We have a pets and friends corner in our garden under the mulberry tree where our gerbils and goldfish and any dead critters found in our garden have been buried with great ceremony ever since my girls were little. The process generally involved finding an appropriate casket box/basket, lining it with something pretty, laying the remains in state, adding toys and food, covering with flowers picked from around the garden, then conducting a funeral.
The other day, the girls were still asleep when I found a dead catbird. I was busy and was fully intending to just toss the dead thing into the woods behind the back fence, scooped it up with a soda bottle hot cap that was laying around and was purposefully striding towards the back of the yard,... But as I looked down at the bird that has probably stolen countless number of my blueberries, cherries, strawberries and blackberries, I just couldn't throw it away. We had a history.
So I broke down and decided to give it a place under the mulberry tree -- its favorite haunt -- but still unwilling to spend too much time on it, I just grabbed a little perennial trowel and dug a shallow grave. There was drought and the ground was hard with lots of roots. I layered some leaves to cushion it, and was about to just cover with dirt... But I couldn't.... So next thing I knew, I was picking wildflowers -- just a few -- turned into a meandering stroll around the garden collecting a sizable bouquet from all over the garden ...something from the blueberry patch, something from under the blackberries.... I made myself turn around back to the mulberry tree because otherwise I would have had to dig a bigger hole. I laid the flowers all around and over it, covering it's face with the last flower and a little prayer, and I was FINALLY able to finish burying the silly thing.
