems cleaner than before to be honest.
All in all the shed is back to normal but without a few details:
- Japanese ‘oni’ mask is missing a horn
- Don Quixote wine bottle was smashed
- Sand Dollar vase was smashed
- Geraniums were uprooted and so have to start again.
- Dirt and poop all over the place.
- Star Wars clock smashed
- Items that were up top many broken.
As I mentioned the smell was terrible and the bleach didn’t help too much. So I sprayed ‘Eternity’ cologne which is one I never use into the shed and shut the door for the night. It ended up making the shed smell like a ‘Dapper Raccoon.’ It wasn’t unbearable like before but not a smell I’m particularly fond of. To make matters worse the air was noxious outside due to the Camp Fire so I couldn’t air it out much the following week. I had to sit in there with the door and windows closed!
And that was the calamity of the raccoons. I think I’ll have a photo printed out and framed to put in the corner where I found them. May they never return.
