Critters, prep and water ... a collection of bits

Its been very hot here for the past 2 weeks, and very dry, which is a little rare, as we usually get afternoon rains. The net effect is that our yard has been looking very sparse, very yellow and almost dead. When we started the digging, we cut the lines to the sprinklers. Today when I got home, Steve and crew was connecting them beck up so that we could water the yard.

We spent some time talking about the electrical stuff, and they expect to pour the walls solid tomorrow or the day after. The trusses are on their way and the plan is to be "dried-in" within 2 weeks.

I'll also use this post to share our raccoon experience, or should I say nightmare. Over the last 2 weeks, we have been terrorized by a home invasion ... we started noticing that the cat was eating a great deal. The trash cans had been vandalized as well. We put it together and figured that something was getting in the house. We locked the cat door one night and thought we'd solved the problem.

Next morning, all the cat food was missing ... and the door was open. Again, I locked it, and made a small barricade outside with constructions blocks. That night, we heard something banging on the door trying to get in. The raccoon was persistent, he stared at us through the door and banged away to break the cat door open. He had already moved the blocks out of the way. When he stuck his head in, I attempted a kick ... with my athletic prowess, I missed him... but he got the point.

We called a trapper the next day ... $250 later, he had trapped 7 raccoons on our property and 2 opossums. The picture is of the last 2 he caught. This was 4 nights ago. Last night ... the banging started again at the cat room. I may have to buy my own traps.

I can tell you first hand ... these things are persistent and seem to be fearless.