Day 52 = Backyard Camping and a Raccoon

I have wanted to go camping for weeks! After asking about 10 times to multiple people and facebook posts I decided I'd have to go by myself. Since my family hates camping we don't own a tent, so my first hurdle was having to get one. I asked around and some people had one, but since this was a last minute thing I pretty much had to make one. Then I remembered that the sprinklers would go off in the morning. This meant the lawn was not an option.

So I set up camp on my back porch. I had to make do with what I had. I also don't have a camera with a flash so I had to hurry and make the tent before the sun set.



I couldn't quite get the fire right, so I had to improvise.



I got a small fire going. Unfortunately it wasn't big enough to roast anything. Darn...I was so excited to make me some roasted mallows.



I was just fooling around at this point. Little did I know these few pictures were foreboding of how my camping would end.



I feel like I'm on the cover of a Hardy Boys book in this one...



Me in my tent.



And the final image of the night before it go way to dark to take pictures. I was really excited to finally camp out.



I went to bed around ten and I was fast asleep until my cat Jinks pounced on me around 11:30. I scolded her, and as I was drifting off to sleep I suddenly heard a rustle in the bushes beneath my spot on the porch. I'm thinking it's Jinks because I couldn't see her after the scolding. So I call her name and all of a sudden I hear growling and something dart from the bushes and hit the fence at the bottom of the hill in my backyard.

It didn't connect that it wasn't my cat, and so I laid back down. Then as I sat there I heard the rustling coming back up the hill, growling, and my cat meowing at my feet which meant that it wasn't her. Then I heard the growling noise back in the bushes under me.

I wouldn't be scared if I had a real tent, and not two sheets hung on a rope, and if I knew what it was, but it felt like it was circling me luring me into a scared little ball in my sheet tent.

So with adrenaline pumping I bolted. If I was grabbing everything any faster I may have forgotten to step out of my sleeping bag and fell. Then I'd be nicely wrapped for the raccoon to eat me.

With everything in hand I started calling Jinks, but she wouldn't come. She kept looking over the edge of the porch. Finally I had to entice her with a treat and she came running inside after me. The entire time the raccoon was growling under our feet.

Now I'm wide awake, and my camping experience was a bust. Oh well. Maybe next time I try to camp out I won't run into a raccoon.