Trying to transform my yard

I've mentioned before that my backyard is no oasis. It's much better than it used to be, but that isn't saying much since it used to be a jungle of weeds. Back in July, my mom and Jeff and I went to work on the yard and dug up weeds and tilled it and laid down newspaper and then mulched the entire yard. A few weeds have started to creep back up, but I'm able to handle them pretty well.

About the same time we got rid of the weeds, I planted some azaleas, and two weeks ago, I bought a rose bush. So things are gradually coming together.

This week, a coworker brought me some lilies she dug out of her yard and tonight, I started planting them. As I started digging the last hole, I saw something in the dirt. I reached out and touched it and realized it was fabric. I immediately recognized that this was no naturally occurring underground fabric. It was buried there. And people rarely just bury fabric in the yard for no reason. I knew I was about to make a discovery.

What would it be? As I grabbed the edge of the fabric and started pulling, I imagined what I would find: drugs? money? a dead body? Oy.

As I tugged and tugged, more of the earth started to give way, and finally it happened: bones fell out.



I didn't freak out. I mean, I didn't think, "Oh, this is just someone's pet," but I also didn't think, "Holy crap, I have a dead body in my back yard." All I really thought was, "What do I do?"

I called a few people and asked advice. I could tell the bones were small, but that didn't preclude it from still being a person. My brother came over and took a look, too, and finally we decided: This is probably someone's pet, but we HAVE to know for sure. And I sure didn't want to do any more digging around looking for a skull, so I called 911. (Just so you know, it is now an hour and a half later and the police still haven't shown up. Apparently "probable dead pet in the back yard" doesn't get a very high priority.)

When my husband got home, he had no qualms about trying to find a skull, which he did. Definitely an animal. Not a human. Shew!

But now I have animal bones in a bucket in the back yard. Now what do I do?

(Can you see the two big canine teeth on the skull?)