Anger Problem

Sometimes I think that squirrels just can't hold it in. No matter what they do, their anger inevitably comes boiling out in a loud torrent. I have tried in the recent past to show them as friendly creatures, but some of them can't help but blow their tops over nothing.

The other day I was leaving the lake to continue on a short hike, when I heard loud chittering sounds coming from far off to my left. I knew immediately it was a very angry squirrel. I was curious about what it was that angered this little devil so much, so I turned around to try and get a look at it.

It never stopped yelling at its target the whole time, so I immediately found its location. It was high up in a tree looking down at something. Its tail was flicking angrily like a whip. I could only see a dark shadow, but I couldn't pass up this opportunity to get a few pictures of this humorous event.

But what I really wanted to know was what it was angry at. So I changed a few settings on my camera so it could brighten up the picture. I pointed the camera at a dark part of the tree the squirrel was on, hoping it would enable the camera to now see the squirrel a little better. It worked well, and I could now see the squirrel and what it was focusing its anger on..

This rotten little squirrel was looking straight at me! Why? I was at least fifty yards away from it, maybe even farther. When it began yelling at me, and probably calling me every bad name it could think of, I was actually walking away from where the squirrel was located. This squirrel needs some anger management!

Didn't anybody tell this squirrel that the war was over? I go to the forest so I can get away from angry jerks, but squirrels seem to be among the worst of them sometimes. I sometimes think I should find that dragon again and promise it a nice squirrel stew.

That ends my ridiculousness for today.

One Whole Year

I started this blog one year ago today. I've never done a post about milestones before, and I probably won't do any more. The subject of the blog is not about me. It's about the everyday adventures I have, and the fact that we can all do many of these things. I just simply try to be a guide to a world of discovery.

What I'm going to show you for this one special day are some pieces of my posts from the past. Some of them you may already know, and some you may not. Some of the very earliest are actually the whole post because I wasn't yet very comfortable with my writing. Now I have trouble keeping things short.

I hope you will like this look back through the past. This is going to be a long one, so you don't have to look at everything or even click the links, but you can if you want to. This is only meant to be a fun look at what was. I'll start with my very first post...

Nature Trails - My first post.

Hi to anyone seeing this. This is my first post. In upcoming posts, I will look at nature trails and show locations of a few of my favorites. Nature trails are some of the best free adventures you can find. As time goes on I will show different places to see, and the writing will get better. Any comments are of course welcome.
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First Deer

I was walking along this trail and there it was. It was standing there as if it were posing for me. My first deer! This is why I'm doing this. What a great feeling this is. I only got two similar shots and when I looked again it was gone. This is what makes a great adventure, and something positive that adds to the improving story of my life.
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The Mist

In this picture is something really different than I expected to see. I'm usually on the lookout for an animal or a cool looking plant in these nature areas, but as I always tell people, the fun part of an everyday adventure is that I never know what I'm going to see.
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Advice From A Caterpillar - The very first appearance of Alice.

"Who are you?" said the Caterpillar.

Alice replied, rather shyly, "I-I hardly know, sir, just at present-at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have changed several times since then."
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What Met Me At Sumac Pointe

What do you think the first thing I saw was, when I got to Sumac Pointe? That's right, it was these Geese! They saw me as soon as I saw them. I figured I should walk slowly so as not to alarm them. No need.
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10 Tips To Get Close To A Deer

I've been taking a lot of pictures of deer lately. As I've encountered them more and more, I've learned a few techniques that help me get pretty close to them. I've learned some of these from other sources, and some I figured out from experience. Some of these are a combination of both.
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Hiking In The Snow

This is my very first attempt to go hiking in the snow. I didn't get very far, but I got some pictures of it. All of that white mist you see in the air is snow. It was snowing really hard out here! The wind was blowing very hard, and it was probably a bad time to try this. I know I'll be doing it again, it was fun!
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Find The Squirrel

It's Game Time...

