Be Still My Beating Heart!

Well, he did it. The grey one. He scalped the back yard. All those tender greens (I think I heard him call them weeds) are gone and everything else has been hacked to the ground. To look at it, you'd think a herd of goats had been grazing here.

That was Sunday. Here it is Wednesday and I'm just checking in to see if there's enough new growth to sustain me. Well, and to check my email.

Nervous Tick #1: No, GeneBob, I don't do the backstroke. I dog-paddle, though I hate that name and use it only because you'll know what I'm talking about.

The front yard is looking promising, but the back is still too recent.

Brrr!

I've been freezing my fuzzy little cottontail off these past few days.

I had just begun to settle into a nice routine following the human's so-called "spring break" when I started to wonder if I should be looking for a man building a large boat. Perhaps he would like a nice Cottontail or two on board with him. We got 4½ inches of rain in two days. But I heard of some backyards not far from here that got 10" and more in one day!

After it finally stopped raining we had one nice day, and then it got cold and very windy. This morning it actually dropped below freezing. I could tell by the frost all around me when I woke up. Frost is not good for all the tender flowers I like to eat, so I'm keeping my ears crossed and hoping that they're okay.

Anyway, it got pretty nice this afternoon. A little sunshine and only a little breeze.

The only thing still concerning me is the automatic weapon in the tree. I've heard about these things. They're hooked up to a web-cam and an internet site that lets people halfway around the world (or just inside the house) aim the gun and BANG! ... the fur goes flying. So I've been keeping a close eye on it and trying to stay out of its sights.

Busy Week

Wow! It's been a busy week. First, I was practically ousted from my backyard by two overly energetic juvenile humans. Then, as I wandered the neighborhood, checking out relocation options, I noticed that people are running around like crazy, cutting all the new grass down to the ground! I was starting to panic when cousin Mitzy, who lives near something they call a school, told me that they do this every year about this time. The humans think that when the grass just starts to turn green you should cut it really, really short. Supposedly this makes it all grow faster.

When I got back home Saturday night I discovered that my own humans had scalped the front yard as well (that's what they call cutting the grass really short), but not the back. I'm glad I ran into Mitzy or I'd have been quaking in my huddle hole!

Mitzy turned out to be very informative. She's quite a bit older than me, you see, so she knows about a lot more. Anyway, this school place I mentioned earlier is where the juveniles go during the day, but not every day. It's usually a 5 on, 2 off schedule. And there are longer breaks every now and then. Last week was a break called "Spring Break", and that is why the juveniles were running amok all over the neighborhood (not just in my back yard).

So yesterday, Monday, was quiet. I thought it might have been because it got a bit cooler and the humans don't have much fur to keep them warm. But now I guess Mitzy was right and they're back in school. For now my relocation planning is off — I'll just stay here. I hope they don't scalp the back yard. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to a few days of peace and quiet.

Dangerous Times

I don't know what happened, but my previously peaceful backyard has become decidedly less so in the past week.

You may recall that the lack of cats and dogs and pools, and a good Wi-Fi connection, was a prime factor in my place of residence. What I didn't mention was that this house does have children. Human children, that is. Two of them. Boys.

They use my abode as their playground, but until a few days ago they did this late in the day most days, and only during the day for a couple of days each week. But they've been spending a lot of time out here for the past six days and it's really starting to wear me down.

I don't mind leaving the back-yard every now and then, even for most of the day if it doesn't happen too often. But I'm beginning to wonder if this is a permanent thing, and the idea frightens me.

Even with the recent spate of road rage killings, there are lots of rabbits around. And the first batch of Spring babies are going out on their own about now. Combine all those new mouths with the fact that lawns aren't yet in full bloom and we're facing a food shortage in the common areas. And more and more private areas are being claimed every day. If these children don't go back to their normal play patterns soon I may have to find a new place to live.