We have a lot of possums in our neighborhood. They freak some folks out, but they’re great to have in your yard—they eat bugs like ticks and they’re immune to rabies.
But those possums don’t always stay in the yard. Andy and I found one in the garage one night, sitting in a bag of dog food, chowing down. He blinked once at us and kept eating kibble. The possum continued to stuff his unbothered little face as Andy dragged the bag out of the garage and into the yard. Eventually the possum sauntered off into the night, sated.
We got a giant plastic container for dog food storage the next day.
Andy and I had a rare date night at a fancy gala when our son Dalton was in middle school. I was excited that there would be dancing. Andy was excited there would be good food he didn’t have to cook. Dalton was excited to finally be at home, alone, with unlimited time on his gaming computer.
But no sooner had the dancing begun than I got a phone call: “MOM! There’s a possum in the kitchen!”
“What?! Are the animals attacking it?”
“It’s in the corner under the chair and the dog barked but couldn’t get to it. I locked the dog and Boss Cat in my bedroom.”
“Well done, we’re on our way!”
We hurriedly exited the event (WHICH WAS NOT CHEAP, ALAS FOR DESSERT) as Dalton texted me a picture:
Halfway home, Dalton called again: “I got it out of the house!”
“Great job! How?”
“I set up exercise mats and cushions blocking off every path except for one to the door. Then I opened the door, got a broom, and kind of herded it along the path until it ran out the door.”
We congratulated Dalton on his ingenuity and speculated that the very small possum squeezed under the gap in our security door, possibly to escape a predator. Except fleeing into a house with a bully mix and a fierce cat was jumping from the frying pan into the fire. That possum was darn lucky that 1) our house is small, with minimal open space between furnishings, and 2) Boss Cat preferred to hunt other predators.
After we hung up the phone, Andy shook his head and said, “I can’t believe he got the possum out of the house.”
“Oh, I knew he would.”
“You did not.”
“Honey. Our kid is impatient as fuck. No way was he going to wait for us to get home.”
Especially not when his gaming computer was locked up with the barking dog and cat.
We are all motivated by different things that will get us to the end accomplishment. We have possums too but I rarely see them.
It used to be candy. Now it’s technology! I think the possums prefer not to be seen.
Serious motivation not being able to access the gaming computer! Too funny.
The gaming computer has been an excellent motivator.
Hey, you do the 1) and b) thing. I thought I’d trademarked that, but apparently not! (I bet few people even notice.)
Possums used to freak me out, but now I appreciate them. They do a lot more good than harm…especially around here, where ticks are abundant.
Well, I noticed it NOW. What’s up with the 1) b)? Choose a style, you two! Switching between numbers and letters is not a proper style.
-Righteously Indignant in CA
P.S. And you two are the ones insisting on a comma after Hopefully!
I’d like to say I did it on purpose to mess with Mark, but I think I really just need my own personal editor. Next time I’m going to write “a) 2)” just to mix it up, though.
I would like to blame autocorrect but really, it was all my scattered brain.
Oh, lol. I do it on purpose. Just to mess with Ilsa apparently.
On purpose?! My tidy little sole and internal editor could NEVER. I already fixed it.
Yep! I got it from a sitcom I watched years ago…can’t remember which one, but it might have actually been “Scrubs.” Seems like something Dr. Cox would say/do!
Too funny.
Poor little opossum… he probably heard there was free kibble to be had.
Right? The word is out. Or maybe he was having a bad day and was like, “I give up. Straight into the valley of death!”
Good for him! But then… did you turn around and go back for more dancing?
We’ve had a baby possum in our yard, twice. Just yard, thankfully. And they’re super cute when they’re that small.
I think we just gave up and went home. Sometimes dancing is at odds with parenting. Alas.
I’m surprised you didn’t stay for the dancing and dessert. It must have depended on how worried Dalton sounded. As it turned out, he handled the situation well. I’ve never seen a possum up close. Do they bite?
I wasn’t super worried, but I did feel like it was important to let him know that the cavalry was on the way. There were many issues that I had to handle on my own at a young age due to parental neglect; I always want my kid to know we have his back…while also giving him space to become his own person and successful hurdle obstacles alone (thereby gaining confidence).
Possums haven’t bitten in my experience, but they will hiss at you!
OMG that possum is so adorable.
Oh, possums. At least Dalton possum got out of the house – and it was the possum’s lucky day it didn’t face cat and dog. Now that would cause even more of a commotion. I guess anything to get back to gaming undisturbed. Gaming is probably his world and nothing will get in the way of it.
I was home alone one day when a bird decided to fly in the front door, and proceed to take a tour of the premises. I decided to not notify my wife and work towards as quick a resolution as possible, but not knowing if it would be a successful one (for the bird) had me keeping this occurence to myself for the interim. After about an hour…with some energy and a long broom, I managed to convince the bird to exit where it entered. Order had been restored. We don’t see too many possums in our area, but they are welcome…just not in the house.
Getting birds out id much, much harder! Kudos to you! I was lucky enough to have one hide in a slipper, which was the easiest bird removal ever–just carried the slipped outside, turned it upside down, and it flew away.
Testing, testing…
I’ve changed browser and am hoping this will resolve the situation with my comments being sent to purgatory.
Well, it’s not like I’ve been posting very much recently!
Which makes it all the more important that I can comment when you do!
Hurrah! I’m so happy!
Damnations upon Google Chrome for all the shite it put me through. I’m going to stick with Opera.