A while back I had a little game here. There was a squirrel hiding in a photo, and I asked everyone to guess where the squirrel was. It was a fun experiment for me, and I think the squirrel had some fun too. A few of you might remember it, but most of you weren't here yet. So I decided to do it again.
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The Squirrel Strikes Back

Fiction Friday

That does it!!! I'm taking over this blog! Ratty is going too far, and it's time for some squirrel to put a stop to it. So this website belongs to us squirrels now. Now I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Mr. Nutz, and I represent all the poor defenseless little squirrels.
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Nesting Goose

It's time once again for a tour through nature, with your ever humble guide, Ratty, The Everyday Adventurer. It's time to take you to the magnificence of new Spring, and the wonders of life. I will show you the odd, the bizarre, the geese!
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Great Egret

I promised yesterday that I would show you some of the pictures of the birds I took when I found a new boardwalk nature preserve. I decided not to wait to show you my absolute favorite. I have many more pictures that are every bit as good, so you may like some of those even better.
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These were some of the highlights of the past year here on The Everyday Adventurer. There are many more in the archives. This ends my longest post ever, I hope you liked it anyway. Now we can begin the second year.

Sun Bird

As I continue my quest for adventure, I sometimes am able to capture things on camera that are even better than when I saw it. I was in the meadow at one of the parks I routinely like to go, and when I looked up in the sky there was a big bird.

This bird was flying overhead so I rushed to get a few pictures of it. I've seen birds like this in the same area before. There have even been a few times where the bird was closer to me. I have pictures from those times, but they're not very good.

This time the bird looks very small in the picture because it's a little farther away. It was flying above the distant treeline right in between me and the sun. I tried to get a few pictures as fast as I could before I had to stop. I didn't want to point the camera directly at the sun.

Well, I did get a few pictures of the bird. Just so you know, the bird is either a cormorant or a heron. I'm not sure which because I've seen both flying around up there. That is only part of the reason I'm showing you these pictures.

The main reason is because I like the way the shining sun is captured as the bird flies past. I saw this while I was taking the pictures, but it's just not the same because it's just too hard to see very well when you're trying not to stare into the sun.

This is where the camera came in extremely useful. I was able to get a picture of not only the bird, but also of the shining sun. I just like the way it came out. Usually something like this would have shown all sorts of distorted colors in the image, but I got lucky and was able to get a clear picture of it all.

Here is the bird flying away, and you can see it in the opening in between the trees. I didn't know what I had until I got home. This is one of the best things about taking these pictures. Sometimes I get a nice surprise when I finally am able to look at them. This time it was the sunshine and the bird.

Robin Of The Boardwalk

Even though I just showed you another series of pictures of a robin a few days ago, I want to tell you about this one too. I've told you before that there are very many different types of birds on the boardwalk nature preserve that I recently found. This robin is one of them.

I saw this robin shortly after I finished looking at the snake I told you about yesterday. This fat little robin was exactly where you see it when I walked over. I was able to get very close and take a few pictures before it flew away. It didn't seem as scared as most robins I meet.

I get a lot of pictures of robins, but I've had much better luck with them lately. My pictures were coming out blurry every time I tried to capture something that moved. That meant any squirrels, birds, or just about any small creature turned out to be only good in my memory. My pictures were useless.

But now everything is working much better. Now I can relax and pay attention to other things, like why I was able to get so close to this bird. As you can see, there isn't any place to hide for the robin but it stayed right there. It could have easily flown away as soon as I saw it, but it was happy to keep its place on the walkway.

The birds in this place see humans every day so they are very used to them. The fear of humans that are close by them isn't as great for these birds. This is the benefit of a busy area like this. These animals are routinely fed by humans so they don't see a huge threat. The good thing is that the human food source won't run out any time soon.

This may be a very good place to see birds, and a good place for the birds to go when they're hungry. Maybe sometimes human interaction with wild animals can work. If only it could be this way everywhere.

Sympathy For A Snake

I found something a little unexpected while I was out at my new found boardwalk area looking for more birds. Sunning itself on the boards was this little Garter Snake. Now before you run away screaming, stay just a few seconds so I can explain a few things.

Many of you may be afraid of snakes, but this kind of snake doesn't even have any fangs. As a matter of fact, it is considered harmless to humans and it rarely bites. They almost always try to get away first. You might be in more danger from an angry squirrel than a little garter snake.

Sure they like to eat their food while it's still alive, but the things they eat are mostly smaller than them. As I've shown you in the past they will eat frogs or toads, but a bullfrog will eat a poor little garter snake just as quickly. They also like little creatures that are considered pests, like insects, worms, and leeches.

Not only do frogs think a little garter snake is a tasty treat, so do other animals like certain fish and birds. There are a few pretty good sized birds around this boardwalk, so this little guy is probably in a lot of danger just being there. And he was little, and scared.

