Playing Possum

I spent the weekend in Dallas with my family. Friday night I got to have drinks with my two oldest pals, Jennifer and Elizabeth. What a treat. We were on the hunt for a good patio, so met after dinner for a couple of cocktails at Ozona.

Elizabeth, me, and Jennifer (pals since Hyer Elementary School)

As we waited for our table we noticed some girls shrieking and jumping up on their chairs. Of course, I jugged...thinking it was a product of being over served mixed with a dash of drama. I moved on.

So, we were seated on the edge of the patio on a nice elevated deck portion and enjoyed the conversation even more than the drinks. As we sipped and dished we soon discovered why "the obnoxious girls" were indeed being obnoxious.....an opossum trotted right in front of our table. Ewwwww. For the record....I am NOT a fan of the possum and have quite a bumpy past with these creepy little critters....but that's another story.Anyway, we were safe from the Ozona Opossum as we were on that elevated part of the deck. Thank goodness.

In telling the story I have found that there is much confusion in the world on just what kind an animal they really are, so I thought I'd share a few possum facts.

- Believe it or not, the possum is a marsupial. In fact, it is North America's only marsupial and is related to the kangaroo and the koala....not the rat or other rodents as most people suspect.- Possums have thumbs on their hind feet

- Possums have been around for 70 to 80 million years; this makes them one of the Earth's oldest surviving mammals.

- Possums eat just about anything....insects, snails, rats, pet food, people food, and more.

- Possums have a very short life span....on average two years.

- Possums are more resistant to rabies than any other mammal.

- Opossums were first observed in the North America in the state of Virginia by early English colonists, but can be found today in most of the US and portions of Canada and Mexico.

When I googled 'Opossum' this morning I was shocked to find just how many people are into these creepy little creatures. There are numerous websites devoted to the Opossum including...
- The National Opossum Society (yes, really)
- The Opossum Society of the United States (again, not kidding)
- Compassionate Action Institute (can't make it up)

If you ask me, these people don't have enough to do if they are "saving the opossum," but I guess...to each his own.