Porch Critters?

Ever since I bought this house 18 years ago, there have been feral cats under the porch, or in the culvert, starving, ragged and looking for food. Sucker that I am, I put left overs out ton the porch and by morning they have all disappearred. Usually it is a big black, badly matted cat, or a gray one with shaggy fur. SOmetimes it is a litter of kittens getting shown the ropes by their mother. Whatever, the food has always been gone.

Thursday I was ready to throw stale cornbread to the birds, and a cat caught the corner of my eye as it scurried under the car. I looked again and it was a raccoon! I have never seen one here! But there she was with three babies shoved up the maple tree for protection. She grabbed a piece of cornbread and headed up the tree, then back down, and behind her came the babies, and one by one they picked up a piece of cornbread and followed her off into the woods.







Last night as I let Sadie out about 230 AM, she went ballistic barking at something. I went out on the deck to see what it was, and up the plum tree with her face hiding behind the trunk was Mama.

I have a garden this year, and my onions were doing great until about two weeks ago, when it looked like someone had been laying on them. I blamed the dogs of course because the cats do not get to go outside. and then I noticed that the onions were dissappearing! I can only guess that Mama found a virtual feast in my backyard, and has been feeding her babies pilferred onions! I told her she was to stay out of my garden! ANd I wagged my findger at her to show her I mean it! She just looked at me until I finally got the dogs to come back into the house, then I went into the house, and as I shut the door, I heard plop, plop, plop, plop! as all of them Mama and 3 babies hit the deck heading for the onion patch! I wonder what onion flavored raccoon tastes like.