And the Oscar goes to ... the possum.

After a weekend of birthday debauchery (thank you, dear KC friends!!!!), I moseyed my way back to North Mo. I stopped 'for a bit' at the farm to check in and see what projects are coming up. And, as is usually the case, my mom and I made dinner and started chatting and watching sports, and 'a bit' turned into midnight and I decided to stay the night.

So while mom was putting the leftovers away, I went to put the girls in their kennels for the night. (the 'girls' being what we call our three border collies. Although, I have to admit. There are some human girls I've wanted to put in kennels in my lifetime. But that's not a part of this particular story.)

One thing about the farm is, after the sun goes down, the place is DARK. We have a yard light, but it doesn't do all that much. So, I go out to get the girls with a flashlight. I find them out in the side yard, sniffing around at a shadowy lump on the ground. On further inspection, I find a mangy looking, curled up, glassy-eyed possum. Hadn't ever seen one of those before. All dead animals are sad, but EEEeeeeewww. So I put the girls up and fed them, and returned to the scene of the crime. The possum was still there. I nudged him with my boot, and he lolled over, tongue hanging out, lifeless. I thought about getting some gloves and disposing of him. But before doing that, I remembered just who I was dealing with ... a professional actor. He sure did look dead to me, but hey, who knows? So I left him there.

And in the morning, I went out to look ... and he had disappeared. It's a MIRACLE!!!! He had looked SO DEAD!!! Seriously, the glassy eyes and everything - them possums is miraculous!! If I ever see this one again, I think I'll name him Hey-seuss. Or maybe Lazarus. Or what was that guy's name in South America who woke up on the autopsy table last week?

Do you think that possums have 'near death experiences' when they do that? Like, do you think that possum is going to try and live a better life, now that he knows what the afterlife looks like? Maybe he feels like he's been given a second chance?

Ah yes. Something to possum. I mean, ponder. :)