BeartoothGiG wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:32:33 -0600, Gloria P wrote:
>
>> I just got home from an errand and opened the sliding glass door to the
>> patio to cool off the house (75 deg. inside, 71 outside) only to see SIX
>> raccoons in or around the grape vine on the overhead trellis. The ones
>> on the ground scampered all of about 6 feet away, waiting for me to
>> leave so they could continue to eat the grapes, still green but very
>> plentiful this year. [...]
>
> In many places, coons are the chief reservoir of rabies -- and
> going out in daylight is likely to mean they have it; they're normally
> nocturnal.
>


It was dusk, not daylight. They come at dusk or later every year.
This year there are more of them than usual.

In our area they are more likely to harbor canine distemper.

gloria p