TWO TrEATS iN ONE WEEK

Typically, when our offspring asks us what happened in the previous week, as they often do, we find it hard to list anything beyond a grocery shopping event, maybe two wash-and-dries in the cellar, vacuuming, etc., and, for my spouse, a game of pickle ball. They look at us as some kind of slackers when it comes to having interesting lives. I guess the explanation should include some kind of footnote indicating that, when we were their age, we did do more interesting things. Now an interesting thing is a nap.

But, this week, we had something beyond our so-mundane existence to share. Two things, actually.

The first is difficult to categorize and so I will share it in story form.

It was early evening, I had retired to the family room to watch the news on PBS. While I was intent on absorbing the information being shared by Goeff Bennett, I felt a light push on the end of my right foot. And … how do I put this and capture my delight … there was an opossum sniffing my shoe. This has never happened to me. To be more specific, I have never actually seen an opossum except on TV let alone had one in my house. It took its time to gather whatever olfactory information in needed, looked up and walked away toward to the other side of the room. I was happily surprised and charmed by this fellow or gal’s appearance. I worked on finding the right level of voice to call my husband, who was in the kitchen, so not to startle my visiting marsupial. By the time he got the message, the little visitor was happily eating cat food, sharing a dish with one of the cats. No fuss at all. As the spouse approached the two, the opossum, looked up, and made the decision to walk …not run, but walk, quickly past him into the kitchen and down the stairs into the basement, where there are a zillion hiding places.

We went downstairs and made a cursory search, knowing that it was basically futile, given the accumulation of nooks and crannies, boxes and such. You could hide an elephant down there. Really.

How did the little opossum get in? And, given the fact that it knew to go into the kitchen and down the stairs to the basement, how long had it been in the house? The opossum most probably got in through the cat door, but when was a question we couldn’t answer.

Opossums are docile, quiet animals. They will fight if threatened. I will fight if threatened, too, but since I wasn’t threatened, I had no intention of threatening the creature. I was basically feeling elated that it had chosen to spend some time with us, but knew that it could not stay in the house.

Many people have domesticated opossums, training them like cats to use a litter box. I had no intention of doing this since I struggle each day to deal with the idiosyncrasies of six cats, half of which live under the love seat in the living room and only come out to eat and use the litter box, except late at night when they hold rodeos on the first floor of the house.

The opossum appeared at around 5:30 p.m. the next day to eat and drink water. He took his version of a passeggiata around the family room and the kitchen before heading back down into the basement, where my spouse watched him head into the laundry room. So, in that room, we set a “have a heart” trap and closed the door for the night. In the morning, the little guy or gal was safely enclosed in the trap and my heroic spouse then brought the trap and opossum outside, releasing it to the area where we knew that he was most probably living.

Investigation told me that opossums find winter very difficult. They are not blessed with thick fur coats and their little hand-like paws have no fur at all. They are wonderful in the garden, eating small rodents and insects, especially ticks. They are harmless and helpful. And, so, our next effort will be to build a shelter out of some Styrofoam boxes and straw that Roy and Barb Thompson gave us for that purpose.

Was that interesting enough?

And what was the second thing of note last week? I learned how to make a chocolate martini. I tell you this last lest you think that consuming this so-delicious intoxicant rendered me delusionary.

Here’s the recipe for a chocolate martini (serves 2):

Ingredients

1/4 cup Godiva chocolate liqueur

1/4 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream

1 cup vodka.

Shake over ice and serve.

Expensive, strong, fattening and entirely and without guilt, luscious.

If you make this cocktail and see an opossum, please know that there is no cause and effect relationship between the two. The two are separate occurrences, both delightful.

The cat door is closed. This week, it is back to laundry, shopping, putting a cat tree together and taking naps.

Ann Ferro is a mother, a grandmother and a retired social studies teacher. While still figuring out what she wants to be when she grows up, she lives in Marcellus with lots of books, a spouse and a large orange cat.

Three Crunch skaters wintering in Liverpool

Three young but promising professional hockey players from the Syracuse Crunch are livin’ in Liverpool this season.

Two forwards hailing from Canada’s wild west – 22-year-old Gage Goncalves and 20-year-old Jack Finley – are rooming here in the village along with 23-yearold defenseman Declan Carlisle from Hartland, Michigan.

Goncalves and Finley both live in British Columbia, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Carlisle played Division 1 hockey for Merrimack College in Massachusetts.

Goncalves in a groove

Goncalves is enjoying a particularly productive season in Syracuse. He recently shook off a short scoring slump to notch four points – all assists – in three games in mid-February. The second-year-pro picked up at least one assist in each game and nabbed a pair in the Feb. 18 win at Utica.

Goncalves, who shoots left, stands fifth on the Crunch this season with 36 points (9g, 27a). He has already passed his rookie season points total, 32, and he did so in 22 fewer games played.

At 6-foot-6, Finley is one of the two tallest players on the Crunch roster along with defenseman Philippe Myers.

Playoffs look likely With another six weeks left to play this season, the Crunch – competently coached by the bear-like Ben Groulx – have a good shot at making the playoffs again this year. The team currently stands in third place in the American Hockey League’s North Division with a record of 23-18-4-3.

On Wednesday, March 1, Groulx and his skaters host the Cleveland Monsters at 7 p.m. at the Upstate Medical University Arena at The Oncenter War Memorial, down city. The Monsters are the top minor-league affiliate of the NHL, Columbus Blue Jackets.

Come Friday, March 3, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms – top farm team for the Philadelphia Flyers – haunt the War Memorial at 7 p.m.

And on Sunday, March 5, the Crunch face off at 3 p.m. against Thruway rivals the Utica Comets, affiliated with the New Jersey Devils. Tickets for home games cost $32.05 and $34.10; syracusecrunch.co m ; 315-4734444.

The r etreat tweaks menu

Never content to sit on the same-old, same-old, the chefs at The Retreat have added several intriguing entrees to its everevolving menu. The new choices include a winter pear and pomegranate salad for $12.50, a pulled-pork nachos appetizer for $11.99, and

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Creative Director: Gordon bigelow, ext 331, art@eaglenewsonline com a southwestern-styled rodeo chicken wrap also $11.99.

A noteworthy new hamburger will please spunky carnivores. The ballpark pretzel burger spiced with pico de gallo and jalapeno peppers comes complete with a ramekin of beer cheese for dipping.

Several sumptuous seafood dishes stand out on the upgraded menu. The Plymouth fried grouper goes for $20.99, while seafood au gratin and salmon solstice with panko breading each cost $21.99.

A country fried chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy costs $19.50.

Even the daily specials are featuring adventurous offerings. On Ash Wednesday, for instance, Retreat diners raved about the seafood-infused pasta Louisiane while others whetted their appetites with a starter of goldenfried hummus bites.

Oh, how sweet it is; retreatrestaurant.co m ; 315-457-6358. l ast word “[Karen Eames] could never be punished more, and I think everyone will come to that conclusion in which she’s already received by the loss of her son, husband and dog. The physical problems she’s had as a result of being shot in the face, in the arms, 75 percent loss of her arm and the physical and emotional problems she’s had.”

– Eames’ defense attorney Michael Vavonese.