A true Hillbilly Blog

When I was young, and I'd see a dead animal on the side of the road, I'd ask what it was and my dad would always say "It was a Mongoose" then he'd laugh and laugh. And my mom would laugh. I never understood what was so funny about that. I found out later that they were 'possums, and that we don't have Mongoose here, but I'm still not so sure why it was so funny. 'Possums are quite plentiful here in Mo. To me, they are nasty little things that look like a huge rat. And if you are hankering to fix roadkill stew, possums make a fine main ingredient!

Why Opossum Has A Bare Tail

(Creek/Muscogee Tribe)

retold by

S. E. Schlosser

One day, Opossum was walking in the woods around sunset when he spied Raccoon. Now Opossum had always admired Raccoon because he had a beautiful tail with rings all around it.
So Opossum went up to Raccoon and said: "How did you get those pretty rings on your tail?"
Raccoon stroked his fluffy long tail fondly and said: "Well, I wrapped bark around the tail here and here and here," he pointed. "Then I stuck my tail into the fire. The fur between the strips of bark turned black and the places underneath the bark remained white, just as you see!"
Opossum thanked the Raccoon and hurried away to gather some bark. He wrapped the bark around his furry tail, built a big bonfire, and stuck his tail into the flames. Only the bonfire was too hot and too fierce. It instantly burned all of the hair off the Opossum's tail, leaving it entirely bare.
Opossum wailed and moaned when he saw his poor tail, but there was nothing he could do but wait for the fur to grow back. Opossum waited and waited and waited. But the tail was too badly burnt by the fire and the fur did not grow back. Opossum's tail remained bare for the rest of his life.
Opossum tails have been bare ever since.

                                                                      
Possum Stew

One possum, skinned, pieced

Couple of onions, potatos, other veggies of choice. ..chop or slice em ....however

1 can of mushroom soup

2 cans of beef gravy

1 can of water

Tbsp each of pepper, garlic salt

Boil the possum meat in a large pot of water with a half cup of salt for about half a day.

Pour the water out and add all the stuff to it.

Bring to a boil, then simmer covered 4 to 8 hrs.

Serves 8 (or 1 for a week).

Gravy is good sopped up with week old bread.

(TIP: 3 day old roadkill is more tender and easier to skin)

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO EAT ROADKILL POSSUM STEW. IT IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!!!

              ’Possums 

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree

With ’possums clinging to each limb

Like tiny, pink-tailed cherubim.

A ’possum thinks of God all day,

And lifts her gaze as though to pray;

A ’possum may in Summer scare

A nest of robins from her lair;


And winter’s snow she does disdain,
Although she will acquaint with rain.


Poems are made by fools like us’em,
But only God can make a ’possum.

Red Sky

For today's Friday Folklore, I thought something weather related would be fun, especially after yesterday's post. Perhaps the most famous weather proverb is:

"Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning."

Did you know this dates back to at least the time Christ walked the earth? He made reference to it in Matthew 16:1-3. I found an explanation as to why this proverb is true (for the most part) but it was pretty scientific and meaty, so I'll spare you the details!

Here are some other fun weather related proverbs:

A year of snow, a year of plenty. (I thought this was especially relevant this year)

When the stars begin to huddle, the earth will soon become a puddle.

If after a rain you can see enough blue sky to make a pair of man's pants, it will clear.

When grass is dry at morning light, look for rain before the night.

Seagull, Seagull, Sit on the Sand...It's never good weather when you're on the land!

When the ditch and pond offend the nose, look for rain and stormy blows.

When the wind is blowing from the east~tis not fit for man or beast!

And finally, a fun folklore that will bring you a chuckle:

Michigan Winds
retold by S. E. Schlusser

Michigan winds are fiercest in the spring. Why, just last year the wind knocked one of our mountains over into a valley. Folks woke up the next day to find themselves living on a plain.

But we Michigan folks just take these happenings as a matter of course. Take my friend, Joe, for example. One March, Joe went out on his porch to eat a dessert. He had barely taken a bite out of his fresh apple pie when a wind blew his house over. Keeping his presence of mind, Joe grabbed hold of the branch of a tree to keep from being blown away. Once he had secured himself on the branch, he nabbed one of the boards floating away from his house, and used it to shield him from the wind, so he could finish eating his apple pie.

'Coarse I've heard they've also got a pretty mean wind when you cross the border into Canada. There's a story I know about a British Columbia chap named Jake whose dog was blown up against his garage wall one day. That wind blew so hard and so strong that the hound dog starved to death before it quit. Jake had to scrape the poor ol' dog off the wall with a shovel. And what did he find, but that the wind had pushed the hounds shadow right into the surface of the wall. So, Jake buried the poor dog under the shadow and wrote his epitaph on it: Doggone.