Wild Thing

The girls were doing tumbling in my room when they saw this out the window. That was around 3:30PM. The possum wandered off and showed up again for another drink 15 minutes later. That's when I finally found my lost camera with dying batteries. I took the batteries out and rubbed their ends and slipped them back in for that one last picture. Thinking the excitement might not be over I plunked those rechargeable batteries in the wall outlet. So glad I did.

Because at 6:45PM my camera caught this...



and then this...



and the prize photo...



Fearless Dr. B grabbed the live possum by the back and then did what any self-respecting trapper would do. He chased the kids and me around the yard with the possum dangling in his hand. There were some terrifying moments of circling the pool trying to get away from the wild man trying to tag us with the limp possum (who had enough sense to play dead). I won't quickly forget my man's deep chuckles as he teamed up with his big rodent friend.



I escaped out the back fence to get a box to put the possum in for transport. When I returned, the kids were all petting the possum and wanted a picture with it. Because it was dark outside, I couldn't see my view finder properly, and I cut out some of the posing pretties. They were all there and informed me that the possum had unusually soft fur.

Jane thought we might keep him as a pet. Dr. B being his usual self suggested we call him "Bitey." Fritz thought we should take him to the hospital and let him roam inside. Emily thought we should take him to the park and let him go down the slide. Alex thought the possum might be good for show and tell at school. After much brainstorming, possum took a trip in a FedEx box to his new home near a river.



However the real wild thing came back home and ate lasagna and salad with Caesar dressing as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened.