My neighbors were either shooting off guns or extra fireworks left over from new years. The noises were too frenzied to be any precision type of activity. I knew Cashew had a tendency to seek out that which she perceived to be a threat. Not wanting her to find her way off the property i kept her inside, letting her out only briefly to pee and then right back to the porch. I heard tags jingling and turned to look at her. A moth had followed us into the house. She was chasing the moth, nosing it with her snout and trying to slap it back to the floor each time it got up to fly. At some point she lost it and unable to locate the winged intruder, she gave up. She sauntered over to me with…a moth stuck to the wet slime of her nose. As she tried to nudge and punch me with her nose in the persistent touchy-feely manner that she always did, i tried desperately to keep her nose away from my arm, torso, and clothing. She poked her snout through the side of the rocking chair, about to wipe the moth on the cushion. I looked at her and said, “no.” She laid down next to the rocking chair and yawned. Her tongue flopped down and then as she closed her mouth it snaked around her nose, retrieving the moth. For the first time i realized that she really hadn’t known it was there. The sheer look of surprise on her face as she tasted the moth was priceless. It was a combination of “what the…?” And “oh that’s where that went!” She was truly delighted with herself that she had found it and promptly ate it. Extra protein.