Play Possum?

there's only a few bugs or animals or things that really make me cringe. i try and have respect for all living things, including some of the less enchanting species that share our earth. roaches, rats and big spiders of the hairy persuasion are the main things that i try and stay away from. i know they all have their own place and significance on this earth, but that doesn't mean i have to want to hang out with them or like them really for that matter.

i've never really thought much of possums. mainly because i've only seen one up close in my life that wasn't dead (no pun intended) or running away quickly and was staring me dead in the face as soon as i opened my front door in the dead of night. talk about a little scared.

anyway...if only i had a video camera for this moment on saturday evening, when i casually open my back door with my glass of red wine to step out back for a moment and i see something dart across the top of the fence and run quickly off to my left. i realized in an instant that it was in fact a possum...although i'm sure my face was priceless. i realized i had stopped breathing for a second. i had to catch my breath as i closed the door behind me very slowly. it was then that i saw another one sitting on top of my fence. very still except that he kept turning his head to the side to glance at me. i opened the door not taking my eyes off the rat-imal and said "guys...uh...can you come here for a moment?" crack monkey joins me at the door along with the ladybug and we all stood in bewilderment for a moment staring at this thing. i'm not gonna lie...it was creepy. and even creepier that when we made noise or tried to shoo it away, it just sat there. one moment with it's back to us, the next moment, moving it's head to the side to stare at us. i didn't realize that their tails were so rat-like...which makes it even harder for me to sit here without getting the chills.

anyway....the ladybug caught it on film:




looking at these photos gives me the shivers whew.

on a happy and smiley and fuzzy note, here's mr. marshall at 3 months courtesy of the ladybug. we took him to the vet on saturday for his 2nd round of shots and the vet just about freaked. he's grown 71% in 3 weeks. he's now 22 lbs. good lord. we are gonna have a big fella on our hands.