This past weekend has been an eventful weekend here at Tiger Gardens. Friday evening saw me in the garage painting my tulip chairs, when I hear Bella growling and barking in the backyard. Not totally unusual but when I peered over the fence down to Mr. Fix-it's garage I saw Bella was circling a creature. I immediately thought it was Orkin and quickly ran to the backyard in a panic. I was intent on saving my cat's life as I figured Bella would get the best of Orkin. To say I was in a panic would be an understatement. I am screaming, "Bella! BELLA! STOP!"
Well halfway down the backyard and just shy of Mr. Fix-it's trailer I can see Bella is not tussling with Orkin at all. Nope, she got herself into way more trouble! She found a possum in the yard! In the nearly eight years we have lived here this was a first for us. I have seen skunks (smelled them too), rabbits, and birds, but NEVER a possum! And let me tell you the possum was NOT happy.
Seeing possums in this area is not unusual-it is probably a bit unusual to see a live one though. Bella was intent on seeing this one dead as soon as she could figure out how to avoid the gnashing teeth, scratching claws and terrific growl from this fairly good sized possum.
Heart beating a mile a minute I quickly dashed in and grabbed Bella. Fortunately Bella is a very good dog and listened to me. She did not focus intently on the possum and her battle; which is ever so good for me, the possum and for Bella. Had it been Link (my dachsund/chihuahua mix) the battle would've been all over. Link never would've given up and can't hear so he would be a goner I am thinking.
As Bella and I walked quickly by the end of the trailer I heard a big and constant growl. At first I thought it was Bella, but no, it was coming from under the trailer. The possum was still not happy.
It was at about this time Mr. Fix-it came home. He had barely missed the excitement, or so we thought. A short while later we let all the dogs out back only to find the possum was still in the yard. Boy was that fun trying to gather up four dogs. Not! I am really not surprised a possum would venture into the garden, but never really expected it. The compost bin probably attracted it. You can bet I'll be on the lookout from now on. The possum is okay as of this posting.
Now the next encounter this past weekend was a bit more delightful. I had the garage door open to ventilate the garage while I painted my tulip chairs, but then it got cold so I closed it. On a quick trip into the garage I heard scratching. Lots of scratching. I figured it was a large bug scratching at the window trying to get out. Then I thought, no way, I bet it is a vole caught in a bucket or something. So I ventured over toward the window. The scratching was louder and very insistent. I had no idea what it was but knew it wasn't a vole since the scratching was coming from the window. I was very hesitant to move the mini blinds to see what type of big insect was making the scratching noise, but I did anyhow and look what I found! A chickadee!
It was so tiny it easily fit in my hand. It was also very tired from its efforts at trying to get out of the garage. We once had a hummingbird in the house who wore itself out from its efforts trying to get out-now a chickadee! Matron in England says they call know chickadees at tits. (Just a bit of trivia). This little chickadee is just resting and is okay. I hesitate to hold wild birds because they are so fragile that they sometimes scare themselves to death (this happened to one of our parakeets before) but I had to catch this one in order to let it out of the garage. Shooing it out would not have worked. I took it in the house to snap a picture (of course!) and to show Jimmy. We were on our way to the big garage to show Mr. Fix-it when it flew away from Jimmy and landed on our kitchen table. Fortunately I caught it quickly. Almost as soon as we went outside it flew off into the trees, none the worse for the wear. It was probably thinking it won't venture into my garage anymore for close encounters with the human kind!
in the garden....
P.S. Sorry I didn't get a snapshot of the possum, but I am sure you'll understand why not:) I did snap a picture of the new and refurbished tulip chairs, just waiting for the gardener to sit outside and enjoy warm weather.
Mom, I do hope you get better soon! Please take it easy.
