The Resident Revealed

Oh, this is so exciting. We've been calling the animal who lives in the Southwest Corner the Resident (See Close to Home). I have been talking about getting a surveillance camera to get a video of him when he comes out at night.

So just now I was sitting out on the deck, on the dogs' perch, trying to get a good shot of a dog's eye view at dusk. It was only 8:40. I took one more shot - I am not really equipped for night pictures - when I noticed the branches of the fig shaking mightily.

I walked right up to the fig. No wonder we don't get any ripe ones! It wasn't a coon. It was three coons. After trying to get several shots, I finally had to clear my throat to get him to look up at me.

He seemed mildly surprised to see me, but not at all alarmed. His expression is a bit worried in the picture, but that's just because his little mask turns up above his eyes. You can't help seeing that line as an expressive eyebrow. But I really don't think he's got anything on his mind but figs.

I spoke to him. I said, It's okay. You can have some figs. Then I thought I'd just move around to the back of the fig tree, which being away from the sun is much more bare.

Had one of them dropped to the ground? I eased around the corner and looked in. The fur looked strangely longer, poofier...oops. This was a skunk. His head was facing toward me, which I thought was a good sign. He hesitated.

I spoke again in what I hoped was a friendly voice and backed out, thinking this will be a nice switch: Wily comes to the door and here am I, drenched with skunk-spray.

So here I have been thinking we have a coon. How about three coons and a skunk! In one tree! And not even nine o'clock.

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