My apologies for not making it quite clear that the desert animals were proudly mounted in the room where Ava and I slept for five nights. They were like 3D headboards. The havalina standing guard over Ava’s face, and the elk affectionately dubbed, Mr. Reindeer, held post over my feet.

While Ava did not require a sheet to be placed over them to sleep, I did. You can be certain that I shrouded the taxidermy creatures the moment Ava began to snore.

And you can also be confident that Ava pulled off their covers each morning while rebuking me for my ridiculous behavior.

Now this is Ava, the same Ava who is terrified of badgers and giants. The same Ava who wouldn’t go in her grandparents basement for nearly a year because “boots,” their life-size, singing Santa lived down there. The Ava who would cry at the sight of a nutcracker doll and want to be carried if she spotted Ronald McDonald. The Ava who insisted that Mrs. Hatch put away all of Henri’s battery operated trucks and trains. This would be the Ava who was deathly afraid of clocks, yes, clocks–wall clocks, ticking clocks, digital clocks, cuckoo clocks. Also the Ava who freaks out every year seeing the animated puppets at the Macy’s Christmas display.

Oh, and this year the Macy’s display is The Nutcracker Suite–that should go over real well.

Puppets, clocks, toys, and imaginary forest creatures are terrifying, but this

this she is fine with.

She is also fine with this

but that is another post.

When she saw the picture today of her beloved scary black pig, she said, “That’s the pig from Poppa and Ama’s house. He’s a nice pig! He’s not a real pig. Poppa killed him. Poppa kills things. He kills lots of things. He likes to kill things, doesn’t he Mama?”

Apparently she is not quite Fern either.