Coming face to mask with the world's cleverest raccoon

I got him. On cherries and goldfish food. There he was, precious mask and soulful eyes looking at me from the trap. I smiled. At last!

My joy was short-lived because this is the world's cleverest raccoon. The only good thing I can say from this point on is that I have his photo and my husband is witness to what happened next.

We were putting him in the back of the pickup for his ride to join the not-so-clever raccoons we have accumulated over the last month. It's a nice country spot. Perfect for God's creatures who need the wild. The trap slipped. He bounced. It opened and OUT HE WENT!

A flying leap to the ground and he was gone onto the property next door which we own also. So now, not only am I feeding the little rascal, I'm sheltering him!

It's not over, Mr. Raccoon. Just because you had one more trick up your fur sleeve than I did, doesn't mean I won't win.

Someday. Just not today.

My kosher raccoon

Once again, we have a clever raccoon invading our back yard. He's very consistent, arriving around 11 PM each evening, scarfing up the leftover cat food and forcing the water bottle off its perch with his nose. I know all this because I've captured his image on the game camera.

Obviously, it is time that Mr. Raccoon find a home in the wilderness which is where I believe God meant raccoons to live. Not my back yard.

In the past, I've had good fortune to trap them on fruit, so I started with oranges, then strawberries. The fruit would be gone--and so would the raccoon! He is a bit on the scrawny side (and unbelievably clever) and so didn't weigh enough to trip the trap. So I greased the trap some more.

After a week of this nonsense--and quite frankly I'm tired of being bested by a lightweight critter--, I pulled out all the stops and positioned a pork rib in the trap, tied top and bottom so he couldn't, as his predecessors have done, sit on top of the trap, pull the rib through, and dine.

From the photos that night, he didn't even look at the rib. The next night, I added strawberries and a fresh rib. He looked but didn't enter the trap.

What kind of raccoon is this? Does he keep kosher? Is he a vegetarian?

Last night I put all the leftover dry cat food under a box and put a plant on top of it. I should have swept it up, because the plant was dislodged, the box still downturned, and the food gone! Besides that, there was a possum in the photos! Now he's bringing friends?

But I have another plan. NO cat food out. I will sweep up what remains from the cats and they will have to wait until morning. Maybe then, he'll be tempted by… strawberries? peaches? A Brussels Sprout?

A review for ONCE UPON A MCLEOD

I've received a four-star review from BTS Book Reviews, an online magazine, for ONCE UPON A MCLEOD.

Thrilled!

The link!

T's Trial available now!

I published T's Trial yesterday on Amazon. Currently, it's available only for Kindle since I'm trying a little experiment. I joined the Kindle Select Program for 90 days. Within that time frame, it can't be available for sale anywhere else. What it can be is borrowed in the Kindle Owner's Lending Library and offered for a free/greatly reduced price sometime during the months.

Since it's the first of a series, that's what I plan to do as soon as C's Comeuppance is formatted and the cover finalized, hopefully by August. In an ideal world, I'd be able to release the third one, Tib's Temptation, within that 90 day window as well.

T started life as Heaven on a Kitestring (and was an RWA Golden Heart finalist), then evolved into Lyla's Song as it went through two e-publishers. Over the years, I added books to include all the members of the band Bone Cold--Alive, plus giving a jilted lover from the first book his own HEA.

And because I think it says so much for the hero, here's the cover again.