Strangers in the Night

It had been a long and windy day.

Newly plowed fields were sending a constant stream of dust across the valley all day.
At 9:00pm, the wind stopped and although the air still smelled of dust,
it was a relief not to have the constant blowing.

L to R: Stella Bean, Sinjin, Rory Bug

Just before midnight i was preparing to head off to bed.
I told my posse (Sinjin, Stella Bean, Rory Bug, and Fabio) that it was time for bed.
Three of them told me that they must go outside first.
Although i resisted, i knew it was pointless to argue with them
because they were not going to settle down until after they went out for one more run.

Fabio

Fabio, being the only reasonable member of the posse on this issue,
calmly took his place on the back of HL's chair
as i ushered the 3 knuckleheads to the patio door.

The porch light had been turned off when my husband went to bed a couple hours previous
and it was a very dark night.
The three pooches rushed out the door as they usually did, all "scurry and flurry",
ready to pounce on any moving thing caught unawares.

I cautioned the three not to bark and wake up Papa Bear,
but, as usual, they were already too busy barking to notice what i said.
As i turned from the patio door, i noticed that the barking didnt cease as it usually did; in fact, the barking got louder and more urgent.

I thought, "Oh crap! There's a visitor on the patio."
Thinking back to the occasion where the visitor was a skunk,
I shuddered to think of the year and dozens of baths it took to get rid of that stink.

I thought i had better go turn on the patio light, which is at the other back door.
I hurried my walk to the other door,
worried that the pooches might have a stray cat pinned down.
That scenario occurred last summer and i just barely saved a strange cat
from an untimely demise.

As i was hurrying to the light switch, i could hear the barking increase to furious levels
and i could tell that there was quite a scuffle going on.
I flipped the switch and stepped outside to see that the pooches had something cornered around the corner to my left.

As i rounded the corner, i could see that Sinjin was attacking something with a ferocious effort and that the visitor was something large.
I determined that the poodles had no business in that fight.
Rory was behind the other 2, barking only as tough as my sweet cock-apoo could.


The terrier in Stella had her attacking the poor creature from the side
while Sinjin attacked from the front.
I still could not see what the creature was because it was in a corner behind the BBQ.
I called Stella's name, but she went in for another attack.


I have never seen Sinjin fight like this.
Sinjin is part American Eskimo dog (hence the small face and feet)
and part husky or shepherd (the dark patches).
He is so gentle and his favorite place to be is upside down in your lap, like a baby.

He also has a healthy respect (some might call it fear) for Fabio.
But then, Fabio, is the King of the House, and he lets us live with him.

Sinjin loves the poodles and will even let them take his food and treats.
Sinjin is afraid of Gracie and prefers to be outside when Gracie visits.

But Sinjin does not welcome strangers into his fenced yard.
We caution people that we know not to go inside the fence if we are not present.
Once Sinjin becomes familiar with a person and knows that the person is welcome in the house, he accepts them and, i might add, he enjoys those who acknowledge him.
He loves my brother's kids, Courtney, Cody, and Chad,
who are old enough to play with him.

We have found evidence of Sinjin's wrath upon unwelcome visitors in his yard.
A muskrat found its way up from the nearby canal
and its carcass was found just inside the far fence.
We had a small family of bunnies living in a brushpile near the vineyard.
A couple of them ventured inside the fence and, i regret to say
that we found just half of each bunny in the yard.
I have mentioned the visit by the skunk;
there have been more than one who have not made it back out of the fence.
The poor kitty was saved just in the nick of time.

And who knows what other critters have met their demise
or have escaped from my sweet killer husky.

For Gracie's first Easter egg hunt, my daughter had to remind me
not to buy a bunny rabbit outfit for her to wear on the hunt in the backyard.
Well, i forgot.


Who could resist that cap with the cute ears and the little cotton puff on her bottom?

All went well, however, and Gracie was able to gather her eggs.

So, back to my story...

The fight was a furious one and Sinjin appeared very much like his wolf ancestors.
That is to say, that he looked more vicious than i had ever seen him.
He was determined to kill the creature,
as i watched him bark, growl, and attack.

I swatted Stella on the butt to get her attention away from the attack.
When she turned to look, i grabbed her and dashed her to the door,
throwing her inside.

As i was leaning over to grab her, i caught a glimpse of part of the creature.
From the side, and still obscured by the BBQ,
i could see that it was a head taller than Sinjin,
and twice as heavy; it had gray hair;
and then, i saw the black band around the eye.


"Holy Crap!"
Sinjin went in for another attack and came back out with a cry.
The huge raccoon was fighting for its life
and i pictured the sharp claws that a raccoon uses to tear up clam shells.

Sinjin growled, barked, and went in again.
He grabbed onto the raccoon's chest and ripped and tore at it,
before coming back out with a cry.
I knew that i could not reach in to grab him
and even though i was yelling his name,
Sinjin did not hear me.

I have never seen a raccoon that large.
In fact, i didnt think that raccoons could even live in our area.
Our climate is dry and it doesnt seem like there would be much
of the raccoons natural food supply around.
We had evidence that it had been on our patio before as early as a year ago.
Of course, we had no idea back then that the visitor was the biggest raccoon in the world!

I had to get Sinjin away from the raccoon.
Sitting on the shelf was a can of bug spray.
I grabbed it and threw it at Sinjin's butt,
which curtailed the next attack just long enough
for me to grab him by the neck and drag him to the door.

As i dragged the husky away, over my shoulder,
i watched the gigantic raccoon scurry to the fence
and vault over it with unbelievable ease.

There was a little bit of blood on Sinjin's throat,
but it wasnt his.
He had a scratch just below his right eye,
but it wasnt deep.

My heart was pounding pretty hard as i checked Sinjin for marks
and i thought that he was pretty fortunate not to have any serious wounds.
But i also was thinking hard about the sweet boy who follows me from room to room and is always at my feet.
I thought how happy he seems with every pat on the head
and how he sometimes places his head on my knee and looks up at me.
I saw another side of the sweet face, dark eyes and perky ears.

and i'll tell you one thing that i learned...
Dont cross Sinjin.

P.S. Oh, and my husband...
he heard the whole commotion.
I said, "I could have used your help."
He said, "I thought you could handle it."
In his defense, he didnt know that there could be a raccoon
as large as a bear on our patio.
I said, "In the future..."

Note to self:
If anything like this should happen again;
and should it happen that HL does not come to my aid;
I will be shopping on ebay for that
"bunny suit" - size: 6 feet tall."