The Return of our Unwanted House Guests

Well, it seems as though the masked bandits have returned.  Yep, you remember those bandits that woke us up in the middle of the night, in fear that a burglar was on our roof?  Well, if you want to get technical, it was actually Chris who woke me up in what I assumed was a drug-induced trance.  But that's just if you want to get technical.  Moving on.

{ slightly dramatic?  probably, but this photo makes me laugh, and no, I didn't take it. Obviously. }

Late last week, around dinner time, I was in the kitchen and I swear it sounded like someone was walking around on our back deck.  I yelled to Chris and he dropped what he was doing to come out and listen for himself. Again, we heard distinct footsteps.

So what is my brilliant idea?  Turn on the back porch light and open the blinds so we can see the culprit! Luckily Chris had the common sense to stop me and suggest we go look from our upstairs window, with the burglar being none the wiser, of course.  The result?  Nothing out there, and since we had snow the past few days, it was clear that no one had been there, as there were no footprints in the snow.

{ side note - please tell me we are not the only ones that jump to the conclusion that we are being burgled every time we hear something outside our house?! }

Hm... strange.  Well, upon returning back downstairs, we heard it again, very clearly, followed by scratching/scraping on the side of the house.  Creepy!  We figured out that it was something under the deck (strange, as it is an enclosed deck).  Those darn critters had found an entry point somehow and were likely seeking the warmth of our house/basement.

This happened around dusk every evening for 2-3 nights, so we had to think of a solution.

We decided to take some advice we received, and put a camping lantern under the deck.  The only bad part was that Chris had to unscrew the panels from the side of the deck in order to get it under there.  All the while, I watched from the warmth of our house, fingers crossed that the raccoons wouldn't attack him!

Not to worry, though, he took his trusty baseball bat with him.  See it sitting on the railing up there?  Well, I really wish I had been recording his mission, because as he was unscrewing the panels from the deck, the bat fell onto the ground, and scared him so bad he nearly jumped in the window!  I was laughing uncontrollably by this point, which Chris did not find amusing.

Anyhow, he managed to get the light under there, and it seems to have done the trick.  No more scratching around under the deck.  I wonder where they will pop up next...