You won't believe it.
I saw it AGAIN! Tonight. I think it lives here and I don't like that AT ALL!!
I had to get my suitcase out of my truck and I told Hilary that I was going to be right back...and I said...let's hope the possum is GONE!
I stepped outside of the door, turned and locked the door.
I walked slowly and carefully to the steps where I had seen it before. Nothing.
I continued walking slowly, cautiously looking and listening for any sort of thing out of the ordinary. THEN... I saw it. It came down from the other set of stairs. Looked at me...YES...looked at me and then walked out to the parking lot...where my truck is parked...where my final destination was. I ran...yeah...I RAN back to the apartment and got Hilary. I told her to get a coat and some shoes...she's coming with me. So her and I, hand in hand, her in her pajama pants and I with my camera, set out to the parking lot. It was quite scary, not knowing where that guy was. We quickly got my suitcase out of the truck and tried to make as much noise as possible. We hurried back to the apartment with no (o)possum sighting.
I can't believe that I saw it again. I'm officially terrified!
I also can't believe the response on my last post about this. You all are hilarious! Check out the comments if you haven't already!
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8 years ago
10 comments:
Em
All you ever wanted to know about opossums!! http://www.opossum.org/
They're pretty harmless and timid - more scared of you than you need to be scared of it - but if you ever see one motionless (they play dead if they're scared) don't go near them. They will get nasty if you provoke him.
We can all learn from Mr. Possum!! This is what he does if he fears attack. We should ALL learn to do the same, should we experience another terrorist attack, or get mugged, or are just followed down a dark street!
"If attacked, the opossum falls onto its side. Saliva drools from its slightly opened mouth. Fecal matter and a greenish foul smelling mucus is excreted from its anal glands. Its breathing becomes shallow as it clenches its front feet into balls. With tongue hanging out and eyes tightly shut it lies limp and motionless.
The opossum will play dead anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. At this time it cannot be provoked into moving. It can be kicked, poked and prodded, pinched or bitten without giving any signs of suffering. When the danger has passed, the opossum toddles away as if nothing ever happened.
This is the opossums way of surviving a fatal attack. Most predators, except carrion eaters, ignore dead prey. No one knows for sure what happens when a carrion eater finds an opossum playing dead.
Wildlife biologists have yet to determine whether feigning death is deliberate or an involuntary reaction. Some say that chemicals released into the brain cause a temporary coma, but recordings of brain activity show that the opossum is in a highly alert state."
Thank you John Carlson for not only educating me on (o)possums but also showing me how DISGUSTING they truly are. I mean, I was a (o)possum hater before this but now I am sold that there is nothing grosser than a nasty, greenish fecal matter dropping rodent. As if it being itself wasn't gross enough, now I am aware of the color of its pooh. Merry Christmas to me.
P.S. Does anyone else think it's a little awkward that this guy suggests we do this should we experience another terroist attack, mugging, etc? No offense John Carlson, and I am sure you are a nice fella, but I just don't want greenish fecal matter to be my response.
I'm with you, Ange, on the whole nasty naked tail thing. The reason I started hating rats (as if it being a rat wasn't bad enough) was the naked tail. I think it's dry heaving worthy when that little tail curls itself around something.
Blech.
And Em, please don't EVER EVER tell me about a nasty (o)possum being under someone's bed. I will not be able to sleep tonight. Thanks. Did I tell you about the stray cat that almost ate my face off?
And Holly, man, I love you. Only you would take a raccoon bite for me. :) ha ha
Hey Emily, I just stumbled upon your blog reading a P-view one and clicked it to see if you had moved to Austin. It looks like you truely are being initiated by the Texan wild life. Wait until you see a tarantula or a "ratler"! Have you seen a scorpion yet? This Iowa girl, called her husband screaming the first time I saw one. What can I say...I had only seen them on the discovery channel's "Most Deadly Insects" show. Don't worry, the Texas ones really are not deadly to humans.
If you click on my blog, you can read a Nov 3rd posting where one of those creepy Austin crows landed on my head at Hula Hut.
Thank goodness the good qualities of Austin far outweigh the insects and wildlife.
From fellow Iowan/Austin-ite,
Emily Kacmarynski
Em- I am now more aware of possums than I ever wanted to be! By the way do you remember the time I came home late at night and I had hit 5 raccoons, a whole family I killed. Then I called you to make you come out and see if they were plastered to my tires. I swore they were still there and I swore that every raccoon was after me! Just don't kill a possum or this one will have it in for ya.
**By the way Wayne was telling me that his dog, Jack brought in a possum through his doggy door..ALIVE! The little squirt of a dog drug this thing in to the top of the stairs and then left it where it played dead. Gross! Molly and Marla freaked out. I think if I remember correctly Wayne scooped him up with a shovel and took him outside. Disgusting!
Anyway Em I have faith in you! You can take on this possum...after all you have been through many animal experiences...cats living in the basement of the big old house (even in the dumpster)...plenty of mice, we even had to call Joe over and then what was that one animal under your car tire...Shadley might remember...I think it had the face of a pig and the body of a possum...hmmmm...and then we went outside and tried scaring it out with a big pole, but it didn't move....I think we might have even called Joe for that one too, maybe he wasn't home and we called Dan Grimes. Who knows...my point is this possum is minor to all the animals that you have taken on in the past! And I am so sad I can't be there to experience this one with you.
jo- thanks for backing me up on the naked tail thing. i have an ongoing argument with eli about whether or not it would be cool if humans had tails. he says yes, i say SICK! they'd be all naked and gross. and i know if i had a tail it'd run into stuff all the time and probably make a gross fleshy thud sound all the time. gross. it makes me want to puke. or secrete green poo.
sick!
Em, I can just invison you now, crawling on the ground with large flashlight in hand, trying to make sure the possum isn't lurking under your truck! It could bite your toes off....
okay mr.john carlson....way more info than I knew.... and yah I would be more afaid of the scorpions and rattlers and cotton mouths, centapeeds, rabid squirrels and coons, oh oh oh don't forget the wild dogs!
My folks lived in OK for 10 years and there are plenty of things to be scard of! possum is on the bottom even for the natives.
John-very informative. I am even more grossed out now. I think I need to be done posting about possums.
Emily-HEY!!! It was so good to hear from you! Hilary and I are in Austin and we are LOVING it! We should try and get together sometime. We have been going to the Stone and getting connected there and it's been really good.
Meghan- I died laughing at your comment. I completely forgot about some of that stuff. We should just have a blog about all of our crazy life moments together! THAT would be interesting!! that is great!
Ange-I can remember thinking at one point that it would be cool to have a tail, that was when I was young and when my sisters and cousins would make me be the dog when we were playing house. Now...I say sick along with you. I agree that naked tails are disgusting.
lm1- There are lots of things to be afraid of...it just happens to be that right now Possums are definitely on the top of my list. It used to be cockroaches and then geckos...now possums.
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