Opossum!

So, we were lying in bed last night about 10:15. Though that is way past my bedtime, it was too hot to sleep, and we were talking and waiting for the inevitable evening breeze that eventually kicks up and blows through the open window onto our faces.

 

“Crunch, crunch.” I hear, coming from the kitchen. Have you ever heard a noise that’s not so remarkable in itself, but you notice it for some reason…and it’s the noticing that makes you realize it’s unusual?

My man got up to investigate, and found this opossum, who had tried to hide beneath the cabinets when he turned on the light. He put on gloves and reached in to pick it up, and the thing flashed some vicious, vicious looking teeth and looked for all the world like it was about to turn Tazmanian Devil on us. …but it was a ruse. It never even tried to bite, and for the most part gave up the impression of it too.

The critter had come in to eat cat food. Knew right where to go, I guess, which makes us think it was not visiting us for the first time. I leave the door to the basement/kitchen/outside open all night some nights, to keep the air moving through. It must have come up the stairs for a treat.

Yesterday was an animal day.

I went out to pick raspberries from the back yard before I went to work. They are an unbeatable snack. It was a little after 5:00am, and just barely light enough to see which ones were ripe. A couple of raccoons popped up from the “hole” in the back yard (a notch carved out of the hill for a vehicle to park). One at a time, they loped through the grass, looked at me, moved on, sniffing the ground, and then moseyed on around the side of the house.

And of course, our two kitties who are growing to despise each other more every day. Major, major, fight in the house yesterday. Pumpkin, who used to just lie on his back, bewildered, when Cookie would hiss her pants off at him. He wanted her to play, but she only growled and howled at him. Then he started chasing her for sport  and then laughing at her when she took off like a rocket in a panic. Now, after two months, I believe he’s lost his patience with her for screaming and spitting and growling every time she spots him. When he sees her now, he simply attacks her. It’s bad.

I don’t know what to do when kitties fight even more, the longer they live together. What a bummer. My daughter, who comes home in a week – for good! – will be upset to see her two cats behaving like this.

P.S. oh yes, you saw the tattoo? If you are like most humans who have seen it, you recoiled. But I looooooooove it! This gorgeous work of art has no lines, only shading, in Dan Henk’s typical style. Henk is a great guy, and was a champ trying to make this go as quickly as possible since he was only a visiting artist when the work was done. Over four solid hours with no breaks! It is a human-shaped gargoyle (actually something of a Henk self-portrait) who is supposed to be a protector, to help my boyfriend fight his demons. But the gargoyle is actually a punk, so he’s got a bad attitude and isn’t always reliable. However, as a close up view of the tattoo shows, he does fight alongside my man, and he’s got the blood and battle scars to prove it.