My experiences with raccoons haven’t been positive – they’ve nested under the deck and clawed at my feet through the gaps between the boards, defecated on the roof, torn up the garden – repeatedly – and often woken me up disporting themselves under my bedroom window, but the latest outrage is the worst.

Sometime over the summer they pried open a corner of the door to the shed where I store spare chairs, a silk-painting frame and odds & ends of building materials for making running repairs to the house.

They pried it open and moved in.

Unfortunately, I didn’t notice until a couple of weeks ago – the door is behind the apple tree and a composter. The top of the door looks fine, and I didn’t happen to need any of the stuff in the shed over the summer.

It was a horrible mess! Muddy paw marks and heavy dirt smudges all over, many dried dribble marks (the roof does not leak), and a deposit that appeared to be from a raccoon with intestinal problems. And to make the mess even worse, they had clawed up the offcuts of styrofoam insulation that I used to keep the furniture from wicking moisture from the floor – styrofoam crumbs all over everything.

Cleaning up after raccoons can be dangerous – aside from rabies they also carry raccoon roundworm and leptospirosis, both of which can be fatal. So it was on with the disposable Tyvek overalls, gloves and respirator with dust filters. And Javex – lots of Javex to wash the items that are worth keeping and swab down the area I’ve been working on.

Finding a day that’s free, sunny and reasonably warm has been a challenge – this has been a busy and chilly autumn. So far I’ve been able to spend two afternoons cleaning up and have at least one more to go before spring.

Once the shed is empty, I’ll swab it down with Javex solution and seal it up until spring. When the weather is warm enough to paint outdoors, I’ll paint all the surfaces with a stain sealer.

And repair the door so I don’t have to screw it shut to keep the raccoons out,

Grumble.