Ricky the Raccoon

Aria gets this magazine from the National Wildlife Federation as a gift from grandma.  Now, I'm sure you're thinking...a magazine for a 16 month old?  But it really is about at her level.  There are a few things that she isn't interested in yet, but for the most part, she really loves reading through the new one every month.  The magazine always features an animal in the beginning with some cool facts about it.  It also has a comic strip, fun activities to try, and a short story.  This month is Ricky the Raccoon.  Little did we know that when Ricky arrived in our mailbox last week, he would also be arriving on our deck!

Okay, so I'm not 100% sure that the bird food stealer is a raccoon, but logic sure leads me to believe it.  For Mother's Day, Justin and Aria gave me this cool hook thing to hang bird feeders from so we could watch the birds on our deck, a favorite activity of Aria's! 

As you can see, we got a suet cage and a regular bird feeder to hang.  I bought some bird food and filled both items up and we enjoyed several birds the very first day!  The next morning, I discover the door to the suet cage open and the suet completely gone!  It wasn't on the deck or the ground or anywhere!  Had to have been eaten by a critter.  My first thought was a squirrel.  So, I loaded up some more suet just to test it out and the next morning...suet cage open and the suet was lying partially eaten on our deck.  Then, as we ventured down the deck stairs to play in the play house, we discovered some little dirt paw prints all over the play house.  These paw prints are what lead me to believe that Ricky the Raccoon has jumped out of our magazine and climbed up on our deck to eat the suet!  Needless to say, I haven't filled it with anymore suet since.  I'm going to have to come up with plan B!  Or, we'll just have to wait until next month to see what critter will be visiting us!