The Easter Egg Tree

It was a day of medical appointments and errands in town. Late lunch was at McDonald's by the Nittany Mall. The two fish sandwiches and a French fry basket for $9.99 had been so lovely last week that we decided to enjoy another round.

The person who decorates the little tree there is at it again. Last time, it was full of hearts for Valentine's day. On this day, it had become an Easter egg tree. I thought it was the prettiest thing I'd seen on this day, so here's a photo.

You'll be happy I did NOT take a photo of the least appealing thing I saw on this day. We got home and began unloading the car, working around the rolling neighbor cat, LGK. (Rolling, rolling, rolling!)

I got to the front porch to discover its surface covered in streaks of blood. Suddenly, I was worried sick. Had the neighbor cat gotten hurt somehow on our property? Was it HIS blood? Had he cut his paws or something? I looked at the cat. He seemed fine. In fact, he seemed . . . a bit smug.

I looked more closely and discovered, among the streaks of blood, a tiny . . . kidney? Then I realized what I was seeing: evidence of a pitched battle that had occurred on the front porch, waged both far and near. Blood spilled, organs dispersed. I actually caught LGK licking the blood. No remorse here, folks!

So my husband swept away the tiny kidney (EW!!!) and I got some paper towels and antibacterial soap, and I wiped away all the streaks of blood. I did not lecture LGK, for he is a carnivore, and actually, he is welcome to any and all of the tiny rodents he can catch and eat. Fierce defender of the front porch!

I've got just one picture but here are two songs. First, for my Easter tree, here are Judy Garland and Fred Astaire, with Easter Parade. And for the story of the pitched battle on the front porch, here is Heart, with an awesome cover of the Led Zep classic, Battle of Evermore.

Bonus round. So I read this story out loud to my husband. He informs me that the cat would like to offer an alternative version of this story:
"There I was, sitting on the front porch, minding my own business, when this mouse - see - this MOUSE runs up onto the porch and spontaneously explodes! Body parts EVERYwhere! Maybe it was loaded with explosives. You're lucky nobody was hurt. When I was licking the blood? I was trying to help clean up the mess. Honestly, I was in fear for my very own life!"