I got this from a friend who says I can use it if I sanitize his name from it.

OK guys & gals, PLEASE pay attention & stick with me on this.

NEVER TRY & SMOKE A POSSUM OUT OF A HOLLOW TREE.

I was cold last night when I went to bed after plowing snow so I turned on the electric blanket which I hardly ever do. I woke up about 630 & was still cold so I reached up & dialed it up a couple clicks. I woke up again at 7 and was still cold but decided it was time to get up anyway so I turned on the TV. Darn thing was dead........so was the blanket........so was the whole house.

That's why I missed coffee this morning, couldn't get the garage door up.

Yesterday Linda called me at coffee to report there was a big Possum in the outside cat house eating cat food. Not to worry says I.......I'll come home and blast it.
Before I got home it had eaten all the cat food & was headed across the yard. So Linda got out her trusty Smith & Wesson and tried to blast it on the run. HA HA!

She saw it duck into a hole at the base of a live Ash tree. Those things get rotten in the middle like Maples and make dandy Possum dens. I'm thinking this is a no brainer so I grab a pint of gas and a pint of # 2 Diesel. Toss the Diesel in the hole followed by the gas followed by a lit match. WHOOOOSH she goes. I immediately have smoke billowing out of a hole about 7 or 8 feet up the tree where a branch had broken off a few years ago. I have my trusty .22 out and pointed at this hole ready to blast Mr. or Mrs. Possum the minute he/she bails out. Never saw him/her. But let me tell you, that 7 foot chimney was REALLY smoking! Heck of a draft coming in the bottom hole. The inside of the tree was as dry as a bone and burning to beat the band. It started snowing heavily about that time with 6 to 8" forecast. Not to worry I'm thinking, the snow will put the fire out PDQ.

EL-WRONGO! Fire burned all night, and in fact is still burning with the tree now laying flat on the ground. Wasted a bunch of good firewood. I can tell you that the tree fell over at EXACTLY 1246 PM last night. How do I know that? Because that's when the power went off as the tree fell on the power lines and broke them clean off.
And that my friends is why you NEVER try & smoke a Possum out of a hollow tree!

The power company was here within 30 or 40 minutes and of course asked how a tree could possibly catch on fire. I told them the whole thing was Linda's idea!

The Possum? I never saw it again and it's probably going to cost 500 bucks or more for the repair.

Bob