Eric makes a new friend

Witness E removing drywall from the "bonus room" on the second floor. You know, the one without any windows and the plywood door that locks from the outside. As he was ardently attacking the wall with his prybar Saturday morning, a little masked head peeked over the top to see what all the racket was. E was, apparently, ruining Mr. Raccoon's peaceful slumber in the nest of cozy insulation he'd created in the rafter behind the drywall (second pic). We'll spare you the images of the other rooms he created, like -ewwww- his bathroom. After giving E a disgusted look, he went right back down and curled up in his nest. E attempted to take a photo with his cell phone and it came out looking like a black raccoon at the bottom of a black hole..in the dark. (Drat! We never have the right camera when we really need it!) We've named him "Russell" after ("in honor of" is not really appropriate here) another character we were more or less forced to live in uncomfortably close proximity to against our will. Upon discovery of our inhabitatant, E took a break and came directly to M's work to report his findings. A fortuitous action as our friends Johnny and Trish were there and graciously loaned us their Havahart metal trap. We returned when I finished work, but Russell appears to have abandoned his lair. After working the rest of the afternoon, we equipped the trap with wheat thins and peanut butter (what creature could resist that?) and will see what is lured out of our home and into the trap! Addendum to story: The PO's listing realtor FINALLY showed up late that afternoon to pick up her sign. She let herself in (the back door was totally open) and made her way up to the second floor where E and I were hard at work. She is quite the talker...She bent E's ear for the better part of twenty minutes while I just continued working. In addition to soliciting legal advice from my husband, she mused over the fact that we were working on the house ourselves AND gave away some interesting news. Turns out the PO totally KNEW HE HAD A RACCOON PROBLEM! "That's why he put on a new roof" according to his realtor. Looks like that worked, NOT!