Shortly after arriving home from work on Tuesday, I heard the sounds of a people-herd moving through the bushes in front of my house. Several children and the neighbor from next door were tromping around through the pachysandra. What was this?
As it turns out, Butterscotch, the outdoor cat from next door, had chased down a baby bunny and was carrying it around in its mouth. The kids had confronted him (and spoke harsh words?) and Butterscotch released the poor bunny, who ran off through the pachysandra to the bushes in front of the house. The neighbor kids chased the bunny into a corner under the relative security of the vinyl siding and a thorny rose bush.
This was the second bunny that Butterscotch had caught, but the first to survive the experience. Our neighbor suspected that there is probably a warren (rabbits live in warrens, right?) somewhere on our property. Not noticing any holes of significant size, I pointed out that there is space under our storage shed in the back yard where any number of animals could be making their homes. In fact, I recall a groundhog or some other brown furred creature running under there last summer.
It ocurred to me that this is just nature running its course. If none of us were around to intercede on the rabbit’s behalf, it would be an icky cat toy. I suppose that giving the neighborhood children such an object lesson wouldn’t have been a good idea.
Standing around outside, I frightened all the kids away. Apparently they’re not familiar enough with me to stick around when I’m outside, but plenty familiar enough to be crushing the plants in my front lawn. I used a loose 4x4 to provide additional cover for the bunny, who was totally freaking out under the kitchen pantry. I hope he made it home ok.
So much for my plans of installing a salsa garden in the back yard.
(Only a programmer would “install” a garden. I can’t believe I just typed that.)
