In 1972, Louden Wainright sang a song that made it to No. 12 on the Hits List. (It was actually No. 1 in Little Rock, Ark., for two weeks.) The name of this forgotten song was “Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road.”

    To see him singing it in 1984, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doqTSev-_lQ.

    Trust me, this story is actually going somewhere.

    Though we see our share of dead skunks on the road, we more often smell them instead. The most common animal we see is the opossum. Probably one of the most unique animals in North America, we take this animal for granted though it exists and proliferates right under our noses.

    The opossum (or “possum” as most of us refer to it) is this continent’s only marsupial yet it has more enemies that some of the most vile members of the critter kingdom. When attacked, it will often “play possum” and feign death until the attacker loses interest. This comatose state may last up to four hours. If not critically mauled, it will awaken and resume its travels.

    Possums have more teeth (50) than any other animal yet are totally harmless to humans and pets. Though they are omnivores and scavengers most noted are stories of them crawling around inside rotting carcasses of horses and cows, the animal does clean itself often. They are almost impervious to snake bites and to rabies which is thought to be because of their extremely low metabolism. They are one of a very few animals that routinely prey on shrews, voles and moles.

    They often are accused of turning over trashcans, although this is unlikely. Usually trashcan conversations end up with the possum being killed as when it is surprised, it opens its mouth wide and makes a hissing or growling sound, which doesn’t do a lot for the human psyche.

    Opossum young are born hairless and about the size of a honeybee. Though the female may bear as many as 25, nature plays a big role in the seven or eight that survive. Each blind baby must migrate through the thick hair to the pouch on its mother’s belly. Once it arrives there, only the lucky 13 who can find one of her odd-numbered teats will ultimately survive. As they mature, they venture out for sight seeing rides, but are left to their own resources if dislodged before they are weaned and on their own.

    Contrary to another popular belief, possums do not hang by their prehensile tail as it is neither that strong enough nor meant for that. It’s used to balance and to grab on to limbs to steady the animal when feeding on fruit trees. The rear feet have an opposable hallux (like a thumb but without a nail or claw) which is used for ease of climbing.

    The fur of the possum is quite luxurious and the animal is trapped for its hair that is often used on parka hoods. For years it was hunted for fun, and for food in some areas. I will admit that I ate possum as a young child as it was one of my granddad’s favorites. It had a decided pork taste to the meat and it was quite rich and greasy, which meant that potatoes were a staple of a barbecued possum. (And before someone starts guffawing, I’d never heard of eating muskrats or groundhogs until I came to Delaware and I know possums taste much better than both of those.)

    I haven’t made too much of a secret that Barack Obama is not someone I trust with my country, but I still try to remain objective. I’m amused at the media’s gushing adoration of him and even the simplest of things draws national attention.

    In case you missed the CNBC interview by John Harwood, you’ve no doubt seen countless news snippets of the president smacking a bothersome fly on the set. Even I chuckled at his ability to do something without a teleprompter and thought nothing else about it. Yet I should have realized that the world is full of fools and even the most mundane of things seems to draw them like (pardon the pun) flies to honey.

    PETA, always the avant-garde of proving their supremacy in stupidity, issued a statement condemning the act. Spokesman Bruce Friedrich, in a prepared statement said, “Swatting a fly indicates he’s not perfect and we’re happy to say we wish he hadn’t.”

    The reason that I’m not surprised about such lunacy is that one of their spokesmen had previously said “if even one single mosquito has to die to find the cure for AIDS, we are against it.”

    I keep praying for natural selection to kick in but I fear it’s been replaced by “climate change” which has replaced “global warming.” I sure hope the fish start biting real soon.