September 25, 2024 • 23 mins
So THIS one is different. Mr B sits down with 5th grade GT students Claire Wheeler to talk to her about.....raising possums. Yes, you read that correctly! Claire talks about what it takes to raise possums, how they behave, what they eat, and how raising possums is a family tradition. One thing you can never say about our podcast is that the students or the subject matter is boring. We know you will be entertained by this episode, and as always, never be afraid to embrace your inner weirdo!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
A new podcast up and going already. Wow, have lo
(00:20):
everybody out there? How are we doing this morning, this evening,
this late at night, whenever you may be listening to
this podcast. I want to think all of you that
are listening to the podcast. My name is Michael Bridges,
and I am the GT and AP coordinator for the
Alma School District here in Alma, Arkansas, and I'd like
(00:42):
to welcome you in to the number one GT podcast
in the state of Arkansas because it's the only GT
podcast in the state of Arkansas. That joke never really
gets old. So this is Hey, what's your deal? It's
the podcast that comes out and just asks you straight
up what's going on in your life? And right now
(01:02):
on this episode, we have a very interesting and very
different topic that's very very GT. I would say, very
very different. So I can't wait for you guys to
listen to what Claire's got to tell you. I'm going
to do a little bit of housekeeping here. Just some
things that are going on and coming up here. We
have the AGIA Conference that's in Benton this year and
(01:26):
that is going to be October second and October third.
October second will be a new Coordinator's conference. It's a
half day, I believe. Don't quote me on it. You
would have to check this. You can go to ajia's
site and check out the conference for this year. But
I believe it's in the afternoon. I believe it happens
from twelve to three, but I could be wrong on that.
(01:48):
But that's for new coordinators. I know the first three
years that I was a GT coordinator, I went to
that workshop and kind of listen to what they had
to say. It's Aaron Ranolf and Monic Springfield shout out
do a great job every year just providing you with
a lot of times as a GT coordinator, you can
kind of feel like you're out there on an island
and they kind of give you a network of people
(02:09):
that you can communicate with. So if you happen to
be hearing this and you are a new GT coordinator,
I would highly recommend you trying to attend that conference.
Talk to your bosses that be and see if you
can see if you can attend that. I think it
would be really good for you if you're new or
relatively new. And then the next day will be the
actual conference at GIA Conference, and that's October third, and
(02:30):
that's going to be doctor John Plucker, who's actually the
president of the NAGC, the National Association for Gifted Children,
Big Huge, that's that's the big boy organization in the
United States. So he's gonna be on there talking and
I'm also interested to hear what Secretario Leva will be
there and be talking about giftedness. Kind of interested to
(02:52):
hear what he has to say because I've heard a
lot of things about acceleration, which I'm a huge fan for.
You know, if you're if you're in the ninth grade,
you know you want to grow up and be a
welder or an electrician, we need to get you into
skills that are going to help you become that. If
you know you're going to be a doctor or a veterinarian,
we need to be providing you skills at an early
age to get into that. But I also think if
(03:13):
you're in fourth and fifth grade and you're just trying
to get comfortable in your skin, GT and pullouts are
really important for that. I think that's a big part
of what I do. You know, I teach, but I
also help kids to know that, like we were talking
about earlier, you can kind of feel like you're on
an island. Sometimes GT kids feel like they're on an island.
And I firmly believe a well run GT classroom, a
(03:37):
GT pullout, a GT resource room can help that child
find their place within that school. And I think it's
vitally important. So I'm kind of interested to see where
the state's going to go with this, and I'm hoping
it doesn't totally, you know, do away with the Gifted
program as it sits for younger elementary students, because I
think it is definitely necessary. One more thing I thought about,
(04:01):
you know, as I was kind of going, I see,
I can look at the stats, and I see that
a lot of you are listening. It's awesome. We throw
up a new podcast and we get people listening like
it's going down in style. But one thing that I'm
seeing is we're not getting a lot of reviews or ratings.
So I would just like to ask if you are
out there listening to our podcast and you're enjoying it
(04:21):
through whatever means that may be, whether it's Apple Podcasts
or Spotify, or you're going through Amazon Prime or even
Spreaker here, which is where we host our website, our
podcast at give us a like, leave us a review,
tell people what we're about. Just like YouTube, there's algorithms
involved in all this stuff. So the more we're getting likes,
(04:42):
not just listens, but likes and reviews, that's more community
interaction and that kind of bumps us up and gets
us more in visibility with like spreaker and Spotify and
all those things. So I really appreciate everybody that is
listening right now. Thank you so much for listening to
our kids and the things that they do. They've got
lots of interesting things to say. Love gifted kids. They're nuts,
(05:06):
but it's a good kind of nuts. So I just
appreciated if we could kind of get them more exposure
out there and let people know just how great they are.
