Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Fortress of solitude

I'm not getting much sleep lately. Just as I drift off, Cooper bolts from under the covers taking them all with him and body slams into the sliding screen door effectively knocking it off the tracks. RACCOON!

Two nights ago the raccoon cleverly circumvented Lyle's previous effort at keeping a raccoon free pond and was able to climb over the 2 foot fence and muck about in the middle of the pond making a huge mess.

When the lights went on and the hounds were released the raccoon bolted down the driveway leaving wet foot prints all the way out to the front of the house. The pond made some strange gurgling noises and by the morning the stream had dried up.

When Lyle came home yesterday he put on his "barn boots" and waded into the pond. Cleaning and resetting everything the raccoon had upset. Once everything was back to working order he decided he needed something bigger, better and stronger to outwit the raccoon.

Luckily that was about the same time as architect Frank Gehry stopped by and he was able to give Lyle some tips on building a more interesting structure.

Gehry designed the Experience Music Project in Seattle.

This is a side view of our pond.

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain by Gehry.

View of our Pond from the West.

The stunning Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

An overview of our stunning pond this week.

8 comments:

A Lewis said...

Seems kind of funny to have to cover up such a pretty pond with that chicken wire, doesn't it? I have friends here who do the same thing. In addition to the racoons, they also have great blue herons landing to eat fish.

Michael Guy said...

Okay. What is the natural enemy to raccoons? Besides furriers in West Virginia.

Murphy Jacobs said...

Wonder if raccoons would go for peanut butter? There are a lot of squirrel traps/deterrents that combine entertainment, squirrels, and peanut butter.

In general, 'coons are tough customers. The ones that lived along the Lake Dora boardwalk would mug you and take your wallet.

My adventures said...

If you build it, they will come!

Here's hoping you don't end up with an entire nursery (yes, I looked it up and that's what you call a group of them) that appreciate architecture! If you do, serve fish! Ha!

Carolyn said...

Okay, this whole situation reminds me of a joke....
How many gay men does it take to outwit a raccoon?
Ummm...okay, maybe I'm mixing it up with another joke I heard once...

Rachel V. Olivier said...

Oh, my! And what Sherri said! Those critters used to come up on my porch and go through my recycling like old street pros. Pissed Kiko off big time and it was hard to keep him in, but the coons were bigger than he was. And they have opposable thumbs.

Frontier Psychiatrist said...

Yes, I see it. Especially the Experience Music Project.

Robb said...

I totally see it - I love it, I might need you to make our hot tub cover, why is it that something that feels so good has to look so tacky.