Bloggity Blogster: What a strange night....

Around what I can only guess was about 3am this morning I was in and out of sleep when I heard Indy whining and staring out the sliding glass door of our room into the backyard. The sensor activated light by the laundry room in the yard had gone on and Indy was on alert for whatever set it off. This isn't unusual...on occasion we just tell him to go back to bed and he begrudgingly obliges with a huff. At other times I've opened the door to let him go check out whatever was bothering him. This time I got up to pee and thought "one of these days he's going to bark. that's when I'll be concerned." As I headed back to bed from the hallway I heard him let out a loud bark. Then another. He rarely ever barks. Chris woke up and I looked out the window with Indy. I couldn't see anything...but then the light by the laundry room when off..and my eyes played tricks on me. I thought I saw something...someone by the laundry room.

I'm still not sure what my reasoning was, but I opened the door to let Indy go check it out....to reassure me that there was nothing there....but Indy had seen what was there...and he TOOK. THE. EFF. OFF. But not in the direction I was looking. He took off and I saw him full speed ahead tackle a small animal in the back of the yard. My mind raced. "Great", I thought. "He's gonna get sprayed by a skunk". He lunged on the animal. From the bedroom door I could barely make out what was happening. Then Indy backed up as the animal went still. I could only see the butt of the thing...it was smaller than I thought it would be. Indy stood above it...staring at it with an intense glare. It didn't move. I couldn't tell what it was, but I didn't see the large rat tail I was looking for to confirm it was a possum.

All the while I kept trying to yell at Indy in my loudest whisper to "come! leave it!". I was convinced he had killed whatever it was. I tried not to think that it might have been a cat. Indy moved away from it...then decided to go back and check on it...maybe he saw it move. The animal let out a loud HISS. My heart lept in my throat and I was convinced he had tackled a cat. My mind flashed back to an article I read about a woman who's dog chased down a kitten in their back yard and shook it to death. I grabbed a shirt that was close by (I have no idea what I thought I would do with it) and ran out into the lawn to enforce that Indy leave whatever it was. When the animal hissed it had hopped up and backed itself into the corner of the yard by the fence and a large planter box. I had turned on the light and could see the thing's face. It wasn't a cat. I was convinced it was a baby possum. The creepiest looking baby possum I've ever seen (I've only seen one other baby possum). It didn't have a long nose. It looked like an owl actually and it moved it's head back and forth. Even Indy was freaked out. He backed away when I called him. He clearly had decided this wasn't anything to be too upset about and, while keeping an eye on the possum, took a pee. Then follow me inside. Never relaxing too much. I just stared outside at the animal in the corner. I'm not sure why but the look of this thing really freaked me out...the way it's flat face moved side to side.

I'm impressed with the restraint Indy showed although I'm not sure what would have happened if the thing hadn't played dead at first. I do also feel safer knowing Indy is on alert....although chris and I have decided I shouldn't open the door for Indy to go investigate anymore. No good can come of that.

As I fell back asleep the light went back on and Indy let out another bark. We told him to shove it.

I had a dream after all the excitement that there was a crazy lady in our backyard in a giant possum suit. We had sent Indy outside and he caught her. She got away but he got her suit. In the furry possum suit were large quantities of drugs. Giant ziploc bags full of marijuana and tiny bags full of pills and powders. Her family came by the house with cops asking if we had seen her. She was mentally insane and dangerous and we were told to keep our windows and doors locked and drapes closed.

Needless to say it was a weird night.

UPDATE: So I went to google some images of possums (because what is a post without a photo) and have realized that maybe it wasn't a possum that Indy found. I think it was an owl. I didn't see a tail and this was a much smaller animal. After googling images of a Common Barn Owl I'm pretty sure that's what it is. The Owlets (baby owls) are known to play dead when attacked and they will hiss or rasp when startled or attacked.

Well that doesn't make this any less weird, does it?

UPDATE II: Apparently possums hiss when they are attacked too...and naturally they play dead when they are attacked.

I guess we'll never know.