Stevensons 5 Possums 2

Stevensons 5 Possums 2

Greetings to all of my friends and family

. . . . and to their friends and families - I know the story of our struggle with the possums has been widely dispersed

The weekend is finally here. I have completed 10 of the 70 days I have to teach this fall. That makes it 10 down - 60 to go.

We have had some more possum madness around here. Paul has plugged the heater vent outside but we know that there is either a resident possum or a visiting possum among us. He will spend some time this weekend looking for any more access points.

First of all, the possum population has begun getting up later than we go to bed which makes it harder to catch them. As the school week proceeds those of us who are teachers become progressively more exhausted and we have to retire for the evening sooner. The possum doesn't attend the horribly overcrowded school where I am teaching so he can just get a later start on his night. Lucky creature.

However, I did wake up before the sun came up on Friday. I came downstairs and headed for the kitchen to check things out. There was a possum on the kitchen counter. I chased it but it got away into the living room. I saw it run behind the couch and I never saw it come out.

At this point the entire thing ceased to be funny. I took everything that could possibly be considered food off the counter and waited for Paul to get up. He helped me turn the couch over to see if the possum had been living in the couch - it hadn't. I told Paul this was the end. We either get the possum tonight or we were getting a trap. He said we would try one more night and then we could investigate traps. I made it very clear that this HAS to come to an end.

We didn't see or hear any evidence of Possums before bed time. Paul had retired to his bath and I was finishing off one final deck of cards on my solitaire program. I headed upstairs and decided to check the kitchen one last time. I flipped on the light and there in the corner of the kitchen was a possum.

I yelled "PAUL!" in a very loud screeching voice. He jumped out of the bath and ran downstairs. I watched the possum who just sat there looking scared. Paul said we needed to get our possum catching equipment. Do you have any idea how weird it is that we have designated possum handling equipment? Anyway, he got the gloves and I got the laundry basket and the storage container lid that just fits into the basket.

I approached from one side with the basket, Paul approached from the other side and simply reached out and grabbed the possum. He put him in the basket and I clamped down with the cover. We lifted the cover long enough to ascertain that it wasn't Snarl. We named him Stretch. We briefly considered spray painting him. We decided against this as I am confident they cannot walk back from the historical society. Besides the spray paint was in the basement and we had a delivery to make - quickly. Paul headed off for the upstairs to get his wallet and his pants. I headed outside because if the possum figured out how to get out of the basket I wanted him to do it outside.

Paul came down, got the camera and we headed off to the historical society. Now, the historical society has a large arboretum and walking path behind it so depositing a possum there isn't really bad for it. There are lots of trees so there is no reason the thing can't survive. That is, if it has any survival skills besides raiding pantries.

We pulled up in the delivery area. Paul felt we should take pictures since this would hopefully be the last of the possums. I got out of the car and took the lid off the basket and tuned it upside down. Stretch had grasped the inside rungs of the basket. He had no interest in leaving and I had to give the basket several shakes before he could be dislodged. Finally, I was able to deposit the possum amid the monkey grass. We told him goodbye and bid him adieu.

We returned home feeling quite victorious. Paul retired upstairs to finish off his bath and I simply headed to bed.

We decided to leave out a slice of bread to see if we were finally possum free.

When I woke this morning I asked Paul if he had been downstairs last night. He said that he had and the bread was still there. I was really excited. But when I got downstairs the bread was gone. Oh Nooooooooooooooooo! There is at least one more.

The saga continues.

I am pleased that so many of you are enjoying this. I know it will seem more amusing to me when has been over for several months. May that time come SOOON!!!!!!!!!

Love to all of you

Pictures to follow

NANCY

AM Report

Paul covered up the heater vent because he thinks that is the most likely access the possums are using to get into the house

We have a new household member

She is Alice the Scooba.

She was out loudly cleaning the kitchen floor at our bedtime

So we had no visitors

I put out some bread when she was finished for the evening

I think the possums are living in the basement, Paul thinks they are coming in to scout out the premises

Anyway the bread was gone this morning

So I guess we still have some of them visiting

Perhaps we will catch the last one tonight

NANCY

Steensons 4 Possums 1

Well Paul got up in the middle of the night last night and surprised a possum on the kitchen floor

He chased him but the possum got away

I know the Mighty Blue Snarl could not have walked a mile back home in that amount of time

How many of these little creatures are there?

