Possums and Such

Monday I had the unique opportunity to escort a possum into a State Park.

I never thought I would write that sentence.

My father-in-law's workshop has been taken over by mice. Big ugly mice. So Matt has become The Verminator and has been on a mission this week to eradicate them. He loves the thrill of the hunt and loves that his granddaddy pays him $1 for every mouse caught. He has been hiding out in there shooting at them with his BB gun and at night he sets traps. Well, Sunday night he caught a possum.

Now, my first thought was to get rid of the possum, cause those things eat my chickens, but Matt, who loves all animals, except mice, which he is willing to compromise on, because he loves making some money too, did NOT want to kill the possum.

So this led me driving to Tanneyhill State Park with a possum in a cage sitting in the trunk of my van. Said possum was very very happy to be set free and lets just hope he does not find his way back here. He used his one "Get Out Of Trap" card and no more will be issued.

This got me to thinking about all I do now that I never imagined I would EVER do. Like,

~shovel chicken manure for the purpose of fertilizing my garden (never even really thought I would shovel anything for that matter)

~have an animal graveyard in my backyard

~get chased by two mean roosters across my backyard

~stick a hemorrhoid applicator into a baby chickens little rear end to try to save it from a prolapse

~get up in the middle of the night to check on a baby chick to make sure she was warm enough

~go into a feed store and confidently order scratch feed or anything else I need for our animals (or even know where a feed store was)

~build my own mini-chicken coop when bad weather was coming (in less than an hour)

~camp in August (first and last time)

~defend my kiddos and my chicks by killing a snake with a hoe. Or see a snake and not completely fall apart.

When I signed up for life with Mark I didn't know I was signing up for all that. But oh, I am so glad I did. He keeps things interesting and fun around here. He makes me laugh at life and at myself. He believed in me that I could do these things and he is proud that I do. I wouldn't trade this life with him and my kiddos for any life out there. When I said "yes" to him I had no idea I would be saying "yes" to so many good things. And I certainly had no idea I would EVER love a bunch of people so much.