So if you would leave us a like in a review,
I would greatly appreciate it. And speaking of great GT
kids and just how awesome they are, I have one
coming up for you right now. Enjoy folks. All right,
(05:28):
so we are here with fifth grade, fifth grade GT
student Claire Wheeler. So, Claire, how are you today? Okay,
you're good, You're good. You excited to be on the
podcast because you actually came to you came to me
with this like last year, right, and we just didn't
get around to it. So trying to do a better
job getting more podcasts. So, Claire, the big moment you've
(05:50):
been waiting for. What is your deal?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I raise possums.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
I'm sorry, I thought I misunderstood you there for a second.
You say, did you say that you raise possums like
out in the woods the things that we see and
like unfortunately every once in a while roadkill on the roads. Possums.
You raise possums. Okay, I guess the first question I
(06:18):
would have to ask is why why possums? They're just
so cute and cute and love. Some people might not
think that now because they're basically are they rodents? I
think they're.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I don't think they are.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I know they're marsupials because they have they have pouches, right, Okay, Okay,
I don't Okay, I may have to look that up.
I meant to kind of check on that that's true.
That's true. They have the sharp teeth, sharp teeth they
have sharp do they bite?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
If you scare them, they will bite, They will try
to bite you, or they.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Will hiss it you hiss at you Okay, I've got
I've got a story coming up later with a possum hiss. Yes, yes,
this form of defense. Do they play dead because you know,
you always hear you know, possums play dead. That's how
they defend themselves. Sometimes sometimes they just kind of act. Yeah,
are they like active? Are they super active? Or do
they just kind of lay around during the night time?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yes, they are very active, right, Okay, they they'll maybe
wander around sometimes, yeah, but they'll normally try to hide somewhere.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Okay that whoa.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
They just kind of sleep where they're.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Hiding, Okay during the day. So how did you get
started raising possum? I don't think that's just a normal thing.
I mean, do you come from a long line of
possum raisors?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
No? Okay, my grandparents Okay they started raising possums.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Okay, so they started and then your family kind of so,
but again, why why do you why do you raise them?
Is it just do you keep them as pets?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Sometimes? But most of the time we will find them.
So we'll find them as babies because their mom got
run over, and then we'll keep them for a while,
and then when they get big enough, we'll turn them loose.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Okay? And just did have you like ever given possums
to some money? Does somebody like want a possum as
a pet?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Actually? Yeah, really, we used to have these little these
nine like almost newborn baby possums, and we gave six
of no, seven.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Of them away, okay? And just to a was it
like seven of them together or did like no.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
We get them to like separate, separate people.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Separate people. How do you keep a possum? Do you
have to keep it in a cage? Can you bring
it inside? Can you like, can it be house trained?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Actually really it can.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
So possums, if you train them, they will use a
litter box like a cat. That is crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
So possums will use a litter box, so you can
train them to be indoor pets. Now, when possums are born,
they're basically hairless, right pretty much, aren't They kind of
little pink little things and yeah, and they kind of
hang on to mama and they.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Will ride on their mother's backs.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
I remember when I was a.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Kid, they have fur. They will get on theirs.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
When I was a kid, I had a story book
that had all these night time animals in it, and
that's how they showed the possums the mom there was
a mama possum and then all the kids were on
the back. So yeah, that's that's true. So what are
some other interesting things that you can tell us about possums?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
When possums are babies, like newborn babies, they will actually
they can drink goat.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Milk, goat milk, so they're they're mammals. They drink they
drink the milk fur milk okay, which, by the way,
was a quiz bowl question that we had on our
tryumphs recently. So yeah, that and kids, for your information,
Animals that drink milk are known as mammals. Okay, Yeah,
so a possum is a mammal, so they they'll drink
goat milk. Though, is that how you do you feed
(09:53):
them with goat milk?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah? We basically take like a smaller syringe, we dip
it in goat milk and fill it up about halfway
and then if we had multiple possums, then we'll like
share it between.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Them, okay, and they'll just So do you have goats too?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
No? I do not have goats.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
How do you not see? I thought we were gonna
have this big thing where you had goats and you
got the goat milk from them and then you were
able to feel. So where do you get the goat
milk from?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I'm pretty sure my gets it from the stores.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Okay, okay, So do you have you have the possums?
Do you have any other pets?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I have three dogs and I have two cats.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
So did those animals get along with the possums? Do
they mix? Do they?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
My dog Annie? Uh huh, she's a little curious, yes,
so she Okay. So I was at my grandparent's house.
Uh huh, and I was holding the possum.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Why do I feel like this is going to end bad? Like?
Keep Claire's giggling over here, Okay, keep going, Annie.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
So I was on the couch with the possum, and
Annie was on the top of the couch. Yes, And
she was looking at the possum, and the possum kept
hissing at her, and I thought it was hilarious.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Of course I probably would as well.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Possums do not like animals.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
They don't like other animals. I could see that because
they're basically they're basically like kind of low on the
food chain, right, I would think other animals kind of
come after them. They're not they're not known as the
biggest scrappers out there. Again, we go back to the
Playing Dead. If you're a possum, So what what what
do they eat? You told me they drink goat milk,
so what else? Like I would imagine after they get
(11:39):
so big, you feed them solid food. So what are
you feeding them?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah? Actually you can feed them dog.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Food, dog food, food, okay, all kinds of foods. Well,
they eat like vegetables, like leftover veggies and stuff like that. Okay,
but they're not they're not meat eaters, right, they don't eat.