As I walked up to this little snake, the poor thing slithered away from its prime spot in the sun, in fear that I might step on it. It gave me plenty of room to walk on by, but I stopped and took a few pictures of it. It was so afraid of the giant standing over it that it couldn't move.

It was the same reaction I got from a little toad awhile back. These little garter snakes are really more or less just lizards without the benefit of legs. No fangs, almost no venom, and no effective way to deliver it to a human if it tried. Just another small animal trying to survive.

When I made a move to step a little closer to get a better angle for my pictures, this little garter snake finally worked up the courage to flee in terror. It squirmed as quickly as it could to the edge of the platform, and it went over the side and into the grass to safety.

I've killed several garter snakes in the past. I should never have forgotten the time my grandma picked one up in her garden to show me that they were not very dangerous. They even have trouble getting away. Instead, I decided to be a cruel killer. We all know they don't belong in houses, but I could have just as easily moved each one to a better place.

The little garter snake in my pictures got to live for another day this time. But what will happen to this little one tomorrow? Will it come out to the sun for more life giving heat only to be mercilessly stomped to death by another human? Will a big bird snatch it up and gobble it down? It's not easy being a snake.

American Robin

There is something I forgot to mention that happened the same day that I was being mercilessly hunted by those evil vampirous mosquitoes. What I didn't mention was that I saw a few good things too. For instance, this American Robin.

While I was in the meadow at the back of the park taking a breather from the chase, I heard a bird singing from high up in a tree. Usually when I look for the bird that is making those sweet sounds it turns out to be a useless endeavor The only thing I see when I look to the trees is green leaves, and plenty of them.

What greeted me this time though was this colorful little bird. I was even able to move to a good position to get a few pictures and it didn't even fly away. Most birds that I do find are very quick to fly away as soon as I put my finger on the button of my camera. I think they do it just to tease me.

I could have moved a little closer to this bird, but I feared moving directly beneath it. I didn't want to suffer the consequences of that. Do you know what would have happened? Well, do you? That's right. Splat! Right in the eye! A bird's favorite thing to do.

Okay, that's enough of that. A robin isn't exactly something new for me to show. As a matter of fact I see them every day. I think I have more pictures of robins than any other animal, even squirrels! There are so many of them around here that it's our official state bird. So why am I showing you this one?

I'm showing it to you because, for one, I wanted to use the name "American Robin" in a post title. It makes it so much easier to find it here. Actually, the real reason is that I just liked the pictures and I wanted to share them with you. The colors seemed to just pop out. I think it's the new settings I'm using for my camera.

Hmm, I think that'll do it. Did you like the post? Well then leave a comment and tell me how much. (Or if you just want to tell me that this was ridiculous trash, that's okay too. But be polite about it.)

Bzzzzzzt!

I told you a few days ago that I got some good pictures of birds and a lot of other things, but I'm going to give you something a little different today. Something happened to me when I went on my usual hike yesterday. I think it was the worst time I ever had!

Many of you know that I've been shamelessly bragging about my new GPS lately. There is a treasure hunting game called geocaching that you can do with it. Well I found out in quick order from the geocaching website that there was a cache in one of my favorite parks, so I was off to do my first serious search for one of these little treasures.

When I got there it started out as a normal beautiful summer day. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and I headed for the trail following the directions the GPS was giving me. I did notice that I wasn't hearing as many birds as I usually did, but it really didn't seem to be a big deal. Then, as soon as I entered the forest, it happened!

Along the sides of the trail there are several pools of standing water. It's there that I've been watching tadpoles. It wasn't tadpoles that I found though. It was millions of mosquitoes, and they were huge! I think every last one of them were after my blood!

Every time I stopped they would come in huge swarms, so I quickly made my way through the forest, only stopping very quickly to sometimes check for the direction of the treasure. It must have been ten or twenty degrees hotter in that forest than it was outside. I was quickly sweating as if I were in a sauna, and it probably attracted every mosquito in the place.

It got so bad that I forgot the treasure and ran down to the fishing platform just to get out of the forest. It was much cooler there on the platform looking out at the lake. There were still mosquitoes, but they weren't nearly as bad out here. It felt like heaven out here in the open air.

I wish I had a kayak or something so I could float down the lake to get to the back of the park, which was my destination. I really didn't want to go back into the forest, but I had no choice. I was at least able to collect my thoughts out there, so I renewed my quest for the hidden treasure. Back into the woods I went to seek my fortune.

