Day 1: Work, Possums And The Single Mum
01 Nov 2008
Well it’s the first day, and therefore the first post for the NaBloPoMo. And as a quick head’s up I’ll let you know now that this post may be a bit of a ramble. My brain really isn’t with it at the moment so I’m pretty much gonna just type and see what comes out.
In fact the reason for my brain being in melt down is a good enough idea to post about so that’s what this will be about.
It’s just gone 5pm Saturday arvo here (South Australia) and I’ve been up since 5 am this morning, while that’s not a totally new thing - to get up that early, I do it a couple of times a fortnight for work, the problem is that I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night. And that’s where the problem starts. With a possum or maybe more than one (which also isn’t a totally new thing, possums that is)
Knowing I had to get up early for work this morning, I went to bed pretty early last night and fell to sleep pretty quickly, only to be woken up an hour or two later by the most God-awful noise. And as many probably know, being woken from a sound sleep to a shrieking sound is not pleasant, it makes your heart feel like it’s going to pound out of your chest. Then of course you have to lay there, still as a statue, holding your breath and trying not to make a sound, as you try and figure out what the hell it was that woke you up. At this point while I was laying there, I could hear what could only be described as heavy breathing so my eyes open a fraction and I try to look in all directions at once (Without moving my head) in case there’s actually someone in the room with me. Being half asleep and scared out of my wits I admit to it taking awhile for me to figure out what it was - a damn possum. Yes I have possums that live in my roof. In fact at certain times I’m fairly sure my house is possum party central.
For those of you who have had any experience with possums you’ll know they make the most horrible of noise. If they’re growling (well I assume it’s growling) they really sound like someone heavy breathing - picture any horror movie and the sound the bad guy/monster makes as he’s sneaking up behind you after you’ve led him on a merry chase - that breathing thing - well I’m pretty sure they got that from possums. Then they screech. That’s probably close to a cat fight screech - only 10 times louder.
So anyway, I’ve finally figured out what the noise is - but then there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it - except try to sleep inbetween all the noise it decided to make. Suffice to say I probably only got a few real hours of sleep last night.
As I said - if this is making any sense at all - I’ve dealt with the possums before and I can handle the odd early morning start for work - it’s just when I combine the two that the trouble starts. The thing is, is that I’m not sure how to actually get rid of the possums. They are a protected species. They’re territorial so even if I somehow captured one I’d only have to release it in the same spot (outside my house) which means they’re just gonna go straight back to the roof. They’re driving me and the kids nuts - not to mention the fact that when they do actually get inside the roof and down in the walls they’ve scratched holes in the wall. So if anyone has any tips on how to stop them from partying at my place I’ll gladly listen 
Or perhaps I could just give up my day job so I can sleep all day and then be up all night to party with the possums .
