Backyard Dining Guests

This morning at 6:30 AM, I walked out on the deck with Guinness and heard something in the tree to my left. There were three raccoons (two small and one larger) walking down the arched branch of a mulberry tree! I called to Guinness in a whisper and took him back inside, grabbed my camera and tried to capture some photos. The lighting wasn’t perfect, I had to zoom to capture them, and, with a digital camera, I can never capture THE moment I want. They were having a feast of berries. Birds and squirrels love the annual harvest. Now we know raccoons love to dine on that tree too. At first, I thought there were only three, but then it seemed like there must be more, though I could only see three at a time. Eventually, Guinny needed his morning potty break. When he appeared, the raccoons scurried up the trunk of the large basswood tree next to their breakfast branches. Three stared down at us from a high crook in the tree. I wish I could have captured that darling shot; instead, the scene is emblazoned in my memory. Then we noted that two more raccoons were lower on the tree, so it was a family of five!