Hildegard and the Skunk Tail

What are the odds...

Missing the cut on getting into the earlier post by only a few short hours, Hildy vanished for an hour or so this afternoon. We called and called for her and were getting our coats on to go look for her at the VFW -- a favorite haunt of hers when she's on the lam -- when she turned up.

Now, whenever Hildy disappears she usually returns with some sort of treasure and it's generally someone else's trash. Today was a new one for us though. As we went outside to scold her for flying the coop -- so to speak, for, she doesn't actually reside in our coop -- we realized we had something new on our hands...

Here's what we encountered: a euphoric puppy delightedly playing with her favorite new toy... a skunk tail!