An Uninvited Houseguest

We find ourselves with a furry friend in our garage. He is enjoying munching on empty pop cans (which had been placed back inside their cases for delivery to the grocery store, but which are now scattered all over the floor), making all sorts of lovely noises during the night, and sleeping blissfully during the day in some cozy corner yet unfound. Mike wandered around the garage this morning and, since he couldn't find the little bugger, declared him gone. But...I know he's simply hiding somewhere having little fuzzy soda-filled dreams. I'd like to think our guest had vacated, but for now I will refrain from walking through the garage without a pair of boots and a broom. I shall even park outside and use the side door rather than subject my ankles and shins to the possibility of being savaged by it's wicked needle-teeth.

What could have me so flustered you ask?

Now, I am sure some of you are thinking, "What is that?" The rest are wondering, "You're scared of a opossum?" *sigh* Yes. Yes I am. You have obviously never seen their teeth. No sane and rational person would ever take a good look at all those long, needle-sharp, wicked looking teeth and not fear getting munched upon.

I had someone tell me that I had nothing to worry about since they move so slow. Trust me, just because they slowly amble across roads and get squished does not mean that they are always slow...it just means that your car doesn't scare them. I am begining to think nothing scares them. Make a loud noise, move toward them, throw pop cans at them, it doesn't matter. It will just sit there and stare at you. Then it will go back to doing whatever it was doing before. Like sleeping. However, when one decides to chase you while you're walking through the woods you quickly find out just how fast they can move. You also find out how hard it is to spot them when they're moving through (or should I say under) ferns. It is also hard to spot them when they are the same color as the floor and lower walls of your garage. And believe me, they can move when they want to.

Okay, you can stop laughing now. Yes, I really was chased by an opossum once. Yes, it scared me (since this seems to not be normal behavior for the opossum, I had things like "rabies" bouncing around in my head while I ran away...tell me it wouldn't have scared you, too). And yes, I've seen their evil teeth up close. My dog (anyone remember Coby?) cornered one and I, like an idiot, stood 10-15 feet away and took pictures while it hissed at my dog (who was happily wagging his tail, thinking he'd found a new friend). The teeth still make me shudder.

So, now I'm hoping my parent's neighbor will let me borrow their live trap. It's either that or I call pest control (I tried shooing it out with a broom but it crawled away somewhere and hid...probably fell asleep again). Hope your Holiday guests are more welcome than mine (and smell better)!