I heard a similar version of Rob's second from last joke :
At dawn the telephone rings, "Hello, Senor Rod? This is Ernesto, the caretaker at your country house." "Ah yes, Ernesto. What can I do for you? Is there a problem?" "Um, well I have some good news and some bad news.
"What's the bad news?" he asked
"Well, I'm afraid that your parrot, he is dead" "My parrot? Dead? The one that won the International competition?" "Si, Senor, that's the one." "Damn! That's a pity! I spent a small fortune on that bird. What did he die from?"
"From eating the rotten meat, Senor Rod." "Rotten meat? Who the hell fed him rotten meat?" "Nobody, Senor. He ate the meat of the dead horse." "Dead horse? What dead horse?" "The thoroughbred, Senor Rod." "My prize thoroughbred is DEAD?" "Yes Senor Rod! He died from all that work pulling the water cart. "
"Are you insane?? What water cart?" "The one we used to put out the fire, Senor." "Good Lord!! What fire are you talking about, man??" "The one at your house, Senor! A candle fell and the curtains caught on fire."
"What the hell?? Are you saying that my mansion is destroyed because of a candle??!!" "Yes, Senor Rod." "But there's electricity at the house!! What was the candle for?" "For the funeral, Senor Rod."
"What funeral?!!"
"Your wife's, Senor Rod."
"My wife is dead?"
"I'm afraid she died of a heart attack after the letter came through that your home insurance expired last month"
"Well...what's the good news?" he asked.
"Well, you see... you'll like this.. it's excellent news.... all the heat from the fire and the increase in worm activity from the rotting corpse of your dead horse has made your tomato plant shoot up - it's gone up a foot in a week."