O is for Opossum

Well, we could have put this post in the A-Z Challenge in either O for Opossum or P for Possum.

I live in Clearwater, Florida. Which is in Pinellas County — that peninsula on the west coast of Florida that juts down and separates Tampa Bay from the Gulf of Mexico. It is the most urban and built-out county in the state and is home to approximately one million people.

We're chock-a-block crammed with housing developments and apartment complexes. But some wild critters have found that they can coexist with us all.

The possum seems to thrive.  I have had to evict three of the darn things out of my garage in the past year. In each case, I ended up boxing them up and taking them a couple of blocks away to a ball field and park with a small body of water. (I spend a lot of time in the garage. That's where I use my chromebook while I smoke my pipe. Thus, the garage doors are open of an evening when they roam.)

They are not aggressive unless cornered. Then they will snarl and bare their sharp teeth.  I can always tell when they have visited our yard. They dig a distinctively round hole in the yard when they hunt for grubs and worms.

Amazingly enough, Pinellas County also has a fair number of coyotes. There are enough golf courses and county parks around that they can call home.  I have seen a couple. People are finally wising up and keeping their cats inside. Coyotes love to snack on them.

I just read where a river otter killed a small dog down in St Petersburg. I didn't know we had them in the county.

Of course, this being Florida, alligators are in nearly every lake and pond in the county. A few years ago, a coworker found one in his fenced in back yard. It seems nearly every week we'll see pictures of a gator that has decided to take a swim in someone's swimming pool.

Florida, land of hurricanes and critters.