Possum and Ninja and projects, oh my

Well, the possum decided to move on in short order and declined the food and water. Fair enough. And that night, I saw another possum who was not so thrilled that my big bear wanted to get up in her business. Seeing one possum in a day is remarkable, but two means the universe is trying to right itself. When we moved to our neighborhood, we saw raccoons, possums, skunks and coyotes regularly. In fact, there was a racoon family that liked to lounge on our patio furniture and looked askance when one of the mere humans wanted to take advantage of a cool evening. The last few years have seen a huge decline in wildlife, so to see a couple of very cute critters who've been absent for too long is a blessing.

Tonight was watering the yard night and Ninja was fine with that until I stopped watering to work on a project or two. Since evening was rapidly approaching I suspect she wanted to get settled for the night, so she stood on our wall and read me the riot act. The mouth on that girl is astounding.

Speaking of projects, I discovered an old dresser drawer that someone had made into a keepsake shelf. I liked the idea of that and am in the process of scraping off their background to figure out what I'd like to do instead. Here it is partially scraped off:

When I complete the transformation, I'll post a picture.

More Critter Drama

Dateline 8 a.m. I get a frantic phone call about a possum in distress on the sidewalk just down from our house. Mind you, at 8 a.m. I'm barely coherent, much less dressed to go on a rescue mission. But there I am, throwing on clothes, grabbing a towel, and heading to the back of beyond to the storage that houses multiple crates and other critter paraphernalia. Crate and towel in hand, I head out to the cutest possum who is looking a bit dazed and confused and who very willingly allowed herself to be shooed into the crate with zero fuss. Our house is next to a road I call Killer Alley and feared she  was hit by a car. Thankfully, a cursory exam showed no major injuries or blood, but her breathing seemed a bit labored.

Back we come and she's given water, some dog food and the avocado she was guarding when I found her. Again, a look to see if there were visible wounds or blood. I did notice a couple of scratches on her face and head, though they didn't look brand new. Looking more closely though, I noticed something else I didn't expect to find. Stuck to her whiskers and her tail were bits of the bedding we had for Ninja when we still dreamed of taming her. I had discarded the bedding in the backyard. Earlier I had noticed there were were feathers about. At the time the thought that a predator had been around did occur to me, but since Ninja was hanging out unharmed, I pushed the thought aside.

Even though the location of the possum was outside my yard, I believe that somehow Ninja and she tangled at some point. A quick text to the humane society's wildlife center, and they directed me to release her since she was alert with no visible damage. Okey dokey. Took her back to the area I found her and opened the crate, expecting her to make a hasty exit. Backed away and...nothing. In fact, she hunkered down even further back in the crate. Well it is full day and possums are nocturnal, so maybe she's as sleepy as I am in the morning. Fair enough. But I couldn't leave the crate there so I hauled it to the back of beyond where I could open the door, leave food and water and her avocado just outside, and let her take her own sweet time to leave. I'll check on her from a distance to make sure she's OK and hope for the best.