Noisy Eaters

  Guests, here on the Bayou, generally show a great deal of respect.  I suppose I just do not tolerate it any other way.  Even back when the kids were younger, there were set rules.  I did not actually "state the rules", they were more or less "understood".  There was one particular incident that occurred with Son's friends.   A newcomer to the bunch was met with each of the standard bunch relating a "rule" to be welcome at the Little Bayou House.  "No drugs or alcohol allowed!" said one young man.  "No cursing!" stated another.  "Share and share alike!" could be heard from one.  "Be respectful!" was next. This went on through each member of the regular crew until it came to the last kid.  There were just no rules left for him to instruct the newcomer so he made one!  "Hug Mom whenever you come and again when you leave!"  Well, now!  That was a pretty good rule!  (And, yep, most of these teenagers at the time called me "Mom".)

  But now there are a few "guests" that have left all respect behind when they visit!  They are loud, squabble constantly, eat all the snacks and do not clean up after themselves!"  For the past few nights, I have listened to four young raccoons that have been raiding the oak trees on the west side of the house.  These oaks have large limbs that reach out over our rooftop so nightly, the critters can be heard squabbling over which limb is the best.  Once they settle down to eat, the racket changes to acorns pelting the rooftop.  A steady rapping that sounds a lot like large hail often wakes me from deep sleep.  This goes on all night until the sun starts to rise in the east.  Rap, rap, rap!  Acorns can be loud on this roof!

  This morning, I checked the ground on the west side of the house and found that not only are the raccoons loud, they are quite wasteful! Thousands upon thousands of plump acorns litter the ground.  I am assuming that once the trees are pilfered of all the nuts, the raccoons will start squabbling under the windows as they fight over the best acorns on the ground.  At least they will be fat for the winter!  They just need to learn a bit of respect!