Barnaby

Back in December, my roommate said she had heard something in the attic - I looked but saw nothing. She heard something several times and I just decided she was crazy ( :) ). Well, one Saturday in January, I was sitting in my room and noticed that both my cats were staring at the ceiling (anyone with pets knows it is unnerving when pets stare at nothing). I turned down my music and sure enough, I heard SOMETHING galumphing about in the attic. And it sounded big. So I sat there, staring at the ceiling for about an hour, working up the courage to go up there and check it out.

Armed with a piece of wood dowel (scary right?) and a flashlight, I climbed up the attic stairs (while talking to the critter mind you, "hey critter, don't come fly at my head please", "hey critter critter, keep your pointy teeth away from me"). I popped my head up into the attic and closed my eyes, imagining the scene from "Christmas Vacation" where the squirrel comes flying out of the Christmas tree. Nothing came flying, so I continued climbing up further into the attic, still talking to the critter, and peered into the corners of the attic with the handy flashlight and I SAW HIM: a little masked bandit hiding in the corner staring right at me. I managed NOT to fall down the attic stairs (although I may have nailed a fireman's slide on the first try).

The next day, I did a walk around of the house to determine how an animal that big could have gotten into the attic and found this:

Yes, the raccoon was actually a saber-toothed raccoon and gnawed through the eaves of my roof to gain access. That's a pretty desperate saber-toothed raccoon.

I borrowed a humane trap from a friend who had recently had a raccoon in his attic as well (really raccoons? It's not that cold in Houston...) and I attempted to trap Barnaby...oh yeah, I named the raccoon Barnaby, figured if he was living in my house, he might as well have a name.

Alas, Barnaby did not fall for the trap. I ended up keeping the attic light on for several nights and didn't hear any noises. On the day that the handyman came to repair the roof, I went up into the attic and looked around and made a lot of noise just in case he was still up there. After the hole was sealed, I left the trap up there for a bit, just in case.

Almost two months later, no Barnaby. Ahh...home-owning adventures :)