Wildlife in the Midwest, Part 4
The varmints are at it again!
Very early yesterday morning, Tuesday, at around 12:30-ish I got up to use the bathroom -- not unusual in itself, because of that damned diuretic I have to take for my blood pressure, and Jethro got excited and wanted to go out 'since you're up, Mom' -- again, not unusual.... but when I opened the door, I smelt skunk, and said something to the silly half-Chow about 'no playing with the black and white kitty', which of course he ignored. So I put him out on the tie-out, walk through the kitchen while carefully stepping around Bel who is sprawled out in front of the sink, into the hallway past the pantry door, and around the corner into the bathroom. Ever since BoyfriendZ moved in we've kept the hallway light on 'dim' to prevent night time collisions with black dogs in dark rooms, which means there's enough light to navigate, even with the bathroom door closed (like I need to turn the light on in my own house to use the bathroom!), but not enough light to fully wake someone up and prevent them from going back to sleep quickly. I do what I need to do, and walk back through the hallway and the kitchen, past Bel who has managed to turn herself around completely and go back to sleep in those few short minutes, and to the door to let Jethro back in. Jethro seemed a bit agitated, but no lingering odor, so I gave him a treat to help settle him down and went back to bed.
Except Jethro didn't settle down. I could hear him pacing around the kitchen, and then he came into the bedroom and whined a bit. I tried to 'shush' him, but then he paced around the bed and whined a bit at Husband before coming back to my side of the bed.... it was probably only a few minutes, but then he went back out into the kitchen and flopped down. I figured he'd gotten it out of his system.... Hah! The next thing I knew, Bel was barking ... not her 'I want attention' bark or the 'Jethro is in my way, he needs to move NOW!' bark .... it was her 'Something is Strange, Mom!' bark.... so I get up, and she's still lying down by the sink, but facing towards the hallway, and I got down on her level -- 'what's wrong, babe?', and I looked toward the hallway, and right in front of the pantry door --- there's something on the floor. First thought, a bit of laundry or a towel fell off the kitchen chair right next to the pantry ... BUT THEN IT MOVED!
Second thought -- RAT!!!! but it looked too big....and we've never had rats before.... I edged a bit closer and it moved again, just a little, and I saw pointy face and longish tail --- POSSUM??? So I edged back again, and called Husband --- "Hey! Help! There's a Wild Creature in the House!" He stumbles up and out -- "What?!" "I think its a Possum and its in the hallway!" -- at this point we probably should have turned on all the lights, but we didn't so we're both kind of stumbling around the kitchen, trying to restrain two dogs from investigating, and keeping an eye on the intruder.... Jethro gets shut in the bedroom after Husband pulls on his pants, and the critter starts moving further into the hallway towards the mudroom (and Daughter's room!) and we're trying to figure out the best means of wildlife removal without ANYONE getting bit or clawed...
at roughly one o'clock in the morning.
So, Husband says he'll go outside and open the Mudroom porch door, putting Bel out on the back porch as he goes, and I grab the lid off the
trash bin to use as a shield as I stalk the possum, which has retreated to the mudroom and curled up, 'playing possum'. Fortunately, the door of Daughter's room is shut tight, and Husband has propped the storm door open with a board from the ramp repair, and I'm able to gently push the possum out the door using one of Daughter's shoes, and onto the porch. Then I quickly closed the mudroom door, locked it, double-checked the status of Daughter's door again, then closed the connecting door into the house, just in time to be rushed by an excited Jethro, and Husband is coming in with Bel from outside.
Then its "How the Holy Heck did that Possum get into the House!?!?" Husband postulated that it came in through the basement crawlspace, and may have been hidden in the mudroom when I did my walk-through at 12:30. Except the basement door has been closed since roughly 10 pm when I brought the laundry up. My thought, since possums can climb, and recalling a recent TV commercial featuring a raccoon in an attic, is maybe through the attic,,,, but again, the attic door has been shut all evening.... So we go back to bed and try to go back to sleep, after giving the Chows some attention, 'good dogs!' and treats....
BUT -- that was not the end of it! Because around about 3:45 a.m. Jethro starts yelping and fussing, so I get up (so does Husband, since it's almost time for him to get up anyway --he's back on 10 hour days at Work), check the mudroom and porch - possum's gone, no surprise! Went back to the kitchen, where Jethro is still fussing, looked out the sliding glass door and THERE'S a RACCOON down by the sunflower bird feeder trying to stretch up and climb to get at the suet cake!
Like I told Husband, all we need now is a squadron of squirrels and a battalion of bunnies to turn up, and we'd have a full set!
Of course, Daughter and BFZ slept through it all.
