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Chapter nine cookie and the ****. Everyone has to make their own decisions. I still believe that you just have to be able to accept the consequences Without complaining. Grace jones life on her horse farm is generally quiet and serene. We are blessed to live in a little gem of land that sits within the boundaries of three of the largest grain farmers in this county. It is a peaceful existence being surrounded by corn, soybeans, tobacco and wheat during the growing season or follow ground in the winter. The crops can lull you to sleep as the wind travels through their leaves and whispers Good night after the moon has made its nightly, shape shifting appearance. There just isn't a lot of traffic on a road or other noise out our way like the din. Most people have become accustomed to hearing, but we have migrating birds like sandhill cranes where Canada geese honking their songs as they travel through or the occasional howling and yipping of coyotes, hunting in packs after some helpless prey. Otherwise the quiet contains a Peacefulness most people would love to experience. I'm sure there are people who love the noise and hustle of the city, but we are not among them. We seem to thrive on the peace and tranquility of farm life. During one recent winter night we found the Peacefulness violated by the barking of our dog cookie cookie is definitely a little ankle nipper and very protective of our family. I do not know if this protectiveness comes from a feeling of indebtedness because she feels she won the lottery when we adopted her from the local pound and needs to repay us or if some part of her DNA just requires it because of her genetic heritage. Either way she loves us and distrust most of the other beings that come this way cookie is normally a very quiet little dog. So much so that we thought our mute for the longest time in hindsight. Maybe she just didn't have anything to bark about because most people would stay in their cars and wait for us to come outside and keep a certain little puffed up for ball away from them. Little she is weighing in around £30 but when she puffs up she looks much bigger and her bright white teeth stand out in stark contrast to her black fur covered body. Once we're outside, she leaves people alone mostly cookie came to us after our longtime farm dog. Sarge died of cancer at the age of 11. Now, Sarge was a lover of anyone who petted him. I swear that golden retriever would help you pack away anything you wanted to relieve us of having ownership in. As long as you petted him or fed him a treat. He would bark at varmints during the night. But once they paid heed to his orders to leave he would quiet down and go back to bed. There were very few nights where I had to get up and go to the door to quiet him down so we could sleep with cookie. Her mutinous was a gift we all enjoyed. We wanted a dog that would keep the varmints away and one that would leave the cats alone. We hit a home run with both of those wishes. She would quietly chase varmints, but yet share the doghouse with two of the barn cats that always migrated to the house at night. She loves those cats and I guess sees them as part of the herd she's entrusted to care for. So I was completely shocked when she woke us up one saturday night during the dead of winter with a steady, irritating, high pitched barking that would not stop. One of the steadfast rules concerning life in the country is you don't holler at your dogs when they're barking in the middle of the night after all, that is why you have them. You want their bark to chase off animals or people that you don't want around. It's not like we have nearby neighbors who will be offended by a barking dog. My motto is let dogs be and let them do their job cookies, barking would chase the offender away soon enough and all would go back to being peaceful. That was my thinking. Anyway, the barking that night was incessant and sleep was impossible. Cookie howled on and on, seemingly without a breath. There were brief moments of silence, but apparently it was so her vocal cords could recharge. Then the barking would start again generally just about the time I was drifting back to sleep once more. I covered my head with the pillow, put my fingers in my ears and attempted to meditate my way past the noise, nothing was working. After about an hour and a half I decided to go outside with a flashlight and see if I could find out what was keeping cookie barking and me awake. I found cookie very alert and on edge. She was not puffed up like she gets with strangers. She just gave the impression of a very busy dog with an important job to accomplish. Still, she came to me when I exited the house and stood by my side as I scanned the yard for whatever had caused the problem. I looked everywhere, including the woodpile and the two trees behind the house and was unable to find anything. Yet Cookie remained by my side, visibly upset by something. I petted her and thank her for doing a good job and went back to bed. I had high hopes of returning to sleep, but the din started a new about the time my head hit the pillow, I knew there wasn't a prowler hanging about with the intention of harming my family because I had just looked