We have a new pet. We sighted a new animal that Elizabeth had never seen before. It reminded me of an experience from many years ago:

I had a share in a shore house and my housemates were talking about the size of the rat that they had seen on the way to the beach. Later that day, we walked the same way and I noticed that it was not a rat, but a possum. (City people do not get out to nature much.)

So we've named our new friend Peaty the Possum. This then led to a discussion of the relationship of possum and opossum and then if they are related to rats or raccoons. (like one of our other friends, Rocky Raccoon) BTW, possums are part of the marsupial family (genus?) and raccoons are related to bears.

So in closing, in my search for raccoon information, I blundered on an alternate spelling of our cat's name, Couscous, which is the spotted Cuscus.