It’s been quite a weekend! Only way to describe it was to create a neologism: … one word combining two words. SERENDINCIDENCE
serendipity (serend) … “a pleasant surprise” … + co-incidence (<co-in> incidence) … “accidental events that might have been arranged but weren’t”)
It began yesterday when I went to the shed to get the compressor to put air into the utility trailer so garden branches etc. could be taken to the recycling depot. When I opened the shed, I heard a “twittering” sound
… a bird had somehow become trapped inside the shed. But it wasn’t a bird.
It was Mama Raccoon.
I checked the shed again and she was still there … menacing, ready to strike. “Babies – she’s protecting her babies” I thought. Leaving the door open, I hoped she’d make her way out with her babies. No such luck.
I want to get rid of them … humanely … so I googled, posted on FB, made phone calls and learned a lot (!) about raccoons and how to get rid of them:
… leave door open … put bright light inside … play talk-radio (they don’t like human voices) … “disturb” their “den”
Last night … the shed door was left open … talk-radio was played, but a recent shoulder injury meant I couldn’t hang the light or move things out of the shed to disturb the “den.”
And then co-incidences: … I left my scarf in church this morning … a friend came by to drop it off … I told her about the raccoons in the shed … and that I couldn’t hang the light because of the shoulder injury.
Before heading home, she noticed a neighbour unloading his car, told him about the situation
and then serendipity … he hung the light … emptied the shed and cardboard that Mama Raccoon had used as a nest for her kits.
If the co-incidences hadn’t happened, I’d not have had the serendipitous pleasant happening of Mama and the Kits leaving. They’re gone!
And I’d never have had the fun of creating a neologism SERENDINCIDENCE.
Photo & Text © June Maffin
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