Okay, so now that I have been doing this for about a month and a half, I figured I really should start writing about it. It’s just been burning me up inside.
Remember that post a while back where I said that I had found a nice “exercise” class up in Glastonbury (or I was looking for one anyway)? Well, that exercise class is actually Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. If you aren’t familiar with what Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is, you can do a quick read-up over here on Wikipedia.
Also, if you forgot what got me all motivated about this in the first place, you can re-read my “How To Develop Stamina” post. That will refresh your memory with how frustrated I get with myself.
Anyway, as I mentioned in that earlier post, I have this never ending quest to get in shape. One of the major problems with this quest is that I am getting older and my body is slowly falling apart. Don’t laugh, you are in the same boat. Ha. The rule book my parents gave me when I was born didn’t mention anything about how I was going to have to work harder and harder at getting fit as I get older and older. I am thinking they decided to keep that one to themselves and are now getting a little chuckle out of it.
Now, let me tell you that by no means am I out of shape. I am actually feeling pretty good. I just want to be able to run a marathon tomorrow and not feel it. Yeah right. Laura keeps reminding me that people actually train for that kind of stuff. Either way, continuing to think that I am out of shape keeps me motivated.
At the time I was writing that “Stamina” post, I was actually looking for a martial arts class to join in on. I had always wanted to learn martial arts and even gave it a try when I was a kid. I think I’ll save that story for another post, because I took my one free class with three of my friends and things didn’t turn out too well. That’s what happens when you put four giggly idiots in a class with a bunch of guys who could damage us. It was actually really funny…to us. Anyway…
I first sat in on a Taekwondo class here in town. It looked really good, but I just didn’t get the vibe I was looking for in it. One of the main factors that dissuaded me was the fact that there were kids in the class. I was looking for something more mature. It looked like everyone in the class was learning a lot, but I just didn’t think I would fit in.
Next, I went up to visit a Karate school in Glastonbury. I had watched a bunch of videos from this school on the internet and was pretty excited. When I got to the school, no one was there. I actually stood in the lobby and called the place on my cell phone. I heard the office phone ringing and I hung up. I took a quick look around and noticed that this school also really targeted kids. I guess this martial arts thing is really popular with the youngsters. Oh well. I left.
To make a long story short, I started looking into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and started liking what I was learning about it. If you look at the Wikipedia page I linked to above and have watched any of the videos that I have posted, I think you’ll know why. To me, it’s challenging, smart, fun, great exercise and a very handy tool to have in your back pocket.
I found a nice school that teaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu up in Glastonbury. I called the owner and was invited up to sit in on a class. Now, mind you I have never really been to a Jiu-Jitsu class before, so I didn’t know what to expect. He mentioned that I could wear sweats or something to move around in, but I opted to wear jeans because I didn’t even know if I was going to be interested in what they offered. I just sat on the side and observed.
The night I sat in on the class, I learned that this was actually something I was really eager to get involved with. If you took a really quick glace at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), you might think it looks like high school wrestling. The difference between BJJ and wrestling is that in wrestling, you try to pin your opponent and in BJJ, you go for a submission, such as an arm bar, leg lock or a choke. Also, BJJ has a more practical side and can be used as self defense.
After a month and a half of pretty fast paced training, I would say that I have been bitten by the bug. My instructor actually was laughing about that this morning. As I was laying on the mat sweating, I reminded him that I didn’t even know what BJJ was two months ago.
The school I train at offers three classes a week. I haven’t missed any yet. My instructor and another guy also like to train one to two extra days per week. I go with them any time they ask me. I usually end up going in four times a week and sometimes five, like I did last week. It’s really, really good exercise, but I will admit, my body gets tired. I just need to get used to it.
For the first two weeks, I gotta tell you, I was kind of in pain. I had a few back spasms and my muscles wanted to strangle me for what I was doing to them. I thought I was down and out for a few classes when I had the spasms, but I still went in and worked it out. Believe it or not, practicing BJJ is sort of like going to the chiropractor. You go in with a back problem and come out cured. It’s amazing what someone stacking you will do for your back muscles.
Since then, things have been going rather smoothly. I purchased a new gi, a mouth guard and some knee pads. These things have come in really handy, especially the knee pads and mouth guard. I was watching a video a few weeks ago and the trainer was attempting to express how important mouth guards are. He then pulled out his front teeth to let the point sink in. He told the class that he lost all of his front teeth the very first time he went to train. I bought the mouth guard after I saw that video.
