Dealin' with a Temporary Employee

AHS Report----
After mom's refusal to even consider lettin' us do our job last nite....an' even downright declarin' she wasn't gonna be part of any varmit hunt..."no way, no how", is what I remember her sayin' as she went to bed an' declared outside "closed", we had to resort to subcontractin' her job to someone else......dad. 
Technically, she only closed outside on Thursday nite.....we woke dad up w/our noses to the door an' hollarin' at 1:30 am on Friday. ...a new day. 
I knew there was somethin' afoot...an' I wasn't gonna be deterred....security is priority number one. Oh...we've got big fences all around our yard, but that don't stop them critters from climbin' over it. An' they sure aren't just comin' to say "hi" or or somethin'...they're stealin' mom's fruit an' tearin' up stuff...just criminal activity, plain an' simple. 
Dad got up an' let us out. I raced to the fence on the other side of the pond. There was evidence all over the ground.....dozens of grapefruit had been knocked outa that tree...an' as usual...just a bite or two outa each one (that really makes mom mad...just destruction....she wouldn't mind if they'd just eat a few). 
I spied the criminal tryin' to get away...he was perched up on MrJD's fence. 
I yelled...I jumped....he just sat there hissin' at me.
Finally......dad showed up w/mom's lite. (She was still AWOL & asleep in bed...guess she was serious).
He saw that big possum right away. An' I guess he's been payin' attention to what the job entails, 'cause he got mom's bit pole an' started tryin' to knock that possum off that fence into the other yard. I'm ok w/that...as long as it's not my yard....don't care what they do over there.
So, he poked....that possum stood up...an' that pole when under him. Dad tried again....an' the same thin' happened....it woulda' been funny, if I wasn't so mad an' frustrated. Finally, dad tried to knock him off.....
Then it happened....now, this was dad's first time an' he was a lil' surprised. That possum grabbed the pole, an' he wasn't lettin' go...no matter what dad did. Finally, dad pulled his pole back off the fence.....with the possum on the end of it, lookin' at dad an' thinkin' about gettin' closer an' takin' that pole away from dad. 
I was jumpin', yellin'....dad's got the pole, the possum's got the other end of the pole....there was only one thin' to do....
Dad dropped the pole.
That possum took off like lightnin'....into the garden by the pond w/the big crepe myrtle trees an' all them ginger plants....it was dark, but I was on him just as fast....we rolled an' ......he disappeared up one of them trees......I looked an' looked.
Dad figured he was done, so he went back to the house. After about 15 minutes of trackin'.....makin' sure the possum wasn't on the ground....I headed back to the house, too. 
I've learned that once they get up in the trees...there's not much you can do...they'll stay up there all nite. An' well, my bed is much more comfortable then the ground......there's always tonite.....
Sidenote.....not sure if dad's a good substitute for mom....then again...she's had more practice w/pole grabbin' critters. In any case, I give him an "A" for effort. An' I'm not gonna tell him about some of the other thin's that happen on our nite operations, don't want to scare him off.

Security is a 24/7 Job

Mom's worried about me....an' to be frank...I'm a lil' worried, too. But not about me...I've got a security issue.
For the last couple of nites, I've been spendin' a lot of time outside...sittin' on the deck, lookin' out into the dark...or layin' there.....an' doin' extra patrols along our fence line. An' then doin' it early in the mornin', too. 
Mom think's it's unusual an' that's why she's worried. Everyone knows that I prefer stayin' inside. Lexie's got the outside guard duty, especially at nite. (oh..an' btw...she's out there w/me)
Mom oughta know that somethin's up....Dad an' I went out at dark thirty. We had just cleared the grape arbor, when I zoomed off to the far corner yellin' at the top of my lungs. He came 'round to see what was goin' on...an' I tried to tell him it went over the corner of the fence, but he didn't see nothin'. It was fast, that I can tell you.....oh...an' it's been all along that fence..... There's been lots of evidence. Lexie an' I have been trackin' it all over the yard. 
Mom an' dad don't know if it's a cat...or a raccoon. We've had a couple of possums, but they don't move that fast, an' we usually catch 'em eatin' mom's oranges or grapefruits...an' as soon as they can get in a tree..well, they just get higher an' stay there. They don't race an' jump a 8 foot wood fence.
Tonite, mom's made us come inside......so, we'll have to just wait an' see if it comes back in the mornin'. Dad gets up super early, so we'll get another chance at it. For some reason, mom doesn't want us workin' any security operation late tonite. I just don't know if we're gonna be able to keep her on, if she don't want to participate. AHS is a reactionary outfit...we have no control over the hours that those criminal varmits keep. We can't operate effectively workin' just 9-5......especially when that's when we do our power nappin'.........