Do you feed them like I guess you cold feed
them like chicken though.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yeah, we feed them like cat chicken sometimes.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Okay, it's a super duper treat. If they were really good.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
We'll give them like we have like this little white
glass bowl. Huh, and it will like grapes and dog
food and cat food and cottage cheese.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Yeah. Do they get excited when they see that bowl coming?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Not really. They they'll just kind of stay in their
corner until you put it down. And then they're like
little animals.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Well, our chickens, we've got chickens and we have this big,
huge blue plastic bowl and when we bring our scraps
out and those chickens see that blue bowl coming from
the house, they go nuts. They start yelling, screaming. They're
super excited. But they won't They like things that are red,
like tomatoes, strawberries. They love that. And my wife brings
(12:48):
out like cucumber and stuff like that, which is kind
of Whitish Hindish vegetables. They'll turn their nose up at
it and mont need it. Yeah, it'll take them like
a full twenty four hours to eat that, but they
will kill the strawberries and the tomatoes. They go crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Used to hang like the string up from with screws.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
At the corn.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yes, yes, and they would like demolish it.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yes, yeah, I haven't bet them corn and walk. Yeah
they go they'll go nuts for some corn. Chickens are crazy, yes, yes,
So back to possums because they'll probably get jealous if
we don't continue to talk about them. So are possums
good pets? Do they kind of behave like other pets?
Or you said they're not social? So like, are they
(13:29):
like loving? Like I think like a dog, especially not
necessarily a cat because cats can be very arrogant at times. Yes, yes,
our cat's extremely arrogant. Sits with you when it wants to,
and then when it's done with you, it's done with you.
So did they behave like other pets?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, well, like so Allie, like she likes to sleep
in the dirty clothes camper, Okay, I don't really know why.
But so she has this special blanket because we got
her from a hand She was hand raised before we
got her, okay, and she has this little blanket and
(14:06):
we you kind of have to pick her up in
her blanket like.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
A baby pretty much lap you have.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
To swaddle there, yeah, and then she gets mad if
you if you don't, so she'll kind of go crazy.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
All the sounds time, ain't it.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
But regular like possums that weren't hand raised. So if
you really, if they really get used to you, then
you can't well they won't really climb into your lap, right,
You kind of have to grab them and hold them right,
like calm them down. But sometimes if they don't want
(14:44):
to be held, like, they'll kind of climb away from
you and then they'll like go do their own thing.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
To kind of be like a cat now kind of okay.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
But sometimes then again, they will if you put your
finger down there, uh huh, they will sniff you and
then they will try to enibble you. Like the other
day when I was getting ready for church, she tried
to nibble my toes.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
So your toes. Wow, it doesn't really hurt when they try.
It's just like investigating.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, they just kind of you but not hard at all.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I mean you can feel the teeth, uh huh, but
it doesn't really hurt.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
That's interesting. So are they Are they very hard to raise?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
No? Not really.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Do you have to worry about them like in winter
or anything like getting too cold or do they kind
of you know their fur? Are they pretty pretty well protected?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yeah? If you got them outside in a pen like
made me get a couple of heat lamps, okay, and
maybe like a hutch like a big crate or something, so.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
It's kind of like a chicken kind of thing too.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
That's insulated, right, and they can they'll sleep in there
and be fine.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, okay, all right? So is there anything else you
do with them? You keep them as pets, you give
them away? Is there anything? I mean? Is that that
pretty much pretty much what you do them Okay, we'll
turn them. Okay, just let them, let them go. Okay,
So can you tell me what's your most interesting possum story,
(16:09):
because I actually have a possum story too. So what's
your most interesting possum story that you have?
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Well, I, well, I kind of told you the.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Interesting okay, so I'll give you my possum story, and
if you think of one, I'll let you finish us
up here with one. So, like I can remember driving home.
We kind of lived out in the country too, and
like my house now has motion detector lights, so you
pull up, all the lights go on. Everything. Well, the
house I was at at the time didn't. So I
pulled up and I saw that there was a big
(16:41):
dark mass sitting at my front door. Okay, well, I
thought my buddies had come by and like dropped off
a T shirt or something like that and set it
at the door. So I walk up to my door.
It's dark, I can't see. I put the key in
the lot and I opened the door and go to
just I was just going to kick what I thought
was the T shirt into my house, and I put
(17:02):
my foot in the shirt and the first thing I
thought was, Wow, that's really soft, and then I hear
this and I slammed the door, ran back, could not
figure it, ran all the way back to my car
because I had no clue what it was. It was
a huge possum. A huge possum for some reason had
come and slept right at my door, Like wasn't close
to my door. It was right on my door. So
(17:23):
it didn't bite me or anything, but it did let
me know it did not appreciate my foot in its gut.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
That's good because those things can actually drop.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah. Yeah, I kind of thought, you know, and maybe
maybe it was asleep, maybe it was plain dead like
we talked about. But yeah, it didn't did not get me,
but it definitely scared the daylights out of me because
I just thought it was a lump of clothes and
I was just going to kick it in and be
done with it. So you got to be careful sometimes.