During the month and a half that I have been learning Jiu Jitsu, I have noticed some pretty nice changes. Firstly, I look a bit better muscle-wise. Things look more toned. Also, I can see my abs again. I never thought that would happen. I’m not sure if my stomach muscles have been built up more or if I lost weight. Either way, my good ol’ college six-pack is starting to show again. I think the real secret lies behind the creatine and soy protein though. Those supplements helped a lot in college and continue to help tremendously now.
I really wish you could see me spar with the guys in the class. You would probably get a kick out of it. It’s amazing how much I have learned in just a month and a half, but it definitely shows how much I have to learn. But, like anything else I get myself into, it’s pretty much a life long trip.
I had considered writing all about the different moves I learn here on this blog, but then thought better of it. I can well imagine that most of my readers really don’t know or care what a “Scissor Sweep” is. Well, if you do care what it is, check out this video for a demonstration.
You know, now that I put that video up, I am realizing how I can actually post a video for every move I learn. If I put a video up with some text, you guys won’t get bored and I will be learning something too. Hmmm.
Okay, I am outty. I just thought I would share the reason I haven’t been writing all that much lately. I have been so busy with this and work. Till next time.
Today was a great first day to try out an exercise DVD. We have a pretty well stocked library of them, so I thought it might benefit me to get going. I knew I was going to play tennis in the afternoon, so a morning workout would be nice. I had to do it. If there is nothing I hate more, it’s sitting around at night time wondering why I didn’t do what I had set out to do that day.
Let me tell you, the biggest challenge with getting more “fit” is motivation. I mean, what in the world is going to stop me from sitting around and being comfortable when being comfortable feels so damn good? Yeah, I really want to get up and jump around into an ugly sweat. I guess I just have to get past that. I do that with other stuff I do already, such as mowing the lawn. How is exercising any different?
I pulled out the Budokon DVD because it’s pretty well rounded. I am really going for flexibility, stamina and strength. As we get older, each one of those areas fade. I have never admired muscle heads or people who do yoga all day long. Or, those who just run on the treadmill for that matter. A nice combination of the three is nice.
The instructor, Cameron Shayne, is pretty awesome. He isn’t just some guy who can’t do what he is telling you to do; he can really move.
Take a look at some of his stuff. He’s the one with no shirt on.
As I got into the program, I quickly realized that the yoga section was first. I also quickly realized that yoga is really difficult. I think it will just take some practice, but those moves are pretty straining. I liked the cardio section more than the yoga. Partially because I was in the mood for some aerobic exercise and partially because there was less burning of the muscles. Take a look at some of the exercises.
Proudly enough, I completed the whole workout. I sweat like a pig, but I did it. My heart was pumping for a full half hour which felt really good. Later on, I met a friend up at the high school for a quick tennis set and now I’m back. Strangely enough, I feel full of energy.
I can’t wait to move on to more DVDs. I ordered one from Amazon the other day and after I complete it, I’ll let you know about it. This one is totally different and I bet will be more humorous for you to read about. I’m not sure I’m going to get through this next one.
Wednesday has become quite the holiday around these here parts. We have a little system going on.
First, I wake up and get some work done. Then, I have a tennis lesson in the afternoon, just to get my head together. After that, I get some more work done and at around 7:30PM, I run out to get Chinese food from the local Chinese takeout place. Finally, we watch “Lost” from 8PM to 10PM. Of course, we always end the night just as frustrated as everyone else who watches that show. We want answers and only get them in drips and draps.
Last week, we tried a new Chinese place out. We received their menu in the mail and decided that it was worth a trip over to the neighboring town. Our usual items were about a dollar less (each) over at this new place. To make a long story short, I think we’ll stay with our local place. The new place’s food wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t as good as we have become accustomed to. Oh well. It’s nice to know that we have a backup for when I boycott our usual place. I have a long history of boycotting restaurants that tick me off.
I have been working like a dog for the past few days. Everything always seems to come all at once. Good thing I am a fantastic multi-tasker. See, there’s one good thing I got out of college…the ability to manage a boatload of things simultaneously. When I feel like I am getting stressed, I breath and walk away. That’s what I am talking about when I say I play tennis to clear my head. It helps.
I was talking to my father the other night when I heard my mother yell in the background, “Send down pictures of the snow.” Yes mother. Here are your pictures of the snow.
