Cold weather, hot sex

Yesterday it snowed here, which is a novelty for Texans. I confess I enjoy any excuse to build a fire in the fireplace and to do very little else. Of course I was hoping for a day off today, but the roads posed no problem.

However, I was still moving slowly this morning as my sleep was disturbed by strange noises at 3:00 am. It sounded like animals having some sort of dispute, but nothing I'd ever heard before. The closest similar sound was when I found two quarrelling possums on my neighbor's roof. Basically they just hiss at each other until one is bored enough to give in and walk away.

After several minutes, I finally crawled out from under the duvet to investigate. It sounded like something was going on in the back yard. As I went through the kitchen I realized that the cat population wasn't happy. A couple were downright fluffed up.

The source of the noise was two raccoons. But they weren't fighting, they were having hot raccoon sex in the back yard. Or what passes for hot raccoon sex when there's snow on the ground.

I chased them away, only to hear a repeat performance ten minutes later. Getting peeved - I need my sleep - I chased them off with a broom, but this time they were back in five minutes. At least the last go-round didn't last long. Soon peace reigned again.

I can't figure out why my back yard was such an ideal venue for horny raccoons. Can't they go get a hotel room like the rest of us?