Is Garbage Fair Game?
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009I’m guessing you know what garbage is. I’m not talking GI/GO, but the actual leftovers that humans seem to amass at alarming rates. Well, my household is no different. We try to keep it in containers, but outsiders seem to know when garbage day approaches.
Since we live in the country, a paid service has to come and collect it once a week–on Wednesdays. So, every Tuesday night, mom takes the garbage container to the place where the collectors won’t have any trouble emptying it. Mom used to have to lug it up to the highway, but since she got a special dispensation, she just takes it down to the beginning of the backyard fence; it makes it a lot easier on her and me; she’s not gone as long.
Last night, varmits got into it again and scattered it everywhere. I realize wild animals have to eat, too, but I wish they would go through someone else’s garbage. At any rate, one of them got outsmarted because it got stuck in the garbage can. Mom went out to make sure the garbage wasn’t bothered, and that’s when she found it scattered everwhere. She started picking it up, and heard this noise inside the container. She started poking around (she’s nosy) and saw an opossum close to the bottom. I had no idea they were so mean and so slow (I was looking out the window). So, mom, being mom, emptied the garbage so it could escape. It turned on her when she was trying to free it from the surrounding garbage; I couldn’t believe it. It tried to attack her, if you can call a slow crawl an attack. She is very agile and evaded it with no problem. He bit the stick she was holding and held on for dear life. He still had it in his mouth as he was leaving.
It finally went away, and mom picked up the garbage, put it back in the container (some of the bags were still intact), and came back in the house. She told me that varmits are one of the prices you have to pay for living away from other humans. I guess I believe her.
