Ice in mating season...

It's quiet in my house this morning.  School has been canceled.  Again.  While they enjoy the chance to sleep in, my guess is that upon clearing the sleep from their eyes and realizing what time it is, the kids will both be disappointed to find they are here all day.
 Again.  

I'm not a morning person, so on the days we get to turn the alarm off, it's nice to get the chance to sleep in a little AND be the first one up.  At the moment there's a teeny tiny coat of ice over the roads...although it hasn't seemed to make a difference in the road traffic.  Not that there is ever A LOT of traffic on our road, but I see no difference today than usual...minus the yellow bus.  

Apparently this is what we have in store for the next 24 hours...

Today will probably call for a little creativity on my part.  I have a mental list that goes something like this:

*Clean the bathrooms

*Vacuum the livingroom and sunroom

*Do several loads of laundry

*Fold the laundry

*Distribute the laundry to its rightful owner

Can't think of a thing on that list my teenagers will be happy about.  I'll have to come up with something a little more creative and like-able.  That used to be a lot easier.  Actually, there was a time when I could convince them the things on my list were FUN.  It'll take a lot more than a vacuum and a couple of bleach wipes to elicit a smile today.

Here's something I bet most of my readers didn't know.

January-March is mating season in the life of a raccoon.

You can interpret that to mean we are getting a little nervous around here.  While we thought we had skillfully rid our home of a family of 4 raccoons in the last few months. {You can read more about our infestation here and here and here}  We have since realized that there were more than 4 in the family.  

One {or more}has been left behind.  

So the debate becomes, 

Do you patch the hole while the one remains inside, thereby forcing it to have to feed in the cage that waits in the attic.  Or do you wait for it to head back out into the cold and then patch the hole up while it is out??

Either way, there could be more destruction if the pain in the neck tries to find a new way out...or in.

NOT TO MENTION the fact that since we are IN THE THROWS of mating season, we may just have to deal with the fact that to a four-legged animal in heat we look like the Four Seasons. No amount of patching up a hole will be able to keep a female, the partner of her choice and her impending children from seeking shelter from the storm at the Four Seasons.

{who can blame her...free room and board for the whole family??}

All I'm saying is that I will not put up with a brothel between the walls of my home.  I refuse to stand by and have a parade of men come in and out just because her biological clock tells her it's mating season. 

"Be forewarned, woman, this house is OFF LIMITS to your promiscuous activities,

  do you hear me?"

CONSIDER YOURSELF HAVING HAD ADEQUATE WARNING...

again.

{I'm not joking this time- just ask your siblings...oh wait, you can't!}