Strange noises in the night. Last night by 12:30 for some reason I was still not able to go to sleep. I did what I usually do, go out to the den to sleep on the couch. I usually sleep for several hours then wake up and go back to bed.
Just as I was about asleep I heard a metal scraping noise. I thought it came from the kitchen. Almost back to sleep again and I heard it again only louder. At this point I was thinking that someone was trying to break into the back door when I heard a lot of metal scrapping and banging noise. Too loud for a burglar. I went over to the window looking out over the deck, turned on the outside light, and saw two very large raccoons attempting to get into the metal trash can I keep the bird food in.
This had happened once before about four or five years ago. Since then we have not had any problems. I had been keeping the can pushed into the corner of the deck with the lid jammed up against the deck railing and what is left of the gate swung back against the can.
One raccoon was up on the gate the other on top of the can. He/she had managed to pull the can out and get one side of the lid pried off. I rapped on the glass to scare them away, bagged trying to go to sleep on the couch, and went back to bed.
During this entire time neither Colin nor Bob woke up or came out to see what was going on. Thankfully no one was trying to break in the house or I would have had to defend my territory on my own. I was surprised at Colin. He wakes up during the night barking at stuff all the time yet was not concerned that I was beating the window and yelling shoo to the raccoons in the middle of the night.