Tuesday, February 18, 2014

THIS Is Why My To-Do List Is So Freakin' Long

All afternoon, Cuckoo has been pretending to be an opossum named Kitty Cat.

I wish I could say it's a product of his vivid imagination.

Oh how I wish.

Sunday, COW had a look-see in the attic.  With all of the bat activity this winter, we wanted to make sure there wasn't a colony of them living in our attic.  No bats.  He did, though, find a nest.  A nest which is two feet high.  And then he asked the kids if they wanted to see it.

All six kids took a turn getting a tour of our attic.  Admittedly, it is an interesting place.  One can see the original roof, as part of the house was added on in the 30s.  There are the old chimneys from fireplaces no longer in the house.  The walls in the house are very wide in order to accommodate permanent ladders to allow easy access to wiring and other such homeowner things.

I saw no need for him to show them the nest, but he did it anyway.

Since no one really talked about it, I gladly assumed it was forgotten.

Until we came home from school on Monday to find a dead opossum in the walkway up to our house.

Once the kids took a wiiiiiiide walk around it, through the deep snow and then-falling slush, the dogs ran around back.  They know the routine.  Kids come home, animals get fed.  The dogs forgot all about that dead opossum.

Except the opossum wasn't dead.  It was just playin' them for fools.

Once the coast was clear, he made his very slow move.

Right up to our front door.






That's the last photo I could take.

The closer it got, the more worried Cuckoo became.

By the time that opossum's nose was touching our storm door, Cuckoo was shoving Giant out of the way in order to get the front door closed.

And that's when the questioning began.

Can they climb?

Can they fly?

What do they eat?

Can you just go pick it up and move it?

Why will it bite you?

Why did it come out before spring got here?

Can it get in the house?

How do you know it can't climb on our roof?

On and on and on and on.

Because he's afraid the opossum is the thing that built the nest, and it will get into the attic, climb down to his bedroom, and eat him in he sleep.

Other things which kept me from getting anything done yesterday...

Ironically, on the kids' snow make-up day, we got another ice/slush/snow storm, which prompted the principals to call an early dismissal day.  Have you ever seen slush fall from the sky?  It's very weird to have slush fall on your head.

We have a chicken (or several chickens) eating eggs.  Buttercup caught one in the act two days ago.  That means I'm outside collecting eggs every hour or so, having to beat the girls to the punch.

Aaaand, it seems our roof, which we put in 7 years ago and has a 50 year warranty, is leaking.  The ceiling in our dining room has an ever-expanding yellow spot, and yesterday a bit of water was dripping through the wood in the door jam.  We're assuming it's an ice dam on the roof getting under the shingles.  Nothing to be done about it until spring, though, as no one can climb on the roof with all of the snow and ice on it.

Anyway, back to the opossum...

Cuckoo made a good one.  He crawled around at a very slow pace, pretending-but-still-using-teeth to bite people, and trying to climb random furniture, which wasn't annoying at all.  Especially when it was time to head upstairs for bed.

The real opossum stayed curled up on our front porch for quite a while.  We finally stopped watching it and went to play a game.  Cuckoo checked on it after about 15 minutes, but it was gone.  We have no idea if the dogs caught it again or if it made it back to its tunnel in the snow or if it climbed up into our attic.

We have no idea what made the gigantic nest.  I'll be calling an exterminator to have that taken care of.  At least HE won't have to wait until spring to get something done around here.

Have a lovely day!

24 comments:

  1. Wait...no one knows what made the giant nest? EEEEEEEK. That's pretty creepy. I'm with Cuckoo.

    Bummer about the leak. And no, I've never had slush fall on me! WILD.

    OMG DO YOU REALIZE I'M FIRST COMMENT ON YOUR BLOG????? Wow. I'm freakin' glowing.

    Good luck with everything, chica.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Ack! *grimace* No chance here!

      Delete
    2. Not yet. As soon as the exterminator gets here, I hope we'll have an answer.

      Big bummer.

      CONGRATULATIONS! Although, not to take away any of that bang, there aren't very comments on this one.

      Thank you.

