Backyard bunny

The bunny is out back tonight, sitting under the bird feeder. He's (she?) just sitting - I watched it for a little bit, through the binoculars, and all that moved was its nose. It was pretty calm too, not running away when I went out the loud porch door to bring in my lettuce planter (it might freeze tonight).

Someday I would like to have another bunny as a pet. When I was small we had one that I don't remember - we have pictures though - that apparently bit me. Later, I had a spotted mini-lop named, officially, Bunnicula, Bun Bun for short, who was what might be called a free-range rabbit. He had the run of the house and yard, and spent a lot of time eating my mother's plants, pooping behind the furniture, and terrorizing the cats. He also ate the spines off all the Agatha Christie mysteries and children's books on the bottom bookshelves. I was supposed to be in 4H with him, but after a couple of chaotic rabbit shows, he was deemed to have the wrong shaped head, and 4H was abandoned. When we got Smokey, Bun Bun had to be kept in his cage (he looked an awful lot like dinner to the dog), which he did not like, after his years of unrestricted freedom. Eventually, he went to be a shop rabbit at a carpenter friend's shop. We tried one more rabbit when the youth pastor at church had one he couldn't keep. This rabbit was named Mozart, and was used to being in a cage. Unfortunately, he too looked like dinner to the dog, and had met a sorry end when he dug out of his special lawn cage in an unattended moment. The question is, will I ever have a dog I can train not to eat the rabbit? I know it is possible - Sheila, Benjamin's step-mother, did it with her German Shepard - but he was a very smart, very well-trained dog. Ah well, for now I can just enjoy watching the bunny in the backyard.

Kitty alarm clock

Are you a sound sleeper? Do you have trouble getting up in the morning? If so, try this innovation: get a couple of cats, train them to want breakfast at a certain time of morning, then start lengthening the days. Works a treat. Cleo and Oliver have taken this regimen to heart and applied it to us this weekend. Oliver would start meowing and singing around 5:45 or 6, then after about 20 minutes, Cleo would begin a sort of steeplechase, or rather people-chase. This involved racing across the foot of the bed, then dashing up to the head of the bed and running across, just above our heads. Occasionally, she would stop the running to meow and purr, staring intently at one of us. On Saturday, Benjamin enacted a sleep alarm of sorts by locking them out on the porch - too bad we were both mostly awake already. During the winter, when it was dark until 7 or 7:30, the cats were mostly quiescent, patiently waiting until we managed to drag ourselves out of the warm bed. Sigh - one of the perils of spring.

Here is a great cartoon that aptly illustrates the kitty alarm clock principle:


In other spring news, the canal is now full once again - it seems too full, after being so low for so long! And I saw the first bunny of spring in the backyard this morning. Didn't see a single one all winter - where were they hiding?!

Use your senses!

A spring walk is a completely different experience from a winter walk - a fact I knew, but hadn't really lived until this year. Winter in Bellevue is generally only different from spring in that it is darker, and maybe colder - with all the evergreens and the lack of snow, the landscape doesn't really change much. In Texas, apart from the occasional ice storm, winter doesn't look all that different from the other seasons. But here, we had 5 months of snow storms and cold. The landscape is reduced to white and gray, windblown snow providing most of the visuals. There are birds, but apart from the resident ducks, they tend to stay hidden and quiet. Mostly, a walk in the winter is cold. You certainly know it is winter, and that it is a distinct season.

But spring! Spring uses all your senses. The birds are all singing, the flowers are blooming - a feast for the eyes and the nose. I mean, snow has a smell, but it isn't particularly interesting after 4 months... Every day something new has sprouted or bloomed or grown. Yesterday I noticed magnolias and dandelions, and many trees have actual leaves now. Soon there will be lilacs - one of my absolute favorites. Even the wind has changed - instead of howling down the canal path, forcing its way into your clothes through the tiniest chinks, it ruffles your hair, provides a little relief from the warmth of the sun. Rain feels like a blessing instead of a curse.