'Possum!

Last night Sasha started going crazy at the door. Often when this happens at night she ends up chasing a raccoon away from our bird feeders on the porch. I peeked out the window and instead of the usual raccoon face, saw a rather large opossum on one side of the porch rail while Sasha ambled up to say hello. I tapped at the window but she ignored me and I cringed, waiting for her to get a chomp on the face.

The critter just froze, played 'possum I guess, for a while, then when Sasha got too close he could stand it no longer and bared some nasty sharp pointy teeth. I dashed to the door and got Sasha in then waited for it to leave. Took some photos, up close, turned off the porch light, he still stayed. Bill came home nearly an hour later and he was still there. More photos and gawking, then turned off the light. Another half hour later Andy came up and sure enough there he was. I guess he's gone now.

The best news out of this? A week ago we were outside and saw a headless body with a rat tail. I assumed it was a very healthy and fluffy rat and had since been rather grossed out with the idea of rats near our house. Now I'm pretty sure it was a young 'possum and am actually a bit relieved by that.