My Unexpected Visitor (They are most likely groundhogs)

06/21/2023 Wednesday 60-71F Cloudy

I am sitting in the sunroom facing my back yard, all of a sudden, I saw the possum mom and her little baby enter the yard from the fence near the rear of my garage. Unsurprisingly, they stop at the peach tree and start to feast on the fallen fruit. After a while, with a filled stomach, the little possum begins to show a great interest in the burlap hanging on a branch, the hem of which sways on and off in the wind.

Like all mothers, the possum mom watches her child calmly, and meanwhile doesn't forget stuffing her mouth with fruit. What a lovely scene, just for this moment, I almost can forgive all the damages her family ever made to my garden: They ate all my oriental lily buds, the sprouts of my dahlia, the new leaves of my basil seedlings; and the worst thing was, they took a bite on my strawberries then threw them away; while I, who watered the plants everyday, had no chance to taste my crops.

Twice I could have caught the possum mom if I wanted to. However, when I looked at her little shaking, scared body, and thought of her little baby waiting at home, I just had no heart to either hurt her, or send her miles away from her family. So I let her go. 

Now I stay neutral with this possum family. If they like eating my plants and fruit, I am fine with it. My only hope for them is in their spare time, they still can remember to catch slugs, cockroaches in my garden, after all those pests are much uglier and less respectable.