Oh! Possum

When I first moved here, the raccoons were bold, coming out in the daytime and showing up on the decks at night. I didn't have a dog then. Those raccoons were obviously used to having the run of the place. Perhaps they were a factor in the former owners moving away.

By the way, smacking a raccoon with a wet mop does nothing to change their outlook.

Chris brought me a Havahart trap. He told me to spread a bed of grass inside and put a single egg on it. Using that method, I dispatched thirteen of them that first summer.

 The grandkids got to see them up close and watch them run away when I released the trap door some miles away, far from other houses. Occasionally, there would be a possum in the trap. Since they are useful critters, eating bugs, I let them go.

After the coon hound came, it must have wiped the little smirks off those raccoons' faces. Even so, I kept setting the traps and did catch some.

Several times, Beau got one of the possums and brought it up to the yard. After a while, it would recover and wander off.

What inflation means to possums is last winter, when sunflower seeds shot up to over thirty dollars for a fifty pound bag, I had to withdraw my patronage from the birds. That left no seeds to clean up under the feeder. I thought I would be seeing the last of those dear possums.

Which was just as well, because last spring the strawberries started vanishing. There was a little possum path through the fence into the garden. One small possum came through it when I was finishing up at dusk. Not just a few berries were eaten, judging by the seed-filled droppings all over the yard. The little gluttons.

This spring, I forgot and left the cat food out on the back deck and found they had not moved away, after all. The sliding door was open. Beau charged the pet-proof screen, knocking it off the track. Dog and possum ran off into the night.

After that, it appeared there were two different possums, one bigger, that came up on the deck after dark. That set off Beau's loud barking that they completely ignored. Maybe possums have developed fearlessness on account of being unconscious when huge jaws grabbed them and carried them off. They probably think, "How'd I get here?" and then give it no more thought.

Alas, we came to a parting of the ways. With lots of green strawberries coming on, I made a decision. It would have been different if they had helped in any way to plant, weed, mulch, cover against frost or pick the berries. It was very much Little Red Hen of me, but I got out the trap. Also, I was was getting really tired of being awakened at night by Beau's deafening bark.

For about a week, I didn't catch anything. Then I added an over-ripe banana, sliced lengthwise in an attractive setting of green grass.

So, this is the smaller of the two possums. Obviously, the cat is used to seeing it around. The possum was very calm in the car and we said our good-byes five miles from here, at an undisclosed location.

Who could not love this face? Anyway, I hope there are only two of them. I'll need to go get some more bananas.