The Lives of Raccoons

Last night, the raccoons blew through, removed the clothespin bag from the clothesline, dragged it around the yard, removed all the clothespins, spread them around independently of the location of the clothespin bag, and then went somewhere else to cause some other dislocation.  The lives of raccoons are an endless mystery to me.  It's not easy to get those clothespins out of the bag even when you want to hang up the laundry if the bag is not hanging on the line.

What do raccoons want with clothespins?

A friend replies:

What do raccoons want with clothespins?  To play with them.  That is surely the only answer.

I have several of the soft vinyl sprinkler hoses in different places of the garden.  Once, a young raccoon took a strange passion to one of them.  He managed to drag it from the front yard to the back yard, up a tree, and on the roof of my neighbor's shed.  She called me to come see something I would not believe.

The young raccoon had the 50-foot hose laid out on the roof of aforementioned shed.  He/She was scuttling around on said roof, picking up sections of it, rubbing it all over his/her face and even standing up and rubbing it all over his/her belly.  He did this for a great long while until it became too dark to watch.

The next morning, we retrieved the 50-foot green vinyl sprinkler hose.  It was useless, of course … raccoons have very nasty claws, and this young raccoon had done a real number on it.

Clothespin fetish.  Sprinkler hose fetish. 

We do not know the secret life of any of the creatures we share space with.

Added, 9/17:  More on raccoon life.  Last night, the raccoons showed up and unlooped a house HOSE that was stored on the tree.  I assume they read the blog and remembered how much fun that hose had been previously.  I don't know whether to be more surprised that they use computers or that they read....