To the rescue!!!

I'm not much of an animal person. I used to be. We used to have a dalmatian that lived with us in our one bedroom "house" when we were first married and he even slept in our bed. When I was little, I wanted to be a veteranarian. Since I've had kids, though, all I see when I see a puppy or a kitten is all the work that I will have to do once the new wears off. Don't get me wrong, I still think they're cute.

I love going to the zoo and seeing the animals there, but I'm glad that they stay there and don't have to come home with me.

Plus, I live with a hunter.

I used to hate that, but I've gotten used to it. I've even learned to eat the deer that he brings home (notice I said eat, not necessarily like) and it has saved us tons of money on groceries by having it in the freezer. And, although I could never kill anything myself, it doesn't really bother me anymore when he does-as long as I don't have to watch.

We live in the country and often get "critters" that come up around our yard. We have tons of bunnies, some raccoons, once in a while we see a deer. The other day I saw our dog wrestling with an armadillo and a couple of weeks ago, the kids and I rescued a little mole from the him as well. Surprisingly, I can't remember ever seeing a skunk out here... I love seeing all the little creatures and showing them to the kids. There is one animal, though, that I just can't stand to see in our yard-a possum. Possums are just creepy. We had several last year that would come up and eat the dog's food on the porch and they were just disgusting. I leave it to my husband to "deal with" the possums.

But, as much as possums disgust me, I just couldn't resist these little guys.

The mother was lying out in our driveway this morning when the kids and I left to make a run into town. The dog was lying next to her so I was watching him to make sure he was out of my way and I noticed a couple of them crawling around her. I called Daniel and he said he would get them when he came home for lunch.

When the kids and I got home, it was still about an hour before Daniel's lunch break. It was really hot out and I just couldn't stand the thought of them being out there roasting in the heat or starving to death without their mother. So I grabbed a laundry basket and some gloves and went out to rescue them. I only expected a couple, but all together, there were FIVE little baby possums! They were pretty lethargic and I didn't think they were going to make it at first. Against my better judgement, I brought them in so the kids could see them. Once they were inside where it was cool, they perked up and started crawling all around. As ugly as possums are, these little babies were CUTE!

(Sorry the video is so bad. I should have turned the light on.)

I wasn't sure what to do with them, so I called a friend from church. We once had found a baby raccoon and she had taken it a raised it, so I thought I would check with her first. She said that possums were too much like rats (I agree) and she didn't really need them.
So, instead, I called the Vet clinic at OSU. It's a teaching hospital, so I thought they might take them for their students. Sure enough, they said I could bring them in. So the kids and I loaded back up in the van and drove them over.

When we got there, I had to sign some papers saying I would "donate" them to the school while they were getting the babies all set up in the back. The secretary looked at them and said "You know, they are almost cute when they're this little. Too bad they'll be possums when they grow up." I thought that was funny coming from the vet's office. I thought they loved all animals there. (ha!)

The tech came out and said that they looked good and they were going to get them fed. She said they were likely 10-14 days old (their eyes were just starting to open). She gave me her card so that we can call and check up on them in a few days.

So, I've done my good deed for the day. Plus, my husband got a good laugh at the thought of me saving possums, of all things, so I guess it was worth it. Hopefully, it will be "critter" free around our house for a while. With my luck, we'll end up with baby skunks next!!!