Adventures with Pooh the Raccoon

This is the blog I mentioned in my posting about Bert earlier this week from a few years ago when Sue's pet raccoon came on vacation with us.  We had so much fun with her!  Hope you enjoy...   =)

Dillon and Pooh the Raccoon

Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the teenagers play… or something like that, right? There is nothing like mixing a little 4-legged wildlife with some of the 2-legged variety for an interesting vacation, and our newest 4-legged camper provided lots of laughs and excitement this week.

First a little background info… About 7 years ago we were very fortunate to join in with a great group of friends (about 5-7 families) in what has become our “camping group”. It’s now somewhat of an extended family for all of us, who at least a few days every summer get to kick back and have fun together. We take turns with chores and cooking (and we eat like kings!) and we always camp near water. Over the years we’ve dipped our toes – and other body parts – in a myriad of Texas lakes and rivers and always have an absolute blast!

This year we wound up at one of our very favorite places in the entire world – Blue Roan Bend. Only 30 minutes from Wharton near Garwood, this beautiful game fenced property is home to cattle (of course, duh!) but also has trophy deer, buffalo, and all manner of assorted wild critters. There is a big deep lake with water so cool and clear you would swear you’re in the hill country, and an amazing “cabin” with all the comforts of home and more than twice the size of my house. Our only expenses are food and gas for the boat, so not only is it incredibly beautiful but practically free – which makes it even better.

Where the Buffalo roam... literally. 

I took this picture while waiting for them to get

out of the way so I could drive past. 

One thing’s for sure, our group is never short on laughs or excitement, but our newest 4-legged camper “Pooh” added a new twist this year. You see Pooh is a little rescued female raccoon Sue bottle fed since it was only 2 days old and she’s now very tame and lovable, with the mischievous and playful nature of a puppy. Pooh thinks Sue is her mommy and we of course all became her extended family as she roamed about the cabin this week. Well, maybe except for 2 campers (who shall remain anonymous) who it turns out have almost a near phobia of raccoons. We were proud of them though, and except for one leap across a table and one standing in a chair freaking out episode, we all cohabitated quite nicely. After some initial sorting out of who was boss, Pooh even managed to live peacefully with the two dogs - one wearing a doggie diaper, and the other winning a bet for being 83 years old… but those are stories for another day.

Pooh and her "Momma Sue"

Our most exciting event with Pooh was our first night there. Pooh had been very shy at first that evening, not used to the cabin and definitely not used to all the people and commotion. She had taken to mostly hiding behind furniture and peeking out to watch us with a curious expression. Well past midnight following a very long day we were finally ready to go to bed and searched the cabin top to bottom but could not find Pooh anywhere. It was as if she had disappeared into thin air. Actually Dillon had been calling her “Poof” all night like from the Fairly Odd Parents cartoon, and the name seemed to fit. The crazy raccoon was no where to be found!

Come to think of it, no one had seen Pooh for hours, since we had been feeding her little chunks of rice crispy treats which she loved but couldn’t figure out why they would stick to her hands. She would pick it up, eat a bite, then flick her hand with a hurried shake-shake-shake… until the piece would fly off, then pick it up again, take another bite, and repeat the whole process… hilarious!

"Look Mommy - This stuffed animal plays with me!"

(Aiden and Pooh were so cute together)

Anyway, we gave up the search fairly quickly, all too tired to worry about it for long, and figuring Pooh had probably found a hiding place and gone to sleep somewhere. Sue said “If she comes out during the night, just come get me and I’ll put her in her crate”. Yes, the raccoon has a crate just like a puppy. She also eats only expensive Iams cat food and already has an assortment of dresses and clothes. I’m not kidding - the raccoon came on vacation with luggage! And for those of you wondering, she is litter box trained for her Pooh-poo. =)

Ok, getting back to our story… We parents retired to our rooms and left the teenagers bunked in the living room to fend for themselves against the curious raccoon. I happened to be up about 2am taking Dillon to the bathroom which is a mommy-son two person job. The pitch black dark cabin can be a toe-stubbing nightmare to a grown-up, but is also full of curiosities and taxidermied things, and is all around unbelievably scary at night to a 5 year old, thus the mommy escort. So as we are warily navigating our way back to our room by cell-phone light, all heck breaks loose in the living room! We hear screaming and hollering and the sound of thundering footsteps headed straight for us, with flashlight beams zooming around like some bad 70’s disco.

“We found the coon! We found the coon!” Sue and I met up with the boys in the hallway and got the whole story. It seems once everyone had gone to bed and the cabin got quiet Pooh, being the nocturnal creature God made her to be, decided it was time to get out and play - only she was trapped. The kids heard this bumping and scratching coming from inside a big sofa table with drawers. When someone found a flashlight and worked up the nerve to open the top drawer, out popped Pooh the raccoon! I wish I could have been there to see it - the teens (all big tough guys except for Dollie) crouched around the drawer with a flashlight, probably thinking about every horror movie they had ever seen, screaming like little girls when Pooh sprang out of that drawer! Of course, they swear they were really cool about it.

Though we tried valiantly, we couldn’t get the raccoon surprise effect to work to our favor after that. The next morning when faced with sleepy teens laid out across the living room looking like a scene from Jonestown, even putting Pooh underneath the covers with DJ failed to get him out of bed. Also the next day we happened to see the bottom drawer of that sofa table mysteriously open on its own and figured out Pooh’s secret. She got under the table and scooted the drawer out from underneath, then used the passageway to get into the top drawer to hide. We remembered seeing the bottom drawer open the night before and closed it, therefore unknowingly cutting off her escape route and closing her up inside.

All in all, Pooh seemed to really enjoy her vacation and by Sunday was reveling in all the attention. In fact Pooh loved camping so much that when it was time to go home she took up residence behind the dishwasher and refused to leave until finally coaxed out with a snack and a colorful feather duster toy. I don’t blame her one bit; I wish I could have stayed longer too!

Pooh likes to stay very clean and had a bath every day.  Now if we

could just get all the kids to do the same?  =)

We had a wonderful few days together, had fun swimming and floating in the lake, riding on the boats and jet ski, fishing (including the boys catching a 30+? lb catfish), wakeboarding, kneeboarding, riding a crazy 3-person tube (which sent all of us “old people” on a stumbling search for Advil and Bengay the next morning - and yes, even my big fat butt rode the jet ski and insane tube), throwing washers, playing games, and just having a great time. But when you ask my kids what they remember about this week years down the road – no doubt it will be the adventures with Pooh the raccoon!