Sylvester and Sylvestet

It’s been a while since we shared the lives, loves, and liberties of our backyard Rabbits.

Not for lack of rabbits, I assure you.

My home state…did an interesting thing a while back.

They brought in several tens of thousands of rabbits and let them loose. Estimates range from 20,000 to 50,000.

Sometimes I wonder if they let them loose in our backyard. A friend woke up to find twenty in his front yard merrily munching on his grass.

I offered, “At least you don’t have to mow now.”

He didn’t smile.

I wonder if my home state understood bringing that many rabbits into the state would cause predators to come in, as well.

Because that’s happened. Bear, bobcat, wolf, hawk, owl, and eagle are definitely aloft more often than before.

We see their signs even if we don’t see them.

And whenever we see their signs, we are amazed because, having no social media accounts, they get their messages out.

Two-Legs had that ability, too.

But that was long ago.

 

Bunnies

What goes around comes around.

In this case, a video made in April 2022 of bunnies.

Sorry, didn’t mean to offend…

Rabbits.

I wonder if there’s a woke community among The Wild.

Do Rabbits take offense if they’re called Bunnies?

I can understand any creature’s umbrage at being called vermin, nuisance, pest, …

I also understand the tone one says such things in plays a role.

For example, I often call our dog, Boo, “You scurvy creathure.” (spelling intentional).

I always reference him thus to his face and often when giving him a treat or petting him or brushing him.

Or drying him if we walk in the rain.

Sometimes he responds with, “You, Two-Legs. You got hands? Scratch here.” or “You, with the hands, rub me here.”

I take no offense.

There doesn’t seem to be prejudice or bigotry in The Wild, either.

There’s territory, true, but even so usually only around minimal resources – food, for example.

And in a world where the US alone produces enough grain to feed the world seven times over, should anything like that exist?

 

Rabbits Love Fairport Convention

Rabbits.

Wonderful creatures they.

And music connoisseurs.

Most people don’t know that.

Percussion is there thing (remember Thumper? Prince with the Swift Warning?) and sometimes they broaden their scope to other instruments.

Most often they tend to voice when they explore.

Sometimes, if one listens carefully, one can hear them harmonize when they vocalize.

Largely a capella, of course.

 

The Rablet

A long standing question here at Chez Carrabis is “What do we call the young ones?”

Consider: Our dog, Boo, is always called “Pup.” Okay, he’s also called “Boomeister,” “Mr. Boo,” “Bootosky,” and you get the idea.

And often, just Pup. So what did we call him when he was still a young thing?

Doglet, of course.

I’ve written of our Turklets.

And, of course, there are Rablets.

I last wrote of Rablets on Christmas Day 2020, so obviously they’ve been around for a while whether seen or not.

I wonder where they go when they’re not seen?

Do their numbers diminish such that there’s less competition for food so they have no need to forage in our yard? We’ve known for many years the local wildlife prefers our yard to our neighbors’ and suspect it’s because our yard is all natural, no artificial anything, no fertilizers, no pesticides, just life as life would have it.

Wonderful, that.

Try it. See who shows up.

You might be surprised at what they have to teach you.

 

Scotch, Cigars, Andre Bocelli, and Rabbits

Susan’s rabbits are at it again.

Merrily munching away in our yard.

The rabbits are at the point where they stay out when Susan goes outside. She says hello to them.

Her perky little voice goes, “Hello, Bunnies.”

And they look up, turn an ear in her direction, go back to tender leaves and shoots.

I decided to relax with a Scotch and cigar.

Susan asked me to wait until the rabbits had finished their repast.

It’s always good to know one’s place in their household, don’t you think?