Getting some natural solar heat through the front door
Simon and Flipperhuman Bodyman taking some time out to sun
Looking at the unshoveled sidewalk. It’s shoveled now
The unshoveled front steps
When it snows in March, you can count on it not sticking around for very long. That’s the kind of snow I like. I just shoveled the front walk and steps and found out that this snow is really sticky and heavy. Saturday is supposed to be around 60 degrees, so I have a feeling this white stuff is going to be gone soon. It’s actually really nice out right now. It’s only around 30 and I almost sweat while I was out there.
You know, I am not sure I like this whole “getting older” thing. I mean, I try and try and try to stay in shape by walking, playing tennis and working out on the Bowflex, but it seems like all my body wants to do is get tired and ache from it.
I am playing tennis four times this week. I already played two ladder matches (Mon and Tues), have a lesson today and then a clinic on Saturday. I did well on Monday’s ladder match because I had a lot of energy. I ate a nice big dinner and then went to burn it off. Last night, I ate at around 4PM, so by the time 8PM rolled around, I could only last so long. About half-way through the second set, I began to fade. Towards the end of the third set, I was almost crawling off the court. Mind you, we did play 30 games.
When the time came to roll out of bed this morning, my age started to show. I am sore and tired. Sounds rough, huh? Also, my feet are killing me and my shins hurt…not to mention my arm that has been aching for over a month. Boy, I feel like I am complaining a lot here. I only wonder what this lesson will be like today…these things give you a real cardio workout.
I keep telling Laura that I need to get past that “hump.” It’s like I am chasing it and once I catch up to it and get past it, I won’t get as red in the face, sweat and lose my breath as much. The only problem is…that hump might be unattainable. Perhaps I was able to catch it when I was 18 years old, but now, I am going to have to work twice as hard and I’m not even sure it’s possible.
I guess I have a few choices here. I can double down and start running, like I have always wanted to do, or I can just keep going as I am. There are a few runners who play tennis and it really helps their game. They are able to play a heck of a lot longer and are much faster on the court. They can pretty much get to any ball you hit at them because they are so light on their feet. As I try more new things on the court, that is becoming more important. The good ol’ days of me smacking a powerful ball over the net and admiring it are over. These guys are starting to return them to me.
Since I have written so much about tennis on this blog and have hardly shown any pictures or videos, I am planning on bringing my video camera today. I am going to have my buddy take some videos of my serve so I can post them here. We’ll see what happens with that.
I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night. I kept tossing and turning, constantly thinking about tennis. It was absolutely awful. I guess playing tennis until 10:30PM isn’t all that great for my sleep pattern.
Mike beat me pretty bad. He has become a strong player and I missed a lot of easy shots. Shots that may have given me points if I hadn’t screwed them up. I can’t say I was devastated, because I walked in expecting to lose. I did have a plan though…I figured that if I was going down, I was going to make him sweat for it. It gave me joy to see him huffing and puffing over there on the other side of the net. At one point towards the end of the match, I said that I wouldn’t mind being known as the guy who loses, but is the hardest to beat.
During my annoying night of not sleeping, I kept going through different ideas in my head. I thought that maybe I should only go to one clinic per week and take a private lesson. That would give me one private, one clinic and one ladder match. It does seem like a good idea. Then I thought of not going to the clinics at all…just take private lessons. The problem with that is I wouldn’t get the interaction with as many different types of player. I am sure I had many other ideas throughout the night, many of which I shouldn’t have been thinking about while I was trying to get some sleep.
Getting toasted on the court isn’t too much fun. It’s downright depressing.
As I was rolling out of bed this morning, I had an epiphany. I said to myself, “Oh man, what’s happening here is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. I am becoming competitive. This is the reason I didn’t want to play in the ladder in the first place.” You see, I started playing tennis again to get exercise and have some fun. I didn’t want to spend all sorts of money trying to get better to beat people. I really didn’t. But, this is what happens to me. I will confess though that the competitive side of the sport has its fun points.
As Laura and I were sitting in the kitchen this morning having our coffee, we started to talk about tennis. Actually, it was me doing the talking and she was doing the polite nodding. We do a lot of humoring these days. I explained to her that I was feeling terrible about losing a whole night’s sleep. I also felt terrible about almost being sucked into the competitive side of the game I was playing. I told her that I really should shut off the part of my brain that says losing is a bad thing. If I meet my original goals of getting exercise and having fun, there really should be no problem. I should walk away with my head held high. I think she agreed with that.