I followed the directions of the GPS with mosquitoes tormenting me the whole way. When I reached my destination, there was no treasure in sight. I guess it wouldn't be hidden if it was in plain sight. I began searching the area but it was becoming impossible with the mosquitoes feasting on my blood. I eventually had to give up. No treasure for Ratty.

At one point I felt a stinging pain on the side of my right hand. I looked at it and there was a huge mosquito getting its fill of my lifeblood. I smashed it dead! That evil bug gave me the worst pain a mosquito ever had. I still feel it now as I'm writing this story.

I still wanted to reach the back of the park, so I went that way. That was a foolish mistake! I made it there, and so did those evil flying little vampires! I had to get out of here! Finally, I decided to give up and flee for my life!

Since this story is already becoming very long for a blog post, I'll just say that I ran all the way back to the front of the park. I hopped into my truck, turned the air conditioning on full blast, and went home as fast as I could. No treasure, and I had been torn apart by voracious mosquitoes.

This should be a lesson to you all. Don't be stupid enough to go into the forest in hot weather without covering yourself in bug repellent. I itch all over right now, so I am paying for it in pain. Always remember this. Always remember.

Great Egret

I promised yesterday that I would show you some of the pictures of the birds I took when I found a new boardwalk nature preserve. I decided not to wait to show you my absolute favorite. I have many more pictures that are every bit as good, so you may like some of those even better.

This bird is a Great Egret. Of course I'm never one hundred percent sure of the identity of any of these animals. This one is very similar to the Snowy Egret, which is what I thought it was at first. The snowy egret is supposed to be more plentiful where I live so it's an easy mistake to make.

There are some distinct differences though. The great egret's bill is yellow like the one in my pictures. It also has black legs and feet. The snowy egret's bill and legs are both black, while their feet are yellow. These egrets are also both a kind of heron.

Speaking of herons, do you remember my last pictures of a heron? I was after a great blue heron, but I was having great difficulty with my camera at the time. The pictures turned out very odd, but as you can see I have improved things greatly since then. Great!

I took very many pictures of this big bird, but unfortunately I'll only be able to show you these few that you see here. If I show you too many I will run out of space and I won't get to show you any more at all. That's a small part of the reason I stretched out my raccoon story to a fun trilogy.

You know, while I was watching this great egret it decided to fluff itself up until it looked like a great puffball. It was a wonderful sight, and I have some of it here for you. While it's not all puffed up like that its tail feathers hang down and blow in the wind.

These flowing misty white feathers made the bird look like a good spirit when the wind blew in the evening light. It seemed almost magical at times. This white bird seemed to glow in contrast to everything around it in the fading day. I don't know how many more ways I can describe the wonder I felt at seeing it perched majestically in the middle of the pond.

This just goes to show you what you can find if you just look around long enough. Of course I had the help of my new GPS, but I've seen this place before without it. I find many of these places just from driving around. Even looking out your own back window can sometimes bring you wonders of the natural world.

I'll be back tomorrow with another story and more pictures. I'm still falling behind here though. My backup computer just died on me, so that is taking up some of my time. I can rebuild it. I have the technology. Hiking and my all time favorite thing, sleeping also seems to take up more time. It seems I have more time lately but I'm having more trouble using it efficiently.

Okay, that's enough of me for now. See ya!

A New Discovery

My new GPS that I mentioned in Saturday's post is already paying off. There was a place I saw over a year ago, but I couldn't find where it was anymore. I wanted to visit it, but how could I find out anything about it if I didn't know where it was? The worst thing was that it was only a few miles away from me. I wasn't even sure if it was a public place or not.

But today I was online trying to figure out how to use my little GPS, and I found a few things. I was looking through Geocaching.com, which is a site that organizes the details of a fun scavenger hunting game you can do with a GPS. That's where I found directions and a few details of this place.

My new place is a boardwalk that goes over a little pond. The place is nestled in front of several office buildings and on the same street as one of our local TV stations. It's called the American Commerce Centre Nature Preserve. It's on the north side of 11 Mile Rd. about a mile east of Inkster.

I went there hunting for treasure, and I found it! Just not the treasure I was looking for. What I found was a place that was loaded with birds of all kinds, and a few other unexpected things. The only problem was that I couldn't really find a good place to park. All the parking I saw was private.

The funny thing is that it looks like a sunny afternoon in the pictures, but it was actually about 8:30 PM. The sun was going down but I got some beautiful pictures because it was till at just the right height if I took pictures to the east. All of my pictures that point the other way look like it's nighttime. You can see my shadow in a few of these.

