Brahm discovered a frozen bobcat out behind our cabin on Rainier last winter. A very large and mature cat, it's lack of body fat and proximity to the cabin spoke to an aging animal that had become too old to hunt and had starved. The pelt was in perfect condition and I skinned it hoping only for an impressive hide on my son's wall. It occurred to us both though, that the skeleton was also in great shape, unlike roadkill where the bones are often broken. The carcass promptly went into the ground wrapped in chicken wire to keep the scavengers away and two months later the bones were exhumed. These were then submerged in a solution of bleach and peroxide, emerging at the end of a week as white and fresh as the linens on a bed.

Now came the hard part. Assembling the bones back into a skeleton required more skill than I had anticipated. Telling right from left and proximal from distal on a feline fibula is harder than it sounds. With wire, and glue, and endless patience, the full form was assembled like a puzzle.

Finding a bobcat in the wild is rare. Getting the carcass home in the back of Mom's car was indeed challenging. Assembling all of the skeleton into a form with any aesthetic merit was a struggle. But having the end result permitted a conspicuous place of distinction over the tele is a bloody miracle.

Next, the neighbors dog...