A thief in the night

So I'm trying to shut down the house for the night last night, and I open my house door into the garage. Right there at my feet is the biggest ARMADILLO I've ever seen! In my garage.

Did I mention that I need a new garage door? It's all wompijawed (hanging at an angle, for those of you who aren't Southern) so that there is a one-foot opening on one end - through which the armadillo must have found his way.

Now, as a single mom, I have bravely dealt with my share of animals that have found their way into our house. The mice that enjoyed running about the den. The raccoons who set up house in the attic. The roach that took a swim in my Diet Coke bottle. But never has my house attracted a big, gray armadillo.

After slamming the door and catching my breath, my mind shifted gears from "No way!" to "Wait a minute...maybe we could use the armadillo for my son’s school mammal project."

I tried to wake him up, but he wouldn't move to come "observe" (as required to complete the project) the lovely mammal in our garage. At least one of the three mammals he is supposed to observe is supposed to be "in the wild" - so not a zoo animal or our puppy.

Would roaming about in my garage count as being natural or in the wild? Of course, how would we "describe the habitat"? Garage full of boxes of baby things that Mom can't bear to throw out and boxes of toys that my son can't bear to throw out and piles of newspapers that Mom needs to throw out. Then there's also that bag of trash that the armadillo was enjoying...

Laura Johnson