Snow Possum

Otherwise known as "Things I Would Not Want to be Reincarnated As."

Yesterday afternoon it was brilliantly sunny, while still staying below freezing. I had let the dogs out, and when I looked to see what they were barking at, I saw this possum under the edge of the mulberry tree outside the fence.

Possums -- they just don't deal with winter that well. This one has one ear smaller than the other, probably from frostbite. Their little tails freeze on the end. I got close enough to this one to see that its nose was running!

They don't hibernate, and they have just enough brain cells to notice that they're cold and miserable. And then they have those little pink hand-like feet bare in the snow.

After the dogs had been indoors for a couple of minutes, the possum eventually decided it was safe to move, and waddled off. They have the strangest, dinosaur-like gait, and they carry their bare tails straight out behind them. This one went up towards the pine trees, where presumably it found the pine needles warmer than the grainy, iced-over snow.

Nah, if I could pick what to come back as, I would be a crow: a bird, so I could fly and have enough brains to enjoy flight.