So there was something I'm trying to do at the
end of our podcast now, which is kind of find
(17:54):
out a little bit more information because you came on
and you told us that your deal as possums, But
I want to get a little bit more information about
so people can kind of get to know you. So
I've just got a couple of questions here for you
about your interest. So what what would you say, Claire
is your favorite book? Are you a big time book reader?
Do you like reading books?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yes? I do love to read books.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Okay, So what is your favorite and if it's like
a series, it can be a series. But do you
like have a favorite book?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I think my favorite book series would be Wings a Fire.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Okay, that's that's a big one. I know a lot
of kids are liking that one right now.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Especially.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Do you like the graphic novel or the written novel.
I like the graphic novel, just for the pictures and everything.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Another genre that I like is horror.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Well, okay, I know that seems kind of hard hardcore
with me. Yes, you don't come off as a horror
horror gal. Yes, So what's your favorite? Do you have
like a young adult horror book that you like the best?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Or I like Wait Till Helen Comes?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
I think I think I've seen that one. Yeah? Has
that been around for a while?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
I think?
Speaker 1 (18:57):
So, Okay, it's in the library here. Okay, Wait till
Helen comes. So there, if you're interested in scary stuff,
seeing how it's getting ready to be October. There's Wait
Till Helen Comes, and there's a book called Took. I
have read Took. I have read that to my class
in October one time. Yeah. It's kind of creepy, the
doll thing, isn't it. Yeah, there's doll elements in there,
and of course dolls are always universally creepy. Yeah, they're sketch,
(19:20):
they're sketch. So movie, what was your what would your
favorite movie? Be? Kind of hard, right, it is, I'm
trying to think.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
It's called Descendants.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Descendants.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Yeah, there's one, two, three, and then there's four, which
is called.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
The Red Okay, so Descendants is that a Disney one?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Okay, okay, yeah. Yeah. My daughter was actually in the
Descendants play that they did at King Opera House. Yeah
she was. She was Cruella Deville. She looked like it too,
had the wig and all that stuff. Yeah, that was
that was cool. Descendants was really neat. Okay. Your favorite
food pizza, pizza, any particular kind of pizza. Cheese, just
(20:02):
straight up cheese, no toppings. Interesting.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I like to peel the cheese off, eat the pizza
and the cheese. I'm a complete reder.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
That is that's different. That's different. So do you eat
your string cheese and strips or do you eat it whole?
Or do you eat string cheese? Okay? Strips? Yeah, skin
it to off and then I'll yeah and peel it
like it's a delicacy. Okay, all right? Favorite band or
(20:31):
musician or type of music if it's too hard to
narrow one down.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I think my favorite type of music is either pop
or Christian Christian?
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Okay? Do you have like a particular artist you really
like in Christian category?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I think maybe Elevation Worship Elevation.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
They've got really good stuff. Yeah, Maverick City is good.
Do you like Maverick City?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
I like their. I like Gyre. That's like my favorite
song in the whole world. Okay. Any kind of band
or how about pop? Anybody in pop that you liked.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
I used to really like this band called home Free, okay,
like a completely acapella band.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Yes. And you go to a lot of concerts too,
don't you? Haven't you? Will? You like you like went
to one like last year? I think, didn't you? I
thought you went to see somebody I went.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
To to last year? I went till Christmas one for
home Free and then a regular one for Home Free. Okay,
my mom surprised me so much on the first one.
We were going to see a team Nag Ninja Turtle something.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Uh huh, And when we got there, I'm like, Oh,
that's cool, that's cool. Surprises are awesome. Surprises are good. So,
speaking of surprises, as you know, at the end of
every podcast, we do a shout out for someone that's
like helped us, you know, somebody that we can thank
for where we are today, just just to be grateful.
So is there someone you'd like to give a shout
(21:53):
out to and why?
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Yes? Okay, I'd like to give a shout out to
my nana and my pop. Okay, they're getting me into
raising bossoms.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Okay, for getting you into raising possums. Okay, yes, because the.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Very first possum I had, his name was Frank.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
That's a good name for a possum, right, Yeah, My
grandparents raise raccoons. And you want to talk about an
animal you really don't want to mess with, that's a raccoon. Yeah,
they will take your finger. Possums are a whole lot nicer.
But I think I think your your grandparents had gone
the right route with the possums. So for Claire's grandparents,
we want to give you a shout out. It's hard
(22:32):
to find good shout outs, you know, you'd think you.
I mean, I used the Goat when the last one,
and that's always a really good one. Well, Claire, we
want to thank you very much for coming on and
being able to talk to us about possums. You bet,
and we really appreciate you having patience and being able
to come on here and just being so well informed
(22:54):
about possums. You took something that was When I heard
this one, I was like super excited about it because
she's like, mister b can I do a podcast on possums?
And I don't even think she got the word out
of her mouth before I was like, yes, yes you can,
because this is what I want. This is GT this
is stuff that's kind of a little bit different, a
little bit weird. Yes, yes we wear that with pride.
