Choices, Consequences, and a Dead Squirrel
My dog killed a squirrel. They are the rats of the trees, I know. They are diseased, I’ve been told. They eat more of the seed from our feeders than the birds… but it was still sad!
Abby scared Mr Squirrel, cut him off while on his desperate trek to the tree, and bit into his stomach. I witnessed it all. The cat and mouse chase only lasted a brief second, but when she grabbed him by the belly and he started to scream, I ran in the house to get Jesse.
Jesse came out and finished off the half-dead squirrel. Thank goodness he was home. I yelled at Abby. Jesse looked at me and said, “How can you be mad at her when we encourage her to do that every day?” Ugh. He’s right.
Abby stands at the back door, as silent as a mouse, and still as a statue, her eyes trained on the thieving squirrels at the feeders. We slowly walk up and open the slider. She goes FLYING out the door in an effort to catch, and apparently kill the squirrel. We’ve been doing this for years. I’m pretty sure Jesse also yells, “Get it Abby!”
Why would I think that this day wouldn’t come? I was inadvertently encouraging Abby to kill a squirrel! I’ll tell you why I didn’t think this would happen… I thought squirrels were faster. I didn’t think Abby would actually kill one… duh… did I think she was going to introduce herself and they’d become backyard buddies??
Regardless… my actions led to these consequences, and it made me sad. A tad of ignorance is what I would call this. And how many times in life does one choose actions that lead to consequences… and then we stand there stunned, upset, and angry? Hmm… thoughts to ponder.
Until we meet again…
