The triumphant and unexpected return of Todd the Possum?

Look, kids! It’s Todd the Possum!

What? You don’t remember Todd the Possum? Todd is a buddy of Xena’s. During cold weather he wanders onto the back deck (well, not so much wanders as carts his portly possum butt up a little flight of stairs onto the deck) and eats whatever dog food Xena has left on the deck.

Now, this, in all likelihood, is not the original Todd. But it was definitely a decent sized possum, and Xena was definitely not fussed about him being up there. To my total amazement, after I snapped this blurry, last-known-photo-of-Bigfoot shot through a glass door that really needs cleaning, a second possum appeared. At this juncture, even if Xena wasn’t going to do anything to scare them off, I opened the back door slightly.

And they stood there and looked at me. Little bastards.

When I stepped out onto the deck, then they scattered. Obviously simply putting in an appearance wasn’t going to cut it.

Thanks for helping to feed all the neighborhood possums, Xena. Thanks a lot. Oh, the joys of life out in the boonies…