Angie's exciting morning

I received an email from a friend of mine, she gave me permission to share it with you...


"Thought you might like to hear about my excitement this morning....

Nickers (her dog) wanted out last night and I didn't bother turning on any lights as I went through the house. I let her out, waited a few minutes and called her back in. It was dark so I didn't see the possum in her mouth. This morning I'm running around getting everyone ready and go into the living room and notice this nasty thing laying on the carpet in front of the couch. it was still breathing and had its teeth bared...very intimidating! I thought the dogs might take it outside but neither one of them would go near it. Chickens!

I got the pooper scooper so I could grab it and toss it outside, but then I thought what if, when the metal touches the possum, it flies up and attacks me? I didn't know if it would keep playing dead or if it would valiantly defend itself. So I called my neighbor to see if he knew anything about possums, no luck. I tried calling Uncle Mac but he didn't answer the phone. I tried calling animal control, but the phone just rang and rang and rang. I called Dad and he wasn't sure what the possum would do, but he suggested putting a box in front of it and pushing it in with a shovel and then carrying the box outside. I still didn't want to get that close to it so I called Bob to see if he knew what the possum would do. He told me to grab it by the tail and toss it outside. I wasn't about to get that close to it!

In the meantime during all of these phone calls, Ben (her 4 year old) is running around the house going "Scooby Doo, where are you?" Like Scooby is going to solve my problem. Then he goes upstairs and is watching the possum through the rails of the catwalk and gives me a status report, "Mom, he has a long stretchy tail." "Mom, he opened his eyes." "Mom, he moved his head." "Boy his teeth sure are scary looking."

So I stood behind the couch by the sofa table and tossed a box a few inches from the possum. Also from behind the couch, I took the shovel and flipped the possum into the box. Then I ran around the couch and using the shovel to push the box outside. Ben is still giving me a status report, "Mom, he's moving!" So, using the shovel, I ran and pushed the box/possum out onto the deck.

I called Bob and Dad to let them know I lived through the experience of getting the possum outside. Then I happened to think if this thing dies right outside of the sliding glass door it's going to stink. So I took the shovel and pushed the box to the edge of the deck. Then I gave it a great big push with the shovel, The box goes flying through the air and I realize it's empty and the possum has already run off.

My husband didn't call me back until about 9:00 and he was laughing when I answered the phone. "