I thought it only appropriate to share a more redeeming rodent experience seeing as two hamsters have recently expired while in my care.
When I was a child, my family was in the newspaper. We were called heroes. My mom, my sister and I saved a brood of baby possums from the side of a road and nursed them back to health with the aid of an eyedropper and warmed milk.
I'm assuming we got lucky and hit the editor's desk on a slow news day as the story was on the front page.
It started a legacy of sorts.
Years later, I was out for a jog by myself when I came across a rather tragic situation. Another mama possum had encountered a rapidly moving vehicle in a most unfortunate manner. A few of her babies had crawled from her pouch and were just aimlessly wandering about in the street.
I stopped traffic and picked up the babies gently tucking each one into my upturned t-shirt. But then I heard some sort of clicking sound inside the dead mama. Note that word "inside" y'all and decide carefully if you'd like to keep on reading.
Remember, I have been known to do some redneck things.
So, some sort of maternal instinct did override the last bit of sense in my head as I reached inside the dead mama and dug out the remaining live baby possums.
I know.
Blame it on the skewed view of possum saving from my childhood- but I truly thought the reporters would be eagerly awaiting my arrival at home. Instead, I was greeted by a bewildered husband who:
a. told me he'd never been prouder to be married to a woman unafraid to reach inside road kill to save some babies in peril.
b. offered to help me nurse them with an eyedropper like my mama had done when I was a child.
c. gagged and ordered me out of the house- for heaven's sake what were you thinking.
This is what you call a cliff hanger as I will leave his reaction a complete mystery.
But I will tell you that in my town lives a woman known as the "Possum Lady" who was beyond thrilled to raise these creatures until they could be released back into the wild.
I do life with the prim, proper, and most pristine members of society. Including 7 possums who delight people nightly as they dig through their trash, cause their dogs bark incessantly, and make even upstanding citizens want to kill the very rodents I once saved.
Here's where I take a bow.
The end.
When I was a child, my family was in the newspaper. We were called heroes. My mom, my sister and I saved a brood of baby possums from the side of a road and nursed them back to health with the aid of an eyedropper and warmed milk.
I'm assuming we got lucky and hit the editor's desk on a slow news day as the story was on the front page.
It started a legacy of sorts.
Years later, I was out for a jog by myself when I came across a rather tragic situation. Another mama possum had encountered a rapidly moving vehicle in a most unfortunate manner. A few of her babies had crawled from her pouch and were just aimlessly wandering about in the street.
I stopped traffic and picked up the babies gently tucking each one into my upturned t-shirt. But then I heard some sort of clicking sound inside the dead mama. Note that word "inside" y'all and decide carefully if you'd like to keep on reading.
Remember, I have been known to do some redneck things.
So, some sort of maternal instinct did override the last bit of sense in my head as I reached inside the dead mama and dug out the remaining live baby possums.
I know.
Blame it on the skewed view of possum saving from my childhood- but I truly thought the reporters would be eagerly awaiting my arrival at home. Instead, I was greeted by a bewildered husband who:
a. told me he'd never been prouder to be married to a woman unafraid to reach inside road kill to save some babies in peril.
b. offered to help me nurse them with an eyedropper like my mama had done when I was a child.
c. gagged and ordered me out of the house- for heaven's sake what were you thinking.
This is what you call a cliff hanger as I will leave his reaction a complete mystery.
But I will tell you that in my town lives a woman known as the "Possum Lady" who was beyond thrilled to raise these creatures until they could be released back into the wild.
I do life with the prim, proper, and most pristine members of society. Including 7 possums who delight people nightly as they dig through their trash, cause their dogs bark incessantly, and make even upstanding citizens want to kill the very rodents I once saved.
Here's where I take a bow.
The end.
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