around with that in mind. Nor did I see any lines or tigers hiding behind trees waiting to pounce on any unsuspecting prey. So I did what any sane, knowledgeable and understanding person would do. I went and yelled at the dog to shut up. Now cookie is a very tender hearted little dog and I am sure I just hurt her feelings and I really did feel bad for doing it, but I selfishly wanted to go to sleep. She talked her tail between her legs and crawled into her doghouse. The two barn cats apparently thinking they were next went in with her. I went guiltily back to bed and slept fitfully the rest of the night. The next morning, very early the next morning the barking started. Once again, cookie waited until she heard people moving about for the day and she went back to work. I was dressed so I grabbed the flashlight once again and went outside. This time I was kinder to the dog than I had been during her last encounter and I did a better scan of the area. It didn't hurt the odds of a successful search when cookie ran to one of the trees out back and looked up at it while barking. Finally, I saw the object of her attention. She had treated raccoon the night before and it was still in the crook of the tree, apparently feeling it was hidden and out of reach varmints are part of life on any farm raccoons are feed Steelers Extraordinaire and will when cornered attempt to hurt the being that put them in such a position. It is a constant battle to keep them out of the feed room. Once they gain entrance, they can open most feed containers and eat their fill, ensuring their eventual return. We live trapped them quite often and relocate them to other farms in the vicinity. I know not very neighborly, but it rids us of the problem until the other farmers live, trap them and bring them back. I do generally relocate them to areas rich in an environment suited to raccoons. Those environments just happen to be close to other farms. We also get our share of other animals seeking shelter and food possums are a constant threat and they carry a disease in their feces that is deadly to horses. People are always dropping off cats and then seek a handout. The problem is we can only have so many cats and we don't want any possums or raccoons. So we left trap and relocate. In the case of cats, they have to go to shelters like the one where ours came from. Even though it may seem harsh, we cannot take into every stray that has dropped off for us and people shouldn't expect us to. Our hearts are huge, but our pocketbook is limited. We do what we can. So we had a terrified raccoon trapped up a tree, a barking dog wanting to make sure it stayed right there too curious barn cats that were eager to watch the show and one farm owner who felt like he had to do something because that is what men do. That is not to brag and say that what we do is always the right thing because unfortunately most of you know that isn't true, but we always feel some action is called for and it is up to us to come up with a plan for such action. I went back into the house to sit my morning coffee and think about what I could do to make sure everyone came out of this uninjured and the offending trespassing raccoon would leave scared so badly. It would never entertain the thought of returning. I would like to say that my wife jennifer looked upon me lovingly as I sat there and text my mind for solutions to this family dilemma. But truth be told. I think she looked at me with a great amount of incredulity and a hint of exasperation. Trust me, you can't mistake the two looks. She knew from experience that once again I would not leave well enough alone and allow mother nature to work her magic, nope, I would once again interfere out of some misguided male ego driven sense that I had to fix the problem. I plead guilty to all past problem solving debacles I have been a part of but I was convinced this time things would be different. The first attempt to dislodge the raccoon from its place of safety came from me. I had the bright idea if I poked him in the butt with a stick he would run out of that tree and away from us never to return. Well, it didn't exactly happen the way I had planned. I had a long stick that barely reached them and I gave him a good poke, hoping for the best. What happened instead was the **** scurried further up the tree out of reach from the stick, and for me, The second thing I tried was to have met our son, get the 22 caliber pistol and loaded with birdshot. The intent was to shoot the gun into the air. We were hoping the loud noise would scare the raccoon off without harming them, but that didn't work either. As a matter of fact, he ran even farther away, managing to make it to the small limbs at the end of the branch where he sat swaying in the breeze and staring at me During the third attempt I stood at the bottom of the tree and through small sticks at him once again hoping for the best. This is where he did the funniest thing, causing me to go to the house for the camera in the hope I could get a picture of him doing it again while watching me throw sticks at him. He covered his eyes with one of his paws. I guess he was saying if I can't see you then you can't see me. This was coming from a raccoon that even though not an adult still