A Mystery…

This morning we solved a mystery that’s been bugging us for quite a while now…

A few weeks ago, Harland and I were working our computers one evening when we heard a noise in the basement.  We shrugged it off, you know, old house creaking and groaning…right?

But we kept hearing it.  Every few nights – banging… We would stop to listen….and all would go quiet.

Then we went on vacation on August 25th and were away for 2 weeks.

One night after we got back home, we heard the noise again as we were working in our office one evening, only this time it was louder – more insistent. It sounded like something was rattling the basement window!  (We open the basement windows in the summer to let fresh air in, but they’re only open a crack and are nailed in place so nothing can get in.)

Harland went into the basement while I went outside in the dark with a flashlight. I was shining the flashlight around the basement windows when I heard Harland yell and I ran back inside.

Me:  What is it? Did you see something?  

Harland:  Yeah, somebody was shining a flashlight into the basement window! 

Me:  Oh geez. 

The next night, we heard the same noise again, window rattling.

I looked at Harland.

Harland and Me:  “Something’s down there!!”

So two days ago, Harland set our Havahart trap in the basement and baited it with catfood.

Yesterday morning all the catfood was gone and the trap was empty. But since the critter, whatever it was, now knew where to get food, we knew it would be back the next night.

So this morning first thing,  I tip-toed down into the basement stairs in my bathrobe. I peered across the basement…..

And there was something in the trap!

It was curled up like it had been sleeping. As I looked at it laying there, it stared back at me with two large dark eyes…

“Hey lady, turn the light off already! I’m trying to sleep here.”

A possum!

How in the world did a possum get in the basement? Well, there’s only one way it could have.

Remember the mystery hole we discovered in our remodeling project?

We discovered the hole when Harland broke out and removed the old patio next to the house. Turned out it was a old cistern that had been filled in and settled over time leaving a hole.

Well, it was several days before Harland could fill it in with concrete.

But during that time the hole was open, Mr/Mrs Possum must have moved into the basement. We just never noticed the little moving van parked outside the house or the little moving men bringing in the  furniture. Must have happened at night.

But here’s another mystery: Harland filled that hole in on August 16, unknowingly trapping our new tenant in the basement.  There’s water available down there (the air conditioner drains into the basement drain) but there’s no food of any kind. How in the world has Mr/Mrs. Possum survived for a month without food?

Poor thing.

No wonder the food dish was empty that first night we baited the trap.

Today Harland will release our tenant back outside.

Fresh air, green grass, and bugs to eat.  If possums could sing for joy, I’m sure this one would.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo