Sunday, July 11, 2004

Search for lost stories under way Oops! Ain't technology wonderful? Apparently, when I moved my Radio Userland account to my new Powerbook, somehow the "Stories" section got left behind or lost in techno-space. For now, the only one you can read is the one I posted on this new machine, "A Yooper's View of Fishing Tournaments." I'll do what I can to retriieve the others and get them back up where they belong. Meanwhile, I'm doing the best I can. You could always click over to my website home page and read the "Guest Shot" stories there. You could even go shopping in the Mall. Keep checking back, as I will be adding some new items soon! Later... 10:06:34 PM    comment []

Yooper Game Warden strikes again! John Walker, the retired game warden from Michigan's Upper Peninsula and author of a handful of entertaining books about his adventures as a warden, sends me a regular fishing report from the U.P.  I posted one about smelt fishing a few months back under "Stories."  Well, it's time to post another one.  John's report from last month's Cabela's walleye tournament is the newest post on my "Stories" page.  To read either of those fishing reports, just click here. Later... 9:55:24 PM    comment []

Independence Day Possum Been so busy I didn't get around to blogging this little item until now.  Back on July 3, Shivani woke up at 2:00 a.m. to the clattering of cans in the garage.  She bravely went out with a light and a stick to find a possum with his head in the recycling bin.  Assuming he had smelled cat food, she poked him with the stick to get his attention, then chased him out of the garage.  Of course, I slept through the whole thing. The next night, ol' possum was back, but this time we both slept through his foraging.  In the morning, though, when Shivani went to toss something in the garbage, there was the possum, curled up and sound asleep in the bottom of the garbage can.  I had taken the trash to the recycling center on Saturday, so the can was empty except for a couple scraps in the new liner bag (which the town charges a buck apiece for and requires that we use for all trash to be dumped into the compacter).  The possum had climbed into the can, eaten the scraps, then tried in vain to climb out again.  All he managed to do was pull the liner bag down into the can.  Eventually, he gave up and went to sleep, either exhausted or dimly hopeful that Independence Day would bring a favorable outcome. When possums sleep, they do so with a vengeance.  All day on the Fourth, the possum slept peacefully.  He opened an eye once when I made a little noise opening the door, but otherwise, he was oblivious as we came and went all day long.  He might have awakened once because in the afternoon, he was curled up on his right side, after having slept on his left side all morning.  (Either that, or he rolled over in his sleep.  I always fall asleep on my side, but usually wake up on my back, and I never remember turning over.) Shivani wondered if something was wrong with the possum.  (Other than being a possum, that is...)  I figured that since possums are nocturnal, he was likely just sleeping until nightfall, when he might start worrying about his fate once again. Just before sundown, we decided it was time to liberate him.  Shivani put on my July 4th Parade shirt, made of flag bunting, which would help mark the occasion on the digital photos I planned to take.  We took the can, possum and all, into the yard and Shivani tipped the can to roll him out, but the plastic liner bag covered him up, messing up my photo op.  Se we dumped him out on the lawn, where he hissed, bared his 50 teeth and glared at Shivani, while I tried to compose a decent photo.  (For times like this, I need a faster camera.  A Nikon motordrive 35mm comes to mind.)  Anyway, before I could get the angle I wanted, which included the possum's face and Shivani holding the garbage can, the possum decided he'd had enough, trotted across the lawn and disappeared down the vinca-covered slope and into the woods.  I fired off one shot and caught a blurry Shivani holding an empty garbage can and the spot where the possum had been.  I do have one good shot of him sleeping in the garbage can, but it's a lot less dramatic than the shot I tried to set up. We have had an occasional possum visitor to our garage when we have neglected to run the door down at night.  One winter morning about ten years ago, I picked up an empty cat food bag lying in the corner and was suprised to find it heavy.  I peeked in to find a sleeping possum.  I left him where he was, figuring he had sought a warm place to sleep.  That night, he left.  The next morning, however, he was back in the same bag.  He spent several nights sleeping in that cat food bag before wandering off. Possums may not be the brightest bulb in the string, but they have enough sense to return to a source of food or a warm den on a cold night.  The latest possum visitor didn't seem too concerned, however, that he had got himself into a situation he couldn't get out of alone.  If possums had a Darwin Award, that guy would rank right up there with all his brethren that get flattened while crossing the road. Later... 9:28:59 PM    comment []