A little visitor

'The witch's hut' borders a nature reserve on two side, so we get a variety of wildlife wandering through our front lawn and dining on the new flowers I planted. The autumn bulbs didn't have a chance...

So this morning I was outside doing a little bit of fall cleanup in the garden when I heard a noisy clatter and crash through the underbrush, and down the hill, roly-poly, pell-mell, tumble-bumble* came a baby raccoon, too young to care how much noise he/she was making. It was about the size of a house cat. It ended up trying to scamper up a tree (less than 20 feet from where I was standing), but fell off after it reached about four feet. You could actually see its little arms flailing as it tried to grab hold of the trunk again, then it flipped over backward, hit the ground, rolled over, shook itself and finally caught sight of me.

Here's a picture I managed to snap with my phone just before the little guy took off into the underbrush... much quieter this time, as if suddenly aware he/she had a captive audience (me). It may be 'the witch's hut', but I love living here :)

*From 'The Poky Little Puppy' by Janette Sebring Lowry, one of my nephew's favourite books.