“I have always wanted a bunny and I’ll always have a rabbit the rest of my life.”
— Amy Sedari, actress/author
Sam asked if I was ready for him to cut the grass. I had asked that he save the area on a little hill that runs from the house down to the lake. The hill is covered with dandelions, green clover and native grasses that make for nutritious and free bunny food. I already have folks shaking their heads when I buy bags of kale from the grocery store for the bunnies. However, one day I saw the organic farmer and his wife walking on the Riverwalk. He asked, “Do you still have the rabbit I gave you?”
“I do,” I said. “Romeo is doing fine. He’s a bit smaller, like a little ole man, and he has gray hairs on his back. He’s very sweet and eats well.”
Romeo had been a failed breeder rabbit, but the farmer couldn’t bear to make him into rabbit soup so I took him in. “The rabbit has a voracious appetite for kale,” I said. The farmer walked away shaking his head, “That’s been a long time. I can’t believe you still have him.”
Neither of us could remember just how long that was. I always say I’m going to write down when I get a new critter, but I never remember to do so. I do take pride in their longevity.
I also chanced to meet the donor of my other two rabbits in the Belk parking lot. She asked about them. Again, I said that they were fine. She was also amazed. “You should come see them sometime, though Rex is mad at me right now. I tried to trim his toenails and he won’t let me hold him.”
The two rabbits were the progeny of two Easter bunnies that had been turned into the wild and bedded down one winter in the rabbit-giver’s barn. Rabbits in the wild are prey to anything and everything so that is something to consider as Easter approaches. Children and grandchildren love to receive Easter bunnies as gifts, but one must consider both the children and the bunnies grow up, and then what?
To provide a good home for bunnies (and children) is a great thing, and I do know one neighbor who still has the bunny her daughter got years ago. She kept the bunny all through the daughter’s college years and when the daughter married, her fine new husband built her a beautiful bunny hutch at their new home. I understand that since then the bunnies have had more bunnies and the new bride is pleased. What a nice thing for a new husband to do. But be assured, as delightful as bunnies are, we here at the Prairie house have no room for more bunny gifts.
And so, Sam and I looked out over the front yard that was completely covered with tiny little white flowers and a scattering of yellows. Isn’t it odd we decided where flowers should grow and where they shouldn’t? With that we decided to leave them be for a while longer and Sam went fishing.
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