Religiosity and small creatures

So, I've been particularly remiss about updating this, despite convincing myself that I was going to be much better, but I do have at least a partial explanation in the form of a mountain of grading/marking which has rather taken over in the last couple of weeks. However, it's now Spring Break, so I have more time to devote to other things, like catching up on reading, doing all those little projects I've been meaning to do for weeks, and starting to tackle the garden (yikes).

The last couple of days have been interestingly full of little reminders of what a different place we're living in. On Thursday I was walking the dogs in the local park, which is on campus, when I spied a smallish group of people (about University age, so I assumed they were students) walking quite slowly through the park. They didn't seem really to be walking with much forward momentum, more wandering, but when I got closer I saw that one of them had a very large beam of wood on his shoulders and his hands appeared to be tied to the ends of said beam. Then, noticing that a couple of the other guys were half-heartedly hitting him with whips or lashes, I realised that this must have something to do with the fact that it's Easter! But what on earth they were doing (rehearsing for some church play?) I didn't have the strength to ask. I think the thing that always surprises me about religion around here is that it's the most laddish/girly students who tend to be really religious. It's caught me off guard several times, and this group were no exception. Bemused is what I was.

My other deeply Southern experience was at 6 o'clock this morning when I let the dogs out and they dashed hell for leather towards something that I could barely see (didn't have my specs on) and started barking like the sky was falling in. It turned out to be a horrid mangy possum, which are potentially rabid and nasty when cornered (especially by two excited schnauzers), so I dashed to get some more clothes on to shoo the thing away, but the dogs had chased it off by the time I got myself together. Here, for those unfamiliar, is a pic of a possum (sometimes called an opossum)...nasty little bugger.