I'm Not Even Joking..

"I'm not even joking when I tell you I just saw a possum in our backyard!"

These are the words that came out of my mouth as soon as I got in the house.

I was over at church tonight washing baby bottles, spoons etc.. because we have no hot water or gas in our house. That's another story for another time. Anyway.. I used the back door of the church and was going to come through our backyard to our backdoor but when I opened the fence I heard something scramble up the adjacent fence that is next to our stoop. When I looked closer I saw that it was a possum! (Thankfully, not a giant rat like they resemble!)

I don't know a lot about possums but I do know they aren't the friendliest critter you could come across so I  was frozen for a second. What am I supposed to do? How am I going to get to my door? If I continue through the backyard I am going to walk right pass it.. what if it jumps down the fence and runs toward me?? I can't go back out and use the front door because it's perched on top of the fence that is right next to the steps on the stoop. It would be two feet from my face! I also don't want to scare it away becauseI had to get home and tell Chris so he could see it for himself though so I quickly turned around, went back through the church and out the front door, around the corner to our house, the possum was still there right by our front door, around the back and to the back door, all the while carrying my bowl full of bottles, nipples, caps and spoons.

As soon as I got inside I frantically tell Chris, but quietly as I can because the baby is sleeping, "I'm not even joking when I tell you I just saw a possum in our backyard! It's on the fence by the stoop!"

We go out the backdoor and he shines a flashlight on him. Yep, a possum. Chris goes upstairs to tell our neighbor to come and see while I, as usual, grab the camera.

The possum sat up there for a while but as we were standing on our little deck it crawled back down the fence and slowly ran from the front of the yard to the back, right past us, and down into our old backyard. Then it climbed that fence and sat there for a while too before walking along the fence and out of our yards.

There were four of us back there looking at him and wondering where he could have come from. Why would there be a possum in our backyard?? Chris thinks it probably came from the huge cemetery we live near. Green parrots live there so why not possums too? One of our neighbors, Jorge, had his big flashlight and got pretty close our visitor which allowed me to get some photos.
And that folks, is our evening's little adventure.