Butter Side Down

Nope - no photo, but I’m here to tell you that BB, daughter of James, granddaughter of Stewart, is her daddy and grandpa’s spitting image.

The little squirt ran past me several times this evening, no more than two or three feet away each time.

She was at the front of a congo line composed of: BB (aka Baby Bunny), Half Pint and Half Pint Redux (sibling baby chipmunks). They ran back and forth across the pathway at the side of our house about five times in five seconds, right in front of me, while I stood there and grinned at their antics.

Much as I hate to admit it, it’s nice to have a new bunch of baby bunnies hopping around the yard even though they’re really Dan’s bunnies - after all, he’s the one that MADE me provide a safe harbor for BB… and I’m sure the rest just hopped on over here right after BB. That’s my story… that it’s all Dan’s fault… and I’m sticking to it. For now. Or at least until I come up with a better story that explains why I am blessed with an abundance of hungry bunnies every year!

If BB ever slows down below light speed, I’ll get a new photo of her to share.

I can’t believe how tiny this baby bunny is!

And I can’t believe that I said it was OK for my neighbor, Dan, to put Little Baby Rabbit in my yard… because it’s not like we don’t have enough rabbits. In just one patch of our (rather small) front yard last night we had four adult rabbits happily chomping on clover.

How could I say no? He’s adorable. And he needed sanctuary. Who could resist? I mean - just take a look. See that heart-shaped leaf in the upper left hand side of the image? It’s a cloverleaf violet. Now, think about how big a cloverleaf violet’s leaf is. Not very big. So, compare the size of the cloverleaf violet to the size of the bunny, and you’ll get an idea of just how teeny tiny Little Baby Rabbit is! (update: major brain fart in original post - kept thinking violet and writing cloverleaf. At 94F, it’s obviously way too hot for a brain that’s accustomed to -10F to function reliably.)

I know, I know. Baby Bunny is going to grow up fat and sassy from eating my flowers. But it needed a new home, as this little cutie had been discovered by Rudy. A very fast-acting Dan literally pulled it from within Rudy’s jaws. Poor Rudy! You could see him going, “Wadda ya mean, drop it! Dad! I’m a dog! I’m supposed to catch rabbits, right? No way am I gonna drop it. Right? Right? Oh. Wrong. Dang.”

The bunny was fine when Dan got it, which is amazing because this is one little bunny and Rudy is one big dog. After it got over its fright, it was hopping around with nary a problem and… yes… inspecting the yummy flowers. So when Dan asked, what were my options? Give BB a home or… um, well, what options? I mean, just look at those tiny bitty ears! Is there anything cuter than a bitty bunny and its little bitty ears?

*sigh*

I’m a softie. I admit it. Next thing you know, I’ll be planting carrots. For them.

So, it’s been ten weeks since I developed a nasty respiratory infection… broke my ribs coughing… rebroke my ribs coughing… and more.

I’m better. Finally. Not back to status quo, but close enough.

Took this shot of James while I was feeling pretty punk. He didn’t even budge from his spot when I came up close enough to literally put the camera down near his nose and snap this shot.

I’m quite certain he’d decided that my worst-than-usual wheeze and nasty cough, added on top of my usual version of “walking” (Imagine a plump very lame duck waddling about while using crutches… got that image in your mind? Yeah. That’s what it looks like when I ‘walk.’ Except sillier.) meant I didn’t have enough breath to catch him even if he hopped away in slow motion.

Veeeeeeeery sloooooooow motion.

He was so right.

So, here’s how it went. James eyeballed me. I eyeballed him. I snapped his portrait. He swiveled an ear back and forth, making sure I knew that he was a very alert bunny even if he didn’t think I was any particular danger. After a long conversation covering how no, I wasn’t going to remove the fencing from those tasty-looking perennials and yes, I had noticed that the rugosas were growing up quite heartily in spite of having been gnawed to the ground but that didn’t make me any happier about having had them chewed to bits, we went our separate ways.

We’ve got a new visitor, one that I doubt I’ll get a shot of for you to see, Oh Best Beloved. She’s a singularly self-possessed raccoon, and quite large. She trots from behind our house around to the front, and then patters down our driveway and across the street to check out the pickin’s at the river. I’m very respectful of the raccoons, having seen an old male take on a huge farm dog I knew well (a rottweiler/shepherd mix) — and win. Raccoons are as cute as they come, but if it ever comes to a street fight? I’ll take a raccoon on my side, hands down, thank-you-very-much.

Got lots of new flower photos and more stuff to share over the next weeks.

It’s sure nice to be able to breathe again!

Wow - look at that bunny GO! I was outside enjoying the first real spring day on Monday whilst James was hopping about hither and yon, looking for anything yummy. And then…

BOOM!!!!! He went blasting past me at full speed because a dog came barreling through the neighbor’s yard right on the other side of our fence. Just look at those big ol’ hind feet - he is really hauling! I can’t believe I even got this shot. I had set the camera to its highest speed to try and catch a shot of the chippie running about, so when James startled and took off I focused on where I thought he would roar through and clicked the shutter just as he did!

James was quite safe, by the way — from the dog at least. The dog had no way to get into the yard, and never even saw James.

But James was very wise to run for cover, even if he was safe this time. We’ve had an enormous juvenile bald eagle hanging around — I saw it both yesterday and today. It even landed in the trees the next bock down, across the street.

Between our harsh winters, great horned owls, feral cats, bald eagles, loose dogs and the occasional coyote, a wild bunny’s life — even when he lives in our yard — isn’t easy.

Guess who decided to take a snooze just beyond our fence line one cold winter day?

Yup - it’s James.

Although he’s soaking up the rays, James isn’t really out in the open. He’s carefully chosen his snoozing place, finding a spot in between our chain link fence on one side and the neighbor’s shed on the other. Overhead is a large maple tree. So (not surprisingly - he’s a very clevery bunny) James is reasonably protected from getting picked off by an airborne predator (as in one of our many bald eagles).

Note the carefully positioned ear, btw - a bunny’s equivalent of sleeping with one eye open!