April 25, 2006
thinking with a crowbar
The mother raccoon actually didn't move out last night, as Mr. Wildlife Removal had predicted she would - I saw the same pair of eyes staring back at mine this afternoon that I did yesterday. It may be time for the professionals.
I finally nerved myself to do something I'd been getting around to since we moved in (well, one of them) - rip off the metal siding over the gable to expose the historic front of the house. Until this afternoon, we weren't sure what it looked like. My worst fear was a chunk of condo billboard recycled for the plywood, which is what Mr. Concrete used to repair the garage roof.
Instead, we found more or less what we'd hoped for - a version of the gables found up and down the street, quite similar to the one directly across from us.
This turned into a very messy job, involving hours of teetering on a ladder prying off siding while trying to contain the mess of shredded wood from raccoon damage from blowing all over the street as it was released. The winning formula turned out to involve a combination of probing with the shop-vac and holding a garbage can under the damage.
