UGGG!!!! EEEWWWWW!!!! OMG!!!!!!

My swimming pool area is my Eden. I can go there anytime I feel stressed and relax in my new almost finished cabana and either watch the kids swim and play or read a book often both or read my paper. I watch the birds and at about 9:30 or so start looking for the bat. "My" bat comes to fly around just above the surface of the water to eat the mosquitoes and other bugs hanging out there. He/she is a cool little bat and if you aren't watching closely you miss it. It's a really fast little critter!

I get a kick out of watching the squirrels do their high-wire act and the birds singing to each other every evening. The blue jays screech at everybody and it can be annoying but they usually settle down quickly and it's harmony all over again.

My Mimosa trees are in bloom and let me tell ya, if you love unusual trees and/or plants, this one is for you. Essentially it is a tree that consists of large palm-like fronds and pretty pink blossoms that look like the blossoms of a Truffala Tree Dr. Seuss's book The Lorax and the scent of those blooms is intoxicating! I have lots of Mimosa starts in my yard, want some?

I still have a lot of work to do in my Eden but it will get there in time. Meanwhile, I sit on the pool deck in my cabana and watch, read, rest and learn.

Last night while I was there preparing for the rain.....you know, the rain we were supposed to get that was supposed to get heavier through the night, that rain that would help the grass...I folded numerous beach towels and put them in the towel bin on the deck and I made sure that all of the toys were stored and that the cool lighted palm tree was pulled away from the pool so it wouldn't fall in during all of that rain. I was just potsing around picking up after kids and enjoying "Bat" and listening to the birds tell each other good night when I went to the far end of the deck to throw away some trash......

UGGGGG!!!!! EEEWWWWWWW!!!!!! OMG!!!!!! ICK!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAH!!!!!!

My feet i never wear shoes in the summer if i can help it had minds of their own and curled into tight little fists, one foot on top of the other as I backed up and then stretched to throw out my trash. I backed up again and started to jump up and down and pound my chest to keep my heart going! 'Skeeter looked at me as if to say "What the HECK are you doing? What's wrong with you? Should I bark hysterically or run for my life? But first I'll sit here and scratch a minute." i think he is used to me making sudden ridiculous movements I was jolted out of my wits and I ran as fast as you can run if your feet are balled up into fists back to the safety of my cabana.

Now mind you it is almost after dark so my eyes were glued to the trash can far across the deck. I didn't want IT to sneak up on me.....to devour me.....to EEEEEKKKKK....slide it's tail across my toes!!!!! by now my kids are rofl because they know what's coming next To my horror... sitting next to the trash can.....just inches from my hand.....and too near my feet.....was an.......dare I say it????? OPOSSUM REX!! It was huge! about two pounds soaking wet and it had a tail about six inches stretched out and large pointed teeth covered in slimy spit i didn't see them because his back was to me as it sauntered off but i know they were there and it wanted to bite me OR WORSE! but i think it wanted it's momma more. I was tingling from the tips of my balled up toes to the top of my head...the kind of tingling you get when you are totally FREAKED OUT.

"Bat" wasn't going to save me, 'Skeeter was busy obsessing over the floating duck in the pool and Dave was doing Dave things in the house so it was just me and Opossum Rex, sitting on the pool deck, in the dark, waiting.........

Actually, I think that baby opossum was thinking to its self, "UGGGGG, EEWWWWW, ICK! What was THAT thing. It sure makes weird noises, and how does it possibly walk around with it's feet balled up like that? I think I'll go on home to momma."

My Eden is still my Eden. I'll go there to relax, rest, read, listen and WATCH....because after all....you never know when Opossum Rex may attack!