(23:16):
So she is wearing her Goat Tornado shirt right now. So,
as always, people, we want to thank you for showing
up and remember don't ever be afraid to embrace your
inner weirdo. Thanks everybody,
A new podcast up and going already. Wow, have lo
(00:20):
everybody out there? How are we doing this morning, this evening,
this late at night, whenever you may be listening to
this podcast. I want to think all of you that
are listening to the podcast. My name is Michael Bridges,
and I am the GT and AP coordinator for the
Alma School District here in Alma, Arkansas, and I'd like
(00:42):
to welcome you in to the number one GT podcast
in the state of Arkansas because it's the only GT
podcast in the state of Arkansas. That joke never really
gets old. So this is Hey, what's your deal? It's
the podcast that comes out and just asks you straight
up what's going on in your life? And right now
(01:02):
on this episode, we have a very interesting and very
different topic that's very very GT. I would say, very
very different. So I can't wait for you guys to
listen to what Claire's got to tell you. I'm going
to do a little bit of housekeeping here. Just some
things that are going on and coming up here. We
have the AGIA Conference that's in Benton this year and
(01:26):
that is going to be October second and October third.
October second will be a new Coordinator's conference. It's a
half day, I believe. Don't quote me on it. You
would have to check this. You can go to ajia's
site and check out the conference for this year. But
I believe it's in the afternoon. I believe it happens
from twelve to three, but I could be wrong on that.
(01:48):
But that's for new coordinators. I know the first three
years that I was a GT coordinator, I went to
that workshop and kind of listen to what they had
to say. It's Aaron Ranolf and Monic Springfield shout out
do a great job every year just providing you with
a lot of times as a GT coordinator, you can
kind of feel like you're out there on an island
and they kind of give you a network of people
(02:09):
that you can communicate with. So if you happen to
be hearing this and you are a new GT coordinator,
I would highly recommend you trying to attend that conference.
Talk to your bosses that be and see if you
can see if you can attend that. I think it
would be really good for you if you're new or
relatively new. And then the next day will be the
actual conference at GIA Conference, and that's October third, and
(02:30):
that's going to be doctor John Plucker, who's actually the
president of the NAGC, the National Association for Gifted Children,
Big Huge, that's that's the big boy organization in the
United States. So he's gonna be on there talking and
I'm also interested to hear what Secretario Leva will be
there and be talking about giftedness. Kind of interested to
(02:52):
hear what he has to say because I've heard a
lot of things about acceleration, which I'm a huge fan for.
You know, if you're if you're in the ninth grade,
you know you want to grow up and be a
welder or an electrician, we need to get you into
skills that are going to help you become that. If
you know you're going to be a doctor or a veterinarian,
we need to be providing you skills at an early
age to get into that. But I also think if
(03:13):
you're in fourth and fifth grade and you're just trying
to get comfortable in your skin, GT and pullouts are
really important for that. I think that's a big part
of what I do. You know, I teach, but I
also help kids to know that, like we were talking
about earlier, you can kind of feel like you're on
an island. Sometimes GT kids feel like they're on an island.
And I firmly believe a well run GT classroom, a
(03:37):
GT pullout, a GT resource room can help that child
find their place within that school. And I think it's
vitally important. So I'm kind of interested to see where
the state's going to go with this, and I'm hoping
it doesn't totally, you know, do away with the Gifted
program as it sits for younger elementary students, because I
think it is definitely necessary. One more thing I thought about,
(04:01):
you know, as I was kind of going, I see,
I can look at the stats, and I see that
a lot of you are listening. It's awesome. We throw
up a new podcast and we get people listening like
it's going down in style. But one thing that I'm
seeing is we're not getting a lot of reviews or ratings.
So I would just like to ask if you are
out there listening to our podcast and you're enjoying it
(04:21):
through whatever means that may be, whether it's Apple Podcasts
or Spotify, or you're going through Amazon Prime or even
Spreaker here, which is where we host our website, our
podcast at give us a like, leave us a review,
tell people what we're about. Just like YouTube, there's algorithms
involved in all this stuff. So the more we're getting likes,
(04:42):
not just listens, but likes and reviews, that's more community
interaction and that kind of bumps us up and gets
us more in visibility with like spreaker and Spotify and
all those things. So I really appreciate everybody that is
listening right now. Thank you so much for listening to
our kids and the things that they do. They've got
lots of interesting things to say. Love gifted kids. They're nuts,
(05:06):
but it's a good kind of nuts. So I just
appreciated if we could kind of get them more exposure
out there and let people know just how great they are.
So if you would leave us a like in a review,
I would greatly appreciate it. And speaking of great GT
kids and just how awesome they are, I have one
coming up for you right now. Enjoy folks. All right,
(05:28):
so we are here with fifth grade, fifth grade GT
student Claire Wheeler. So, Claire, how are you today? Okay,
you're good, You're good. You excited to be on the
podcast because you actually came to you came to me
with this like last year, right, and we just didn't
get around to it. So trying to do a better
job getting more podcasts. So, Claire, the big moment you've
(05:50):
been waiting for. What is your deal?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I raise possums.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
I'm sorry, I thought I misunderstood you there for a second.
