Don’t feed raccoons and don’t wave sticks at them

This column was originally published Nov. 7, 2008:

Gee whiz, I’ve had to go straight from my summer bathrobe to my winter bathrobe without even going through my fall/spring bathrobe.

I’m not complaining, mind you. These nippy mornings feel great, don’t

you think?

We recently had a raccoon on our back porch eating dry cat food I had put out for the neighbors’ cats.

My son said I shouldn’t do that because the raccoon will come to expect it and break a window to get into the house to get more.

Is this good information?

Sort of. You shouldn’t be leaving pet food outside for raccoons or other moochers to find.

And there have been plenty of stories about raccoons getting into folks’ houses.

I read one story about a guy in Kansas City who had a raccoon nesting in the eaves of his house. He took a couple of shots with his BB gun to no effect.

So he tied a rag to a long pole, soaked it in kerosene and set it on fire and waved it at the raccoon.

You’ve already guessed what happened, haven’t you?

The firefighters estimated the damage to the bright boy’s house at $25,000.

Anyway, raccoons do get into houses, especially by way of attics or through pet doors. But I think it is very unlikely that one would break a window just to

get at your larder.

If a candidate for office makes a concession speech and for some reason it turns out that he or she actually receives the most votes, does the concession speech count?

A concession speech has no legal significance. What counts is the total number of votes.

Don’t forget that in 2000 Vice President Al Gore phoned George W. Bush on election night to concede and then called him back to retract the concession after he realized how close the Florida vote was.