Pardon my dirty, broken, straight-from-the-70's floor.

Pardon my dirty, broken, straight-from-the-70's floor.  I have a new floor to put down - just haven't had the time.

This is Dump playing on my pants.  Yes, I'm wearing snow pants in April.  Leave me alone.  😛  The point of this photo is not my floor or my pants.  Look how big my baby is getting!  😃

He has now discovered Shaun's cargo short's pockets.  That's funny.  😃

Animal Stuff:

Animal Stuff:

Dumplin' is SO BIG.  His tail is all floofed out now and he's going all over the place.  Jumping, running, wrestling - looking and acting like a real squirrel.  😂  He's funny.  He's only nursing about 3 times a day and is trying to explore EVERYTHING with his mouth.  I've got a cute video of him playing with a hair tie.  It's on Shaun's phone so I'll have to get him to send it to me.

Also, Little Mama, the opossum, has a good little bunch of babies.  I didn't want to disturb her just to get a count, but she's got a good hand full.  😍  I did not release her last night.  When I was moving her into a larger space I noticed that she's got worms so she'll stay with me until I can get her all clear.  Hopefully, I can also get some meat on her bones and get an idea of how healthy the babies are.  I'm going to move her to the garage tonight.  It will be much quieter and I think she'll appreciate that.

Also, Dumplin' says:  "0

                                        ZEEEEEEED"

He was very adamant about stomping on my keyboard for some reason.  I guess he had things to say.  😛

Little Mama has eaten and drank!

Little Mama has eaten and drank!  At some point over the night she must have felt that it was ok.  She is also a lot more feisty.  I think that I would feel ok about releasing her tonight.  🙂

So... my uneventful Saturday changed.

So... my uneventful Saturday changed.

My friend Sherri sent me a message saying that an opossum with babies was trapped in a pipe at her work.  The cops nor the fire department would come out until Monday.  🙁  That was just not good enough so I went to see what I could do.

The pipe was long and kind of narrow.  It was longer than my arm and I was pretty sure I could not reach her.  I took the towel I'd brought and cut it into strips and dropped it down thinking she'd climb up.  I know it wasn't a long time, but I waited quietly for an hour and she never came.  So, I started to get worried that she was really stuck.

I put on a glove that Sherri had in her car and tried to reach down.  I could barely brush her nose with my hand and only because she was smiling up at me.  Anyone who knows about opossums knows that they are usually gonna open their mouth real big and show you all of their teeth.  What most people don't seem to understand is that it's all show.

I felt like I was running out of options so I did the only logical thing I could think of:  I stuck my hand in her mouth.  When I found her top fangs I put my thumb over her nose and tried to pull.  She barely budged.  🙁  I wanted to cry.

We tried few other things to get her out, but nothing worked.  So I mustered up my balls and reached in again.  I braced myself against the ground, stuck my hand in her mouth, and PULLED.  Slow, but firm.  And I got her.  😃

I feel really shaken because I felt like I had to be hurting her, but I'm surely not as shaken as she is.

She is resting now in a cat carrier inside my bathroom.  I've given her a towel and some wet cat food and water.  She needs to be warm and get dry and just rest.  I don't know how long she was down there, but I'm gonna hold on to her for a few days and make sure she and the baby (or babies!) are ok.

Speaking of babies - I was really concerned that I might have lost a few down the pipe so I went all MacGyver on this shit and rigged a mirror on a pole to make sure I couldn't see anyone else down there.  As far as I could tell the pipe is now empty.  I would NOT have been able to sleep tonight if I hadn't checked.

P. S.  I'm not saying that anyone should go and test this out, but when I put my hand in her mouth she turned her head.  She did NOT bite me.  This scared, hungry, damp mama opossum did NOT bite me.  They are so docile.  They get such a bad wrap because they are convincing actors, but seriously, please don't ever hurt one.  They wouldn't hurt you.

I do believe I was just accused...

