the opossum story, pt. 1

Okay, okay. I wasn't going to write about this on my blog because it still gives me goosebumps, but too many people asked about it/made threatening demands. I give you...

The Night of the Opossum, Part I

a short thriller by Rachel C. Parton

It was a warm Monday night in July in metro Detroit. Douglas and Rachel Parton had arrived home from a mission trip to Jamaica the night before, and they were still elated and starry-eyed with fond memories of the trip. Rachel had spent all day Monday unpacking and doing laundry, while Doug had returned to work. As the clock struck midnight, the two were exhausted and greatly anticipating the soft cradle of a pillow around their tired little noggins.

However, as Doug entered the bedroom, something seemed amiss. The closet door was open, as laundry had been sorted throughout the day, and from the corner of his eye, Doug saw something move.

"Rachel - don't come in here," he called loudly, in a voice that immediately caused Rachel to freeze.

"What is it?" she asked timidly.

"... I don't know," Doug responded. At this, Rachel curled up into a little ball on the chair in which she was sitting. However, she wouldn't be able to sit still for long, because Doug continued, "Bring me a golf club."

Moments later, the door slammed. There was banging, and then the door opened, Doug ran out and slammed the door behind him quickly. Eyes wide, Rachel again questioned, "What is it?!"

"You don't want to know," Doug protested.

"Just tell me!" Rachel insisted.

Doug paused, then said disgustedly, "It's a possum." 

"WE ARE GETTING OUT OF HERE." Rachel immediately headed for the computer and began Googling critter control services and hotels simultaneously. Doug decided not to try to kill the opossum, because he "didn't want to get blood everywhere." So he got on his cell phone, trying to reach their landlord. This continued for about half an hour, until Doug was finally able to get ahold of a critter control company that was open 24-7. In the meantime, their upstairs neighbor, who was in the process of moving out due to a supposed mite infestation, got wind of the situation and came downstairs to join in the excitement. She was eager to see the intruder. 

The critter control guy finally arrived around 12:45am. Rachel cowered in the office, refusing to look at the offending opossum, while Doug got the camera to take pictures for evidence, and the upstairs neighbor kept rattling on about how opossums "have six babies - there must be tons of them!" 

To be continued...

fighting sleep

The first week that we had Zooey, my friend Sara & I wanted to go to Borders, but Doug wasn't home to watch the puppy. Zoo was really tired, so we decided to put her in the cage until she fell asleep then sneak out. Well, she must have known our plan, so she was really fighting sleep & kept dozing off while she was sitting up, resulting in her sleep-nodding and tipping over. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get the camera until she was almost totally out of it...

wny weekend

So last weekend...

We drove through the States since we had Zooey with us - we didn't want to deal with any potential issues at the borders. That added 2 delightful hours to our trip. Sigh. We got in at 12:30am Friday night/Saturday morning. 

We had a blast watching Zooey & Elly get to know one another. They were pretty much a constant blur.

I don't think Robert had his shirt on the whole time we were home...

It was hilarious - Zooey would attack Elly, then run & scoot under the table so Elly couldn't get her. Elly would stand and wait for Zooey to emerge, get bored, turn around around to leave... and Zooey would zoom out again and start nipping her.

Funniest. Picture. Ever.

That afternoon, Victoria & Jeremy came over and we picked peaches (not too many were ripe, sadly) and had a picnic at the pond. Mookey and Elly and Zooey were quite entertaining.

That evening, we celebrated Jayne's 12th birthday. Look at her short hair! She had it chopped that morning for Locks of Love.

  

Sunday morning we said our goodbyes - Mom & Dad took Ethan to Grove City College, and Doug & I headed back to Michigan. Wait, can I just re-visit that thought? Ethan is in COLLEGE. When did that happen? ... I must be getting old.

The weekend flew by (since we were really only there on Saturday!), but it was wonderful. I love my family so much.

bit by bit

We are almost entirely moved in! We still have some random things at the old apartment, and we need to clean it & "check out" ... and then there's the whole unpacking process, but nevertheless - I am sitting at an organized desk in a new office in a new house. Wow, that was quite the run-on sentence.

Anyway - I just want to send a HUGE thank you to Sara & Dave, Debbie & Kress and Ellie for helping with the move - and also to Vanessa, who puppysat this afternoon while we moved. We have been blessed with some seriously amazing friends.

So, hang in there, oh devoted readers - pictures will be coming. And an update on our weekend at home. 

Until then - check it out! Doug and I are famous. We went to the Leadership Summit put on by Willow Creek and telecasted to several satellite areas. It was an awesome experience - so many excellent, inspiring speakers who are excited about changing the world. 

One of the speakers was from Detroit - Harvey Carey. Doug & I went to visit his church, Citadel of Faith, with Dave & Sara one Sunday and it was awesome. Anyway - each speaker at the Summit had an intro video, and we made the video! Watch the video and find us!

more bragging...

Sorry, but I have to talk about my puppy more.

Zooey is seriously a perfect puppy! The indoor peeing is minimal. She cries at night, but that's to be expected. She doesn't seem to like baths, but doesn't squirm too much. She loves snuggling. She loves chewing, but is usually content with her toys (except when we go outside and she tries to eat everything in sight). She has her occasional nipping fits, but calms down pretty quickly when we tell her "no" and give her something else to chew on.

Zooey makes us laugh so much. She stalks her toys and pounces on them like a kitten. When she walks, her little butt shakes all over the place. She sleeps in the funniest positions. She follows us all over and flops on the floor by our feet wherever we stop.

She loves going on walks. We take her on at least 5 a day! She walks surprisingly well on her leash - there is some pulling in opposite directions and stopping to try to eat rocks/cigarette butts/wrappers, but for the most part, she just trots alongside us. Yesterday I walked her to downtown Plymouth right when Doug got out of work to surprise him (& he had a surprise planned too - he arrived at his car with a bouquet of flowers!).

She's pretty adventurous - always friendly and eager to meet people and dogs when we're out & about... even if the older dogs seem a little leery of her.

I could go on & on & on, but we've got to get back to our afternoon regiment...