So, what am I going to do today? I am going to give one of the pros at the club a call. I need to start taking some private lessons again. I have to get better at this game to start kicking some butt.
I am going to tell you a little story. Yeah, I thought you would appreciate that, especially since things have been a little dry around here lately. First, I must apologize for not offering any photos of the occasion. Laura has been swearing to me that she took pictures of the whole thing and that I have them somewhere. I don’t know what she is talking about. I can’t find them and I have no recollection of taking them. The best I can do is to paint a mental picture for you, because trust me, the mental picture I have is very vivid.
Okay, let’s go.
A long, long time ago (about 5 years), we lived in a small lake cottage a few blocks from a small lake in New York. It was a tiny, but cute rental. We lived there for three fairly uneventful years. I can still remember the night we arrived at this particular house. We had just driven 5 hours from all the way up in Naples, NY and were totally beat. About an hour before we arrived at the house, I was forced to stop short in the middle of the road while driving the huge moving truck I had rented. I was sitting there with my eyes wide open, reading the big sign on an overpass in front of me that read, “Maximum Height – 11′9″.” Unfortunately, I was driving a truck that was 12′3″. I guess that wouldn’t have been all too bad if I wasn’t towing my car on one of those two wheeled tow dollies. With all those pivot points, backing up wasn’t an option. Even better, I was facing downhill and it was pitch black outside. Let’s just say that it took a good long time to get that situation squared away and there were some mildly annoyed fellow drivers. It was not one of my best memories. I can only imagine how many times I was called an “idiot” that night.
Anyway, we eventually made it to the house, which was good. We parked the truck on the road and slept the night away, only to unpack the next day. Things were fine for about two years.
It was a beautiful sunny spring day. I was walking out to my car on my way to work when I turned around to check out the house, like I always do. It’s just a habit of mine. Well, on this particular day, everything looked fine, except for that small hole in the corner of an attic vent that was facing the street. It was up near the peak of the roof on the front of the house. I thought to myself that I had never really noticed that hole before, but was pretty sure that it had always been like that. Besides, this was a rental; it wasn’t my place to give daily inspections of the building’s exterior. I went to work and forgot all about it.
Upon returning home that evening, I did my thing inside and then grabbed a beer. I remember having no shirt on and walking to the mailbox to get the mail. Just as I got about half way across the front yard, a pickup truck rolled down the road and stopped right in front of me. The guy opened his passenger side window and starts telling me something in an excited kind of way. “Hey man, you got a raccoon living in your attic,” he said. I replied with a, “What?” “Yeah, I was driving down the road this afternoon and I saw a huge raccoon crawling through the little hole in your vent. I have no idea how she got in there because the hole is so small, but I sat here for a good 10 minutes watching her. She finally got through after a while,” he replied. I said thank you and started devising a plan on how to patch up that hole in the vent. I mean seriously, how hard can it be to keep a giant raccoon out of your attic?
Well, let me just tell you that it is a little trickier than one would think.
Before the kind fellow with the pickup truck even made it to the corner of the street, I already had the mail in my hand and was walking across the backyard looking for a piece of plywood. I was going to cut it to size and screw it to the 2″x4″ beams from inside the attic.
Picture this – standing on a table in your living room to push open a small trap door that leads up to a tiny attic in a tiny lake cottage. That’s really not that bad. Now, picture doing this while thinking that an enormous raccoon is sitting up in that attic just waiting to see the whites of your eyes. It’s a little unnerving. The problem was, I had no idea if the raccoon was up there or not. It was the early evening, so I was hoping she was out gathering some food. You know, just as I began pushing that little trap door open, I remembered that I did hear some strange noises a few nights earlier coming from up above me. I just chalked it up to some branches hitting the roof or something.
Laura was in the living room holding my legs as I jimmied up through the trap door. You should have seen my head whipping around in every direction I could think of. There were no lights up there and I was totally freaking out. As every second passed by, I kept expecting to hear a “whoosh” and have 20 claws and something furry attach to my face. As it turned out, the raccoon wasn’t even up there. She must have been outside doing something. I shined the flashlight that Laura handed me all over the place and saw nothing, so I slipped through the hole in the ceiling to screw the piece of plywood over the vent at the front of the house. I was totally confident that this raccoon wouldn’t get through this rock solid piece of wood and that our little raccoon problem was solved.