I do believe I was just accused of stealing a piece of apple.  😂😂😂

Dumplin' was nomming on some apple and dropped it in the floor.  First thing he did:  He came to inspect MY hands.  😂  I'd better go and get him another piece!

Well...

Well, the Shaun ❤ has plans that I'm not interested in tonight and most of my friends live far away.  Sometimes that's really a bummer.  🙁

On the bright side I just got rid of extra kid (shoulda seen the look I got from his mother when I pulled up in the driveway) and I have a new nail thing I want to try.  Guess I'm gonna have a low-key Saturday evening doing some light cleaning, nail stuff, and Netflix watching.  Hey - at least they have Adult Swim on there now.  FUCK YES!  😃

I can't even believe the phone call I got earlier.

I can't even believe the phone call I got earlier.

It was the mom of one of Shadow's friends.  This kid comes over pretty often and he's ok so I don't really mind.  But - I've said it a thousand times and here it is again:  I'm not a kid person and I don't really like kids.  Nope - not any of them.  My son is ok because he's good - and if he's not I have the authority to fix that.  I can handle most well-behaved children in short bursts, but after that I'm done.  Take it away, please.  Yes, seriously.  Not interested and not into it.

Moving on.

So this woman called me and wanted to know why I never let her son stay the whole weekend when he calls and asks if he can spend the night.  And I told her, "Well, I get stressed out with extra people in my house so even though he's good I'm not into having him all weekend.  It's nothing personal."  And then she was like, "But why not?  Most people let kids stay two nights."  So I was just straight with her:  "I'm not a kid person.  I don't really like kids."

So then she called me weird and make some remark about me having one - something to the effect of "having kids is supposed to make you like kids."  And I told her, "Look, I had ONE.  And I did NOT get pregnant on purpose.  If he hadn't happened I wouldn't have any at all.  I never planned to have kids - and I'm not having anymore."

She just seemed flustered and aggravated and asked again if he could stay the whole weekend.  I told her I didn't know... that I'd come and get him after work and that he could stay tonight and we'd see about the rest.  It's not like I don't have other plans that don't consist of watching her child.

So this kid calls me just about every weekend, but I'm not into having an extra child all weekend, every weekend.  I let him come over every other weekend for one night at the most.  I mean, his parents NEVER offer to drop him off or pick him up.  They got annoyed when they moved 30 minutes away and I'd ask them to meet me somewhere with him.  One night I waited for an hour in Wal-Mart for them to show up.  I mean - you want me to watch your kid?  How about you make it convenient, for fucks sake?  Also, they never invite Shadow over.  EVER.  So there's zero reciprocation.

It's not like I don't understand.  I'm pretty low-income due to the fact that I run this household by myself, but I don't think either of his parents work (not regularly, anyway), so they don't have gas money or anything like that, usually.  Also, they have 6 or 7 kids.  No joke.  A whole fucking pack of children.  I understand wanting to get rid of one, but hey - it's not my problem that she hasn't figured out what causes pregnancy yet.  If she didn't want 6 or 7 kids around all the time then maybe she shouldn't have had so many.  I do not feel the urge to be her free weekend babysitter.  Every time I'm really nice and go out of my way she always offers me the other little boy, too.  Oh, but she doesn't ask.  No, she sends him up to me with his sad little boy eyes to ask if he can come with us.  I let him Trick-or-Treat with us the year before last, but every time after that I've stood my ground.  There's no fucking way I'm taking a younger child, too.  I think she finally got the picture because little dude hasn't asked if he could tag along in quite a while.

HUFF.  😳

I'm just bitching.  I needed to get that off my chest.  If you want to have an ass-ton of kids then more power to you.  But don't fucking act like other people are weird for not wanting them.  That's just not right.  I'm aware of how babies are made so if I feel the need to have a child in my house besides Shadow I can make my own.  I don't need to borrow anyone else's.  Damn.