Sunday, September 23, 2012

Things That Go Bark in the Night...


We were awake this morning at 4, listening to the dog bark.  There was a sense of urgency in her bark, and it was punctuated with growls.  He said “it’s cats….” but I wondered.   Cinnamon barks at cats all the time, but she doesn’t growl….

I went outside to see what she was up to but it was too dark (it usually is in the middle of the night….).  He brought out a flashlight and, shining it on the potato bush along the fence, there it was.  Not a cat, or cats…..

A possum.

He wasn’t frightened by the light, the dog, or us.  He just sat there calmly on the fence and stared at us.  Cinnamon was still barking furiously, yet she seemed amused that “mom and dad” had joined her in the backyard.  Bark, bark, bark, growl, bark, growl….

Still, the possum didn’t move.  He wasn’t “playing possum”….he was staring at us, then at the dog, then back at us.  Perhaps he is acclimated to humans?  And dogs?  And the four or five cats that live in our alley?

It seemed rather obvious that the only way to get Cinnamon to stop barking was to convince the possum to leave…..  Have you ever tried that?  Neither had I…

So, armed with a hose with a spray nozzle, he aimed it at the possum and turned it on.  The possum moved from one side of the potato bush to the other, then back again.  At one point, he turned around and we got to stare at his soggy, wet behind
.
And then, he disappeared….

Was he really gone?  Cinnamon was still quite antsy but she had stopped barking.  He got a piece of PVC pipe and started poking it into the foliage of the potato bush.  Nothing.  No movement, no sounds except the rustling of the leaves as the PVC passed through.

Is he gone?  Will he be back?

I “ordered” Cinnamon to get in her bed and miraculously, she did.  She seemed calmer now that the possum had disappeared.  I felt comforted that she couldn’t smell him, hear him, or sense his presence, so maybe the possum hunt was over….

I went back to bed but I couldn’t sleep.  I kept waiting for Cinnamon to start barking again, but she didn’t.

There’s always tonight…..

Cali