[DianaB]

When I got to be a teenager I read the book "Rascal" and I wanted a baby raccoon so badly. The next spring my Dad had a friend that found some baby raccoons and so I finally got one. She was the neatest pet!! I would ride my bicycle to the nearest little creek with her on my shoulder and I would turn over rocks so she could find crawdads to eat. I remember her washing them with her little hands before she would eat them. I can still picture people driving by me as I rode my bicycle.....pointing as they drove by!

Oh...the stories I could tell about her!!! She came in the house once and ended up underneath of my bed.....playing with the fringe of my bedspread......she scared my brother and cousin half to death.....they thought I had a monster under my bed!

She learned to open up the old time screen doors and helped herself into the neighbor's houses as well!!

One night my Dad heard some dogs barking outside and thought that they had her pinned up a tree (when she got older we didn't keep her caged and eventually she went back to the wild.) so he ran outside in his underwear to save her. According to my Dad.....there were some "little old ladies" that came driving by and here he was out in the yard chasing dogs!! I guess he ended up darting from tree to tree but they got quite the sight!! My Dad also had an aunt and uncle who were staying in a little camper in the yard so no telling what they saw!!

I never really had a for-sure name for her......but she was the neatest pet ever!!!