Skitter and cluck

About 1:00 in the morning, a thunder storm came through. It woke me up, and I heard one of the cats skittering around in the living room, usually a sign that she has a mouse. A bit later, the activity shifted into my room and I could see a small dark shape lying on my carpet. I got up to go to the bathroom, and sure enough, there was a dead mouse and a proud cat. I didn't bother to pick it up, and a few minutes later the cat took it back out to the living room. This morning there were a few remnants -- mouse paws, a bit of head and spots of blood on the floor.

Tom saw two female turkeys stalking around the front yard this afternoon, clucking away. We watched them for quite a while from the windows, and he could hear another turkey calling from somewhere. I went out to the garage and saw that there were four younger turkeys with the others. When Tom came out, they noticed us and took off running and flying. Cassidy had been out clawing on the bench earlier and had sauntered casually away, acting totally indifferent to the huge birds. But as soon as they took off, she came running back out of hiding. Sundance had sat up and watched from the safety of Tom's office windows the whole time.

We see turkeys year round, but it does seem particularly harvest-time to see them now.

It must have gotten Cassidy's hunting instincts up, because a few minutes later she brought in another dead mouse and ate it on the living room floor. This time no playing with it, and all she left was the head and bloodstains.