Crazy Vegetarian Omen

Wow. Lately I've been thinking about going back to vegetarian. It may help me lose a few pounds, but mostly, the last 9 months more than made up for the six herbivore years, and I'm starting to just be grossed out by dead animal flesh. And if Mother Nature thought I needed a shove in that direction, she more than gave it, with a capital Gross.

It all started with a nice hike with my kitties, enjoying the 60 degree weather. We had just made it back home when a raucous screeching and cawing errupted in the forest. The cats were immediatly on alert, and as the noises moved quickly closer all 4 of our heads turned skyward. It was a flock of blue jays, which was bad news for Pheonix. Lately, for some reason, these two jays have been literally attacking him, to the point where they follow us hiking and when I'm far enough away they swoop down at him, screaming and pecking. He then runs terrified down the hill, poor guy, and doesn't get to fnish the hike.

In seconds the flock was around us. I have no idea what riled them up and chased them off the mountain in the first place, but they were pissed. When they saw Pheonix he became their target, while Lilly and Clarence ran up, excited by all this feathered action. I was so suprised I was just lucky to grab a few photos. Pheonix tried to cower in a bush, but they dive bombed him and all of a sudden he had one! I ran up and it was already dead.



He didn't seem to know what to do, and after he tossed the bird around a few times he found curling around my legs more interesting. I think he needed a little reasurance. Clarence took a turn with it, but I knew Lilly had designs on that jay. As soon as Clarence glanced away, yoink! She took off with it, growling and hissing at all of us if we got too close. I gave her a good photo shoot, my little "wildlife" documentary.


When I went inside, Clarence wanted some lap time, but little did I know he really just wanted to wipe his bloody paws on me. EEEW! After I gave him the boot and changed my clothes, plus washed my hands for about 10 minutes, I sat down to share this story with you all. (Aren't you stoked?) And then Pheonix wanted some love and attention, and I started petting him, only to get MORE blood on my hands (was that a subconsiously figurative refrence?). OMG EEEEEEEEW! Actually, if you look close at the last picture, you can see the blood that is sprayed on Lilly's leg. Not that you neccessarily want to, heh heh. Luckily SHE at least hasn't tried to use me as towel.

So, now I feel like gagging at the thought of eating meat. Especially chicken, which was going to be dinner. Being a meat eater has been a tense endeaver anyway, I'm always scared of food poisoning, to the point of paranoia. Plus, my reasons for my years as a vegetarian still matter to me. I guess I just needed a break to really re-center myself, do a little grounding and soul searching and putting my life under a microscope. Boy do I miss veggie burgers and zuchinni and white sauce lasagna with tofu filling and heck just a good 'ol salad! I'm thinking I will still have wild salmon, so I guess I won't technically be a veggie, but it may be awhile even for that. Because o...m..g... nothing like a bird blood bath up close and personal to remind you that meat, as I said already, is dead animal flesh. Okay, now I'm off to quell the nausea and clear my mind. Where's my winnie the pooh tape....