So lets think back to what brought this blog to life. . .

Oh thats right, those damn raccoons. They’re still around, in fact I had great fun, ehr, I mean I was left no other option, then to shoot one a couple weeks ago with my paintball gun while I had the electric fence repurposed on the garden for the summer.

But of course, I wouldn’t be here with such an audience if it wasn’t for my peeps. Those folks that both read my insane ramblings, and those that link to my blog. So since I can’t thank every single one of you by name, I’ll be certain to report out what Wordpress tells me are the good folks linking to my site.

Thanks!

• Notes to Marquis
• Wii Sixty: File under – Suck it Sony
• Strong Kids, Safe Kids
• Moldy Snack
• mandymag.com
• Users Suck!
• spiralbound.net

I hope you enjoy Act II in my war on the enemy. It looks like it should keep them from getting to the feeder. As it turns out, this will most likely be the last Raccoon video. When I wrote a draft of this post last night, I promised my wife that I would turn off the lights and take down the camera today. Either as a result of the hard rain, or the fence, our little prowling terrorists didn’t have the guts to show their faces last night.

When I got up this morning I had much more footage from the night. I’m in the process of downloading it now to review to see how much of it is our friends, and how much of it is the camera being oversensitive to light changes.

When I awoke sometime near 12:30 am this morning, I was startled awake by what seemed to be a burning rubber smell. A smell so strong that I could taste it, and in part, made me sick to my stomach. I immediately got up and began looking around the house out of concern for what might be going wrong.. As I wandered around the house, checking appliances, our primary heat source, and of course the garage I noted that the odor was not just that of burning rubber, but it had overtones of toasted sesame, and onion that had been left out all day. It’s at this time that I realized the only reason that this smell could be lingering in the air. We had sustained collateral damage in our war on the raccoons. I went over to the computer and sure enough, the video, that I share with you, explains it all.

You see the Po has just installed brand-spanking new self-checkouts. For some reason, on outstanding individual felt it was a good idea to go through said checkouts with 2 outdoor trash cans, and a package of fiberglass insulation, to name a few of the poorly sized items for purchase. This individual took a very long time trying to mash, shove, and otherwise persuade these items to be scanned by the register. As his attempts continued to fail, his anger prevailed releasing these words: “I hate these god damn things.” Lets stop right here and review. . . Trash cans and Insulation. A self-scan register made for small purchases. 2 perfectly good, normal registers open, under the usual load, and he hates the registers. Well done Somersworth, well done. Yet another visit that surprised me, when I thought there was nothing left to surprise me with. But back on track. The fence is set, the cameras and lights are on. Now we just have to rely on the repeat offenders. Meanwhile, here are some pictures of the set up to tide us all over till the shocking moment of truth. Let me tell, you, they’re in for a BIG surprise, I can speak to that, but more on that later. . .

While rinsing a cup this morning a the kitchen sink, I discovered that these animal terrorists had over come this little problem. . . This weekend, and the chance to build the electrified bird feeder post, can’t come too soon.

The Patriot P20 is a bright and shiny electric fence charger. This little bugger will run off ac or dc power providing 2 joules of shocking power over 50 miles of fence, or in other terms, 200 acres. Perfect for keeping in cattle determined to escape a field. Surely this will do the trick to keep the raccoons out of the bird feeder, and come spring and summer, the deer from our vegetable garden. We’re expecting 50mph winds and rain this weekend, so I doubt I’ll be able to set it up, but I’ll be sure to chronicle the task. If any of you kids are thinking about doing this at home, remember, I’m an untrained weekend warrior with an electrical engineer brother and a wise grandfather to ask questions. So, what I’m saying here, is don’t try this at home. But if you absolutely must, be sure to follow some of these safety instructions. . .