Everything not as it appears

See this dog? The dog in the little green sundress, looking very cute? Well, that cute dog would be the SAME DOG who found a dead baby bird that had blown out of its nest during a high wind and landed on our porch.

Zuzu brought the dead baby bird into the house as a fun toy to play with, tossing it gaily up in the air and then pouncing on it, giving it another toss, pouncing, tossing, pouncing, tossing, back and forth.

Finally, all of us wondered what this new fun toy was that was providing the dog with so much entertainment. Meelyn went to investigate, unwisely picking the toy up to get a closer look and then let out a high-pitched yelp of disgust that alerted not only our family, but also our neighbors down the block.

The fabulous new toy went bye-bye, Zuzu looked rebellious and refused to even play with her favorite toy, a stuffed monkey attached to a tennis ball that Carol bought for her. Meelyn went into the bathroom where she washed her hands twelve thousand times. Aisling insisted that we needed to have the carpets steam cleaned throughout the entire house, even in the rooms where the dead bird hadn't been carried. I worried about Diseases People Can Get from Birds, Especially Dead Ones (lice? dead lice?) because I am both a mother and a hypochondriac both on my own behalf and that of my family.

Then to ease the tension, Zuzu went into my bedroom and yacked up various pieces of dead baby bird. In three different places.

So if you were looking at her picture and thinking what a precious little fluffykins she is, please think of her jumping into your lap and licking your face with bits of dead baby bird clinging to her tongue and understand that things are not always as they appear.