That night, around midnight, I heard a “bang, bang.” I woke up and started looking around. I walked to the front of the house and heard, “scratch, bang bang.” I really had no idea what in the world was going on, but my adrenaline was pumping and I was ready for anything. I kept hearing this noise as I was standing at the front door and it was coming from above my head. I walked back into the bedroom to grab the flashlight. I opened the front door and walked out to the front yard. As I shined the flashlight up towards the roof, I immediately saw two beady little eyes staring at me. Apparently, the raccoon was trying to scratch, rip, tear and push her way through the vent to get back inside the attic. I stood there in disbelief.
I went back inside to get some clothes on. I kept wondering why in the world this raccoon wouldn’t let this go. Why was she being so stubborn? I went back outside and started yelling at the raccoon, in an attempt to scare her away. All she did was look at me and continued to try to get through the vent. At this point, I was getting annoyed and wanted to end this adventure. I walked to the back porch, grabbed the garden hose and hooked it up. I turned it on and dragged it to the front yard. Now, Laura was standing there and was manning the flashlight. I started spraying the raccoon with the water and she ran across the roof towards the back of the house. I looked at Laura and gave her a smile. No raccoon was going to ruin my beauty sleep. We went back inside to crawl back under the covers.
About 10 minutes later, I heard the same “bang, bang, bang” and sprung to my feet. I am not even going to tell you what we did, because it’s basically a repetition of what we did just 10 minutes before. This time, I went outside and chased the raccoon all over the place, but she just kept trying to get back in that vent. I had enough. I really didn’t know what to do, so we went back inside and lay awake for the rest of the night.
When it was light out again, I went outside to see what kind of damage the raccoon did to the vent. There were a few more cracks in it, but nothing too drastic. I didn’t see the raccoon anywhere, so I held out hope that what we did to her the night before taught her a lesson. If she didn’t want to experience getting sprayed by a hose again, she would find a new home.
I went back inside, got ready for work and left.
That evening, when I got home from work, I found the house and vent exactly as I had left it. I felt very happy that I beat the raccoon at her own game. Laura and I sat around until it got dark, chatted a bit and decided that I would go out to grab some Chinese food to celebrate. You know, it’s the little things in life.
I will remember this conversation for the rest of my days. As I was getting out of the car in the Chinese food place parking lot down the road, my phone started ringing. The caller ID said, “Home” on it, which surprised me. Laura never called my cell phone from home. I answered the phone and I was greeted by a flustered female voice telling me that something was screaming up in the attic. It was Laura and she was jumping from one thought to the next. She said that either we had 20 birds up in the attic, or there were BABY RACCOONS!!! Holy man oh man. Baby raccoons? No wonder that lady raccoon was trying to get back in the attic so badly. I ran into the Chinese restaurant, paid for the food and ran back out to drive home faster than I was supposed to. I figured I should still get the food, even during a time of crisis.
When I pulled in the driveway and got out of the car, I heard a faint squealing. As I got closer and eventually entered the house, the squealing got louder. When I stood in the middle of the living room, the squealing was really loud and right above my head. I put my hands to my face and wondered what in the world I was going to do. It was dark outside and I was really tired from getting no sleep the night before. One thing was for sure; I wasn’t going to live through another night of that momma raccoon banging on the side of the house. Add the squealing of hungry baby raccoons in the attic, and I was ready to move out.
Within a few minutes, I had devised a plan. I would go outside, climb up on the roof and pull the vent down. Then, I would go up in the attic and unscrew the piece of plywood that was blocking the mother raccoon from getting to her babies. This way, the big raccoon would be able to get in the attic to feed her babies and they would shut up. Also, she wouldn’t need to tear at the vent any longer and I would get a good night’s sleep.
I informed Laura that we were going to be getting into some hairy stuff here, so she better be at her finest. She was going to man the garden hose. I walked around to the back of the house, grabbed the step ladder and the hose and brought both up to the front of the house. I handed Laura the hose. She already had the flashlight in her hand. Her job was to spray the mother raccoon if she showed up while I was pulling off the vent. Her other job was to shine the flashlight at what I was working on, so I could see what I was going. It was quite dark up on that roof.
