friendly neighbor

While Patrick was out on a walk, he called me and said there was a surprise waiting for me on the front porch.  I ran to the door and looked around... spotted the dogs growling on the sidewalk below... then I stared straight into the eyes of this big fella:

Not what I expected!  I slammed the door, threw down the phone and picked up my camera :)
The possum and I were equally scared... we stared at each other in silence, while the dogs salivated from the sidewalk. 
Patrick: "okay you can scare it off now..."
Me: "how do you scare it off??"
Patrick: "make hissing noises or something"
After a failed attempt of strange noises and a frozen possum, I grabbed the first thing I found inside the apartment... an umbrella.  I swung the door open, chucked the umbrella right at the possum.
For the first time in my life, I hit the target directly and down went the possum to the concrete one story below. 
Oops.
Don't worry, he scurried off zigzaggedly and made it to a tree.
Hopefully, the next neighbor we meet will be a little nicer and that I won't be as violent.