Playing Possum...

Friday night I was getting ready for bed when I heard Mike saying "Get it Oliver, get it!" I emerged from the bathroom wondering what the heck was going on. When I asked, I was informed that something ("a giant rat, raccoon, or maybe a possum") was hiding behind the grill on the patio. Oliver was too scared to go chase it out, but kept on sniffin' the front of the grill. Mike moved the grill enough to stick the camera back behind the grill and take a picture to try to figure out what it was.


At this point I couldn't tell if it was a giant rat or a possum so I went scurrying inside. I wasn't going to have some rodent jump out and bite my toes!

I decided to document the process from inside, but soon realized I had to at least open the screen. My flash was reflecting and I couldn't seen a darn thing!

Mike was trying to use the flash light to figure out what was back behind the grill. When I asked why he wasn't closer, his response was "I'm not blocking it's escape path!"

Finally Mike layed down on the ground and took a picture (from a ways away) under the grill. It WAS a possum. "Are possums dangerous?" "No, ever heard the term 'playing possum'. They play dead as their defense mechanism." "Oh, so it's okay for Oliver to be getting closer sniffing him." "Oh yeah, Oliver won't hurt him and he'll ignore Oliver." Or so Mike said. Two minutes later I hear, "Oh come on Oliver!" as they both run for the door. Apparently this Possum wasn't going to play dead any longer!