I climbed up on top of the porch and pointed out what I wanted Laura to shine the light at and she did. I began working the vent off the front of the house, while constantly looking below me to see if the mother raccoon was climbing up the porch beams. If I saw the raccoon climbing up, I was going to throw myself off the roof. I know, I know…not a good plan, but I had limited options. Plus, my heart was beating a mile a minute.
Things were going pretty well. I was tugging on the vent and talking to Laura at the same time. I said, “Do you see any sign of the raccoon?” She replied with a, “No.” I was a bit neurotic that night, so I kept on asking Laura if she saw the raccoon. She kept answering, “No” and I was sensing a little annoyance in her voice. I didn’t care, because she wasn’t the one on the roof who was going to get tackled by a crazy raccoon who was trying to protect her young.
I was almost finished getting the vent off the front of the house and I heard the faintest scratch above my head. I shot a glare down at Laura who was standing there pointing the flashlight at me and holding a garden hose. She looked so cute; poor kid. I said in the quietest voice ever, “Sweet doll, please shine the flashlight above my head.”
She did.
I slowly looked up.
About a foot above my head was the mother of all mother raccoons, staring right into my eyes. She was standing on the peak of the roof above me. “HOLY FREAKING MOTHER,” I screamed. Luckily, I had a bit of wit about me and I ran for the ladder instead of jumping off the roof. I climbed down the ladder at record speed and ran to the front lawn to stand next to Laura. I had to jump up and down to shed some of the shakes and adrenaline off of me. “MAN,” I started saying, as we watched the raccoon climb down to inspect the vent. “I have to get that vent off of there or we are never going to hear the end of this,” I said to Laura.
New plan – Laura would spray the raccoon to keep her away from me as I finished getting the vent down. She did and I did. The vent was off. You should have seen that raccoon trying to get to that vent while I was working on it though. Laura showed her good aim that night.
The next thing I had to do was to go up in the attic and unscrew the plywood I put up the day before. This was going to be a little trickier because now I knew there were going to be animals up in that attic with me, as well as a fully grown raccoon on the other side of that plywood.
I crawled up into the attic again. I had my screw gun and a flashlight and was ready to go to work. I made my way to the front of the house, while constantly looking around for those baby raccoons. I didn’t have any idea how big they were, so I was pretty nervous. When I got all the way up to the plywood, I heard some sounds coming from my left, under the overhang of the roof. I shined the flashlight over there, but didn’t see anything. I grabbed a piece of scrap wood that was laying on the floor and pushed some insulation away from the beams. Right then and there, I saw four of the cutest little raccoon heads pop up and look at me. I don’t think they wanted the light shining in their faces, but seeing them sitting there changed the whole dynamic of what I was doing. I softened up and my mission turned from one of war to one of rescue. They looked so helpless. Since they weren’t about to go anywhere and obviously weren’t any threat to me, I started slowly unscrewing the plywood.
(The above video is not of the actual baby raccoons, but of imposters.)
As I was almost finished with the last screw, I lost my silly little grin. I remembered the beast sitting on the other side of the wall with a very determined mindset. I knew what I had to do.
I held the plywood hard against the beams and finished taking out the screw. I held the screw gun in my hand and picked up the flashlight with the same hand. The plan was to move as far as I could away from the board, while still holding it. Then, I was going to run and jump through the hole in the floor back to the living room. After that, I was going to slide the trap door board back over the hole, so the beast couldn’t follow me down through the ceiling.
If you have never seen a grown man scream like a little girl and run across about 15 beams of an unfinished attic and jump through a hole in the floor, you are a lucky person. If you are that grown man, you’re not so lucky. After I jumped through the hole, I landed on the table and slipped off it to land on the floor (on my back). I had to quickly scurry up to put that board back in place before we had one extra mammal living with us. I got the board back in place and ran outside to see if the raccoon went through the hole.
Apparently, Laura had the same idea and gave me a full report as I met her on the front lawn. She said that the minute I let that board down, the raccoon flew through the hole. I remember standing there and how good I felt. It was like I just won the lottery. Then, I remember thinking about how we now had five raccoons in the attic instead of just one. It felt like someone just took all my lottery money away from me.
It was time for a real plan…a plan that would solve the problem.
Laura used to work with animals and had access to really heavy duty animal handling gloves. They were about three feet long and about a half inch thick. These gloves were meant to hold down a mountain lion. If the mountain lion bit, you probably wouldn’t feel it. Okay, you would feel it, but the teeth wouldn’t go through your arm. Okay, maybe they would, but these gloves were really heavy duty.
