I pride myself on being an urban dweller, but with a rooftop garden where I grow tomatoes, cucumbers, fabulous swiss chard and all sorts of flowers. Getting things started this year has been a bit of a battle though, because something kept digging up the new little plants right after I set them out. I've only got two survivors from the morning glory seeds I started. The Martha Stewart lime green zinnias fared a bit better and there are six of those, all just about to blossom. Most of the larger plants are fine, except for a cluster of salvia that keeps getting all matted down. All along, I've been attributing the problem to squirrels, though it doesn't make sense that they'd still be looking for nuts buried last fall. The true culprit showed up the other day however. When I went out to water I noticed torn off bits and pieces of flowers and leaves lying on the deck. The poor salvia was more battered down than ever, almost like something had sat on it. As I tried to coax it back upright, I heard a slight noise behind me. There, right between me and the door was a raccoon with its dark circle eyes just staring at me. I quickly realized that one of the things I like about being urban is not finding myself in a situation such as this. With no place to back up and quietly move away, I just stared back. I'm not sure who was more scared, but the raccoon gave up first and disappeared under the deck. After a minute or so, I walked gingerly across the deck right to where he'd been, opened the door and leaped inside. Though urban raccoons are fairly commonplace now, I don't care to be in a common place with them.