But, What the Heck? How did that possum get in???
Very early yesterday morning, Tuesday, at around 12:30-ish I got up to use the bathroom -- not unusual in itself, because of that damned diuretic I have to take for my blood pressure, and Jethro got excited and wanted to go out 'since you're up, Mom' -- again, not unusual.... but when I opened the door, I smelt skunk, and said something to the silly half-Chow about 'no playing with the black and white kitty', which of course he ignored. So I put him out on the tie-out, walk through the kitchen while carefully stepping around Bel who is sprawled out in front of the sink, into the hallway past the pantry door, and around the corner into the bathroom. Ever since BoyfriendZ moved in we've kept the hallway light on 'dim' to prevent night time collisions with black dogs in dark rooms, which means there's enough light to navigate, even with the bathroom door closed (like I need to turn the light on in my own house to use the bathroom!), but not enough light to fully wake someone up and prevent them from going back to sleep quickly. I do what I need to do, and walk back through the hallway and the kitchen, past Bel who has managed to turn herself around completely and go back to sleep in those few short minutes, and to the door to let Jethro back in. Jethro seemed a bit agitated, but no lingering odor, so I gave him a treat to help settle him down and went back to bed.
Except Jethro didn't settle down. I could hear him pacing around the kitchen, and then he came into the bedroom and whined a bit. I tried to 'shush' him, but then he paced around the bed and whined a bit at Husband before coming back to my side of the bed.... it was probably only a few minutes, but then he went back out into the kitchen and flopped down. I figured he'd gotten it out of his system.... Hah! The next thing I knew, Bel was barking ... not her 'I want attention' bark or the 'Jethro is in my way, he needs to move NOW!' bark .... it was her 'Something is Strange, Mom!' bark.... so I get up, and she's still lying down by the sink, but facing towards the hallway, and I got down on her level -- 'what's wrong, babe?', and I looked toward the hallway, and right in front of the pantry door --- there's something on the floor. First thought, a bit of laundry or a towel fell off the kitchen chair right next to the pantry ... BUT THEN IT MOVED!
Second thought -- RAT!!!! but it looked too big....and we've never had rats before.... I edged a bit closer and it moved again, just a little, and I saw pointy face and longish tail --- POSSUM??? So I edged back again, and called Husband --- "Hey! Help! There's a Wild Creature in the House!" He stumbles up and out -- "What?!" "I think its a Possum and its in the hallway!" -- at this point we probably should have turned on all the lights, but we didn't so we're both kind of stumbling around the kitchen, trying to restrain two dogs from investigating, and keeping an eye on the intruder.... Jethro gets shut in the bedroom after Husband pulls on his pants, and the critter starts moving further into the hallway towards the mudroom (and Daughter's room!) and we're trying to figure out the best means of wildlife removal without ANYONE getting bit or clawed...
at roughly one o'clock in the morning.
So, Husband says he'll go outside and open the Mudroom porch door, putting Bel out on the back porch as he goes, and I grab the lid off the
trash bin to use as a shield as I stalk the possum, which has retreated to the mudroom and curled up, 'playing possum'. Fortunately, the door of Daughter's room is shut tight, and Husband has propped the storm door open with a board from the ramp repair, and I'm able to gently push the possum out the door using one of Daughter's shoes, and onto the porch. Then I quickly closed the mudroom door, locked it, double-checked the status of Daughter's door again, then closed the connecting door into the house, just in time to be rushed by an excited Jethro, and Husband is coming in with Bel from outside.
Then its "How the Holy Heck did that Possum get into the House!?!?" Husband postulated that it came in through the basement crawlspace, and may have been hidden in the mudroom when I did my walk-through at 12:30. Except the basement door has been closed since roughly 10 pm when I brought the laundry up. My thought, since possums can climb, and recalling a recent TV commercial featuring a raccoon in an attic, is maybe through the attic,,,, but again, the attic door has been shut all evening.... So we go back to bed and try to go back to sleep, after giving the Chows some attention, 'good dogs!' and treats....
BUT -- that was not the end of it! Because around about 3:45 a.m. Jethro starts yelping and fussing, so I get up (so does Husband, since it's almost time for him to get up anyway --he's back on 10 hour days at Work), check the mudroom and porch - possum's gone, no surprise! Went back to the kitchen, where Jethro is still fussing, looked out the sliding glass door and THERE'S a RACCOON down by the sunflower bird feeder trying to stretch up and climb to get at the suet cake!
Like I told Husband, all we need now is a squadron of squirrels and a battalion of bunnies to turn up, and we'd have a full set!
Of course, Daughter and BFZ slept through it all.
But, What the Heck? How did that possum get in???