An Unwanted Visitor For Christmas
The dogs and our kids (mostly) had a good Christmas, I didn’t take any pictures of Christmas Day festivities, which is normaI because I get so involved I forget.
Now to the picture I did actually take.
My day started at 4:08 AM to my chickens throwing a fit, so I put on my coat, slipped on my boots, and armed myself with a fireplace wood poker thingy (no idea what they are called) and I went out to check on them. As soon as they saw me coming they calmed down, even the rooster, Blacky, who isn’t sure about me settled at my approach. They were all clustered by the gate to the run and not in their sleeping quarters, I noticed our only white chicken, Amy, was stuck behind our nesting boxes. I wondered if they were upset because she was stuck OR if she was stuck because of SOMETHING. So I started shining the flashlight that I keep in my coat pocket and there was an opossum in the run! He was in the opposite end of the run and was trying so hard to not be seen by me. He even played dead for a few moments while I assessed the situation. I looked to see how he got in, and started counting chickens, and he had killed Baby, my daughter’s favorite chicken! After 10 minutes, I had freed Amy but I couldn’t get the possum out, so I opened the run gate so the rest of the flock could escape. My thinking was it was better for them to have a chance to escape than be trapped in with their attacker, and maybe they would stay and the opossum would leave. I cringed at my choices, and the large owl hooting in the woods didn’t make it any better.
I came inside, took my boots and coat off and just laid on the sofa in tears trying to figure my next move. I had planned to go back out there, but decided there was nothing more to do, and it began to rain heavily, so at 4:48 AM I went back to bed.
I never went back to sleep, after a couple of hours I got up and got some coffee and tried to prepare myself for the day. I didn't want to let this ruin our Christmas. Not to long after that my daughter got up, so I needed to take her dog Joy out, and I had already decided to take her out on lead in the front yard. I once again put my boots and attached her long line, and headed out the front door. As I am convincing our little Shih Tzu that the rain isn’t so bad and that she can step around the puddle on the sidewalk, the sirens to the house alarm system start blaring, I had FORGOTTEN TO TURN THE ALARM OFF! So I rushed back into the house to try to turn it off, before I made it to the door my hubby had turned it off. My poor family was awoken by my stupid blunder! What a way to wake up on Christmas! I finished taking out Joy, then took our other dog Hannah out.
My family laughed off the alarm going off and Mr. Editorman and I tried to set the tone for the rest of the morning. He went and checked on the chicken situation and I distracted the kids. The possum was gone, the rest of our small flock were still there. So Mr. Editorman blocked the two possible places that the intruder got in and dealt with Baby’s body and came in.
After that we had a wonderful day, we were blessed with presents from a Secret Santa, we were all given thoughtful gifts that made our Christmas not so small. We are truly grateful and blessed, we don’t even know their names. Our next door neighbors also blessed our children with a trampoline, which meant our kids not only had presents under the tree but a giant extravagant one as well . We had hot cocoa and family stop in for brief visits. We did a puzzle together, watched Christmas movies. It was overwhelming a blessed Christmas. It’s been an extremely rough and tough year, but we are so thankful for the many blessings we have received. Hoping for a better year ahead.
We did tell our daughter the sad news, and she is grieving the loss of her chicky, but waited until after she had a chance to enjoy her Christmas.
