After I accidentally kicked over the bowl of cat food out on the patio, I decided I would just leave it there for the raccoons.  Of course, I would augment it with a few other items.  I sliced an apple, grabbed some almonds, and then headed back out to the patio.  I placed some almonds with the cat food and placed some more outside the fence.  It was then I realized I didn’t have the apple with me, so I went back inside.  When I stepped back outside the door with the fruit in hand, the crunch-crunch-crunch in the darkness immediately drew my attention to the pile of cat food.  There stood an opossum staring back at me.

He immediately headed back to the fence, but I have seen recently that he is having increasing difficulty getting through it.  He’s still growing, and I think we can all agree that he’s eating well.  Suffice it to say he didn’t get through the fence.  While he tried to push through, I aimed the camera and snapped a photo.  It was pitch black outside and trying to snap photos was near impossible since I couldn’t see anything through the lens or viewfinder.  Essentially, I had to aim and shoot and hope it focused on the right thing.

As you can see from the picture below, it did.  This is opossum butt, raw and savage and in your face.  I also want to point out that his front end is already through the fence at this point, so you can see the challenge he faces with the rest of his body (another JLo booty if I’ve ever seen one).

I had to fight the urge to laugh when he reversed back onto the patio.  He couldn’t fit through the fence — again.  Because I was being absolutely silent and absolutely still, he turned and looked around the patio for a brief moment (I knew he couldn’t see me clearly in the dark, especially if I didn’t move).  Another urge to laugh had to be suppressed when he went right back to the food and began eating.

Yes, that’s his tongue sticking out.  I guess that was his opinion of the flash going off several times in his face.  And check out the creepy little “hands” he has both front and back.  Very odd thing, those feet, although I’m hoping to get a better picture so you can see how weird they are.

Anyway, I stood there quietly and stopped taking pictures so he could eat in peace.  I backed slowly to the door and tried yet failed miserably to get back inside as quietly as possible.  Despite the amount of noise I made fumbling with the door, stumbling through it, and struggling to get it closed (including several failed attempts), all that did was make him pause for several seconds before returning to his meal.  That’s where I left him.  I put out the apple later.