Tuesday it is raining

The wind blew, hard, all night, and it is pouring with rain. The wind chimes, however noisy they were, obviously didn't distract the raccoons from their nightly toil, liberating the contents of the garbage. The remains of the past few days are now scattered in a fast-growing puddle on the street outside the house, minus any scraps of food.

Someone needs to invent raccoon-proof garbage bags. Or maybe, persuade the town to use metal garbage cans--dustbins--with lids. Like we used to have in England. But the local garbage collectors will only pick up plastic bags (weighing less than fifty pounds, please) and throw them into the truck. Plastic bins are allowed, but only as containers for the plastic bags. And no weights or bungee cords holding the lids down. These are no challenge for the raccoons, who will open the lids, make holes in the bags, sort untidily through the garbage, and leave their footprints everywhere.

Metal garbage cans would foil them.

And an added advantage of metal cans is that if you have two of them, you can use their lids like giant cymbals to chase the deer away when they are snacking on the pansies and chrysanthemums and what remains of the hostas.

I think deer are like goats but with taste.