Unfortunately, Monument Ave neglects to put trash cans anywhere NEAR or along their street, making it necessary for us to carry Milly's precious gifts up two flights of stairs and out unto the back staircase that leads to the most SKETCH-TASTIC alleyway ever known to man where we (aka Mike) must go every so often to take out the trash. (This works out well for me because I'm not "allowed" to set foot in said alley way for fear of being attacked by the homeless men that frequent our vicinity-darnnn I really like taking the trash out too.)
We have a bag that we collect said poops in, where we allow them to "ferment", much like a fine wine, for a few weeks before we add them to the trash on said "trash trips". As much as I'd LIKE to take on this job, Mike usually does this because he is always the one taking the trash (remember, it's for safety). We're pretty sure the neighbors that we share a staircase with really appreciate this process, but we don't really have any other options.
Moving on....it was a crisp Autumn evening tonight, just around dusk, when I open the back door to deposit poop bag. Who do I have greet me but THIS LIL CREEPER:
Yeah! I was about 6 inches away from an opposum!! (Wikipedia states that the spelling is interchangeable, but I want my mom to know I know that correct way).
I freaked out and slammed the door and peered through the blinds at it. It just looked at me. Naturally, my immediate next thought after my safety was documenting it. I couldn't get a picture through the window, so as it creeped down the steps (this has been a good minute at this point-he was going nowhere fast) I opened the door just a bit and snapped a quick picture. I risked my life for the purposes of this blog. That's dedication.
Since I'm a little rusty on my marsupials/garbage creatures, I quickly googled to make sure I was referring to the right animal.
Here are a few fun facts on possums I learned from Wikipedia:
-The first ones were found in Virginia in 1610 (naturally)
-"Playing Possum" is something that their body does involuntarily when they since danger and involves them pretending to look dead and emitting bad smells. They can do this for hours.
-They used to be a popular meat option, and many recipes called for them in The Joy of Cooking.
-Luckily, they are 8x less likely to have rabies than a dog. I'm not really sure how this fact is true, but I'm not going to doubt you Wikipedia, though so many do. I believe in you.
I had obviously seen these little guys before, but never so up close! It was like being at the zoo. A really really cheap zoo where they put creatures they can find around their house and place them in captivity for profit.
At least I kept him from getting into our secret stash! He'll probably be back tonight. He didn't seem too scared of humans. He is probably a pet of some homeless guy that lives somewhere around here.
I'm pretty sure that I felt a lot more like "playing possum" that he did. Another craaazzzyyy day in the adventures of Milly.
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