Gratitude Expressed for an Empty Peanut Butter Jar

 

In keeping with the Prophet’s challenge to express our gratitude each day some folks have been sharing their Testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ or their thankfulness for really important aspects of life such as a loving husband, children and extended family to be around or simply the ability to call them on the phone.  I too am grateful for the more important things in life.

That said, this morning I’m most grateful for an Empty Peanut Butter Jar.  Okay, stop laughing and I’ll explain why.

We’re Puppy Sitting for my son while he and his family are out of town on vacation.  Luna is a about four months old, just a guess from how sharp her teeth are, that along with a never-ending supply of energy that is driving the other beasties nuts. 

Yesterday we let the two Senior Puppies take charge of showing Luna the property.  That translates into giving two old fogies a chance to sit back and catch our breath.  After giving her the quick tour of where to go to the bathroom, outside, since this concept apparently was new to Luna; where was I…they took Luna to our next-door neighbor’s hayfield to hunt gophers.

Our Ellie puppy is quite good at figuring out where a gopher is hiding; maintaining attention either to the smell or perhaps movement under the soil.  In any case, Ellie pounced and retrieved a nice-looking specimen, shook it victoriously and then turned the carcass over to her young apprentice. 

A couple of minutes later Luna came prancing out of the hay field, the prize being tossed in the air, shaken upon landing and then tossed again to show off her hunting skills.  I was able to capture some of her theatrics on a short video clip; but our internet connection was too slow to permit sharing that moment.

What has this got to do with being grateful for an Empty Peanut Butter Jar; I’m getting there, be patient.

Luna played with the dead gopher until it was time to come inside for the evening.  I knew that first thing in the morning; well, second thing, after taking care of ‘business, both one and two, that Luna would be looking for the dead gopher.

I was correct.  She found it and immediately began tossing it in the air, maybe to see if there was any life left in it.  Then she gnawed on it a bit, carried it up the stairs to the house and pranced around on the porch, ending up at the other end where we have a shelter built for the puppies to keep them protected when it rains or gets too chilly. That’s where she decided to drop the dead gopher.

I went into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of plastic bags, the kind you take groceries home in.  These make excellent temporary surgical gloves for picking up small dead animals; mice, rats, rabbits, snakes, armadillo; just about anything we find here on our property from time to time. The dead gopher was small and I was able to double sack it to make sure it was packaged in such a way as not to leak or permit odors to escape once placed in our kitchen trash bag.

I washed my hands with On-Guard disinfectant soap and decided it was time for breakfast.  We have some sliced Rye bread that, if lightly toasted, goes well with peanut butter and a glass of chocolate milk.  I’d gotten down to the bottom of the jar and was about to toss it into the trash when it occurred to me, and this was purely inspirational, “Use the Empty Peanut Butter Jar to place the gopher in”. 

So… now the remains of that gopher are secured within a sealed Empty Peanut Butter Jar awaiting its final voyage to the blue dumpster at the end of our private road.  Luna will have to wait for another day to learn about the joys of rolling in the carcass of a dead gopher.  That means I won’t have to give Luna a bath this morning.  So much to be grateful for in this life.