The Christmas Possum

I know some of you out there are wondering what the deal with the Christmas possum is. I'll start out by saying that we did NOT eat it. Some people joke that Mike will try just about anything even if it is "special", but he does have his limitations. However, if you find possums to be "special" enough to try, see the attached link. There's even some pointers to catch one. http://members.tripod.com/~w3lap/possum_cook_book.htm

Anyway, on to the story of the possum.

Over the Christmas holiday, Mike, Kjersten and I traveled to Iowa to spend a week with Mike's parents, brother and sister. On Christmas eve, we all headed to Grandma Olson's to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with her at the farm in Thor. At some point, I overheard Grandma mention something about a possum hanging around eating the farm cats' food, but didn't think much about it. For a girl who grew up in town, my exposure to possums was limited at best and I had no idea what happens to nuissance possums in the country.

On Christmas day the whole family, including Aunt Jane and Uncle Dennis, were sitting down at the dining room table enjoying our holiday meal and conversation. I was sitting in direct view of the window when I notice the possum waddle accross the driveway outside and made comment of its sighting. The next thing we knew John and Dennis were out the door on a mission to get rid of the possum. A few minutes later they returned to announce that the possum met its demise courtesy of a shovel and would no longer be bothering the cats.

Lesson learned: farm folk deal with rodents differently than urban folks and it's usually permanent.