The Catch of the Day

This blip of Gracie Twinkle-toe's head and the dead vole has a backstory for accuracy. She claims this kill as her own.
For several weeks Gracie has been hunkered down near the strawberry bed and the wild bog. Hour after hour she sits very still and watches. She knows her favorite rodent is there. She hears it.
Today saw the end of this vigil. I came outside & Uncle Buddy (who appeared in a Frost blip a couple mornings ago) came out with me. He sat on the very edge of the raised strawberry bed looking into the grasses of the bog. It was then that I came around the other side and saw GT-t crouched flat against the frozen bog water, watching.
I left them for a bit while I put tools away. When I turned around UBB was racing across the edges of the raised beds and Gracie was hot on his heels. She mewed & chattered at him all the way.
Then I saw that HE had the long-sought vole in his mouth and was running toward the open garage door to make a presentation to me. Eek. I quickly got the door closed and Uncle Buddy dropped the vole on the grass. He ran off and GT-t stood admiring the still live vole. It's back was broken, but it's jaws and long, sharp teeth clacked at GT-t. She wanted it to play with her. I found a stone that was not frozen to the soil and gently sent it to Rodent Heaven. [See stone]
After a while I saw that Gracie had moved away the stone and was proudly carrying the vole down the walkway toward me. Eek. She claimed this vole kill as her own! UBB didn't mind.
By evening it the little fur corpse was gone and GTt was seen tossing it into the air and catching it in the backyard. She has actually never killed anything she has hunted. I think she does not know how. It only took UBB less than 10 minutes to do the job.
That's the story for today... only one animal was hurt in the telling.