My plan was to wait until mid afternoon when the mother raccoon was out for the day. Then, I would go up into the attic and screw the piece of plywood back to cover up the gaping vent hole. I would capture each baby raccoon and put them into a cat carrier that we had hanging around. After that, put the cat carrier outside and just wait for momma to come back.
That was the plan and I must say that I executed it perfectly the next day. I think the worst part was that the attic was about 150 degrees then and moving the insulation around covered my bare top half with sweat and fiberglass. It was pretty terrible.
You really should have seen it. I was like a professional animal handler. With the exposed baby raccoons looking at me and the cat carrier open and ready to hold the animals, it was show time. I put the gloves on and started reaching back into the corner of the attic. I grabbed the first baby raccoon and put it in the carrier. You should really see the claws on these raccoons. They are very long and really stick on everything they touch. I can only imagine wrestling with a full grown one. No thank you.
The first three raccoons went into the carrier without incident. The fourth one gave me a little problem. I am assuming that this last raccoon was the big brother of the bunch, because he kept trying to go deeper and deeper into the corner of the attic. He was hissing and being very aggressive. Eventually, he saw things my way and was placed into the cat carrier with the rest of his siblings. Another thing you should have seen was how much fun I had while trying to place each baby raccoon into the cat carrier while there was already one in there. Each time I opened the carrier door, the raccoon that was in there tried to climb out. It was crazy.
After I got the last little devil in the carrier, I beamed a great big smile. I kept the plywood over the vent hole, picked up the carrier and slid through the hole in the ceiling to enter the living room. I walked the carrier outside and sat it down in the shade at the side of the house. I kept the carrier locked, because I didn’t want any baby raccoons walking around without the protection of their mother.
I am sure you can imagine the excitement on Laura’s face when she got home from work that day and I showed her a cage full of baby raccoons. I’m not sure which she was excited more about, not having to deal with the “raccoons in the attic” issue any longer or getting an up close look at these little cuties. She asked what I was going to do with them. I answered that I was going to leave them there just like they were and wait until the mother raccoon returned to get them. We were certain she would be back.
A few hours passed and we were watching TV in the bedroom when we heard something outside tampering with the cat carrier. We ran out there to see what was going on. Well, low and behold, the mother raccoon was tossing the cat carrier around, trying to get it open. She wanted to get at those babies badly. I tried to walk over to open the carrier, but the mother raccoon lunged at me. Okay, obviously our mutual understanding of not harming one another was over. We were enemies once again.
Since I wanted to get this ordeal behind us and I wanted this raccoon family to reunite, I ran to the back of the house again to grab the hose. I came back and handed it to Laura again, with the same instructions. “Spray the raccoon while I open the carrier,” I said. Laura started spraying the raccoon and she backed up into the neighbor’s driveway. Each time I went over to attempt to open the carrier, the raccoon ignored the water and lunged at me. Laura had to keep getting closer to spray the mother raccoon harder. Eventually, I got the cage open and took off. Big momma ran in there and grabbed the first baby. She raced up the willow tree across the street and placed the baby in a “V.” Laura and I walked inside to give her some peace and privacy.
About five minutes later, we walked back outside to see if the mother got any more babies. We were surprised to see an empty cat carrier sitting on the ground. Man, she was fast. We would be resting easy that night.
The next morning, I walked across the street and looked up into the “V” where the raccoons were placed and noticed four small heads looking down at me. What a sight.
I know it’s hard to believe, but sometimes, I sit here and think of stuff to write and come up short.
I hear this a lot with blogs…writer’s block. I never thought I would have it. I’m not sure I do, I am really just not in the mood sometimes. I don’t think life is any more boring right now, but it just doesn’t seem like there is anything to talk about. I guess I will just talk about current events.
Ok, I have been playing a lot of tennis. I went to another clinic today and had a good time. The last clinic I went to didn’t go over so well. I think I was hitting too softly. Today, I really nailed the ball good and had a good time. I don’t know what I like more, the game of tennis or striking something really hard. Either way, it’s good exercise and my body is ripped and buff. My aches and pains are even going away. All my strokes are coming along nicely. All I have to do is get my serve semi-consistent and I think I am going to get more involved with playing real matches.
I did win a game today. I lost two right before it, but I did win.
