Bones

  I find the weirdest things on my hikes about the Bayou. Ms. Ez and I try to take several hikes each day just so she can get some exercise. The dog is getting older and wants to sleep more and more each day but I insist she accompany me on the treks.  It is good for her old bones and gives me a bit of company.  Ms. Ez is usually a willing companion even on the most bleakest of days.  This morning was wonderful, though, so we hiked a bit longer than usual.  Down near the marsh edge, she bolted from my side and made a beeline for an old stump. There she stopped dead in her tracks as if mesmerized by something on the ground.  Uh, oh.  This usually meant one of two things.  She either found a snake and wanted to make friends or she found an orphan of any species and wanted to adopt.  Neither bode well for me.  I almost wished it was the snake since I could shoo that down into the marsh and be none the worse for wear.  An orphaned baby would tug at the heartstrings and, more than likely, I would become a foster mother once again.  This has happened far too many times.  Anything from birds to 'possums have been found by Ms. Ez and fed by me.  NO MORE!!!  I do not need this!

  However, today, Ms. Ez found something far more interesting and, I admit, far more suitable to my well-being.  No snake, no orphaned baby animal...this time she found bones.  I am still not sure just what type critter perished and left behind its spine (?) or whatever.  The trail of (I am assuming) of vertebrae was only about five inches in length and had almost a dozen individual bones so whatever critter it was, could not have been too very large....I think.  Or perhaps this was the tail of some critter?  Who knows?  Not me.  And how did the bones suddenly appear in this spot just overnight? Ms. Ez and I make this hike twice daily and have never come across evidence (aka smell) of any dead critter.  

  While I do feel for the critter that lost its life, I breathed a sigh of relief that the old dog did not find another baby that needed a home.  I petted her on the head, told her "good job" and bade her to continue our hike. I surely did not want her to find (and roll in) some dead critter!  "Come on, Ez.  Lets go get your baseball!"  She was willing.