Hello possums! No, Grumpy Ghost Owl didn't hijack my avatar. However, she has played a major role in keeping Bradbury's Jar going during the time I'd crashed (ouch) and recovered.* So, I've been inspired to make this week's prompt: Possum Just don't play possum until AFTER you've responded, okay? (Especially since possums don't just look dead, they smell dead!) * Though I can't help wondering why she sometimes asks questions in Latin. Ego ex America. Ergo, Latinam non intellego. Ego me ipsum non intelligentes. Does she not realize these simple facts?

Thanks for helping GGO.

You're welcome! We don't speak Latin in Australia either, as a general rule, but those of us who had - at least in part - a Catholic education do try to forget it. The student's lament goes like this: "Latin is a dead language As dead as it can be. It killed the ancient Romans, And now it's killing me!" It's funny you should have picked "Possum" as the prompt. I had to go to Bunbury to give a lecture yesterday and I noticed as I drove along Estuary Drive that there were quite a few "Possum Crossing" signs, featuring a silhouette of a Western Ringtail Possum, which is great because the Western Ringtail is an endangered species and we want people to drive carefully in their habitat. The only thing is that, well, if you've ever seen a Western Ringtail (or google the image, if you like) they are incredibly cute with little brown button eyes. Whoever had designed the signs, however, gave them "evil creature in the night" eyes so that it looked more like "Undead Zombie Possum Abomination Crossing." Heaven only knows what the tourists must think... Watch out for those Evil Possums, it must be where they get the legend of the Drop Bear!

Gosh, GGO, that's a cute critter! In North America, we just have the Virginia possum, and those things are freakin' FUGLY! (Not to mention mean, hissy-nasty!) Maybe the eyes of the Virginia possum were painted on those crossing signs...

Ah, well that's a bit of a reversal, then. Usually it's the Australian fauna that's plotting to kill you. Our possums are adorable, and when they're in care, they're kind of cuddly and friendly. Even the adults, if treated gently, will realise that they're being helped and will interact positively with their human carers for the most part. One of my colleagues described how she was treating a possum which had sustained burns to its paws after running across a still-hot barbecue plate. She had to wrestle it to get one paw unclenched to apply Flamazine ointment. The possum realised that the ointment was soothing the burnt paw so it relaxed and held out its other paws for treatment! From then on as soon as it saw her with the ointment pot it would present itself to have the ointment applied until the burns healed up. They really are rather sweet. Of course if you get one in your roof - especially the Common Brush Tailed Possum which is bigger than the Ring Tailed Possum, it sounds like a herd of elephants wearing hobnailed boots. Then they aren't quite so cute.

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Love it! You know, that would make a really cute children's book with illustrations.

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Those possums are definitely adorable. Sounds like Mala will have a very loyal young staffer.

Ohhh nice contribution!! I love seeing the everyday lives or ordinary Spectrans - it makes them real. And ringtail possums are very cute - most Aussie possums are. They definitely have distinct personalities (most f them start with "cheeky little bastard" and go from there. That doesn't mean they aren't plotting to kill you. This IS Australia.