A 6:30am wake up

This is my regular school day routine: The alarm goes off at 6:20 am. I get up in a few mins...first to let the dogs out. All three of them come in, get a treat and a drink...and then the two black ones go back out. I'm not likely to let them bark furiously at that time of day....THIS morning..they DID bark. They barked SO loud and furiously, I didn't think they were taking in any air! I had to go investigate...in my nightgown...no shoes or slippers. What I saw was a cat...on the wall between my house and my neighbors. This is not an uncommon occurance. My neighbor sometimes feed stray cats. Off I went to SHOO the offending feline away....it was NOT a feline! It was a RACCOON! We have lived in this house since 1992...we have had wild vistors: quail, roadrunners, rabbits, scorpions, but NEVER a raccoon! It was like the keystone cops! The dogs are barking...I'm trying to get a picture...I have nothing on my feet (remember..this is AZ...only GRAVEL and I'm a wimp where my feet are concerned). By the time I got the dogs back inside and got my hands on my camera, this is the only picture I got:


That furry blob on the left is him. He was HUGE! My poor Rookie whined and cried for an hour wanting to get back outside to look for him. What a morning wake-up! I was ready to crawl back into bed!