Baby Rescue

Before I moved to Orlando, I think my imagination led me to think that it was busy and loud and that I just might see Cinderella or Goofy at the grocery store...well, maybe not that since I'm sure they have someone to do their shopping for them. But, you know what I mean...just big city touristy. Well, I'm happy to say that it isn't all like that and our home is in a beautiful established neighborhood far enough from the crowds, but close enough to get where we want within 30 minutes. We are lucky to live on a beautiful chain of lakes with no neighbors behind us and that's a big plus.





The flip side to that is Florida wildlife. Yes, we have gators and anyone that tries to tell you different isn't being truthful! If there's water in Florida you better believe there's a gator in it or close by. We see them sunning out on our dock when it's really hot or gliding by in the water just about dusk. They don't come up on the beach too often, but it happens. We also have otters, herons, giant carp fish, snakes, racoons and possums. And that brings me to this...

The Hub reads the paper out on the back deck every morning before he leaves for work and will occasionally report critter sightings..."otter on the dock", ducks in the pool", " snake by the screen"...that kind of thing. Well, he had a new one yesterday "possum on the pool deck". Now, for those that don't see possums you should know that they rarely come out in the daylight and if you see one out it could mean they are sick. Same for racoons. Now, my mind goes into overdrive and I imagine this rabid possum terrorizing us and trapping us in the house...what will we do??

Me: "What do you think that means?"

Hub: "I don't know."

Me: "That's weird. Did he look sick?"

Hub: "It was a she."

Me: " How do you know that?"

Hub: "She had a baby on her back. She was down on that far corner."

Me: " Awww...how cute! I hope she isn't sick and something might happen to that baby and..."

Hub: "She looked alright to me." (Thank You, Dr.)

About this time I notice that both of our kitties are sitting by the back glass door, absolutely hypnotized by something out by the pool. Now we have this stone fountain thing at the shallow end...it's ugly and stupid, but it was here when we moved in and there's no way (short of draining the pool and doing tons of stuff) to get rid of it. Sometimes these kitties just gaze at the fountain and water...ducks get in the pool and birds sometime sit on it, so they're waiting for entertainment, I guess. As I walk over to the doors and look out, I see this.....

It's a little possum...just a baby...and it's trapped on the fountain in the middle of the pool! That's why the mommy possum was out...she was trying to save her baby!! We can only guess that this little one fell into the pool and swam to the rocks. No idea how long it had been there, but it was dry so it had to have been a while.

It was so scared and shaking...look at those white tipped ears. Poor little thing! We went into rescue mode, so I don't have actual pictures, but here's how it all went down. Bailey came out and we got the long handled pool skimmer and held it out to the edge of the fountain. This little one walked right on and we promptly deposited it in a bucket! They look cute, but have sharp teeth and claws and it would be my luck for it to run up that skimmer handle and jump on my neck!

Once safe inside the bucket, we just took it down to the far corner at the original Mommy sighting and turned the bucket on the side. It must have been pretty close to home 'cause it just scurried out and went right under the edge of the deck. We haven't seen any possums since, so I can only guess that all is well in Possumville.

Another day in paradise...oh, that reminds me...there's a bat living in our beach umbrella and I have no idea how to fix that!