Stranger in the Night

I knew from the sound the “what” and the “where”. It was my metal watering can being knocked over on the porch. I just didn’t know the “who”. Where I live it could be a black bear so I am cautious. I turned on the porch lights--which come up slowly since they are energy saving fluorescents—and looked in the direction of the can. The glass door lets me see almost everything except around corners so while I am peering right, trying to see around the corner of a 5 gallon bucket, the biggest, fattest raccoon walks in from the left, past my feet, totally unaware of my presence behind the glass. I know those calories came from my compost heap because no matter how much I try to hide the scraps in the leaves and wood chips, the next day there is a hole in the pile where I buried them. I ran for my camera but as you can see, there is only a tail left to complete this tale.

That was two days ago. Last night I was in bed when my stranger returned. I heard the loud clunk as the can fell—this time partly filled with water. In the morning I could see little paw prints and claw prints in the film of dirt at the bottom of the bucket. So the little guy is thirsty. Tonight I put water out in a plastic ice cream bucket. At first I started to fill it from the rain barrel; then went inside and filled it with my purified filtered water instead.

So now my “stranger” gets gourmet water to wash down the potato peels and onion tops. Am I nuts or what?