Opossum Late November

After a week of mid November warm weather (75F), the temperature took a sharp drop the evening of Thanksgiving. The leaves are now mostly all down. The Grandfather cottonwood was one of the last. Yesterday it stood surrounded by a  golden yellow pool of its own leaves on the forest floor. The long mild - warm late season weather makes me wonder if plants that drop their leaves with summer heat stress and then reflush a new crop in October could now find a winning strategy. I noticed a young bur oak with fresh new leaves east of the Grandfather cottonwood.
Remarkably, the Vespula yellowjacket nest I've been watching is still pretty active. I counted 38 workers landing at the entrance in one minute. There are also some mosquitoes out.. maybe the yellowjackets can help keep their number down until real cold comes.
It is hunting season and I've seen more deer in the Woods: a group of three.. not very skittish and a group of four .. more escape artists. This evening at the end of the day I encountered an opossum on the  Northern Loop trail. In the dim light it chose to not move until I got about 15 feet away, then trundled down into the dry wash and could not navigate the steep far bank.. so again did not move as I walked within 6 feet and took a few pictures.
Last two mornings a murder of crows has been mobbing first a barred owl and then a hapless young hawk. Both had tried to rest in the dense canopy west of the the odd pit and mound topography along the West Dune trail. The crows were relentless and hilarious. I would run or fly away if they took after me.
I finished yellow GPS tags on the 6 posts for the West Trail and the 6 posts for the Two Friends, Big Log & West Dune trails. Just need to do the six posts of the Northern Rim trail to complete the post project. The OU stone yard has now provided 60 + heavy cut stones I have moved to 2-3 stacks along the West Trail, waiting for the trail to flood inch deep so I can place the stones where needed to create a stepping path through the wet section.