weighed 18-20 lbs and couldn't possibly be missed as he clung to branches about the size of a pencil while up in a winter tree with no leaves. It was so funny and endearing that I started looking at him in quite a different light as I look back. I wish I had heeded the message Mother Nature sent me and stopped all attempts to get him to leave. It pains me to admit I didn't listen. It was around this time that my wife and son had to leave for school. Both are attending the local college, one intending to teach and the other to further her nutritional education. I was admonished by both of them to leave the raccoon alone until they returned. Or better yet just leave it alone completely with the hope it will leave when no one was looking. Now I have a question if under such circumstances I acknowledged them with a nod or the word, okay, doesn't make me a liar. If I had no intention of leaving the raccoon alone before you answer. Keep in mind they knew from experience that I wouldn't abide with the restrictions placed upon me by the two of them. They know me and know I would say whatever it took to get them safely off the school without fear of me being injured. I didn't want their minds occupied with such thoughts when they should be learning and enjoying their higher education experience. Well, that was my justification for the nod and the assurance that I would leave the animal alone fully knowing I was about to do something to ensure the animal would be gone by the time they returned or so I thought as soon as the dust cleared the driveway and they were no longer in sight, I got busy formulating plan number four. I have a 12 ft stepladder in the shop and a telescoping pole. I used to prune high branches out of trees. I figured that if I put the ladder under the tree and use the end of the pool without the saw, I could convince the raccoon to leave the tree, I would be the hero and would be able to tell everyone while sipping a beer and expanding my chest, how I managed to convince him to leave. I originally thought it was a good idea and it might have been if things had worked out as planned. I figured it wouldn't do for cookie to be under the tree when the raccoon decided to leave. So my first step was to put her on her cable. She immediately started barking at a raccoon, putting it a little on edge. I think got the ladder and pruning pool situated. This would probably be a good time to tell you that I was not supposed to be on ladders, wouldn't it? I had a back surgery in 2010 and have rods, plates and screws in my t spine. My mobility and balance are affected a little, but not my want to do. It was still strong. Well, I climbed about 6.5 ft up the ladder and set about poking the raccoon with a pole. The limbs started bouncing with his weight and the wind. I smiled, but only once. You see when I first started poking, I thought this plan was going to be a good one after all. The smile faded quickly when I discovered I had not thought things completely through, nor had I prepared myself for any of the vast possible outcomes that could take place. The raccoon was indeed going to come out of the tree. The problem was that he was going to come straight down on me. I think I've been kind of hoping he would scurry down the same way he got up, but that didn't happen. Instead he lost his grip on the branches and fell right out of the tree and I broke his fall. Trust me, this is not a position you want to find yourself in when you can't move with speed and agility and you were 6.5 ft up in the air, on a ladder, you're not supposed to be standing on. I can only imagine the open mouth gave him a look of disbelief on my face as these events took place. The raccoon hit my shoulder and leg on his way to the ground, bounced once and got his feet under him faster than I could react to the fact that he was no longer in the tree. In his confusion and panic, he commenced to run circles around the ladder. So fast I could barely see him in a blur of gray and black with just a hint of white for his teeth. All the while he was making a strange snarling sound. The dog had set up a barking frenzy that added to the noise I believe. I also heard something that sounded like a school child screaming like someone had thrown a spider down or blouse during recess. The noise I was hearing could have been me, but I was trying too hard not to pee my pants to take the time to figure out where the noise was coming from. I didn't know one thing. The raccoon wanted back in the tree and I was between him and where he wanted to be. He couldn't go to the other side of me because that would put him closer to the snarling dog that only left him with one choice and up the ladder he went. It ended up being one of those days where I was glad I wore lying jeans in the winter, up my right leg, he went then between my arms holding the ladder and on up to the top. Once there he sprang the remaining three ft to the tree while I left in slow motion the other way to add a fence to an already insulting day, the latter fell on top of me as I lay on the ground wondering exactly where I went wrong. After getting out of bed that morning, my hearing has diminished with age, but I swear I heard a strange, high pitched whimpering coming from somewhere. The