So, after my bug in the ear incident a few weeks ago I vowed never to go netless again unless the landscape was a frozen tundra and no insects could possibly be around. Good thing I made this decision. Everyone knows that its not good practice to eat or have food in or around your hammock for the obvious reasons. And even though we don't have bears where I live there's still plenty of other scavenging animals to deal with. So I don't do it. Ill have a drink in a sports bottle outside the hammock, but that's it.
Now, last night around 4am I was sound asleep but started hearing a faint kinda grunting/ snorting noise and felt something bumping up against me right under the shelf of my BB XLC. I knew I didn't have any food with me, but then realized that whatever it was could possibly have been attracted to the smell of the down in my new Incubator I got a few days ago.....And it does have a pretty strong smell just like my burrow did when I got it a few weeks ago. Idk if its from the stuff that makes the down water resistant or if its the natural oils on the down itself, but they both have a distinct odor that's pretty strong at first. The burrow has gotten better from airing it out with use thankfully. Now, since I was still half asleep and worried I was gonna open my eyes to see $300 worth of feathers floating under my tarp, my first reaction was to sit up and turn my light on to see what was out there. Bad idea. VARY BAD idea. As I turned my light on and leaned over to look down and out of the netting that's pulled out on the zip side of the XLC, I was greated with the mouth of one VARY pissed off opossum that was determined to come in and sleep with me. The little hell weasle bit holes in the netting and hammock body by the zipper and was about an inch away from getting the side of my face as well . I instantly yelled at it and it took off into the night , screaming and snorting.
I didn't see any damage so after my heart stopped pounding I fell back to sleep. However, when I got up this morning I noticed the holes it made, the hair and gunk from its mouth matted to the net and stain on the fabric from the same . I'm about to email Warbonnet guy to see how he recommends I fix the holes but does anyone have any ideas? Its a brand new hammock too. Had I been awake all the way when is happened I might not have moved so quickly and startled it. I've only had the hammock for a month and i take great care of my gear because I can't afford to replace things all the time, especially now since I have 3 kids and its almost Xmas and Ive spent my gear budget for the next few years getting my 0° quilt set + the WBBBXLC. But buy once cry once right? So hopefully the damage can be fixed properly but cheaply. At least the rabbid hell creature didn't tear through my UQP and into my UQ!
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