Backyard and Beyond

In which we attempt to glide your way into the working week with something mammiferous. Twice I passed this hole-in-the-bole recently and the Blue Jays were screaming and the Red-breasted Nuthatches were wailing and one or two jays actually got on the lip of the hole and peeked in. “By Jove, there’s something in there, Holmes!” I said aloud, and the world’s first and foremost consulting detective, oddly enough standing there by my side, arched a brow.There was, for instance, another hole, on the other side of the bole. It’s a floor-through! The next day I showed up to see what I might see, and through this keyhole a shapely furry ear moved slightly to the right.Then it was all clear again. I was surprised a raccoon could fit into the entrance, but there it clearly was. While canine distemper has been cleaving its way through the city’s raccoon population, some are surviving.