[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by glatt

I should have taken a picture, but it didn't occur to me. Last night I was at my dead cousin's vacant house, organizing some stuff, when I heard a rustling from the chimney/fireplace. I had seen evidence (muddy footprints) of a raccoon in the bathtub a week before and searched the house for actual raccoons but found none. Last week I had closed the chimney flue, and closed the glass front to the fireplace. It had been ajar. I put heavy boxes right in front of it.

So last night I heard some rustling from the fireplace, and I walked over there and yelled in my stern voice "Get out of here!" The rustling stopped. So I went back to going through some boxes and a couple minutes later I heard rustling again.

I finished up what I was doing, and went to the store to get a bottle of ammonia. I planned to soak a few rags and put them in the fire place so the eye watering fumes would drive the raccoon(s) out. I pulled the boxes out of the way of the glass door and there was a racoon just sitting there looking at me through the glass. Not in the chimney, in the fireplace. The little shit had pulled the flue open and climbed into the fireplace. He was kinda cute though and I felt sorry for him. A juvenile. Still I went into the kitchen and got a funnel. Opened the glass doors a quarter inch, stuck the funnel in there, and poured a cup or two of ammonia into the fire place right next to the raccoon.

I closed the glass door, put a heavy box of books back in front of it, and stepped away to the other side of the room. The raccoon was doing nothing, so I gathered up my stuff to head out, when all of a sudden the raccoon stated sneezing and kind of retching. I felt bad for the cute little guy, but screw him.

I went home and had trouble sleeping. Thinking about raccoons. This morning, I went back over there before work, and the guy was gone. So I soaked some rags and put them up into the flue that it has pulled ajar. Then I poured the rest of the ammonia into a plastic bucket and left it in the fireplace. Closed the glass doors. Put the box of books in front of the doors, and came to work.

Now I need to find a chimney sweep to put a cap on the chimney. Another freakin' chore.

What, no bleach too?