Santy Claws, Jr.

I sleep with windows wide open at night. Love the fresh air.

Last night I awoke at 2am listening to strange distant sounds, metallic sounds. Was something walking on my roof? In my gutters? I listened. No, too far away. In my neighbor's gutters? Too curious to stay asleep I got out of bed and using my superhero hearing sensitivity zeroed in on the location of the noise. It took me to the hall landing and I peered outside the open window into the night. The noise was coming from my shed. I ran downstairs for the flashlight and peered through the window. I couldn't see movement and the noise stopped. I went back to bed and the gnawing continued. Rats? Only rats are that relentless in their gnawing. During the bewitching hours my yard becomes a very popular haven for hungry animals with fangs so I never go outside in the middle of the night. I decided to wait until morning. I closed the windows and fell asleep to the faint sound of gnawing in the background. I resolved to scatter cayenne pepper all over everything tomorrow...maybe buy some rat poison. I hate rats.

But I love opossums! And I know I have a opossum friend who visits my yard every night as every morning if I didn't fill my water bucket so it's heavy, it's laying on its side.

And she steals my strawberries, but spits them out. (Not anymore with all the chicken wire!)

And there is a thoroughfare under my fence.

I don't want to use rat poison as the opossum would eat it too.

So this morning I went out to the shed armed with my flashlight to see what was going on, checked for holes (although the shed is metal the floor is plywood), and made a plan. I look in the corners. My eyes scanned under the wheelbarrow, garden hose, and large plastic pot. Wait! Inside the pot was a pair of tiny little eyes staring up at me. The little baby opossum wasn't sure what to do.

Momma must have dropped him and couldn't get him out which is why she was frantically trying to tear down the shed last night.

I can hear my neighbors next door and one yells good morning not ten feet away. If I tip the pot over and let him out and he runs to her house, she'd kill him. So I gave him a container of water, a couple apple cores, and closed the shed door a little so cats couldn't get to him. I'll wait until dusk and let him out hoping momma is nearby ready to rescue him.

I love opossums! I guess the babies sneeze to call their mommas. Ah, so cute.

For such a little guy, he sure does stink...

Later...at dusk I tipped over the pot. Sneezer sat in there for a while not knowing what to do then carefully crept to the back of the shed. When it got dark I went up to my bedroom and scanned the front yard. Sure enough I saw glisten of white and movement of something creeping through the garden so I ran to the side window to watch the shed. I just wanted some closure, to know he is safe and back with his momma. Nothing. Now while I changed windows for a better view he could have ran to her sneezing "MOMMA YOU ARE BACK! THANKS A LOT FOR DESERTING ME!", but I saw nothing. No happy ending. All night I was worried I'd get up and find him still hiding in the back of the shed, but he was gone. The next night there Sneezer was again sneaking through the gardens. I shone the flashlight on him and his eyes looked electric. He's so small. As long as he doesn't move in under the house and mess everything up, I'm fine with his visits...for now.