You say, did you say that you raise possums like
out in the woods the things that we see and
like unfortunately every once in a while roadkill on the roads. Possums.
You raise possums. Okay, I guess the first question I
(06:18):
would have to ask is why why possums? They're just
so cute and cute and love. Some people might not
think that now because they're basically are they rodents? I
think they're.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I don't think they are.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I know they're marsupials because they have they have pouches, right, Okay, Okay,
I don't Okay, I may have to look that up.
I meant to kind of check on that that's true.
That's true. They have the sharp teeth, sharp teeth they
have sharp do they bite?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
If you scare them, they will bite, They will try
to bite you, or they.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Will hiss it you hiss at you Okay, I've got
I've got a story coming up later with a possum hiss. Yes, yes,
this form of defense. Do they play dead because you know,
you always hear you know, possums play dead. That's how
they defend themselves. Sometimes sometimes they just kind of act. Yeah,
are they like active? Are they super active? Or do
they just kind of lay around during the night time?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yes, they are very active, right, Okay, they they'll maybe
wander around sometimes, yeah, but they'll normally try to hide somewhere.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Okay that whoa.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
They just kind of sleep where they're.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Hiding, Okay during the day. So how did you get
started raising possum? I don't think that's just a normal thing.
I mean, do you come from a long line of
possum raisors?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
No? Okay, my grandparents Okay they started raising possums.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Okay, so they started and then your family kind of so,
but again, why why do you why do you raise them?
Is it just do you keep them as pets?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Sometimes? But most of the time we will find them.
So we'll find them as babies because their mom got
run over, and then we'll keep them for a while,
and then when they get big enough, we'll turn them loose.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Okay? And just did have you like ever given possums
to some money? Does somebody like want a possum as
a pet?
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Actually? Yeah, really, we used to have these little these
nine like almost newborn baby possums, and we gave six
of no, seven.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Of them away, okay? And just to a was it
like seven of them together or did like no.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
We get them to like separate, separate people.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Separate people. How do you keep a possum? Do you
have to keep it in a cage? Can you bring
it inside? Can you like, can it be house trained?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Actually really it can.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
So possums, if you train them, they will use a
litter box like a cat. That is crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
So possums will use a litter box, so you can
train them to be indoor pets. Now, when possums are born,
they're basically hairless, right pretty much, aren't They kind of
little pink little things and yeah, and they kind of
hang on to mama and they.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Will ride on their mother's backs.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
I remember when I was a.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Kid, they have fur. They will get on theirs.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
When I was a kid, I had a story book
that had all these night time animals in it, and
that's how they showed the possums the mom there was
a mama possum and then all the kids were on
the back. So yeah, that's that's true. So what are
some other interesting things that you can tell us about possums?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
When possums are babies, like newborn babies, they will actually
they can drink goat.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Milk, goat milk, so they're they're mammals. They drink they
drink the milk fur milk okay, which, by the way,
was a quiz bowl question that we had on our
tryumphs recently. So yeah, that and kids, for your information,
Animals that drink milk are known as mammals. Okay, Yeah,
so a possum is a mammal, so they they'll drink
goat milk. Though, is that how you do you feed
(09:53):
them with goat milk?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah? We basically take like a smaller syringe, we dip
it in goat milk and fill it up about halfway
and then if we had multiple possums, then we'll like
share it between.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Them, okay, and they'll just So do you have goats too?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
No? I do not have goats.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
How do you not see? I thought we were gonna
have this big thing where you had goats and you
got the goat milk from them and then you were
able to feel. So where do you get the goat
milk from?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I'm pretty sure my gets it from the stores.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Okay, okay, So do you have you have the possums?
Do you have any other pets?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I have three dogs and I have two cats.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
So did those animals get along with the possums? Do
they mix? Do they?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
My dog Annie? Uh huh, she's a little curious, yes,
so she Okay. So I was at my grandparent's house.
Uh huh, and I was holding the possum.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Why do I feel like this is going to end bad? Like?
Keep Claire's giggling over here, Okay, keep going, Annie.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
So I was on the couch with the possum, and
Annie was on the top of the couch. Yes, And
she was looking at the possum, and the possum kept
hissing at her, and I thought it was hilarious.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Of course I probably would as well.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Possums do not like animals.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
They don't like other animals. I could see that because
they're basically they're basically like kind of low on the
food chain, right, I would think other animals kind of
come after them. They're not they're not known as the
biggest scrappers out there. Again, we go back to the
Playing Dead. If you're a possum, So what what what
do they eat? You told me they drink goat milk,
so what else? Like I would imagine after they get
(11:39):
so big, you feed them solid food. So what are
you feeding them?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah? Actually you can feed them dog.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Food, dog food, food, okay, all kinds of foods. Well,
they eat like vegetables, like leftover veggies and stuff like that. Okay,
but they're not they're not meat eaters, right, they don't eat.
