Report from the Wild Kingdom

I live in suburbia in a house with only a patio for a back yard. I have two tiny flower beds, a palm tree and a handful of potted plants in each of them.

The neighborhood used to look like this.

Right now, we have a possum living in this pot--or more correctly, an opossum, I guess. It always surprises me when the wildlife perseveres and stays to live with us humans.

I discovered it yesterday when I saw that the pot was tipped over and went to set it up, and a  white furry face poked up from  a pile of leaves. I'm supposing it's a female opossum and the leaves are a nest. I jumped back--not exactly in horror. But you know. A possum in a pot. Just a few feet from my patio door. My mom happened to be outside, and I suggested that she keep her distance from the pot. Hahahahaha. She walked right over. 

I'm planning to let mother nature do her thing. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with my 

mother.

My brother was bit by a possum a few years back while repairing a floor in a mobile home. He had to get rabies shots, and I teased him a bit. Like, you know know you're a redneck if....Yeah, if two people in my family get bit by a possum, I'd say our rural roots are kinda indestructible.

So here's a picture of me in France with a French winemaker. Ahem. I'm really very sophisticated. And if anybody around here gets bit by a possum, I'm gonna swear like crazy.