My first adventure…so, as some of my ardent fan base may know, i baked cookies yesterday, and put them on a plate on my table beside an open window for a photo-op like so:

Well, about 1 in the morning as I was in that nice and warm halfway place between sleep and dreaming I suddenly sat straight up in bed remembering the blasted cookies left on a plate on my table in front of the open window. So throwing my robe over my jim jams I rushed to their rescue

I had sleepily placed about half of the cookies in a tin when my eyes, drawn by a strange sense of animal magnetism I have never yet felt, were drawn slowly to my left, where with a small cry of astonishment I found a large rodent regarding me steadily, and his beady black eyes locked with mine in a primal contest for domination as my mind feverishly considered his species. Since he was sitting up regarding me and had not moved for what must have been a minute entire I discarded rat and landed upon opposum. I forfeited the stare down in a desparate rush for my camera…just imagine the possibilities of a photo of an opossum sitting calmly in my dining room chair….i returned sadly to find him disappearing out of the window, though I confess after pondering the logistics of forcibly ejecting an opossum from my house i was happier about his exit than not. Back at the Arizona homestead we had a special plastic trash bin with high sides that was perfect for scooping up unwanted visitors with some small help from the broom, upon which they could be deposited at a distance from the house. Perhaps in a later episode I will say more about all of the exciting critters i have ejected from my room, but I found myself woefully unprepared now that I’m in the big city.

The good news is that the little guy did not go far…I think all in all I prefer the animal kingdom to show me a little more fear and respect, but here he is, hanging upside down to my great joy! Just outside my window he was, probably waiting for me to back away slowly from the cookies.

And as I contuned to shoot pictures he grumpily moved along at a slow and diginified pace so here’s another shot:

I have to say the one eye-opener of the evening, is that my cats just sat around and watched the whole time. I’m going to have to stop feeding them.