"Staircase" and Raccoons

Today I'm grateful for that tiny almost staircase that caused me so much pain yesterday. Today I still have the resultant headache from the huge hit, but at least I didn't have to go outside into the rain and have whatever rabid, nocturnal varmints we have living in our backyard chase me around. Which reminds me of a story. . . Don't worry if you don't want to read it. I won't know and I won't be offended!!

To get to our washer and dryer we either have to go out the front door, around the house, and down into the cellar, OR go down some crazy steep stairs that are really more like a glorified ladder in what was once a broom closet (the owner had cut the floor out of this closet. It's TINY!). I had been choosing to go around the back way, because they are at least normal stairs. Hunter LOVES to help me with the wash, and I've gladly welcomed the help. It was three weeks ago tonight, and we were going around the back after dark. Hunter had the huge Maglite. He was shining it around our backyard as he was waiting for me to open the cellar doors. He starts getting really anxious and says, "Mommy, there's a raccoon." (Now we knew that we had raccoons, but they've always ran away with a light put on them, or with us making noise.) I reassured him and we started making noise and flasing the flash light at it. What does it do? No, It doesn't turn and run the other direction like you think it would. It starts running toward us. We literally RUN to the safety of the basment and shut the door behind us. I yell up the "stairs" to Erik to toss us down some more batteries for the flashlight, because they were dying. I then tell him about the raccoons and what had just happened. Hunter and I start the washer and the dryer, and just as we're getting ready to go the door to the basement starts to open. I SCREAM as loud as I can. Of course that sets Hunter off. So here we are both screaming as loud as possible and the door keeps opening. I'm about ready to drop my basket of clean clothes, but I'm frozen still, just screaming. I'm trying to think what I can hit this rabid raccoon with to keep it away from Hunter, but again, still frozen, still screaming. The door finally opens enough for me to see what's opening it, and it was Erik. Here I was thinking that both Hunter and I were going to end up in the hospital getting our anti-rabies shots, and it was just Erik. He told me that he had yelled to me that he was going to come down to help us get back up past the raccoons, but we didn't hear him because we had both the washer and the dryer on. It was aweful. I literally almost peed my pants.