rocknhorse: blog 
rocknhorse's blog
surprise visitor
Published Jun. 23, 2008
Last night, before going to bed, we had a surprise visitor.
Every night, before going to bed ,we let Abby (our lab) out to take care of her business. If the evening is nice, sometimes she sleeps outside. Most of the time, she's inside. If we are gone, she stays out, so we always keep some food and water on the back deck. In the years we've had dogs, we never had much problem with leaving the food out. I often see birds at the food bowl, but that's all. Last night changed things quite abruptly.
As soon as the door opened, Abby bolted out onto the deck. Startled, my husband made some sort of sound and Abby just dropped what was in her mouth. It was an opossum. EEEKKK!!! Abby was great, she dropped it and then we let her back inside while we considered what to do. Finally, my husband asked for something with a long pole. I brought him a telescoping pole for booms and such. He extended it out and basically tossed the 'possom' over the fence.
BLECTH! I do NOT like rodents of any form. I can't help but think of the diseases they carry and can transmit. I'm the person who catches black snakes and puts them under my house. This truly gave me the willies last night. I'm glad Abby dropped it immediately and came back in. She was a good girl.
Hope we don't have a return visitor.
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Also the same way I felt about 2 weeks ago when I was checking bluebird boxes down the road... found 3 almost fully grown bluebird babies dead, who were alive and chirping at their parents the week before. What killed them, I will never know.. Was it the heat? Probably...
The same way I felt earlier this baby bird season when I started finding newly hatched bluebird babies, 1 a day, laying in my yard dead.
Nature is never easy and it is usually not very forgiving, but it is nature and through the years I have had to learn to accept that everything is in the food chain, as much as I hate it sometimes, it is part of the package deal with the wildlife I deal with.
GOLO member since July 19, 2007
June 23, 2008 6:54 p.m.
GOLO member since March 20, 2008
June 23, 2008 2:53 p.m.
A rather successful defense tactic in my personal experience. Made me want to leave it well alone!
GOLO member since July 18, 2007
June 23, 2008 1:58 p.m.
GOLO member since April 24, 2008
June 23, 2008 1:49 p.m.
GOLO member since July 19, 2007
June 23, 2008 1:47 p.m.
June 23, 2008 1:46 p.m.
A time or two I let the dogs out in the morning while he was here and would go back to let them in and find the opossum standing under my dogs waiting by the back door. Thankfully my dogs knew better than to touch anything that looked like wildlife. Of course I did not let the opossum in, but he thought he was going to come in ;-)
GOLO member since July 19, 2007
June 23, 2008 1:45 p.m.
GOLO member since July 3, 2007
June 23, 2008 1:44 p.m.
GOLO member since August 16, 2007
June 23, 2008 1:38 p.m.
Racoons could come round for food too, and they both can carry rabies.
If my dog had had a possum in her mouth, she'd be at the vet right now cause blood or not, rabies could be transmitted.
God bless.
Rev. RB
GOLO member since July 2, 2007
June 23, 2008 1:37 p.m.
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