That's Not a Chipmunk

I've been under-the-weather this weekend with a terrible cold and spending a lot of time on the couch, but yesterday as I was fixing myself a cup of tea I looked out the kitchen window and this is what I saw sniffing around near the pool where the chipmunk usually hangs out.........

It was a beautiful day and I really wouldn't have been surprised to see a chipmunk, but I certainly was surprised to see a raccoon.  They're nocturnal animals and it's not a good sign to see one out in the middle of the day.  And to top it off, it looked a little tipsy - another bad sign.

I immediately grabbed my camera as I watched it come towards the house and then down the side lawn.

I wanted to keep an eye on it and make sure that it was going to leave the yard and not crawl under the front porch.  So I followed it around the house from the inside and watched as it wandered toward the road.  Then a car came by and scared it back up to the house.  This time it didn't go under the porch, but rather decided to climb the stairs and check out the porch.  I had the inside door open and snapped a couple of pics through the storm door that were too blurry to post, but the raccoon didn't even notice me standing in the doorway. 

It wobbled down the stairs and then came around the other side of the house at which point I scurried to the back door and caught it coming around the corner.

From there it went back towards the pool and became interested in the droppings under the suet feeder.  I was quite sure it was going to climb that tree and go after the suet cake, but it did not.  Instead it waddled off into the neighbor's yard.

At that point I called the police to report a tipsy raccoon in the neighborhood and they told me to call back right away should I see it again and they would come and check it out.  I probably should have called earlier but I was home alone and I really wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to stay in the yard.