1 post tagged “adorable”
Weekends are never long enough. 
Finally had some time to do NOTHING on Friday night. It was good. Stayed up and watched Weird Al polka videos on YouTube (as well as looking up favorites, of course.) Found some bunnies behind the house, been watching over them all weekend… I have a holey bucket covering them by day to protect them from the neighborhood calico whom has been known to leave dead bunnies in her owners back yard. By night I remove the bucket so momma can come feed her babies. Wild rabbits nurse once a night for about 15 minutes, the rest of the time they spend away so they don't draw attention to the babies.
They are doing very well! When I come out in the mornings, they have fat little bellies and they're just a little fussy. In the evening the fat bellies are gone and they start to get a little needy... it's cute.
Saturday was the big community block party… not that many people showed up. Minor disappointment. We had the Jefferson Fire Department come out, we fed them burgers and they gave the kids little bags full of fire safety coloring books, pencils and toys. That's awesome! I had to run interference on the babies after Lexi told some people about them. We all hung out until 8 or so and then some people went home while others headed over to our house to sit by the fire pit a while. Marshmallows were roasted. We hung out until midnight or so. Apparently, I'm still a kid magnet because I got a lot of love and nobody wanted to go home.
Sunday I woke up uber late… seriously, it was 12:30. Dave & Sonny were coming over in a couple hours so we got to work thawing another 25lb. block of ribs. We used the utility sink this time and they thawed a lot faster and easier. We set out four quarters of a rack and vacuum sealed the rest for the freezer. The boys came over around 5, they played cards while I finished making another batch of my BBQ sauce. I need to put a label on that stuff. It is teh yum. We had dinner, corn on the cob & ribs! After a good hand washing, they played cards well into the evening.
I went out to uncover the babies around 9 and they kept trying to crawl out of the nest! Every time I'd get them covered up by the bits of fur fluff, one would wiggle its way out. So I just poked the furry little head back into the rabbit hole one last time and went inside hoping that they'd realize that I wasn't mom ready to nurse and settle down.
Around 4 or 5 this morning the storms woke me up. I closed the bedroom window and lay awake thinking about the poor little darlings getting drenched. I kept reminding myself that nature has a way of helping outdoor animals cope with rain and storms but I couldn't help thinking that will all the rain out there, they could very well drown if enough water got into their nest.
I came out this morning to either A) Cover them with the bucket or B) Scoop them all up into a bowl to bring with me to work… I wasn't sure how good/bad a night they had. I came out and they were well covered and sleeping peacefully. They had a guest… a pinkie sized yellow slug. Ew. I removed it from the nest. They were all pretty damp but when I picked up "Spike" his belly was full and round. I did a quick head count. All accounted for. Might as well leave them to be for the day with the bucket to protect them from the storms. Momma will be back again tonight to care for her babies.
Awful lot of slugs in our back yard though… I counted 6 from the steps to the bunny nest. Ew. I dislike slugs.
I'll take more photos when I get home this evening.
A few people have asked why I haven't just taken them inside... well, I want to do what is best for them and taking them inside would only cause them a slow and painful death as they wouldn't get the very special imunity and important stomach bacteria they need from eating their mothers CTs, which is a type of fecal matter that they produce and eat only at night. Sound gross? Not really, many animals do that. Just be glad WE don't.
Anyways without that special night fecal snack, they would die shortly after eating solid foods because their body couldn't process the solids and they would have horrible diarhea on their way out the door. Sorry, I just can't do that. They've got to have a chance to live. I can protect them half of the time, at night... they're on their own.