Do you feed them like I guess you cold feed
them like chicken though.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yeah, we feed them like cat chicken sometimes.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Okay, it's a super duper treat. If they were really good.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
We'll give them like we have like this little white
glass bowl. Huh, and it will like grapes and dog
food and cat food and cottage cheese.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Yeah. Do they get excited when they see that bowl coming?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Not really. They they'll just kind of stay in their
corner until you put it down. And then they're like
little animals.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Well, our chickens, we've got chickens and we have this big,
huge blue plastic bowl and when we bring our scraps
out and those chickens see that blue bowl coming from
the house, they go nuts. They start yelling, screaming. They're
super excited. But they won't They like things that are red,
like tomatoes, strawberries. They love that. And my wife brings
(12:48):
out like cucumber and stuff like that, which is kind
of Whitish Hindish vegetables. They'll turn their nose up at
it and mont need it. Yeah, it'll take them like
a full twenty four hours to eat that, but they
will kill the strawberries and the tomatoes. They go crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Used to hang like the string up from with screws.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
At the corn.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yes, yes, and they would like demolish it.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yes, yeah, I haven't bet them corn and walk. Yeah
they go they'll go nuts for some corn. Chickens are crazy, yes, yes,
So back to possums because they'll probably get jealous if
we don't continue to talk about them. So are possums
good pets? Do they kind of behave like other pets?
Or you said they're not social? So like, are they
(13:29):
like loving? Like I think like a dog, especially not
necessarily a cat because cats can be very arrogant at times. Yes, yes,
our cat's extremely arrogant. Sits with you when it wants to,
and then when it's done with you, it's done with you.
So did they behave like other pets?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, well, like so Allie, like she likes to sleep
in the dirty clothes camper, Okay, I don't really know why.
But so she has this special blanket because we got
her from a hand She was hand raised before we
got her, okay, and she has this little blanket and
(14:06):
we you kind of have to pick her up in
her blanket like.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
A baby pretty much lap you have.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
To swaddle there, yeah, and then she gets mad if
you if you don't, so she'll kind of go crazy.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
All the sounds time, ain't it.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
But regular like possums that weren't hand raised. So if
you really, if they really get used to you, then
you can't well they won't really climb into your lap, right,
You kind of have to grab them and hold them right,
like calm them down. But sometimes if they don't want
(14:44):
to be held, like, they'll kind of climb away from
you and then they'll like go do their own thing.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
To kind of be like a cat now kind of okay.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
But sometimes then again, they will if you put your
finger down there, uh huh, they will sniff you and
then they will try to enibble you. Like the other
day when I was getting ready for church, she tried
to nibble my toes.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
So your toes. Wow, it doesn't really hurt when they try.
It's just like investigating.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, they just kind of you but not hard at all.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I mean you can feel the teeth, uh huh, but
it doesn't really hurt.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
That's interesting. So are they Are they very hard to raise?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
No? Not really.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Do you have to worry about them like in winter
or anything like getting too cold or do they kind
of you know their fur? Are they pretty pretty well protected?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yeah? If you got them outside in a pen like
made me get a couple of heat lamps, okay, and
maybe like a hutch like a big crate or something, so.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
It's kind of like a chicken kind of thing too.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
That's insulated, right, and they can they'll sleep in there
and be fine.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, okay, all right? So is there anything else you
do with them? You keep them as pets, you give
them away? Is there anything? I mean? Is that that
pretty much pretty much what you do them Okay, we'll
turn them. Okay, just let them, let them go. Okay,
So can you tell me what's your most interesting possum story,
(16:09):
because I actually have a possum story too. So what's
your most interesting possum story that you have?
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Well, I, well, I kind of told you the.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Interesting okay, so I'll give you my possum story, and
if you think of one, I'll let you finish us
up here with one. So, like I can remember driving home.
We kind of lived out in the country too, and
like my house now has motion detector lights, so you
pull up, all the lights go on. Everything. Well, the
house I was at at the time didn't. So I
pulled up and I saw that there was a big
(16:41):
dark mass sitting at my front door. Okay, well, I
thought my buddies had come by and like dropped off
a T shirt or something like that and set it
at the door. So I walk up to my door.
It's dark, I can't see. I put the key in
the lot and I opened the door and go to
just I was just going to kick what I thought
was the T shirt into my house, and I put
(17:02):
my foot in the shirt and the first thing I
thought was, Wow, that's really soft, and then I hear
this and I slammed the door, ran back, could not
figure it, ran all the way back to my car
because I had no clue what it was. It was
a huge possum. A huge possum for some reason had
come and slept right at my door, Like wasn't close
to my door. It was right on my door. So
(17:23):
it didn't bite me or anything, but it did let
me know it did not appreciate my foot in its gut.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
That's good because those things can actually drop.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah. Yeah, I kind of thought, you know, and maybe
maybe it was asleep, maybe it was plain dead like
we talked about. But yeah, it didn't did not get me,
but it definitely scared the daylights out of me because
I just thought it was a lump of clothes and
I was just going to kick it in and be
done with it. So you got to be careful sometimes.
