Things That Go Bump In the Night....

Last night I kept hearing a new sound. I'm used to the hoot owls in the woods, and the scuffling and grunts, etc., from our nightly 'customers' at Amy's Cafe: the raccoons, skunks, occasional possums and fox on the terrace munching their nightly meal of dog food. I can tell when it's just the baby raccoons on the (metal) roof, where the mama coons deposit them so they can eat in peace, much like a mother dropping off her kid at daycare. But this noise was different. Even from the LR I could tell it was back in the master BR. Something was being repeatedly dropped onto the skylight over our bed. We have a custom rectangular skylight over our bed because I insisted I needed to see the sky over us. (It's turned out to be fun when the moon is full or when there is a meteor shower. It can be a little claustrophobic when it's blanketed by snow in the winter.)

Turned out to be a baby coon after all (they are around 3 months old right now, which is pretty late in the season for babies). He/she was playing with a hollowed-out nutshell, tossing it in the air, rolling it around the glass, and spitting it out of his mouth, just having a big time. Like any baby playing with a ball.

The raccoons love the smoothness of the skylight. Every night we lay in bed and watch Coon WWW. The wrestling match seen from below is hysterical. It drives my cats crazy that they can perch just under the skylight on the beam inches below and yet the coons don't notice. I've even shined a laser light at them -- oblivious to it.