like a duck

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck; odds are it IS a duck.

MOUSES!

So therefore...

Therefore, if it looks like a toy, hangs about like a toy, and talks like a...

Okay, so most toys don't talk.  Some do, but most don't, and I don't think any of mine even so much as murmur.

But even if it just looks like a toy, it most likely IS a toy, right?  Right.

WRONG.

MOUSES!

And that's what I had to explain to ol' Saffy Saffron Sassafras, yesterday mornin'.

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So the thing is, those inch or inch and a half round orange things hangin' out there in the garden aren't actually toys.  Oh sure, they LOOK like toys.  They really, really do.  They look like little orange balls a cat might wanna swat at and knock down and use for startin' up a rousin' game of field hockey or somethin' like that, but uh...

Well...

Well the thing is...

The thing is, when you swat at 'em to knock 'em down, they don't always fall and roll in the direction they've been swatted.  They don't necessarily fall at all!  Sometimes - or most often, really - instead of fallin' and rollin' where you mean for 'em to roll, they just go splat.

IN THE FACE.

MOUSES!

You see, sometimes what looks like a little orange ball meant for kitty field hockey is actually a cherry tomato.

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And that, my friends, is what Saffron was playin' with.  Yup, playin' with cherry tomatoes, he was.  They were hangin' there on the plant within his reach, and I guess the temptation proved to be too much, 'cause the next thing he knew...

The next thing he knew...

The next thing he knew, there was a splat.

RIGHT IN HIS FACE.

MOUSES!

So the lesson to learn here is, EVEN IF it does look like a duck...  I mean, TOY, it might not be a toy, at all.  It might be somethin' else, entirely.  It might be...

Well it just might be...

SPLAT!

SAFFRON, I THOUGHT I ALREADY WARNED YOU 'BOUT THAT.

MOUSES!

***********************

And remember:

IF IN DOUBT,

DON'T. GO. OUT.

Continue to practice SOCIAL DISTANCIN' measures

AND KEEP WASHIN' YOUR PAWS.

MOUSES!

Remember to mask up, too.