Abbey: 1, Raccoons: 0

I'm officially at war with the raccoons that live near our house. They have been pesky since we moved in a year ago, but nothing we couldn't deal with...until now. Their recent behavior has taken things to a whole new level!

We're relandscaping the backyard and laid new sod last weekend - beautiful, lush, moss-free sod. The rain this week has been great for the yard and it was really looking good, until yesterday morning. I opened my bedroom curtains at 6:30am and looked out in the backyard and was horrified at what I saw. The sod was rolled up in about 25 different places. My friend, Jenn, had this happen to her when she put in a new yard in California, so I immediately knew who the culprits were. (Apparently raccoons pull up the grass looking for worms and grubs.)

I ran outside, replaced the sod, and came inside to figure out what I was going to do about this problem.

After doing some research on the Internet, I decided to try staking down deer netting around the perimeter of the yard so they couldn't access the edges. I spent a good two hours yesterday laying the nets and staking them into the ground. I also bought a large flood light to put on the deck, aimed at the yard. Thankfully, we have a greenbelt behind our house so I wasn't disturbing any of our neighbors. I went to bed and hoped that my efforts would pay off and the pesky little critters would leave our grass alone.

This morning, I was hesitant to look out the window. I was worried that I made them angry and was expecting a ripped up yard, but I was pleasantly surprised. Everything looked fine and the grass wasn't touched.

We'll see if they leave it alone for good. I may have to change my tactics - my dad suggested waiting up all night in my room with a bow and arrow so I could silently assault the enemy without disturbing my neighbors. I think I might have PETA knocking on my door if anyone finds out!

Once the grass is established, there won't be an issue, but until then, I'm at war!