The Opossum

Welcome to the newest addition to the Chesapeake Bay Family Circus Zoo:  Mr. Opossum.

The other night as I was wasting my life away on the Internet working on the computer, I heard one of the four thousand cat food dishes being shoved around in a most unruly manner on the deck outside my bedroom.  Right away I knew something other than a cat was out there.

(Since the flash doesn't work on my camera, the lighting in these shots is terrible. The flash, like everything else I come into contact with, doesn't work due to the magnetic field referenced in yesterday's post.)

Although opossums are very common around here, you're more likely to encounter them dead in the road  than dining on Special Kitty dry cat food on your back porch. But it's been very cold here lately, so a nice dish of Special Kitty is just what the opossum ordered.

What is it about dry cat food?  In the summer, blue jays snack on it like it's a tub of hot, buttered popcorn. Raccoons love it.  Canada geese love it.  Even my dog Buddy would rather eat dry cat food than dog food.

The cats, however, think it's absolutely vile and hold special emergency meetings where they concoct schemes to get me to buy them some canned cat food. For example, there's the "We're going to meow you to death and claw your screen doors off the hinges until you give us want we want" ploy.  Or the "Let's see if we can kill CBW by charging in between her ankles as she tries to negotiate the back steps carrying bags of groceries" routine.  Or the oldie but goodie, "Let's slaughter a bird, rabbit, mole or vole, pull out its guts, and leave the carcass and assorted parts right on her front door step so she has to hurdle the scene of the crime to get inside."

Yes, they have their tricks, but given the volume of animals I'm feeding and the expense of canned cat food, they're getting dry food.  The End.

Anyway, this opossum took his time dining on cat food and then sashayed down the steps, in no hurry whatsoever to get wherever he was going.

My BFF Wikipedia says this about Mr. Opossum:
"The Virginia Opossum was the first animal to be named an opossum, usage of the name was published in 1610.  The word opossum comes from the Algonquian aposoum meaning "white beast."  ...Their unspecialized biology, flexible diet, and reproductive strategy make them successful colonizers and survivors in diverse locations and conditions."

CBW says this about Mr. 'Possum:
First off, I really hate the spelling.  Can we drop that annoying "o" and be done with it?
 
Second, 'possums sound a lot like us Mathews folk, with all the flexible diets and ability to survive in diverse locations and conditions, which may include below-sea-level elevations and absolutely no access to Thai or Vietnamese food. Whatsoever.

Third, I thought the white beast was already in our midst:

Gustav the Killer Goose

In other news unrelated to aggressive poultry, cat food, or opossums,  the Mathews Christmas parade is Saturday at 3:00. I hope to be there, camera in hand.

Have a fantastic weekend.