Sunday, September 09, 2012

Wild Kingdom

I went to IKEA today with an old friend.  We hung out for 3 hours, discussing all the furniture on display, our kids, and our husbands and treated ourselves to lunch -- all without children in tow.  Go ahead - be jealous.

But this post isn't about IKEA.  It is about Larry, and his obvious non-fitness for fatherhood.  It seems that, while I was out, NOT BUYING ANYTHING BUT MEATBALLS DON'T WORRY LARRY, Larry thought it would be amusing to point out to Rachel that the neighborhood cat was in our front yard, stalking a chipmunk that had taken refuge in our dogwood tree.

Please note: Rachel thought the chipmunk was very cute.  Rachel was bonded to this chipmunk.

Cartoons lie.
One can only wonder why Larry thought this would end well.  After all, this was not a Tom and Jerry cartoon, where the prey always wins.  Oh, no, this was reality.  And cats, as we all know, are expert hunters of small rodents.  Expert.

This fact was driven home in the most unfortunate fashion to my 10-year-old daughter as she stood there laughing with her daddy at the silly kitty, which was busy staring intently at the tree and swishing its tail and giving every indication of going in for the kill.

In reality, the cat wins.

Larry reports that it only took an hour for Rachel to stop crying.  And - silver lining! - we can check "Food Chain" off our list of things to learn this year.


[Tom and Jerry image: wikipedia]

9 comments:

  1. What is it with girl-children and chipmunks? My two girls think they are cute, like your 10-yr-old. I side with your cat.

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  2. I have never bonded with a rodent. NEVER. However, I still shudder over the memory of seeing my cat succeed in her conquest of a chipmunk. I am kindly stopping my tale at this point, although I could go on with TMI.

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  3. Ah yes, the violence of the food chain. Nature is a cruel teacher!

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  4. While I support Karen in her wish not to know the details of rodents' demises, I must say that the chipmunk show on the front lawn provides *excellent* cat entertainment for our two indoor cats. The are glued to the screen, salivating while the chipmunks frolic around chipmunk condo central (said lawn). Fortunately we have a neighbor cat who comes by and exerts some downward pressure on the population, and thankfully removes the unfortunate prey tidily after himself.

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  5. We actually rely on our cat to keep the chipmunk population in check (I wish she could do a better job with the rabbit population). Chipmunks are cute until they're digging tunnels under your patio :-)

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  6. Just finished re-setting the mouse trap in the bread drawer. Again. The two cats on the premises are not doing their job!

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  7. I haven't seen squirrels, wood chucks ordeer with in our yard since we A. fenced in the yard and B. let 2 big, mean sounding dogs loose inside the fence. Cats take care of the rodents inside and outside the fence.

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  8. We once had a cat drag a baby rabbit into the house. It ended about as well as the chipmunk episode, but with more blood on the carpet. Nature is a cruel mistress.

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  9. can't get passed the beginning ... ikea ... three hours ... lunch with a friend

    i'm jealous ;-)

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