Thursday, October 29, 2009

Super Pooper


Apologies for the long absence in my blogging. There have been health issues with my mother, and lately, various other distractions..................

A few days ago I noticed an awful odor in my garage. It was distinctly the smell of, well for the lack of a nicer word, shit. I couldn't figure it out. Later that day I pulled in my garage and got out of my car, started toward the door into the house when I noticed something on top and dripping down the rungs of a ladder that is leaning against the wall in a corner of my garage. YIKES, yes it was piles of poop, runny poop at that, on top of the ladder and dripping down the steps, even on the wall of my garage. I took the ladder out to the yard, hosed it down, and sprayed it with disinfectant.

The next day I was having beautiful 2" blinds installed throughout my house. I arrived home just before the blinds were to be installed to find poop dripping all over my garage walls, window sills, smeared on the windows, and just everywhere in the garage. Things were knocked off the shelves, even my new blower was knocked off the shelf onto the floor. Now I'm thinking that my two outdoor cats have suddenly gone crazy and somehow done this. Either that or I must have closed the giant stray cat, that has adopted us, up in the garage and he went ballistic. Since my cats always use their litter box in the garage I was betting it was the stray. I cleaned up all the poop AGAIN, and was confident that everything was clean before they hung my new blinds in the windows. The next morning, there it was AGAIN! Poop all over my beautiful new blinds, the walls, the window sills, the floor, all over everything in the garage. Unbelievable!

It took several hours to clean up all the poop AGAIN. Now I'm thinking it must be MY cats. I banished them totally out that night. It was the first time they had to sleep outside at night. I always let them in the garage at night because I live in the woods and don't want any wild animals to get my girls. The next morning, there it was AGAIN! Okay, it wasn't the stray, it can't be my cats, what IS it? I called the only company in the phone book that traps animals alive to remove them. Let me tell you, it's not cheap to get rid of a wild animal. They came out, told me they thought it was an oppossum and said that I had to buy a permit to trap wild animals to catch it and remove it. Are you kidding!? WHAT A RACKET!! Anyway, he left me a trap with a little cherry pie in it for bait. I fully expected my cats to get nosy and go in to check out the cherry pie and trip the trap, but they didn't. The second night the trap was out I scored! This is the varmit that shit all over my garage, including my brand new window blinds.

Notice the chaos in the background? This rascal did that the night he got trapped. You can see some poop on the stepstool and running down the front of it. Also, see the wet concrete under the trap? Yep, possum pee. YUCK AND PEEEEEEEUUUUUU!!!!!

I happily called the "critter man" the next morning to tell him we had caught the "shitter critter" and he came out to pick him up and take him to a nature preserve to turn him loose. That's the good news, the bad news..........oppossums usually travel in two's or three's. This means I'm still trying to catch more oppossums. I guess since I had to pay for a permit to catch them I might as well catch several of them. Wish me luck. The guy said if I don't catch any more within ten days, then it must have been just the one.

It's been two nights since the score of the first critter. So far the trap is empty, what will tomorrow bring?

There has been actual knitting going on here and there. I have completed several small projects and am about half way finished with a sweater that I am tweaking to suit me and my body shape. Pictures coming soon.