A few moments of rural living

I glanced out the window on the way to letting Smooch outside 

and saw something amiss in the back yard.

There was a small hawk standing over a great big pile of white feathers. 

Small hawk: I think she sees me.

The hawk wasn't interested in sharing his meal and took off with it.

There were enough gray feathers in the pile that I was confident

Lady Mary and Edith were not involved, but I took attendance anyway.

Sure enough, the victim was a dove. But who was the perpetrator?

Johnny was sitting close by, watching the feather pile and looking very guilty.

Had he taken down the dove, only to have an opportunistic hawk steal it?

Inspector Smooch: I think the cat did it.

Johnny: Why am I not surprised? Damned dog.

Smooch guarded the feather pile while watching Johnny,

while Johnny watched Smooch, waiting for the right moment
to reclaim what was left of the prey,

while Alan, always eager for a little action, watched them both.

I had no interest in watching fur and feathers fly

and took Smooch back in the house until everyone lost interest.

***

I know many of you come here for a glimpse of rural living, and there's
a new online publication that features more of just that. It's called Rural
and is the creation of blogger Jen Vandervoort, with contributions from
a few other bloggers you may know.
Here's a link to the first issue.