Rude Awakening

   Cool, Fall air greeted me as I stepped out the door at 6:45am.  I was on my way to the chicken coop with a bag full of vegetable scraps in one hand and an empty egg basket in the other.  We didn't collect the eggs the day before, and I needed to get some for our breakfast.  The world was still half asleep.  One half of the sky was still dark with twinkling stars sprinkled here and there.  I could see Orion's belt above me.  In the East, the horizon was beginning to glow a soft green, as the sun's light made its debut.  My soft warm pillow was so difficult to abandon this morning, but in this moment I was thankful to witness the peaceful awakening of the day.  I breathed in deeply, enjoying the fresh crisp air. 
   I arrived at the chicken coop an opened the door to the nesting boxes.  There was a really fuzzy looking gray chicken sitting on the nesting box.  I reached out to pet it.  Thankfully my brain stopped me.  My chickens aren't so fuzzy... and furry... and they don't have long tails.  A opossum!  "Shoo, Opossum!  Shoo!" I scolded.  He blundered down the nesting boxes and was out of sight.  What a nuisance.  I reached in to get the eggs.  Only eggshells were left.  It seems the opossum enjoyed our breakfast. 
   My walk back up the the house wasn't nearly so peaceful and calming as my walk down to the coop.  "Stinking opossum eating our eggs," I muttered.  I told Justin, my husband, all about what just took place.  Like a gallant knight, he threw on some old clothes, grabbed a dull machete, and ran down to the coop ready to do battle with the opossum.  "And take a picture so I can put it on my blog!" I yelled after him, hoping he understood I wanted a picture of the opossum BEFORE he attacked it, not after.  Fear not, the opossum was gone by the time Justin got down to the coop, so there was no machete action this morning. 
   People are always asking me what I do on the mornings when my older two children are at school.  What do I do with all that "Free Time"? they ask.  I am home with my one year old those mornings, which I'm not sure should count as "free time," but during his nap I am sometimes able to get something done.  So, if you wonder what I do during my free moment, I sometimes manage to fold half of the monstrous laundry pile, other times I sweep the floors that will need to get swept again by the evening, or on a day like today I head down to the coop to opossum-proof.  No, I don't lounge around eating cupcakes and watching tv while my kids are at school (though I do sometimes sit down to share a story with you... and I wouldn't mind a cupcake at all).
   Justin built our coop top-notch.  This opossum is the first thing (other than snakes, which can fit through the chicken-wire) to break in. 

 Chicken-wire covers the top and sides of the run and even goes about a foot down into the ground with rocks around the edges.

 Chicken-wire protects the coop from animals that would try to dig under the coop floor.

 We dig out the manure annually to fertilize our garden, but apparently dug out a bit too much this past year, so the underground chicken-wire wasn't underground any more.  I spent my morning hauling rocks and bricks to keep Mr. Opossum away.  Hopefully this pile of heavy obstacles will be enough to deter invaders.

Secure once more.

Who can blame the opossum, though?  Our eggs are delicious.