Friday night Kim and I were having supper on the lanai. It was a splendid Florida evening, with an ever so gentle breeze that carried the scent of some mysterious and sweet blossom in the air. The air was warm, but not hot. While friends and family, in other states, shuttered behind windows frosted with snowflakes and ice crystals, or at least adjusted the thermostat to take the chill off a winter evening, we sat outside in what can only be described as near perfect paradise.
It was so wonderfully delicious to the senses that we lingered over conversation and coffee. Peaceful and perfect when suddenly Kim sat upright and in an eager, yet low tone noted, “We have a visitor!” So much for peaceful! Visitor as in how big? Predator or prey? Outside the lanai, or in? All good and important questions, and from Kim’s posture I’m thinking crucial as well.
Our lanai is screened in and on the second floor. Just beyond the screen are two palm trees and two large laurel oaks, so I knew I wasn’t going to look over my shoulder and see an alligator lurking there. Beyond that it could be anything! This is south Florida and we are only a stone’s throw from the Everglades! In the crook of the closest oak tree sat a cute masked marauder, a raccoon! How cute…and a sigh of relief!
Patches, our cat, was sitting quietly enjoy the evening on the lanai as well. As they spied each other it was intriguing to watch these two predators face off. Patches sat very still in a crouched, though not pouncing, position. She was alert, and her eyes never wavered from the raccoon. The raccoon’s stare was equally transfixed upon the cat, but unlike Patches, he would lean out from the tree, presumably to get a closer view, and then rise up tall on his hind legs to show Patches just how big and scary he was! If Patches was impressed she didn’t let on, but she wasn’t turning her back either.
Kim wanted a closer look too, and for a moment both he and our masked bandit rose on two legs; Kim to walk closer to the screen, and Mr. Raccoon to assume a more aggressive posture. Alas, Kim won the biggest predator challenge and the raccoon scampered higher up the tree. Patches had seen Kim before and wasn’t impressed by his size. She remained firmly seated on the lanai, but her eyes followed that ringed tail up as it disappeared from our sight. Yet, I suspect from a higher branch in that solid oak, eye shine from two predators met each other in the darkness.
Now that Christmas is over and we are three days into the new year, it’s time to take down the decorations, straighten things up, and forge head long into the question of how to get that artificial tree back into the box it came in? I know it came in that box, but it is clearly a foot and a half too fat to go back in! Why? The branches fold up on themselves. I alternate directions, the same way you find a new pair of shoes, and it’s still overflowing the top of the box! I wonder if the tree was originally packaged by gorillas at the San Diego Zoo jumping on it until the top of the box can be easily closed, but I’m sure, if I look closely, I will find that the tree is made in China. China! A country where only 1% of the population is Christian, and few celebrate the holiday. Serves me right! Maybe an adorable panda could be put on loan to assist me?