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Once upon a time, many, many years ago my daughter, Brittany, came running through house, “Mommy! Mommy! There are two gi-i-i-ant rats fighting outside.”
Rats? BIG rats? In our back yard? This called for an immediate investigation. I picked Nicole up, with Brittany tugging at my hand to hasten my pace to the dining room window. It was from there she witnessed the dispute between two angry critters.
We strained to get a glimpse of the animals who had moved close to the house and out of line of line of sight, but we could hear them banging against some building material stacked behind our house. All at once, they appeared.
“There they are,” she pointed. “Mommy, go outside and make them stop before the little one gets hurt!”
My eyes widened. The little beasties had beadie black eyes, long snouty noses, sharp teeth, razor claws, and rather big. “Oh, Sweetie girl those aren’t rats. They’re Opossums.”
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The conversation continued with me explaining how it was never a good idea to try to break up two wild animals fighting and that this was natural for them to do this because one was trying to protect its homes. The rest of the day was calm knowing our yard was safe of a rat invasion.
That was 20 years ago, but even now when I remember this story it makes me smile as I remember one small child’s sweet innocence and two rats opossums scrapping it out in our back yard.
What comes to mind when you think of opossum?
“Playing possum”, right? Opossum got shorten to possum in the 1600 and this common phrase was first recorded in 1822. It is often used in our own colorful expressions. Here’s a fun example of what of “Playing possum“…
However, more times than not, when I think of opossum, I think…
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| Borrowed Photo |
Granny from the Beverly Hillbilly’s. I tell you what Granny would be saying, if she saw those opossums in our back yard. “Jed, fetch my gun!” I would imagine she may have in mind of fixin’ up some fine vittles with them critters. Perhaps in a pot of …
- 1 each small possum
- 2 liter water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch celery leaves
- 1 pinch parley
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon flour
- fried bread, 1 slice per serving
Skin and clean possum, then quarter the animal. Place it in a large pot or camp over along with water and salt. Cover and simmer gently for 3 to 4 hours. (Tough little devils apparently.) Add vegetables and simmer for another 1 1/2 hours (Still tough. Even the veggies are resisting being associated with this.) Strain soup through a large holed colander when meat has left bone and remove bones, especially small ones. Return soup to the pot and add parsley and celery leaves. Thicken with mixed olive oil and flour. Cut fried bread into 1 inch squares and serve soup over toast, boiling hot.
Do people really eat opossum? Apparently so, President-Elect William H. Taft requested baked possum with baked sweet potatoes at a big dinner in Atlanta in 1909.
It’s a safe beat to say, opossum is something I would not want to sink my teeth into. All I can think is, “Eee-uuuu! Oh, heavens NO!”
Grown opossum are an ugly and frightening sight, but baby opossum are kinda cute…
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| Photo borrowed |
Don’t you think?
It’s easy to see how my little daughter thought the opossum are kin to the rodent family, but in fact they are not remotely related. In fact, opossum are marsupials, which means they carry their young in a pouch like kangaroos and koalas.
For more obviously, outstanding, and perhaps over-the-top ‘O’ posts visit Miss Jenny at …
1. What is the most unusual wildlife you found in your backyard?
- Do you live in the city or in the country? Feel free to specify, if you’re just inside the city or just outside the city limits or out in the woods far away from city life.
Thanks for visiting. I’ll be by your place soon!