Next order of business is searching for possum entryways

I see more late night trips to the Historical society in our future

NANCY

The nightly hunt came early this evening

While watching Law and Order we heard a noise in the kitchen

We listened again, sure enough - dishes don't rattle themselves

We sprang into action

We advanced on the kitchen from both directions

Nowhere in the kitchen or the breakfast room could the possum be seen

I noticed an open cabinet, Roomba had been roaming and I had left a cabinet door open so Ralph the Roomba could clean beneath the door

Could he be in the cabinet?

Unfortunately, I guessed correctly

There in the back among the seldom used objects was a possum

Paul says "He looks like Snarl!"

Snarl was the first possum, so named because he liked to show his teeth

We took his picture

Then we removed all the plastic and glassware from the cabinet

An entire dishwasher load - oh joy

Paul thought awhile about how we were going to get him out

Then he got the marshmallow roasting fork

No Problem

Soon Snarl was in a laundry basket

We checked him out

He had blue green hair

ACKKK . . . . he was a repeat from last night

We got a better laundry basket (one with smaller holes)

We got a lid

We headed to the car

The Mighty Blue Snarl was taken to the Formal Gradens near the Tulsa Historical Society Building

Paul pulled up on the road that said "Pickups and Deliveries"

Well . . . after all we had a delivery

I got out of the car and deposited The Mighty Blue Snarl (may he be the last of his kind) amid the monkey grass

We have returned home

Victorious

I hope

We are retiring to the patio for a victorious toast

May your evenings be glorious

We will leave out bread

May it still be there in the morning

NANCY

possum pictures

Isn't he lovely

Especially with green spray paint

NANCY

Stevensons 3 Possums 0

Ah! . . . it is the evening

A hunt is anticipated

We retire to our computers

Anna calls

She is in the land of civilization - Massachusetts

We talk with her, I retire to the living room couch to hear of her fabulous success in pharmacy school

and there . . . lurking in the kitchen

I see a shadow of a possum

We tell Anna we have to get off the phone to go on our evening possum hunt

Paul goes one way

I go the other

We corner the beast in the kitchen

Paul has the camera at the ready - the batteries revolt of course

Finally we get the camera to work and Paul takes its picture (next email)

He chases it out of its corner and

SCORE!!!!

I get it in the laundry basket

I am getting good at this

I prepare to take it outside

And we remember the advice of our son Glenn

His hypothesis is that we are catching the same possum over and over

His suggestion is that we spray paint the possum to see if we are getting the same possum over and over

So . . . Paul heads for the basement - to find spray paint

I take the possum out in the laundry basket and play shake-a-possum

As I toss the possum in the air to prevent it from leaving the basket he grasps the side of the laundry basket with his marsupial tail

You know, I'd never really seen that action in an animal - but I digress

Paul returns, way too many tossings of the possum later

He has a can of green spray paint

We spray the possum

Twice - he doesn't like it much

You know, I've seen that color on student's hair

Finally, after several pictures we take him out behind the house

I lift the basket up and shake him into the psychologist's parking lot

Aren't her clients going to have a a scare?

Ah well

We shall put out the bread and see if we have gotten them all

Hope you are all having a wonderful evening

NANCY

Stevenson's 2, possums 0

Well the evening battle is over

We were sitting at our computers engaged in serious intellectual activity (playing solitaire)

I hear a noise

I say "Do you hear that noise" to Paul

He says "yep"

I back off from my computer and I see something run by in the living room

I tell Paul that I think it has run behind the couch

We get up and head for the couch, Paul yanks the couch out from the wall

No possum

He gets a flashlight and searches under the couch

No possum

I see it run by into the kitchen

We dash to the kitchen

It runs to the breakfast room

It hides behind one of the kitchen camping boxes that we haven't yet got stored from our summer camping vacations

We consider our course of action

I get the laundry basket to block its path back into the kitchen

Paul gets the gloves

The vicious creature is cowering behind the box

Paul yanks it out by the tail

It slips away

It runs back for the kitchen

I catch it in the laundry basket and we run it out on to the patio

Paul says "Lets get the camera!"

He heads off to get a camera

I watch it climb out of the basket

I pick up the basket and chase it across the lawn . . .off our property and onto the psychologist's parking lot (yes we now have a psychologist who offices behind us)

Anyway it is gone - may it be the last of its kind

I put out bread to see if there is another

More to come . . . . . . .

