Virginia Racoons

After a tasty meal of Lebanese food, The Mister and I were chatting with our host when there was a loud smack from the back of our host's Sears house in residential Arlington. In came his handsome black cat, Jekyll, demanding attention. Moments later a second smack from near the pet door and then a third. Jekyll, it seems, had led the local racoon right to the food door or a bitter cold night. We had seen two racoons in the neighborhood earlier in the evening, bringing our wildlife spotting for the weekend in D.C. up to a total of three racoons and a few deer in West Virginia. Of course we saw the skeleton of the giant ground sloth* in the Smithsonian, but that hardly counts.

It's strange to see more non-rodents than rodents. Perhaps because we left the prairie dog at home.

*Sloths aren't rodents either. Somehow the giant ground sloth skeleton has just become my favorite artifact at the Smithsonian.