Critter Jitters

I realize it's hot outside, but the critters have got to stop coming inside my house! I'm not running a Critter Sitter Service.

The green grass snake  this weekend is welcome in the yard--NOT my hallway where I first spied him. I think he was displaced and confused after the grass was cut. But he sure didn't want to follow my instruction to return outside--he raised up as if to strike me several times as I very gently guided him back outside with my broom.

Now, I have the back door slightly ajar while I sit at the table reading a book waiting for Moggy to return home after his catting around (he's been fixed since he was just a tiny baby, but it never put a damper on his fighting or his roaming). He usually makes it back to the back door between 10pm and 2am. Every once in a while he will meow for me to let him in at the front door.  

It's 11pm and I'm just about ready to give up on Moggy, and go lock the door.  He can be an outside cat tonight. Out of the corner of my eye I see movement. Thinking Moggy has come in quitely, I look up and see a small opossum in my house just feet away from me!

I wasn't excepting to see a wild critter (even a cute and harmless one). Startled, I gave a little yelp.  Of course BabyO ran.

The sad thing is he was so fast disappearing around the corner I'm not sure he went back outside.

Bandit cautiously sniffed around the vanity and one of the closets in my bedroom, so I checked them out, and under the bed. I didn't see him, so I hoped he made it back outside.

Nope.  As I sat here typing this, he showed up again! The nerve! 

This time I saw him dash into the guest bath room. I quickly shut him inside. I got the baby gate and set it up. I closed all the doors except the one leading outside. Then I turned off all the lights except the outside light. I opened the bathroom door and told BabyO to "go toward the light."

He did not.

I reached for my trusty critter broom  (aka the soft dust mop) and gave him a soft nudge. He went behind the covered cat litter box. The bathroom was too dark for me, so I turned the bathroom light back on and I manuvered myself kinda-sorta behind him as best I could in the tight space, and once again encouraged him to, "go toward the light," and gently nudged him in the way he should go.

He raced out the bathroom door, turned right at the babygate just before he would have hit it and, rather than heading down the hallway to the open door, took another right--toward my bedroom.
I'm glad I closed all the doors. When he realize he could not return to my bedroom, he scampered out the back door.

Of course, Moggy still has not returned for the night, and now I'm on edge. Hearing every bump and creak at the back door, I jump up and look to see if it's Moggy or BabyO. So far it's been neither.

Its now 1:30am. The house is cool. Moggy has come home. The baby gate and broom have been moved to the back door in case I need them when I open the door again on the morning.  He was somewhat stymied by the baby gate--he just hasn't realized  both he and Bandit can clear it from a standing position.

Everyone has had their dinner and meds. I've picked grass burs out of Moggys coat. Bandit has been out for his bedtime potty break.  Fresh water has been put out for the second time tonight since one of the FurBoys knocked it over earlier.

Moggy, Bandit, and I are past ready for bed...and the back door bumped--since Moggy is inside now, I know it's just the airflow from the air  conditioner but the critter visit still has me a little on edge.

And then I heard a noise in the kitchen...maybe it wasn't one of the FurBoys that knocked over the water dish earlier...