NANCY

More Weirdness

Okay, I put out a heel of bread on the kitchen floor last night

I tore it into two pieces and both were gone this morning

I even went up and woke up Paul to ask if he had had a sudden moment of cleaning and picked it up

No such luck

So I guess there is another creature here

Hopefully not creatures!

We are not alone

I will keep you all informed of our progress here in the urban jungle

I live less than a mile from the center of a major city

How can I have wildlife invading my house?????

Anyone have any advice on catching possums?

NANCY

It's Always Weird Here

Greetings to all

I don't think I have told all of you about my new job,

They ended up with 105 extra kids at Edison High School. They didn't have enough teachers for them. The district allotted 4 extra teachers. Of course the district didn't have any applications on file and finding 4 people willing to teach high school in mid-September isn't easy.

Paul and I went to the college fair (where the colleges set up booths and try to attract students) and on the way out we saw Paul's principal who offered me a job. I thought about it all night and finally decided that I didn't want to do it. But I said I would consider doing it half time.

Paul went in Monday and he got called in to the office and they wanted to know if I would come to work the next week. He said that I really didn't want to work full time but I would consider working half time. They said how about full time for half the year. They knew their chances of finding a Math-Science teacher were zero at this time of the year and they feel that they have a chance of finding someone at semester. So by Wednesday they were calling me from the Service Center and wanting to know when I would be coming in to get my drug test. I did that on Thursday, we went to Springfield to see Irene last weekend and I started work on Monday. By the second day I had exceeded the legal class limit. My head is still spinning.

I am looking at it as 5 days down 65 to go. I am teaching Geometry, Algebra and Physical Science. The Algebra and Physical Science are fine but I haven't taken a Geometry class since Eisenhower was president so this one is going to be interesting. I am certified to teach it though and that is really all that matters. Oh well.

I spent all last week frantically sewing and cooking so I would be ready to be out of the house full time until mid-January. I have gotten the Halloween pajamas made and we will be getting them wrapped this weekend and mailed this coming week.

I thought I had everything taken care of but I ran out of bread to make my lunch one day this week. I knew I had gotten some but I couldn't find it. Paul found the two loaves I had purchased where I had sat them to be taken to the basement freezer. He said one loaf had gotten squashed but that he had gone ahead and put them in the freezer. I went down to check them out. Actually, something had chewed into one of the loaves. We were not amused. We decided we probably had another rat. We get one about every two years. Some of you may remember the infamous Doctor Thompson that Paul dispatched with a shovel. Or the nameless creature that met our garbage disposal. Around here hunting is a practical sport.

The next day I discovered that something had been gnawing on the bag of gingerbread crumbs that I had leftover from the last time I made sauerbraten. Doesn't everyone have a bag of gingerbread crumbs on their shelf? Anyway, it was about three shelves up in the closet where I keep the vacuum cleaner and the canned goods. I began getting the edibles off the counter and Paul was making plans to find the rat trap this weekend.

Last night we were enjoying a glass of wine and watching a new show on television. (thank goodness the Law and Order rerun season is over) I heard something moving in the kitchen. Paul assured me I was hearing things but just to humor me he decided to get up and check out the kitchen. Soon he yelled for me to come and see what he had found. In the corner of our vacuum cleaner closet was a possum. An opossum for those of you who insist on correct spelling. It was an adolescent possum about the size of a half grown cat. Whaaaaaaaat?????????????????

Paul says what are we going to do. Naturally I said "Get the camera!" Paul was a bit amazed by my suggestion but quickly agreed. Unfortunately he had left the digital at school and he couldn't quickly find another camera and get it to work. The possum just sat in the corner shaking and giving me one of those 'get out of here' looks. Paul said what are we going to do. After a bit of conferring we got the back door open, Paul put on gloves, the vacuum and brooms were removed from the closet, a laundry basket was found and the possum was dragged out of his corner and put into the basket. By now he was hissing and showing Paul all of his little sharp teeth. Paul held him down in the basket took him outside and deposited him over the fence into Mrs. Ervin's back yard - the best possum habitat in the neighborhood.

We are really hoping he was a lone possum but Paul said he thought he heard rattling in the kitchen when I was out at the grocery store this morning. We are going to leave out something on the kitchen floor this evening and see if it is still there in the morning.

I am going to spend the rest of the weekend making plans for my 142 students. I certainly hope I don't get any more this week. That is . . . students or possums.

Hope you are all having a restful weekend.

Love to all

NANCY