During lunch the other day we heard a noise.
It sounded like a raspy squirrel or... not a bird but an idontknowwhat... like something that was slightly annoyed and grumbling about it. We carried on with lunch and then realized a little while later that we could still hear it...
I'm not sure if curiosity got the better of me and I got up to check, or if it just caught the corner of my eye but all of a sudden I saw a possum on our wall... in broad daylight? I called the Ninja *psssst* come look quick and bring your camera I think... it's a Momma Possum!!!
Being a Mom is tough. She was pacing back and forth in this section of the wall and appeared to be awkwardly looking for a way down. I couldn't quite see over into the neighbour's yard, so we grabbed the ladder, peeked over and sure enough there was a baby possum pacing back and forth at the bottom of the wall yelling "Mom" ... "Mom" ... "Mom"
I quickly assessed options and asked the Ninja to "fetch me some rope" (we conveniently had the "rigging" from our Halloween pirate ship still kicking around with a monkey's fist knot in the end) I had a feeling it just might work *fingers crossed*
While the Ninja was fetching the rope, the Momma possum streeeeeatched and disappeared into the hedge with her ungainly passengers.
I lowered the monkey's fist and darned if the little stinker didn't know it was for him, he walked over and climbed on up (still regularly making sure that Mom still knew where he was)!
He made it to the top of the wall and let go of the rope allowing me to back off and take it with me. Now Mom was in the neighbour's hedge somewhere, and this little guy was pacing back and forth in the same spot his Mom had been just a handful of minutes prior...
It was too far for him to jump and I think we were probably making the Mom a little nervous, so I grabbed my "straight edge" (a lovely piece of wood) and gently stuffed it into the hedge to make a little bridge for him.
He waltzed across it like it was the most natural thing in the world, and soon disappeared up into the same spot his Mom had gone. Shortly thereafter he stopped hollering and we assumed success.
It was one of those "Whaaaaaat! I can't believe that actually worked!?!" kind of moments! *grins*
Later in the afternoon I went to retrieve my "straight edge" and realized I could hear one again. I wondered what all the fuss was about, and then realized that either the same little guy or his idiot brother had fallen out of the hedge...
Wash. Rinse. Repeat our efforts from earlier in the day, and we decided that it was his idiot brother.
This one didn't go to the rope right away, it actually took a couple tries just to get him onto the rope... then part way up he decided to go down again *sigh*
I pulled the knot up high enough that he wouldn't jump down he finally decided that the knot was a dead-end, turned around to come up and then about a half a foot from the top let go of the rope and tried unsuccessfully to free climb the concrete wall *facepalm*
So close buddy, you're so close... just. climb. the. rope.
He finally made it to the top and I had to get the Ninja to hold the rope so I could get out of the way because he was still standing on it... Here he is yelling at her:
 |
| Mom!? |
He similarly paced back and forth, tried to cross the "straight edge" bridge and almost fell off (I would like to note that it is almost twice as wide as he is), abandoned that plan and then...
*0h$#!t* are you kidding me? he's trying to climb back down the wall?!?!
"It's okay I can still see his tail" the Ninja assured me.
I scrambled back up the ladder rope in hand and managed to get him back on the monkey's fist... now what do I do with him?!?
"Just put him on top of the hedge" she suggested...
He doesn't seem to be that bright so I'm not sure he'll figure it out, but I'm not sure what else to do with him given that he has already fallen out of the hedge once and *almost* fallen off of the wall AND the makeshift bridge.
Then I heard a rustle and saw a large furry shape inside the hedge and realized that his Mom was very carefully monitoring our progress. I managed to gently deposit him on top of the hedge without him falling off (or through) and saw a white nose sneak up and take possession of the little stinker.
