Out on a Limb

AHS Official Report: Lexie (COO), was out doin' a quick patrol before dad came home from a late nite at work. I was inside w/mom waitin' for him. When he came home, it seemed unusual for Lexie to not be there to greet him. She's usually the first one at the door, an' I know she heard the car. Mom was even a lil' concerned. The backyard was awfully quiet, too.

Mom opened the backdoor an' called her, even tellin' her that her "daddy was home". Still nothin'. Then mom got out her big lite.....we both saw Lexie about the same time. The movin' of the tree limbs by the greenhouse was the tell tell sign, she was after somethin' or had somethin'.

I took off runnin' in case she needed backup...mom followed at a much slower pace since it was dark. 

As mom approached that tree, I was on one side an' Lexie was on the other...there was a lot of movement then somethin' raced up the trunk. Lexie an' I were both jumpin' as high as we could....mom wasn't comin' too close (she's still not likin' gettin' under tree limbs at nite w/just a lite an' havin' some critter lookin' down on her). She did shine that lite up the tree an found what we was after literally out on a limb....a long skinny lil' limb. Mom said she'd never seen a possum move that fast, at first she thought it was a cat, till she shined that lite on it.

That possum was so heavy that even mom was surprised it could stay on that limb w/it dippin' w/it's weight like that. It was obviously aware of it's precarious predictament. We could tell when it turned around that it was weighin' it's options of comin' back an' tryin' to face us or at least find a thicker branch. We weren't havin' it. An' believe you me....we were serious about issuin' tresspass warnin's only once. It finally settled down an' was tryin' to wait out that branch not breakin' an' us givin' up. Lexie an' I weren't givin' up....we could do this allllll nite long. Mom was gettin' kinda antsy, an' declared she wasn't stayin' out there. ( I keep wonderin' about her commitment to AHS)

Mom got a lil' closer. Then she took on of her long stakes outa her deceased t'mater plants that succombed to the heat an' drought. Lexie an' I got excited....we knew mom was gonna go into action...we were ready. Mom took that long stick, gave that possum a couple of whacks (r'member it was a skinny lil' branch, so it didn't take much) an' it dropped w/a big "thud".

Lexie an' I both hit that fence w/a big "NOOOOOOO".....mom had knocked it off that branch alright....right smack in the neighbor's backyard, on the other side of our solid 6' fence, clear outa sight an' more important...clear outa our reach. We were disgusted...still excited about the chase part...but not at all happy w/the outcome.

After mom declared it was "gone"...well, "duh".....we all went back inside. We were still runnin' on "high" an' hit our water bowls hard. Mom had to refill them twice, of course she complained we'd have had plenty if we hadn't gotten most of it all over the kitchen floor. All I have to say, is that w/any professional athlete...after a hard game....w/all the adrenalin....it takes a lil' while to come down. An' besides, now since she mopped the floor, it's all clean, now.      :)