There's A Dead Parrot on the Landing, Vicar Sergeant

Okay, it's not a parrot and it's not on the landing, but this is not a blog for the faint of heart. It is a tale of gore, violence and conspiracy and it is not a pretty picture, so to start off with here IS a pretty picture of my garden.


 

Okay, now that we have the required aesthetic component we can go on. The picture above is deceptively peaceful and serene, but beneath the surface lies a grizzly tale of horror and depredation! If you are sensitive, or vegan, or have the least bit of compassion in your soul, I advise you not to read (or look) any further.

Nature is a heartless and cruel beauty! I was out in the garden when I happened upon this:



Here's that little gray object in the foreground:



The evil mouse was hopping away slowly, even furtively, but having watched many an episode of Animal Planet and having tried to rescue more than a few rabbits from felinic imprisonment, I knew that the odds of survival for this little guy were not very good.  Once they have been bitten or grasped with claws rodents and small birds tend to get infected and die slow miserable deaths.

Besides I knew it was my reporter-ly duty to observe only and not to interfere while recording the spectacle

(...or maybe sometimes to encourage a little action!

... Okay, I mean, it was my duty to scream for blood and insure an interesting story for my readers! Could you start over from the part where the mouse comes out of the hole, please. I didn't get that part on film.)

The action was definitely in a lull. Our teenager, Little Cat Guy, (like so many teenagers) is a bit distractible.

Evil freedom-fighter mouse was on the verge of getting away, but wait! He had not reckoned on the maturity of age and the presence of an older brother!



With the attention span of adulthood, Copernicus the mighty took over! Notice that teenager Little Cat Guy is still sitting there in the background completely oblivious: "Yeah, man, I'll finish the job tomorrow."

 

Uh oh! The resistance is in trouble now! "Where's an IED when you need one?"

It didn't take fundamentalist rebel mouse very long to realize that he'd better hightail it out of there.

But you know the inevitable conclusion: ... En garde,



.... Parry, Lunge

... Thrust,

 Touché!  I was amazed to see that Copper had that same look of male pride visible in every single hunter photograph I have ever seen. "Look what I bagged. I am proud cave man hunter!"

As you may be able to tell, I have mixed feelings about this whole conspiracy and the way my "children" react to others not like themselves.

Still, I guess all in all it's better than seeing them join the army. (And to paraphrase the parents in Galaxy Quest, "Well, At least they're outside.")