An interesting find today....

I sent Steve off to work this afternoon and ran out to get on the mower before the rain came. The lawn looked as if we were trying to grow a field of hay when we got back from our vacation. Steve mowed, but it couldn't be done short since it was so thick. It needed to be done again. Well imagine a surprise I got as I rode the mower down the walkway...

But here's the beginning of how it started:

Two nights ago our daughter was up drawing and reading and noticed the dogs wimpering at the window. She opens the door to see what they are looking at and to check out her cats when my dog, Sophie, rushes past her (she does this with them because they won't make her sit/stay when they open the door)...anyways. She rushes out because she knows what it is and is determined to rid the yard of anything that is not supposed to be there.

Turns out an opossum had waddled up again to the all you can eat diner on my front porch. Our daughter had yet again fed too late...so Sophie goes after the opossum and proceeds to give it a good thrashing. Daughter quickly realized that mom was right in fussing at them to make said dog sit/stay! While she's watching this unfold she notices another white blur fly past her...Ugh, she forgot to shut the door and so Maggie-beagle took full advantage and shot off out into the dark yard and across the neighbors...she comes back when she wants to...about half an hour later when the cat food became too much ignore!

She comes to get me about the time that Sophie let the thing go when it went limp and called the dog in. Then she notices three babies wander off from the mom. She comes in to get me out of bed and let me know what transpired. I head out and the opossum is still laying there. Maggie-beagle was just heading towards the porch for some cat chow.

I put her away and went over to the opossum, that was still laying there. DD thought she was dead. We waited a few and then noticed it started breathing. It got up, though quite wobbly. I think she did some damage to it, but it waddled off, we weren't sure if she picked up the babies since when she started walking off, we went in so she could find them and take them away. DD never saw where the babies went since she came in the house to get me as they scattered.

Well that's what I found when I got on the mower...as I mowed down the walkway I noticed something crawling away on the ground. I thought I'd injured a large rat, but knew better since I have 5 good mousers in the front yard and so I stopped the mower and took a closer look. I found it was an opossum baby. I found a second one under the border plants. The third was found though not alive...cats may have gotten to that one. It was a little small.

So it's into a crate they went until tomorrow morning when I can call the wildlife center to find out what they recommend to do with them. I can't leave them in my front yard. They'll be killed. They sure are cute though and fiesty, although if you sit calmly, they will sit on top of your hand and watch you.