Thumper Goes To Its Rest

In other news, we were just outside, readying the gardens for fall and winter a bit, which is how it happened that Julie came upon a long-dead animal in "the lilac garden," to the right of the front porch.  Julie will admit that there have been a few times in recent months that she has thought it smelled rather awful upon walking into the house, and you know, it perhaps says a lot about Raleigh House that she just sort of chalked that up to all of the small, often smelly things that live here: Berenice, Joe, and Birdie.  All lovable, all sometimes rank.

Conforming to traditional gender stereotypes, Julie marched herself right off to her Darling Husband and informed him that there was a dead animal by the lilac.  Implicit in this announcement was that it was his responsibility to dispose of it.  Julie picked  up a little over a handful of dead mice not long after we moved into Raleigh House, and so far as she's concerned, that's a debt that can never be repaid.

Sometimes we think that Joe might have hearing problems, but then there are moments that set you straight.  One of those moments followed Julie's pronouncement that there was a dead animal by the lilac.  Joe didn't quite hear dead animal, but her heard lilac.  Thus began a tough and incessant line of questioning.  Julie began by telling Joe that there was something smelly by the lilac.  "Was it a skunk?" No.  "But was it a skunk?"  No, still.  "It could be a skunk. . ."  Or not. . .  !!!!!

It was around this time that Julie had a stream of thoughts that went something like, "Well, we've talked about death before, and if they lived on a farm, they would know that it's all part of the circle of life."  Never mind the fact that we don't, in fact, live on a farm (and that Julie at least finds the late Elton John hits like Circle of Life kind of schmaltzy and annoying).

So mostly to curb the skunk line of questioning, she told Joe that there was a dead animal by the lilac, and sometimes, dead animals smell.  Joe quickly moved off the skunk line of questioning and musings, and onto the fact that something "had died," uttered with great glee to his sister.  "Maybe it got fired by a gun!"  No.  It was at this point that the bambini were marched into the garage toting the hoops that support the peonies, while Ted was actively clearing away the animal that HAD DIED!!!!!

On the way, and once n the garage, Joe's new question was what kind of animal had died--a skunk?  (It's back!  Yes!)  Julie said she didn't know, and here, we pause to note that besides late-career Elton John, another thing that annoys her is when she is asked a question, she answers that she doesn't know, and a follow-up question is asked.  For example:
Person: "Hey, what's the weather today?"
Julie: "I don't know."
Person: "Is it supposed to rain?"
Julie: "Ibid."

"Maybe it was a skunk. . ."  So it wasn't long before Julie said with much emphasis that she didn't know what kind of animal it was that had died, and that was all she had to say about it, period, the end.

That's when Ted walked by her and said quietly, "It was a rabbit."  (Not a skunk!)