      Delete
  2. Hey! That Opossum is one cute fellow! Hope you find out who (or what) made the real nest, though.

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    1. I'm not a big fan of opossums. I will give you, this isn't as ugly as others I've seen.

      I really, really hope we find what made the nest.

      Delete
  3. I'm not sure if this would help or hurt: "There's Something in My Attic".

    http://www.amazon.com/Theres-Something-Attic-Mercer-Mayer/dp/0140548130

    To-do lists are overrated, and secondary to the stuff you really do, like reassure scared children. Hang in there!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Mercer Mayer is one of my favorites! How have I never seen this? Thank you much for the link.

      Yes, in general, I agree that to-do lists are overrated. However, we seem to be getting a mess of must-do things upon us in a short span of time. It's all wearing me out! Thanks for the support!

      Delete
  4. Oh my gosh - it curled up on the porch? Aww. But I know…as long as it's not in the house, right? Hope the dog didn't get it!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. yes, right up against the house. Oh, please no more wild animals in the house.

      I don't think they did. They don't usually come back to the front yard after they've eaten.

      Delete
  5. Cute little thing :-) Poor little guy being worried about being eaten at night.. I hope your roof can be fixed before permanent damage occurs! Are you removing the nest in your attic?

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    1. I cannot ever say an opossum is cute. They just give me the creeps.

      We are removing the nest, as soon as an exterminator can get here and figure out what's living up there.

      Delete
  6. Aww, what a cute little creature. I'm jealous now - I'd just love to have an oppossum curled up on my porch.

    I hope Cuckoo doesn't have any nightmares about being eaten - I'd be tempted to get rid of the nest in the attic just to put his mind at rest.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I wish I could send him to you. I do not find opossums to be anything close to cute.

      So far, so good. No nightmares yet. We will be getting rid of the nest ASAP.

      Delete
  7. Bless Cuckoo's boots for trying to un-scare himself by playing make-believe opossum.

    It's kinda cute (weird feet) and I definitely prefer it alive, on your porch, than dead and squished under a bag of feed.

    Good luck getting rid of the nest AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BEFORE WHATEVER MADE IT WAKES UP!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Bless his boots indeed.

      Hahahahaha!!!! As much as I don't like opossums, I, too, prefer it on the porch to under a bag of feed.

      The nest will be gone as fast as I can get it gone.

      Delete
  8. Aww it looks like a baby possum! I hope it found its way to somewhere safe!

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    1. I'm pretty sure it did. I never saw the dogs with it again. I just hope it's not now stalking my chickens!

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  9. While it may be a baby possum....I don't like its feet/paws/claws!!! They creep me out and therefore I do not like it!!

    We live right beside a creek so have had the occasional rat(s) in our attic. I will never, EVER go up there!!!

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    1. It's just not a natural color for animal feet. (And yes, I realize I just said the color all opossums are born with is not natural.) And they are just icky and mean and chicken-eating and dog-scratching.

      EWEWEWEW!!!! I would flip if we had rats.

      Delete
  10. We had a sort of elongated nest about a foot and a half tall and pretty wide in our attic that turned out to be a squirrels nest. We found out what it was after my genious teenaged brother decided to get rid of it on his own and got bitten. I dont think we would have had any encounters if he hadnt been dumb enough to do that so cukoo can probably rest easy (poor guy.)

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    1. That's what I'm afraid of. We didn't have squirrels in our yard for the first 4 or 5 years in the house, but these last three we've had lots. I'm afraid on or two got into the attic. How, I don't know...

      Wow, does your brother ever watch TurtleMan? Sounds a lot like that guy.

      Delete
  11. Never a dull moment at your house! I think I would be afraid that whatever made that nest was going to eat me too!

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    1. Never, ever. I can't imagine you have much dull at yours either. :)

      I'm not worried about being eaten. Bitten, maybe. Or run across. But not eaten.

      Delete
  12. A very wet squirrel ( I named it Helen) kept trying to get into the house I am staying at while I recover from the big surgery yesterday. Let's just say not everyone found it as amusing as I did. Is there a word for squirrel phobia?

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