** sorry in advance... this is LONG!

I woke up an hour late for work today - while we are in the middle of a HUGE conference at work. Very important big-wigs that we have to ~impress~ (I work in catering at a University). Augh, just my luck. So I rush to get ready; shower, iron, dress, feed cats, etc. All set to leave and itâ??s POURING rain outside â?? and I have over a 3 block walk to my bus stop. Augh again. So I set about on my soggy way and FOR SOME REASON UNKNOWN TO ME at the time, I duck down an alley I donâ??t normally walk down. All the while rushing so I can catch the bus (for any of you that ride public transit, you know that can be a challenge at timesâ?¦). In my hurry, I come upon an older women who was obviously frantically upset. Here I am faced with a dilemma. I am already very late for work; itâ??s raining, I know the bus is around the corner, and Iâ??m getting wetter by the minute. So I pass by her, intending just to make eye contact with a sympathetic smile and continue on my way. Something made me stop and ask her if she was ok.

Turns out her frantic worry was regarding a little raccoon baby trapped in her window well. Youâ??ve got to be kidding â?? see above (Iâ??m LATE!). She was an older lady, obviously not well-off. She told me she had called several â??animal controlâ?? (me = cringing) companies and they would charge her $75 to $100 for removal (I shudder to think what ~removal~ might stand for). And on her tight budget she just canâ??t afford that. She tried the local Humane Society and they were trying to find someone to come out, but it could be hours before that might happen, and she is besides herself with worry that the little guy is hurt, or worse, may drown in the downpour. I tell her not to worry â?? Iâ??m her woman. She looks sideways at me, I know she didnâ??t think Iâ??d be of any use to her â?? especially in my high heals, short skirt, blouse, etc. Really, I tell her, I have over 13 years experience in animal rehabilitation and RESCUE, with an emphasis on the rescue, especially wildlife. I even whipped out my Humane Society Badge to show her (â??badgeâ?? may be an overstatement, as it is a business size card that I laminated to look cool, but it serves me well.)

I go to access the situationâ?¦ indeed a juvenile raccoon standing in about 2 inches of water. I try to â??examineâ?? him the best I can without the benefit of any of my normal rescue tools, and he seems to be uninjuredâ?¦ just very scared and very, very wet! Not a problem I tell her, Iâ??ll have him out in a jiffy! All said with a reassuring smile while inside Iâ??m wondering to myself how Iâ??m gonna get him out of there without any of my gear. I asked her if she had any wood lying around, or panel board or anything like that. We retreated to her garage and I found exactly what I needed, some 2 by 4â??s would do the trick. All this time she is just raving with happiness that someone is just willing to help her. I guess one or two people had passed by but didnâ??t care about the situation. Ha. Right place right time, right?

So I grab the wood and fashion a little ramp for the guy to climb out on his ownâ?¦ yeah, right. He thinks Iâ??m nuts, and so does the lady! Keep in mind Iâ??m in my high heeled sandals and donâ??t ~really~ want to climb in there with him, not in 2 inches of water! Back to the garage for another piece of wood which I used to gently nudge his stubborn little butt up the ramp. In no time at all, he got the idea and scampered up the ramp and into the yard and up into a tree for protection. No worse for wear, just a little soggy. Problem solved. The lady was in tears with happiness that he was finally out and seemed to be ok. It was just then that she got a phone call â?? the Humane Society calling back for an update. I took the phone â?? Hey Lisa, its Kristi. Problem solved, Raccoon out. Sheâ??s amazed â?? KRISTI??!! How on EARTH did you get involved?? She couldnâ??t believe it. She was actually calling to tell the lady that she was having trouble locating a rescuer and it might not be until the afternoon.

The lady was soo thankful, she wanted to pay me. I declined. She was very insistent, but again, I told her I donâ??t do this for money. I told her we would gladly accept a donation at the wildlife center if she really thought it was necessary and I gave her the info. I told her I must get going, as I was already a ~wee~ bit late for work (oh, like 2 hours by now!) and she told me to hold tight for just a moment while she ran into the house. Bless her heart, she brought me a baggie of homemade chocolate chip cookies â?? she felt it was the least she could do. I thought it was so sweet, in fact, I had tears in my eyes the whole bus trip to work that this little lady who didnâ??t have much just wanted to do something to thank me. Very cool. In fact, she was amazed that I kept thanking ~her~ for caring enough about the little guy to want to do something about it.

I left her with the promise that I would be back this weekend to talk to her about things she can do about her window wells (and the rest of her house and yard) to prevent things like this from happening again â?? installing grates over the wells, chimney caps, etc. In fact, I think I can talk a couple of my guy friends who are handy with the building tools, to make and install them for her. She was just in disbelief that Iâ??d actually make that offer and believe me, Iâ??ll follow thru.

So, I arrived at work a little soggy and quite a bit late, but they know me well enough by now, to expect some sort of crazy animal rescue story. I think they actually look forward to hearing my silly stories and the mishaps that sometimes happen during rescues. SO, even though I started the day, late and crabby and my attitude was not the best, I was taught a lesson about what matters most in this world. Helping out a little old lady who everyone else was ignoring and saving the little raccoon from a certain watery death. These are the things that matter. Iâ??m not sure exactly why I turned down that alley, itâ??s definitely not my normal route, but fate was working today, and sent me there for a reason â?? maybe thatâ??s even why I overslept, to be in the right place at the right time. And to think, I was just going to walk right on byâ?¦ Good thing I stopped to listen.

**SORRY this post is so long, but it was a cool experience for me and I just wanted to share. For all of you out there that do rescues, you REALLY DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Thanks to all for all you do!