Rodent tartare

The morning ritual is the first thing out of bed, the pups go to the backyard for the necessaries, and then back into the house for Kibble Time™.  This is the time of year when pecans are falling en masse in the back yard, and Mochi loves to supplement her diet with pecans.  The usual routine is the pups run out, do their business, Mochi has a quick pre-breakfast nut snack, and then back in for the morning meal.  Mochi often enters the house carrying a pecan she hopes she'll be able to secret in the house somewhere with Mommy unawares, but when the Sacred Kibble is in the offing, she's pretty good about giving up the pecan in her mouth to me, which I quickly dispose of properly.  I let the pups out back this morning, and at most, they were in the yard for two minutes.  When they came in, I saw Mochi throw back her head to get a better purchase on the nut she was carrying.  ONce in the house, I told her to spit it out, and I was surprised when she did so quite easily.  Without focusing on the nut,  I reached down to pick it up, surprised to find it quite warm.  Um.  And moist.  And furry. 

In my hand I was holding most of the head and neck area of a small rodent.  The eyes looked peacefully closed, as if in sleep.  There was red meat aplenty, and I could see the heart and other viscera, but most of him was gone.  The black whiskers were so short and tidy.  He was a lovely little marvel of a creature.  Poor little devil. 

Somewhere, little rats sit at the kid's table at clan gatherings, and they whisper tales of the three giant, slavering beasts who come out randomly to strike terror and fear in the hearts of hapless rodents, killing all they see and eating their corpses as they scan the horizon for movement.  Woe betide the little rat who strays too close to the nomnivorous fanged beasts who rove my yard. 

The morning is bright, and full of terrors.

This has me re-thinking puppy kisses.  Yuck.