As you probably know, I run a little kitty cafe for the neighborhood
cats here. (Rocky is self-appointed maitre d', and usually sits in the
lawn chair and watches the comings and goings.) I fill the bowl when
Rocky comes in for the night. All the cats around here have homes now,
thankfully no more ferals, so they're not really hungry and there's
usualy still food in the morning. For the past week the bowl has been
empty in the morning. I've been wondering if we might have new ferals,
a newly abandoned pet, or perhaps just some kittens growing up who are
shy and I haven't seen yet.

Just solved the mystery. It's a wild newby, seemed kind of shy, fully
grown... possum. The new guy waddled off as soon as I got up from the
computer and walked towards the door.

Our last possum was a lot bolder - would come up to the bowl with me
on the other side of the glass door a couple feet away. This was back
before LB moved in. We had a complex kitty, Spot, who slept around - I
think he just slept in whichever apartment was offereing the best
dinner. One night I was sitting in the recliner with the sliding door
opened, hoping that Spot would be coming to dinner and spending the
night. The old possum waddled in and proceeded to explore the
apartment. A neighbor finally trapped and relocated him several years
back.

Rocky was caught in the trap set for the possum and spent several
hours in it, which is why I had such a hard time catching him later
on. He won't get near anything that looks like a trap.