Invasion of the Possum-Snatchers

[ Dumped clothes pins ]

April 25 – Last week while I was lying in bed, waiting for Chris to come too, I heard a sound which I took to be the sound of her closing a door. When she came in, she asked if I had heard that sound, so it was fairly obviously that she hadn’t closed a door anywhere.

She wandered around the house for a bit but did not detect anything that could have caused the noise, so came to bed. But when we arose the next morning, things became a littler clearer!

Chris opened the back door into the garage to let the cat out, and noticed a pile of white objects lying there under the garage door. They turned out to be sections of the door panel, the same panel that years ago our dog had gnawed. Later when I went out into the garage to get food for the birds, I discovered a considerable mess all over the place. Chris’ container of clothes pins was lying on the floor, pins spilled everywhere. That may well have been what we heard falling the night before. On the other side of the garage, things were lying everywhere, knocked off of shelves overnight.

[ Opened sunflower seeds ]

Obviously our “resident” opossum had been at work, probably looking for a way out after we had closed the garage for the night. Empty boxes from the highest shelves were lying on the floor, many things from my workbench were now on the floor, The kitty litter bag and the millet seed bag were lying on their sides, and the lid of the sunflower seed can was off and seeds were lying all around.

Numerous “calling cards” lay on the floor, and even on the truck tailgate! That possum had had a busy night. It may still be hiding behind something in the garage, as it would not likely have wandered out into broad daylight once the door was opened. We had a busy time tidying up and putting things back where they belonged

We finally got some rain that same day, breaking a long dry spell; I found about a quarter of an inch of rain in the rain gauge. It rained off and on for several more days, which will be good for the garden. Heavy rains fell to our west but this spring the trend has been for approaching rains to either weaken greatly or else to go north or south of the Kansas City area. I think that happened again this time. but every little bit helps and this should at least hold down the dust and allow us to mow without those suffocating dust clouds. Traffic on the road out front always raises a cloud of dust that swirls everywhere, including into our house.

[ Plants enjoying the spring sun ]

The vegetable seeds I planted got a dose of moisture, but so did the great crop of weeds growing in the garden – dandelions and hensbit and chickweed and other unnamed pests. The rototiller turns them under but they stay there until one goes to plant things and then has to cope with raking out the buried weeds.

The weather forecast does not show any really cold weather ahead, so I took my trays of potted tomato plants and peppers out to the sandbox where I usually keep my seedlings until they can safely be put into the garden. The cabbage and lettuce and Swiss chard plants are already there in the sandbox. If a frost should threaten, I just carry the trays into the workshop nearby and let them spend the night there. – DALE