LOL, Ruthie! That's a Texan response if I ever heard one. They are dangerous too. My dogs encountered a Mama and her baby in the back yard once at 6:00 a.m. God, what a way to start the day. My dogs are big and that Mama was scary! Hissing and howling, standing on her hind legs. I agree to get rid of them (in whichever way you prefer) if you have small children and/or dogs running around. My entire yard has an electric line running about 6 inches off the ground - right up against the privacy fence.. It's to keep the dog from digging out but it hasn't kept anything from getting in. Racoons can climb, right? Several levels of it might work around your actual garden, though. Then you'll have to deal with unhooking them whenever you want to really get into it. Ours is solar powered which makes it a lot easier.

I have yet to hear of an animal that can use a screw driver or 18v Dewalt drill...unless you have chimpanzees living in your woods. They can be taught to use tools...lol. I would bet on a human thief or a big raccoon ripped out the small screws in the hinges.

My friend in Toronto called in the experts to deal with the raccoon feces problem on her 3rd floor deck. They installed a product that works, but other neighbours had to be involved as well. Some refused. They also refuse to have tree branches cut which would prevent access to the rooftops. The city has been contacted to do the tree pruning instead, and so it will be months before action takes place. In the meantime, the brother of the expert is in serious condition in the hospital from exposure to the feces.... I believe there must be some way to encourage your neighbourhood to be more responsible about their garbage when there is real danger involved to everyone's health. Another approach is to treat your lawns against grubs so that the coons have to go elsewhere. Coons can also have distemper and rabies. Talk to the humane society about your problem and see if they take a position on the issue.

Well, yesterday guess what arrived? A SECOND KITCHEN SINK AS SHOWN ABOVE. I did the same routine of sliding the delivery crate into the back bedroom and throwing stuff over it until I could figure out what on earth...... Well, I was hoping they had not charged my checking account TWICE, and as it would turn out, the bank's computer was down. Oh woe is me, I said. So I called Overstock.com and spoke to a very nice young man. As it turns out, they had not billed me for the second one. It was shipped directly from Kraus, the manufacturer. Somehow they must have mistaken the way things looked on the order, and shipped a second sink, thinking it never got shipped. The man thanked me for being so honest. Well, I can tell you it would be difficult to live with myself knowing I had in effect stolen a valuable product which could be sold to someone else if I returned it. Anyway, this morning I found the return label for shipping it back to Kraus. And I never was charged the second time, so no bank problems at all. But until the box is picked up by my friendly neighborhood UPS delivery man--he knows me really well at this point--I will keep it under wraps in the back bedroom. That's where all the contents of the 3 closets I ripped out are sitting at this time, and what is one more box more or less. When a friend dropped over yesterday, DH and friend and I stood with the two sink boxes (covered of course) between us to chat. DH never so much as glanced at the boxes. Whew. Close one. He will thank me later for getting this sink. It is gorgeous. And he trusts my judgement. He does fret a little though, because he figures I'm about to rip out something when a new product arrives. hehehehehe