In this shot you can see the beginning of the place where the boardwalk goes over the water. It happens to be the best picture in that section that I got of this structure. There's a good reason for that. It's because I got mugged by three robbers right after this picture was taken! Just kidding!

The real reason is that I saw so many birds that I filled my camera's memory card with pictures of them. I've only done that once before. There were even a few types of birds that I've never seen before! I read that there were a lot of birds here, but I wasn't prepared for what greeted me.

As I begin to wrap this post up, I know that I haven't shown you any of these birds I keep going on and on about. That will come at another time. I had to show you this place first. Discovering something new is the most important thing for an Everyday Adventurer. And this place is a prime example of that.

I have so many things to show you from the past week. Some of them will inevitably be lost to time. I hope to show as much as I can though. It will be a shame for you not to be able to see some of these things. I'll be back tomorrow with something good from one of these recent trips.

What's In A Name?

The animals I meet along the trails on my everyday adventures are wonderful, but there is something else that I see every time. Even if the animals run and hide, the plants still remain right where they are. I lost count on how many times I've chased animals through the forests. I've been chased exactly once.

Plants don't chase anyone, and you can look at them for as long as you want. Try it, they won't go anywhere. It is plants that make up a forest or a jungle. You don't necessarily need the animals. When you see all of that green around you, you know where you are.

Sometimes though you'll see something special off to the left or the right. It will be a bit of bright color in all of that green. That's what happens to me a lot of times, and this one time now was no different. Finding a flower in the forest is every bit as good as finding a scurrying little animal.

This particular time, I was on a very small side trail that I remembered from the last time I was at my new park. I remembered seeing a mulberry tree on the trail, and I wanted to see how far along the berries had come. Mulberries taste very delicious so I'm watching for any I can get.

I would have taken a picture of the mulberry tree and the unripe berries but I honestly forgot to do it. I did last time but the camera just wouldn't focus correctly on the berries. Another reason I had to work on my settings.

Well, after checking on the tree I followed the little trail to its end. Nothing special about it except that it ran to the bike trail, and I had already been there. The bike trails look like small streets so I'm kind of uninterested in them. I like the deep forest much better.

After all of this I turned back around and made my way back to the beginning of the small trail. About halfway through I noticed this lone flower that I hadn't seen before. It was about five feet off to the right of the trail, and the bright lavender color caught my eye. I guess that's what people like about flowers.

I can't attempt to tell you the name of this flower, only that I like it. I'm sure if you stick around here long enough somebody will be nice enough to reveal the identity to us all. Even if nobody knows, everything is fine. Flowers are meant to be looked at. The beauty is the same whether we know a name or not.

What was that old saying? You know, the one from that Shaky guy?

(I don't care if it's not a rose, I still like it.)

Busy, Busy, Busy

I don't know how much anyone has noticed, but I have been falling behind with a few things on here recently. This has actually been a good thing for me. The reason for this is because I've been spending even more time with nature.

I think I mentioned about a week ago that I discovered a new place where I could go hiking. I originally saw it a last summer while I was driving by an alternate entrance. I had just gotten through applying for a different job in the area. Apparently they weren't smart enough to hire the best person for the job.

Because I didn't have a big reason to go back to the area, I didn't go back to investigate this new nature place. It looked very small and I had other things to keep e busy.Well, I finally got around to going back and I discovered that this place is huge.

It has over six miles of hiking trails. That's bigger than any other place in this area. There are three times that many combined hiking, biking, and horseback riding trails too. You can hike on them all. Thebest thing is that it isn't really that far away from me.

I've been spending most of my available time there just trying to find my way around. I took my compass, which I don't usually have to do, and it promptly got lost in this huge pond. It was dropped through the cracks of this dock.

This wasn't such a good thing because this pond is at the farthest point away from the entrance. It was a good thing I have a good sense of direction. The trails twist and turn all through the park, and I had to find my way back. It turned out to be easier than I thought it would be.

I'll be giving more details on this park this week some time. I have plenty of things to show you from my visits there. In the meantime I decided to show you some pictures that demonstrate what I saw.

I have been getting home very late and very tired after visiting these trails. It's a good kind of tired. Walking through here so much has helped me work out the pain in my legs from running from those baby raccoons I've been telling you about for the last few days.

This new place isn't the only thing I've been doing. I have a new little device that I hope will enhance my experiences with nature. I hope to begin hiking bigger areas and do many new and exciting things that I never dreamed about before.

