We got to talking the other day about wild things getting into our houses. We have two friends who have had bats manage to get in recently. I've also known people who had squirrels get inside, with pretty disastrous results. It reminded me of an incident that happened a few years ago.
I went to Monterey to visit Kitty and Mike. It happened that Mike was called out of town on business for a few days, so the first night, Kit and I curled up on her bed and talked far into the night. Eventually, we fell asleep there, but a couple of hours after midnight, she sat up and announced that she heard noises in the back bedroom. (This was the room where I would have been sleeping under other circumstances.) We went to investigate.
As we peered into the room with a flashlight, we spotted two gleaming eyes looking back at us. We closed the door quickly, not knowing what was in there. Kitty called the Police Department. In Monterey, Animal Control is part of the P.D. A very nice officer showed up quickly. Upstairs he went, cracked open the door, and shone his flashlight inside. After a few minutes, he closed the door and announced "That's a possum!" adding, with a very serious look and a shake of his head, "I don't do possums! I'm calling for back-up!" Kitty and I looked at one another, and managed to control the giggles that threatened. Officer did, indeed, call for back up, which arrived in due course. Another very nice young man arrived, with his net at the end of a stick, marched into the room, netted the poor possum, and carried it out.
The condo had a flat roof, with a skylight in the bathroom. Apparently Mr. Possum had made his way up a fat tree trunk and across a branch to the roof, and then fell into the bathroom and made his way to the bedroom.
Could have been a lot worse then causing us a little lost sleep. Could have been a squirrel. They'll tear off your wallpaper and manage to trash a lot of furniture.
The friend I knew had one get into her kitchen. It tore down the curtains, which hit the stove and started a fire. At least our animal visitor was just one of Pogo's cousins.
