Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Opossum update, Frankie clampett, opussum fishin', opossum and backyard chickens

So, yesterday I wrote about the baby opossum that had been spotted twice.  It must have read my blog and wanted to be famous because about 5 minutes after posting, the girls started to make funny noises. I went out to check and there was the baby O wandering the chicken pen.   It saw me and ran under the fence and I thought ... 'Ok   its gone to bed.' and went back in to finish my  funny tasting coffee.  10 minutes later the girls started grumping again.   And a day of opossum fishing began.  This was one persistent little critter.  It had found a food source and was NOT going to leave it .
Hashtag was the hero in this saga.  The big girls hid in the pen huddle  together every time it showed up.  Hashtag kept confronting it. While it was interesting watching these two tiny critters face off. I couldn't   have Hashtag  take a  bite on the leg.   I enlisted Jimmy's help and sent him off to check and see if any of the neighbors had a 'have a heart trap'.  While he was gone, yet another confrontation occurred and  tension was building between Hashtag and O.  I HAD  to do something.  So I got a  garden planter out, turned it on its side, made an intricate nest of bird netting with a  piece of bread in the middle and tied hemp twine on the far corner of the net and ran the twine outside the coop, all the way to my favorite lawn chair.  There I sat for  about 40 minutes, quiet, waiting.  O kept poking his head out from under the fence and checking to see if I was still there.  It was a very Jed Clampett moment.  I'm glad no one saw me sitting in the yard in my pajamas and gardening shoes, fishin fer possum!.........   Finally he got brave enough to come out.  I just sat and waited for him to get into position.  Hashtag did not have the same patience. She  herded him right where I needed him and backed him into a corner.   A pull of the hemp twine and.......  target achieved.    Jimmy heard me yelling "I got him!" and came running.   We secured him in the garden planter and  walked  a few blocks to a wonderful park with lots of blackberries and bugs and a water source and let him go.  He bounced off into the bushes with an angry twitch of his tail and.......  the problem is solved.
Hashtag was the hero and just to prove it she  put herself to bed in the coop last  night.   This morning all is well in Frankie and Jimmy's private paradise.  Today I have a dentist appointment. Tomorrow I make jam to restock  our depleted supply. 

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