Reviving the ole' blog - What do 'possums "do"?

The blog has been in hibernation for a long, long ... well, long time.  It's time (even though I don't have any extra time) to revive it to capture some of the glorious events and parenting moments (failures) that are occurring in our lives lately.

It seems five has hit Ellie hard and she is FULL (exploding from the seams) with questions.  On the way to school this morning I had the following:

• What do possums do? (I don't know)
• What do owls do? (I don't know)
• Why do owls come out at night? (I'd like to see an owl, she reports). (We discussed the definition of nocturnal)
• Why does rice grow in patties (sp??) (I don't know)
• Why do woodpeckers peck wood? (I don't know, isn't there a poem about that??)
• Why do snakes bite? (Because they are scared)
• Why do crocodiles bite? (Because they are hungry)
• What's growing in that field over there? (I don't know, probably corn)

Just last night I was barraged with these questions:

• Do eggs grow on trees? (No, you KNOW they come from chickens)
• Who puts the gooey stuff in eggs? (God)
• When Josh was growing in your tummy did he have feet? (Uhhhh.... yes).

In an effort to determine what possums actually DO, I googled, "What do opossums do?"  Found a great website appropriately called The 'Possum Pages that told me everything I never wanted to know about opossums.  I basically learned nothing exciting about them and apparently they don't really "DO" anything.  Much like my children ... but that's a post for another day.

The reason for the possum questions stemmed from the fact that last night our dog Macy treed a possum in the yard.  Ellie wasn't quite sure what one was so we showed her the picture above. 

The real visual from this story is Josh and I outside (pitch black) with a flashlight borrowed from the neighbor, a iPhone with a flashlight app, a bb gun (yes, I know), trying to figure what the dog was so angry about.  Once we discovered her jumping at the tree where the possum was, it was a long struggle to determine which one of us was going to run under the tree (pray that the possum didn't drop and attack) and grab the dog.  In the middle of it all, the neighbors arrive home and think we have lost our minds.  The grass is slick, Josh (who lost and had to run for the dog) fell down  twice while chasing the dog.  The possum never moved.  I'm sure he/she thought we were all crazy.

So, what do possums do?  Aggravate dogs, cause drama and sit in trees.  Oh, and play dead apparently.

Stayed tuned for the next blog post where we discover "who puts the gooey stuff in eggs".