Bailey, an award-winning humor writer and biologist, tells us about his adventures with neighborhood beasts in stories about rampaging racoons, randy goats in yoga class, and exploding rat tunnels. No animal is too small or large to escape his pen, from head lice to pythons. These are stories about true events, spanning from Bailey's childhood days to his post-retirement years-embellished with a bit of exaggeration that resembles the styles of Mark Twain, Dave Barry, and Patrick McManus. Almost always, the beast gets the better of him. Other chapters include tales about house-chomping woodpeckers, lemon-eating roof rats, obnoxious opossums, fur coats made from mice pelts, snakes in the toilet, and other capers.