The weather is changing in the Northeast. It has been getting chilly at night and I haven’t been sweating bullets during the day. I even mowed the lawn today and didn’t sweat a drop. I won’t mention that I was on the ride-on lawnmower. I won’t mention that. I am going to start taking the camera out more to get some nice Autumn shots. Also, we can drive places again now that the humidity is gone. See, there are some photo opportunities right there.
The neighbor from up the road stopped by today to introduce herself and give us a big bouquet of Mums. I thought this was very nice. It was a really classy thing to do.
I have had the fireplace going for the past three nights. It doesn’t really do anything, besides look good. To get any heat out of it, I think I really have to pile the logs on. That might happen further in the season when the weather is cold during the day, but not yet.
I tried the pellet stove out today just for kicks. It works great. I went to the top of the basement stairs to see if I would feel the heat rising, and I felt a breeze. I actually felt a breeze, which means that the air was moving all by itself and I don’t need a fan to do it. That’s a good thing. I am curious how the pellet stove is going to heat the house. I am not expecting to have the whole house heated, but a few big rooms would be nice.
Also, after I finished playing tennis this morning, I went over to the pellet stove store and scheduled the delivery of pellets. They are going to drop off all four tons on Monday. Anyone want to come over and help me move four tons of pellets? Yeah, that should be a riot. Ah, it’s only 200 bags. That’s nothing. You bet I am going to be taking pictures of that one.
Still using the Bowflex and am stronger than ever. I think my stomach had gotten flatter. I like that because sitting in a computer chair all day doesn’t work wonders for the body.
Ummm, what else? I don’t know. September just seems kind of slow, doesn’t it? I mean, there is a lot of stuff going on, but the wheels of commerce don’t seem to be turning as fast this month. I wonder if this is the way it’s going to be until December. I keep trying to think back to the way it was last year. I thought things picked up in September, but maybe not.
I have been working a lot, trying to get things to launch in a big way. I have a little goal that is, well, not so little. I am laying the groundwork for the whole thing right now. It’s a bit difficult because there are so many options for things and so much to learn. If I could just get past a few hurdles, I could really move things forward. We’ll see what happens.
Ok, enough of this “not writing.” I guess I did have something to write about after all. The only problem is that there were no pictures. Sorry Mom.
We had to wake up extra early today because of a few chores that needed doing. The first thing was to drive Holly to the vet. She has been there a few times since we arrived in this part of the world. Apparently, she got some wound on her tail that needed tending to. She went in this morning to get a little operation, but when the vet looked at the tail, she decided not to go ahead with it. She thought it would heal by itself. That’s good for Holly and good for the wallet.
After that, we ran up to Super Stop and Shop in Glastonbury for some food shopping. Laura’s family is stopping by for a visit in a few weeks and that is going to require an entire Costco ordeal. In the meantime, the local food store is good enough to hold us over.
I stepped on the scale yesterday and noticed that I weigh 190lbs. I am not sure what the ideal weight for a strapping 6′3″ genious is, but I feel like I am five pounds overweight. I am really going to have to hit that indoor tennis center in East Hartford soon. After all, that is about 90% of the reason I wanted to move over here. It’s the little things with me. I am serious about the tennis though.
Since I am waiting for the cooler weather to come to join the tennis club, and possibly because Laura thinks I am getting fat, we decided to go for a nice long walk down the road today.
In general, I usually have no complaints about walking down the road, except for the hill. The hill is where I usually begin to sweat and I hate that. The reason I hate sweating on the walk up the hill is because I cool off on the way down the hill and that usually means another shower for the day. If you are anything like me, you understand multiple showers per day during the Summer.
I thought we could beat the sweating today because it is cooler than it has been lately. Unfortunately, with all the rain, it is also very humid. I didn’t beat the sweating. Either way, I did take some nice nature pictures along the way.
I would say it’s about 75 degrees right now. It’s good if you don’t move. I haven’t sweat yet this season, but then again, I haven’t done anything.
The trees are right on the cusp of exploding. Things are starting to flower and the leaves are all just unwinding from their buds. I would say within a week we will start seeing some real action.
Down in Westchester, everything is out…flowering trees I mean. The Magnolias are out in full force. The Crabapples and the rest are filling the air with fresh pollen…mmmm, you can smell it.
Many bulbs are up and in bloom. What you are seeing here with the Daffodils are just the early risers. The Iris is coming up too, but they bloom later on. Also, just the leaves of the Tulips are showing. It’s pretty fun to watch the whole process. I actually live for it.
