Evil Animals

About 10 years ago (sob, I can't believe how old I am), while hanging out with one of my best friends and her boyfriend at the time (who she married and lived happily ever after with) I had one of the freakiest moments of my life. We were walking around Corvallis, late at night, down by campus, and stopped at a sorority house with a porch swing. All three of us were sitting on it, and the boyfriend, if I remember correctly, was going on and on about how much he liked Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho). I'm sure I was engrossed, because I love a good argument (most of you know how I feel about that school), so I only barely heard a click-clacking noise coming from behind me.

I should describe the scenario a little more in detail. We were sitting on a porch swing, which was at ground level, next to cement steps that went up to the doorway of the sorority. My shoulders were at the level of the landing at the top of the steps. In fact, the swing sat pretty close to the steps, and I would say that my left shoulder was no more than a foot away from the landing. There were several large trees around the front of the building and low-lying shrubs. A porchlight was on. So it was shadowy, but we were still able to see pretty well.

Back to the click-clacking. As it grew louder, I turned my head over my left shoulder and came face to face with a giant possum. Somehow it had walked to the top of the landing and came over to us to see what was going on, and it's disgusting possum toenails were clicking on the cement as it walked. Freaking out hardly describes how sickened I was. My friend and I started running for the street and screaming our heads off. The boyfriend, somewhat oblivious, remained seated on the swing for a moment and then walked over to us to try to figure what exactly had happened, possibly annoyed that his story had been cut off mid-sentence by two hysterical girls.

That experience has left an indelible mark on my life, and I can't think about it without having to practically run around the house to shake off the willies. Since then, I just can't handle the thought of gigantic, furry animals running around at night doing whatever they please. They need to be put in the zoo or something, so I don't have to keep running across them at night.

Growing up, I had another friend who talked about the raccoons with rabies that were always around her home, especially up by their playhouse. I never saw one, but I knew they must be very disgusting and should be avoided at all costs. Walking home from her house at night I was always worried I might see one. I'm wondering why someone has not made a horror movie featuring raccoons and possums. I mean, really, are Jason and Freddie all that scary? Put someone in a dark room with a possum running loose, and I am sure you'd have half the audience screaming.

Should I get to the point? I confess I stay up pretty late at night, usually on the computer (drafting blogs, probably) which is adjacent to the sliding glass door to the backyard. We had noticed that a variety of cats were coming up on the back patio to eat whatever is left of the cat's food in the bowl. No big deal, we just started putting less food in the bowl so there wouldn't be much left over at the end of the day. The other week, while working on the computer (I wasn't shopping, I promise) I could hear the cat bowl knock over. Curiosity over took me -- and maybe I wanted to terrorize an unsuspecting cat -- so I ran over and turned on the outside light. To my horror there were six raccoons on the patio fighting over the food in the cat bowl. I almost ran back to the bedroom to wake Mike up, just so I wouldn't be alone in my total freak-out. If you've never seen a raccoon in real life, let me tell you that they are ENORMOUS, probably weighing at least 40 pounds each. For a second I had visions of them passing through the glass and coming in the house. Who knows how long they have been visiting our backyard? Yikes! Last night while not shopping on the computer, a mom and two babies came up to help themselves to cat food. I wanted to take their picture, but only through glass. I knew I could have gotten a better picture if I would have opened the door a crack and pointed the lens through it, but since I'm not a Fear Factor contestant, a hazy, dirty picture will have to do.
Sure, she looks cute now, but would you like be alone in a room with her????
Amy