Portrait of a One-Eyed Huntress

The Mighty Huntress, posing after the kill.

Remember the possum? Dead.

Once again tonight we hear screaming barking and see moving fence with our heavy flashlight. Again, the back neighbor turned on his floodlights, giving us a clear view of the offending critter. I'm amazed at how like a huge rat it looked in profile, back-lit by the floods. Like a huge RAT scampering along the top of the fence. Until it came to the end of the fence.

By a fluke, the critter was toppled, and fell into our yard. Sh*t. Should have fallen the other way into the neighbors yard.

Bob was ringside to the fight with the leash in one hand and flashlight in the other. Roxie went immediately for its neck and shook it back and forth. Bob watched as the possum tried to bite Rox. They were rolling around in deep snow and he's not sure if she got bit. Bob took the safe road and didn't bend over. Although he did proudly relay all the fight sounds to me. He thinks Roxie is brave..... sigh....... guy thing.

After Roxie dragged the dead critter up to the house to show me, we finally got her to drop it by throwing pieces of steak at her. It seemed a much quieter way to retrieve her, one that didn't wake all the neighbors again. Once she was far enough away, Bob collared her and brought her back in.

She's pretty darn proud, as you can see in the picture above. Notice the calmly arrogant stance and brave defiant look. Also note Bob in the background talking to our son in Seattle. Reassuring him after I called in tears then hung up to pace. "No, Mom's ok, she going to throw up, then she'll be fine." And "you should have seen her, just went for the throat and crunched it's skull."

We wiped her down with wet paper towels and found no blood. The ER vet told us to take her in tomorrow for a booster rabies shot and a closer inspection for puncture wounds. My heart is pounding and I'm about to hurl.

We are both shaking our heads. It's been three dachsies ago that we had a hunter. Lady brought us 12 birds one summer. Ick. Rox had to wade through deep snow to get to the back of the yard - she obviously was determined.

Oh well, my sleeping pill effect has worn off after the adrenalin rush. Guess I'll be tossing and turning tonight.

Roxie is rolling on the carpet, sharing the dead critter scent with us.... gag........

Can we survive the adventure that is Roxie? Is the possum really dead or just faking? Shall we always keep a supply of leftover steak handy for emergencies like this?