The Raccoon Bandito strikes again!
Here are the furry misfit’s footsteps. At 5am this morning. He went after a shoe-box (I bought new running shoes…see below) and inside the shoe-box I had used coffee grounds/filter from yesterdays coffee. It appears this guy has a liking to the scent of old used coffee.. which is, unfortunately, the hardest thing to clean up in the cockpit after it’s scattered everywhere. Being nocturnal must be easier when all that left-over caffeine is pumping through a 20 lb garbage monster. Why is it that now I live on a boat, out over the water, that a land critter is harassing me?
Not boat-related. I went to Road Runner Sports to get proper running shoes. A minute after walking in, they were having me answer questions about injuries, and then jogging on a treadmill. They video record your stride, and then play it in slow motion to analyze the pressure points, flexibility, and angles at which you run. Then, you stand on a mat that calculates the weight disbursement throughout your feet. It measures your arch, too. Then they heat-mold a custom insole for you in case you like the way it feels in whatever shoe you buy. Pretty cool to finally figure it out. This way, your selection is immediately narrowed down to a handful of shoes before you even begin picking out what style looks the best. It was very helpful. I got these puppies:
I tend to be one of those people that will participate more in a hobby after I drop some money into the gear. Case in point, $100 for a pair of $130 shoes, and now I want to run more to eliminate any guilt from the purchase. I got a discount for joining in the company’s “VIP” program. You can return or exchange the shoes, used and worn, for up to 90-days of using them if you decide they aren’t the right ones. I think that’s a pretty solid deal, especially for serious runners out there.
You’ll notice, also, that the box appears to be a perfect place to stash thrown-out coffee grounds for just one night if you don’t want to walk up to the the trash bins. But It’s not raccoon proof.