Coop's Corner: Invasion

Friday, January 18, 2013

Invasion

Fending off a cold (or something) all week, last night/this morning it finally took me down. I woke with a fever and pounding headache. Got up, got dressed and just couldn't bring myself to go outside, so Peg went to the city on her own.

Spending way too much time in bed today was a shame in more ways than one; we had a nice surplus of degrees over 40 today. According to the weather folks, we'll not even see 0 for a high on Monday.

When I finally was up this afternoon, I took a look outside to see the clouds (thanks Martha) up the valley and to the west. There the creatures were, doing what they might to avoid starvation and prepare for conditions less good.

Knowing the barn cats didn't care one iota about my cold, I headed out to feed them and discovered another visitor. One more mouth to feed, all we need......

A funny story about opossums from back in the day when we had our flock of sheep. The kids were out in the barn to take care of our new lambs and heard a very odd sound, a sound that was a little too unfamiliar to not be afraid of. They came back into the house and told Peg, "mom, there's something in the barn".
I wasn't home and brave farm-wife Peg had just one more oddity to deal with. Upon (very cautious) inspection, it was discovered that a large opossum had crawled into our plastic garbage container in search of the mother lode......50 lbs of milk replacer mix. The sounds the family heard were of the opossum making its last movements, scratching the sides of the container. It was the size of a beach ball, having O.D.'d on the sweet milk mix. We were able to keep the container covered from that day on.

16 comments:

SonjaMJanuary 18, 2013 at 7:24 PM
A bad case of man flu, eh? Be better soon.

Never seen an opossum. They look kinda cute. Death by milk? Wouldn't have happened if the marsupial had been vegan... ;-)
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TrobairitzJanuary 19, 2013 at 12:03 AM
I always feel bad for the outdoor critters foraging during the bad weather. I am glad you have wildlife hanging around.

We are lucky enough to see deer and raccoons and the occasional possum in the yard.

Feel better soon.
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Martha January 19, 2013 at 7:57 AM
Poor possum. I have always liked them. Like porcupines, they seem to just go about their day at their own pace.

Just in time for my moving process we are getting that horrible winter storm, too. 25 below on the way. And I'm not even moving into warmer territory! I might pull a smile on if I was about to land in, say, NC!

Keep looking up.
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Martha January 19, 2013 at 7:58 AM
AND I hope you feel MUCH better soon.
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Erik RJanuary 19, 2013 at 3:03 PM
When I lived in Prescott, we used to get the giant white rats(opossum) in our back yard all the time. They used to come up out of the woods and eat the cat food we'd keep outside for the strays.
I haven't seen any up here yet.

Get better soon.
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Coop a.k.a. CoopdwayJanuary 19, 2013 at 3:15 PM
Thanks Erik, staying inside today and tomorrow sounds good with the cooling weather.

20 years ago, we had the critters here. 30 years ago I remember having to be in southern IA or IL to see them.
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Keith - Circle BlueJanuary 19, 2013 at 7:33 PM
Love the photo of the deer looking up. Nice.

Feeling yucky. Not nice.

Armadillos are moving into this area. Your comment to Erik got me thinking about that. I've watched them each year getting closer to St. Louis. Well, haven't seen them alive, rather have seen them dead on the road.

It got up to 66F here today. Their talking 21F for a high come Monday. Up and down we go.

Get strong and vital, those cats are depending on you.
~k
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RichardMJanuary 19, 2013 at 7:33 PM
I hope you recovered from the flu. I wasn't sure if the possum was seen as a pest or welcome from your post.

Our temps seem to be bouncing around from +34°F last Monday to -27°F yesterday to 0°F today.
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VStar LadyJanuary 21, 2013 at 8:03 PM
Coop - we don't have opossum in this part of the country and I've only seen armadillo (mostly, sadly...flattened on the highways when travelling south.) We've lots of white tail though. Personally, I don't like running into unexpected critters in the out buildings because, where I live, they are or are most likely to be rodents or serpents that want to eat rodents! I am okay with bunnies, but mostly my dogs keep the wildlife more on the wild side than the drive side (until we all go to sleep that is...)
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Coop a.k.a. CoopdwayJanuary 21, 2013 at 8:30 PM
Karen, I'm with you re: new 'discoveries' in the out buildings. Many of our hiding places are gone now but there are still a couple of buildings and places to hide that the visiting critters manage to find.

I like domesticated as well as wild animals but at times it can get to be too much trying to keep them all at some level of control. Reminds me of a quote I saw once about having a castle on the frontier, a beautiful partner, wealth, etc. and constantly being in defense mode. The garden, trees, shrubs, fences, sleepy skunks those lovely teasing days before we even realize spring is sneaking in....they all help to put focus on those "Coexist" bumper stickers.
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)