raccoon ended up right back where he started before I poked him, and I belatedly decided that was a good place for him. His but was turned towards me as if to once again say, I can't see you so you can't see me or it could have meant something else I guess, but let's not go there. I gathered myself up, looked around to see if anyone had witnessed the event and then checked myself for injuries. My ego was badly damaged, but otherwise my pants were dry and apparently I was in good shape, no one but cookie had seen what happened or heard the screaming and although she looked like she was grinning, she at least couldn't tell the tell, nor were there any rabies, vaccinations in my near future. I decided to leave the raccoon alone as mother nature intended me to do all along. She had tried to tell me, but I wasn't listening. I cut cookie loose and she didn't pay any more attention to the raccoon the rest of the day. I returned to the house for some deep thinking as I sat at the kitchen table sipping a hot cup of coffee. Well after the adrenaline rush had subsided, the apparently rusty wheels of reason in my mind started slowly turning with deep gratitude for the true nature of the situation I had found myself caught up in. I came to the appreciative realization that I was the only one with knowledge of what had transpired furthermore. The truth could go to the grave with me. I need not be embarrassed and my bruised eagle could heal without sharing any of the events that happened earlier. I decided I could tell my family. Upon the return, I had in fact followed their advice and left raccoon alone. I had the proof because the raccoon was still in the tree exactly where he was when they left. Of course I would have to have my grass stained jeans in the laundry basket or like poor old lucy. When Ricky ricardo caught her stretching the truth, I would have some splaining to do in a painful rush of insight. I quickly came to the realization that my plan would not stand up to the test of reason. My wife and son would put it through. I wouldn't be able to answer all their questions without sinking deeper yet into the pit of the seat. See they know me better than anyone else, and they knew when they left, I would do something in an attempt to get the raccoon to leave, regardless of my assurance. To the contrary, they have been around me long enough to know I would try something. They had just hoped I wouldn't hurt myself in the process saying I didn't do anything but play on the computer and read the paper. Would not work remembering the words of the immortal author and alrededor, Mark Twain, who said, if you tell the truth and you don't have to remember anything, I decided to tell like it happened and take another hit to my already bruised ego, and that is exactly what I did. My wife just stared quietly as I told the story, slowly lowered her head and shook it as she walked away, deep in her own thoughts and mumbling under her breath. Sometimes I feel sorry for the things I put her through my son, although exhibiting a little more fire, realized that all was well in the world had not tilted during his absence. I had managed to do about what they expected of me, but I knew that after some time passed, they would forgive me. Oh, and the raccoon. He spent the day in the tree, sleeping on small branches that were rocking with the wind. He never paid any mind to people, horses or dogs. He showed his true nocturnal colors. Cookie paid him little attention the rest of the day. Sometime during the night he left the confines of the tree and the farm. We haven't had a raccoon problem for quite a while now. I guess he shared the story with his family and maybe they had a good laugh. It wouldn't surprise me if they watched from the distance to see if anything like that occurs again. Me. I vowed to try to be a better listener when mother nature speaks to me, she wouldn't have to yell, I would try to catch the subtleties in her voice and heed the warnings probably. So you might ask just how this story fits in with the theme of spirituality. The answer would be found in comparing the new me to the me of old had something like this happened not too many years ago, I would have taken great offense at the series of events that befell me that day. I would have screamed profanities and I would have taken all that happened personally and I would have had one of the old fashioned conniption fits I mentioned in previous stories, I would have wondered out loud what the creator had against me, I would have been stuck in a woe is me mentality and this feeling would have stayed with me throughout the day. The new me. Well he sees things in a different and more positive light. I didn't get hurt though, I could have very easily the dog and cats had a good laugh. The raccoon got safely away and thankfully my wife and son were not here to witness my lesson being learned. That lesson was to just let things be as they're supposed to be allowed the universe to work and stop worrying about every possible chance of a negative outcome. For every negative possibility, there is a positive one that could just as easily occur. Put your energies to work on believing the best possible outcome will happen, and you might just be surprised how often it does.