Rocky Raccoon

Photo - Raccoon visitor at our house, Auburn, CA This post doesn't really fit into the winter theme I was on. But, it does fit into a ongoing theme about things we observe in our own front yard, like a beautiful Sierra Sunrise, snowfall or a deer! This weekend a rather unusual thing happened. Once again, our dog, Cocoa, was barking. I figured she was barking at the Coyotes that I had seen pass through earlier at a very hurried pace. I grabbed my camera and headed outside. I saw something moving at a snails pace towards our house from the field below. It stopped and hung out in the bushes for a few minutes and it looked like it was eating something. It didn't look or act like a Coyote. Eventually, it waddled on to our property. As it turns out, it was a Raccoon. I named him "Rocky." I'm guessing that he and the Coyotes got into a battle and he got injured. When I thought he was eating, he was actually cleaning his wounds. Thanks to Wikipedia, I learned a few things about Raccoons I didn't know. Here is a partial list of facts about them.

1. They live in all of the lower 48 states.
2. They do come out in the daytime. That doesn't mean they are rabid, however, they could be!
3. They are very good at fighting off preditors, Coyotes being one of them.     

I took a few photos of him from the deck and was excited about that, as we don't usually see them. There was one time when Jeff saw one during the day. He went into the garage to feed the cats and one jumped down from the attic and blew right past him. I decided to see how close I could get to him. That was about 10 feet away! He was not the least bit concerned that I was there. Every now and then, I would call "Rocky" and he would look up. Then, he would continue to lick himself. Photo - Is he praying or what? If anyone knows what might be going on in this photo, please let me know by leaving a comment.  He eventually went back into the bushes and seemed to be moving a little better. A few minutes later, a coyote returned to this area, but left too soon to have made a meal out of him. It was a great experience and one I sure didn't expect that day. I will continue to keep my camera handy, because we just keep having one great experience after another, without leaving home!