. . . and now a raccoon invasion

National Guard called to assist with sandbags along Rainy Lake on the Canadian border.
Weights piled on the docks keeps them from loosening and floating away.

Our friends, Wayne and Mary Ann Kasich, are under threat from the rising waters in front of their lakeshore home on Rainy Lake near International Falls. Our thoughts are with them as the rain continues. Rainy Lake drains a huge watershed on both sides of the border, releasing into Lake of the Woods, eventually flowing north to Hudson Bay. Dismal outlook. The Borderland is no place for softies.

Wayne writes:
Bad...the water is about 6 to 8 inches higher now than in the photo and they announced yesterday the lake will rise 15 more inches before it crests. The National Guard has been requested to help sandbag homes etc. Our house is OK. Lost 40 feet of dock and two cribs so far. [Cribs are sturdy rock-filled structures that carry dock sections.] Had a big wind last Thursday at the wrong time. This view is from our neighbor two doors down. Our dock is in the middle somewhere.
We are having check valves installed in our home and the bank building to prevent sewer back up. They sent us a warning for that too.
The worst high water flood ever was in 1950. We are approaching that. More rain is in the forecast today.

Disaster update -- and now the raccoons
Got three pallets of sand bags last evening (about 75) to add on top of barrels etc. today. All we can do is wait for the lake to crest sometime next week. DO NOT PRAY FOR RAIN. Someone already did that.
In the meantime, Mary Ann had been on Facebook noticing that a neighbor two doors down from her cabin two miles up the lake has been having problems with a raccoon. Last year and this spring.

On Monday, they announced that the raccoon was gone. They had installed a bright light and loud music in the attic for a couple days and it worked. 

On Wednesday, Mary Ann's summer renter called and said she was hearing a lot of noise in the attic. Yup. Damn thing moved in to Mary Ann's cabin. There are two 7" square vents in the peak and it tore off the aluminum louvers and the screen behind it. I put a 300 watt bulb in. Last night I climbed the ladder and the critter was still in there. I did not see any little ones so I hope it's a loner.
Trying to decide if we should choose punk rock or country western music this evening. Someone also said to dampen rags with ammonia also and toss in. I will do that too.
I will follow this up with a photo or two soon.

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We await images.