Friday, February 26, 2010

a precious gift...

This morning hubby went downstairs first this morning and as per our usual routine, let the dogs out back for their morning constitution! Now to truly appreciate this story, you must understand that our sliding glass door opens onto our screened in porch which has a regular size screen door that we keep latched in the winter because its so darn windy, so the dogs go out to the deck and then to the yard via a little doggy door that we put in the lower section on just one panel of the porch. Mind you, our dogs are small - about 10lbs each, so it's not a big door.
We have our theories about who left this precious gift! Back around new year's eve, we were visited by this male tabby we lovingly named Jimmy - since he had no collar on! It was beyond bitter cold outside and very windy and he was at our backdoor for over an our, so we let him in, made sure that he was ok, fed him and gave him some water - he was immediately comfortable and wandered around like he owned the place - so much so that when he started bullying our 3 sweet kitty girls, we decided that Jimmy had to go back out into the cold. He was in good shape, so we know that he had a home to go to! Since that night, Jimmy has come back to visit a couple times, so we know that he knows how to get in and out of the doggy door and we feel certain that he was the bearer of our gift!
So, some of you may already be aware that it is a huge message when an animal shares it's kill with you and Jimmy (or whoever was at our back door during the night) must really like us! We were "thrilled" to discover the back and of a full grown rabbit sitting on the door mat waiting for us! The kill and primary feeding frenzy DID NOT happen on our porch - it was not bloody or mess, just a couple loose fur tufts and the intact hind quarters, tail and a small amount of abdominal skin/fur, but no insides! Gross? Yup, but a generous gift nonetheless! Our dogs are total wimps and have never caught anything other than a tiny newborn baby rabbit and our cats are indoor cats, so it just had to be our old friend Jimmy, don't you think?

No comments: