Thursday was the slaughter of the innocents at Casa Alexander. At 6 a.m. I opened the door curtains and there was my cat, Oscar, demanding entrance next to a dead baby jackrabbit, possibly my favorite wild animal. A few feet back was a dead baby mouse. At 9 a.m. I looked out and he was eating a baby wild turkey (poult). At 6 p.m. he was at the door and next to the dead mouse was a dying baby turkey, smaller than the one he ate. It died quickly, thank goddess.

I disposed of the jackrabbit (hare) immediately, throwing it over the side of the hill. Our house is cut into the side of a hill. I left the legs from Oscar’s brunch and the dead poult from the afternoon kill. The next morning the dead baby was gone as was the corpse of the jack. I almost always leave corpses and body parts because we have skunks and opossums (I don’t want to know what other critters) who carry off the carrion.

On Friday the legs were still on the patio. Late afternoon Oscar was demanding that I let him out and I nearly did. However, when I got to the door I looked out and a young skunk, probably just kicked out of the nest, was eating the baby turkey legs. I live in the budget movie version of the Wild Kingdom.