My new toy is a GPS(Global Positioning System) that's specially made for hiking. It's much better than a compass, and besides, it has one built right in. As soon as I learn how to use it I'll be doing some bigger and better things. I'll still tell every experience through the eyes of a beginner though.
There you have it! I'll try to catch up on everything here on the internet this week. This recent outdoor stuff has made me very tired. I've now been awake all night trying to get everything, including this post, reasonably caught up. I'm not quite there yet.

Okay, that's enough typing for me. It's very early in the morning, and also time for me to go to sleep. I hope you enjoy these pictures. I'll talk to you again soon you soon!

Chased By Raccoons

I left you yesterday in the second part of this trilogy of raccoons as I began walking down the path in the same direction the baby raccoons had fled. It was probably foolish to do it, but I had been already going that way and I thought they were leaving me now.

Here are links to parts one and two if you missed them:

1. Raccoons
2. Surrounded By Raccoons

As I rounded the bend that the raccoons did, I saw that they had not disappeared into the forest, but they were watching and waiting for me. This time their were only four around though. The other two decided I wasn't so good after all. Just as they spotted me coming down the path they darted towards me again!

I stopped again as these four remaining raccoons surrounded me once more. In my greedy mind I saw it as another great opportunity to get some more valuable pictures of these adorable little creatures. And I was still just fascinated by them. As I keep saying, nothing like this has ever happened to me before.

As I was taking my pictures of them though I began to realize something. They didn't seem as curious of me as they did last time. This was something different. They were looking to me for comfort. That's when I looked around for their mother again. She was nowhere in sight.


There was one little raccoon that kept climbing up my leg. I had to shake it off a couple of times. I had to be careful not to touch any of them with my hands, even though I had an overwhelming urge to pet them. I didn't want to put any unnecessary human scent on them.

I didn't know what that would do to them when they got back to their mother. I thought they were probably too old for it, but I didn't want her to reject them because of human smell on them. Still, where was she?

These little ones were beginning to get very comfortable with me. They were wrapping themselves around me as if they were hugging me. One of them laid down in between my feet as if it was going to take a nap right there. I was quickly realizing that this was not a good thing for either of us.

I was assuming hopefully that the mother was fine and she had just taken a little stroll. If that was the case, she would be back shortly. If she saw me with her babies I would be in very big trouble. I definitely did not want to have to fight off an angry mother raccoon.

This is an animal that is much bigger than a house cat, and could kill it with ease. An adult raccoon is almost the size of a middle sized dog. The raccoon would usually win in a fight with a dog that's bigger than it. Either way the fight went, the dog would come out of it hurt. Like I said before, I was in trouble.

I decided then that I had better move away from these little ones, even though I thought they were very adorable. The leg crawler did it again, so I shook it off for the last time. They were all looking at me in an almost pleading way now. As you can see, they look very healthy, so I'm sure their mother would return very soon.

So I started to walk down the trail, and the little raccoons followed close at my feet. They were still closely surrounding me. I had to be careful where I stepped so I wouldn't hurt one of them. This was way out of hand now! I had to do something, and I had to do it now!

I quickly moved away from the crowd, and they came right back to me! I moved one direction and then another but they still kept coming! I finally stomped my foot at them in a threatening manner, but it didn't work either. They liked me too much now. I even growled and hissed at them to no avail.

So you know what I did? I did what I had to do. I ran! I ran as fast as I could go! The raccoons ran too! They were right behind me! I kept running until I began to pull away from them. I had never run so hard in my life! Up and down hills, and probably halfway through the park.

I stopped to rest once. I turned to see if they were still coming, and off in the distance I saw them running towards me! So I turned and ran again even further and faster than before. I ran down a huge hill to the creek, and then up the other side with equal speed!

From the top of the hill I turned around again, and to my relief they were nowhere in sight. I had finally lost them. I have to admit that I felt bad about it, but it was the best thing to do in that situation. I couldn't lead them through the park only to have them get lost from their mom. Yup, I was finally away from them and I felt like a jerk for it.

When I returned to that section of the park on my way out, I took the other path so I could avoid another encounter with them. It was the best thing for the little raccoons. I would never see my little friends again, but I wish I could.

That's the end of my encounter with the little raccoons. This one was extra long only because I promised it would be the final part of the story. I hope it teaches us in some small way that you can't make friends with or a pet of a wild animal. Just try to stay away if you can. Let me know what you think.