So there was something I'm trying to do at the
end of our podcast now, which is kind of find
(17:54):
out a little bit more information because you came on
and you told us that your deal as possums, But
I want to get a little bit more information about
so people can kind of get to know you. So
I've just got a couple of questions here for you
about your interest. So what what would you say, Claire
is your favorite book? Are you a big time book reader?
Do you like reading books?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yes? I do love to read books.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Okay, So what is your favorite and if it's like
a series, it can be a series. But do you
like have a favorite book?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I think my favorite book series would be Wings a Fire.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Okay, that's that's a big one. I know a lot
of kids are liking that one right now.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Especially.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Do you like the graphic novel or the written novel.
I like the graphic novel, just for the pictures and everything.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Another genre that I like is horror.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Well, okay, I know that seems kind of hard hardcore
with me. Yes, you don't come off as a horror
horror gal. Yes, So what's your favorite? Do you have
like a young adult horror book that you like the best?
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Or I like Wait Till Helen Comes?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
I think I think I've seen that one. Yeah? Has
that been around for a while?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
I think?
Speaker 1 (18:57):
So, Okay, it's in the library here. Okay, Wait till
Helen comes. So there, if you're interested in scary stuff,
seeing how it's getting ready to be October. There's Wait
Till Helen Comes, and there's a book called Took. I
have read Took. I have read that to my class
in October one time. Yeah. It's kind of creepy, the
doll thing, isn't it. Yeah, there's doll elements in there,
and of course dolls are always universally creepy. Yeah, they're sketch,
(19:20):
they're sketch. So movie, what was your what would your
favorite movie? Be? Kind of hard, right, it is, I'm
trying to think.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
It's called Descendants.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Descendants.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Yeah, there's one, two, three, and then there's four, which
is called.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
The Red Okay, so Descendants is that a Disney one?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Okay, okay, yeah. Yeah. My daughter was actually in the
Descendants play that they did at King Opera House. Yeah
she was. She was Cruella Deville. She looked like it too,
had the wig and all that stuff. Yeah, that was
that was cool. Descendants was really neat. Okay. Your favorite
food pizza, pizza, any particular kind of pizza. Cheese, just
(20:02):
straight up cheese, no toppings. Interesting.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I like to peel the cheese off, eat the pizza
and the cheese. I'm a complete reder.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
That is that's different. That's different. So do you eat
your string cheese and strips or do you eat it whole?
Or do you eat string cheese? Okay? Strips? Yeah, skin
it to off and then I'll yeah and peel it
like it's a delicacy. Okay, all right? Favorite band or
(20:31):
musician or type of music if it's too hard to
narrow one down.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I think my favorite type of music is either pop
or Christian Christian?
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Okay? Do you have like a particular artist you really
like in Christian category?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I think maybe Elevation Worship Elevation.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
They've got really good stuff. Yeah, Maverick City is good.
Do you like Maverick City?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
I like their. I like Gyre. That's like my favorite
song in the whole world. Okay. Any kind of band
or how about pop? Anybody in pop that you liked.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
I used to really like this band called home Free, okay,
like a completely acapella band.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Yes. And you go to a lot of concerts too,
don't you? Haven't you? Will? You like you like went
to one like last year? I think, didn't you? I
thought you went to see somebody I went.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
To to last year? I went till Christmas one for
home Free and then a regular one for Home Free. Okay,
my mom surprised me so much on the first one.
We were going to see a team Nag Ninja Turtle something.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Uh huh, And when we got there, I'm like, Oh,
that's cool, that's cool. Surprises are awesome. Surprises are good. So,
speaking of surprises, as you know, at the end of
every podcast, we do a shout out for someone that's
like helped us, you know, somebody that we can thank
for where we are today, just just to be grateful.
So is there someone you'd like to give a shout
(21:53):
out to and why?
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Yes? Okay, I'd like to give a shout out to
my nana and my pop. Okay, they're getting me into
raising bossoms.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Okay, for getting you into raising possums. Okay, yes, because the.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Very first possum I had, his name was Frank.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
That's a good name for a possum, right, Yeah, My
grandparents raise raccoons. And you want to talk about an
animal you really don't want to mess with, that's a raccoon. Yeah,
they will take your finger. Possums are a whole lot nicer.
But I think I think your your grandparents had gone
the right route with the possums. So for Claire's grandparents,
we want to give you a shout out. It's hard
(22:32):
to find good shout outs, you know, you'd think you.
I mean, I used the Goat when the last one,
and that's always a really good one. Well, Claire, we
want to thank you very much for coming on and
being able to talk to us about possums. You bet,
and we really appreciate you having patience and being able
to come on here and just being so well informed
(22:54):
about possums. You took something that was When I heard
this one, I was like super excited about it because
she's like, mister b can I do a podcast on possums?
And I don't even think she got the word out
of her mouth before I was like, yes, yes you can,
because this is what I want. This is GT this
is stuff that's kind of a little bit different, a
little bit weird. Yes, yes we wear that with pride.
(23:16):
So she is wearing her Goat Tornado shirt right now. So,
as always, people, we want to thank you for showing
up and remember don't ever be afraid to embrace your
inner weirdo. Thanks everybody,
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