Last night I went out to feed Emily and saw a tail coming out from under her tarp. It wasn’t her’s. It was a possum’s tail. I shooed the possum away but Em was gone. So, I immediately went to code RED. Was she hurt? How long was the possum eating her nighttime meals? Was that why she was out in the rain waiting for me by the door the other night?
Now, it’s very late and I’m outside calling her and looking for her. The batteries on my tiny flashlight are dying. I finally went back inside the house and waited for about fifteen minutes then went out again. I called her, for awhile, and she finally came to me.
I started petting her, to see if she was hurt, or bleeding. Argggg! So we talked for awhile and she let me keep petting her. Then I went in and got her late-night dinner. I stood over her while she ate, which is what I normally do, but she wasn’t coming out because it has been too cold.
I found a raccoon in there once, as well. Freaks me out when they are so close to her. Her nest is big. There’s a two room dog house under the heavy tarps, with heated beds. Three other beds are scattered around under there, and her cat scratcher is there as well. She can walk around and play, sleep in multiple beds and stay warm and dry. There’s also an emergency shelter under my potting table, which is wrapped in a heavy boat tarp as well. There’s a nice soft bed under there (off the ground) in a sturdy cardboard box. Also dry, but no electric bed. She has a heated water dish as well.
The electric beds are body activated. If she’s not it, it turns off. The heat starts a few minutes after she lays down.
I was petting her this morning and she’s fine. I like possums and raccoons. I used to feed them, but then it got to be a LOT of animals and skunks, as well. So I had to stop doing it. I don’t want them around her house. Neither does she. So, I’ll sweep and clean, the best I can today.
The tarps are really heavy, brown on one side and silver on the other, and they’re huge. I have absolutely no sense of how many feet anything is, so I bought gigantic, and it’s hard to do much with them when it’s cold. When I put new ones on, or clean the old ones, they cover the entire gigantic patio I can barely fold them. LOL They looked a lot smaller folded up when I bought them. Hahahahaha
I buy a new one every year and put the old ones on top of that one, so the wind and snow can’t get her.
The wind was clocked at 52 mph yesterday. I don’t know where one of my flags went, but it’s gone. Chairs were tossed around and so were a lot of other things, but her house was fine. I have it bungie corded to heavy things and held down with a million rocks. It looks terrible but it works.
Anyway, her house is possum free for now and I’m tired. Street cats only have a life span of 2 to 5 years and she’s been in my yard for 9, so something is working. She will NOT COME IN MY HOUSE. After nine years of trying to get her inside, I’m giving up. I read something that said some cats can’t do it and to leave them alone. She’ll come in and sit inside and look out the open door for a few minutes, if I’m not in the same room, but she won’t stay in.
My cat’s okay, the sun’s out, the possum’s gone, and all is well with the world…for the moment. And moments, seem to be all we ever really have.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Written
on February 26, 2021