The grim deed of cleaning up what remained of Peyton the possum is accomplished It really didn’t take all that long. Before I go on, let me get this out of my system:

EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!

OK, I think I am better now.

Well, there wasn’t much left of the corpse at all, and I walked most of the yard to make sure it hadn’t just been hauled off and dropped somewhere else. All I found was half a ribcage, a couple of what appeared to be leg bones, the lower jawbone, a bunch of fur bits, and some entrails. I was doing OK until I got to the entrails. The rest of it didn’t have much odor at all, but those reeked so badly I had to hold my breath until I got them into multiple plastic bags. Yuck.

I picked up everything but the jawbone and the fur bits. Fur isn’t going to bother me, and the jawbone was already clean enough I decided to let the maggots finish their work so I can use them in an art project of some sort. I doubt it will take more than another day or two. Yes, I may not like gross dead things, but I do actually like bones and teeth.

So the grossest job of the day has been done, and I am thankful it is behind me and the possum remains are now wrapped and sealed in many layers of plastic and sitting in my trash bin. I am definitely looking forward to trash day, so this whole nasty mess can be forgotten about.

And after examining the garden, I discovered newer dog footprints in Bed One, so they have been in my yard again. This is seriously pissing me off. At least this time they managed to not step on any of my baby plants. Also, the garden is so overrun with fire ants –and ants of all kinds– I don’t even think I can do any weeding today for fear of getting stung and bitten. I guess I’ll just water it a little and make the trellises … and maybe try to figure out how to keep the neighbor’s damn dogs from stomping on my plants.

Maybe I can get Lin to drive me around to the garden centers to look for the appropriate ant poison today. Something has to be done about those ants NOW! It freaks me out being out there among them, because seriously, they could put me in the hospital, and it wouldn’t take that many of them to do so.

As soon as I hear some sign of life from Lin, I guess I’ll make him some breakfast. I was going to make a huge breakfast this morning, but I’ve sort of lost my appetite for anything but coffee. I can’t imagine why.

And I promise to stop talking about the dead possum now. I know I have been going on and on about it, but it’s been bugging me. I tend to go on and on about things that are bugging me. Really … you won’t hear anything else about the poor dead possum ever again.

Yuck, yuck, yuck …. eeeeew … gross!!! So glad the cleanup operation is over.