You Might Want To Turn Away

Last night, around 11 p.m.; Banjo was on the back porch losing his mind.  So, I being the scaredy cat -- I am turned on all the outdoors lights to see what was upsetting him.  I saw nothing but, him having a conniption running back and forth to the back porch. 

(Hubby was in bed already and I am too scared to go outside at night remember the rattlesnake?) 

Then not seeing anything, I went downstairs to the back door and sure enough; this monster.  He was drinking right out of Banjo's bowl and would hiss at him.  I banged on the door and the raccoon just simply ran off.  However, Banjo nor I was fooled; the little monster just stayed out of sight and then came back a few seconds later.  Banjo commenced barking again and I took off upstairs to get hubby. 

Mind you this raccoon was over twice Banjo's size and could have killed him.  Hubby and Saenz went downstairs with the shotgun; Saenz opened the door for Dad and.....

BAM!!!

They tracked it down in the yard and put it out of it's misery because Hubby shot him on the hind haunch.  Then they put him in the water trough so Banjo could not get to the wound.  Sickening yes but, totally necessary because raccoons can carry transmissable dieases.  Though this is an adult raccoon; he/she is not the really large one that comes around to mess with our chickens or feed cans; I am guessing that one weighs nearly 30 lbs because it's tracks are over an inch wide. 

On to that good night, everyone went back to bed. 

The reason we are having such a time with wild critters is Texas is in the middle of a horrible drought.  When a person can only remember three rain falls since Febuary; then there is a natural disaster in the making.  This picture above is right inside our yard; mind you we water through the week at night to almost no avail.  The ground is so dry; we fear fire from some careless motorist parking on the side of the road or tossing a cigarette.  We have green grass somewhat and keep watering so our foundation under and near our home doesn't shift to cause us more problems. 

This is right outside our home's fence line but, still on our property.  Nothing but crackling grass tufts, dirt, and creased rivets of hope in the Earth. 

I am thinking the 2009 was bad yet, 2011 is shaping up to be even worse.  What do ya'll think? 

Global warming....... Hotter longer summers and more extreme winters; just makes a person go hum.