Sunday, April 5, 2009

Dumb Bunny & The Easter Baskets

As city dwellers living just minutes from the Miller Brewery (I can see the sign spinning from my living room window), I am amazed by the number of rabbits that live in our yard.

We have a barn/shed in the back of our tiny lot, and every spring dozens of rabbits live underneath, breed, and drive Diesel crazy. He chases them 'round and 'round the pool and watches them dart into the holes in the rotting fence or dives after them as the seek refuge under the barn. We hate those damn rabbits after it has rained and Diesel comes in with mud caked paws from bowing into the mud to peer at the sheltered bunnies. Otherwise, we really like the little furballs and Deez enjoys the chase. He's never caught one, we wouldn't let him, but I don't think he really want to catch them. Sometimes he'll slow down or freeze when he could snatch it up. I like to think of him as a benevolent bunny sadist.

The most recent rabbit addition is a gray cotton tail we call Dumb Bunny. You can tell Dumb Bunny has been around the block. He is scruffy, slow, and also a little...well...slow. He sits under the pool deck stairs directly infront of the glass patio door and when Diesel get out on the patio he sees Dumb Bunny and goes nuts. He squeals, barks, and throws all 60lbs of his boxer-self into the door. It creates alot of ruckus. Dumb Bunny knows Diesel is about to get let out to pee, but he just sits there. At first we though Dumb Bunny was petrified, but turns out he is just stupid. Brad and I will yell, bang the door, scream "Run Dumb Bunny!!!" and he just sits, so we have no choice but to release the hound. Deez tears off out the door after Dumb Bunny. Dumb Bunny beelines to the fence hole with the reaction time of a geriatric getting some oatmeal. Diesel slows a little to give Dumb Bunny the illusion of near demise. Dumb Bunny escapes again and Diesel makes two speedy circles around the pool to assert his dominance before stopping for a long pee.

This routine has happened several times a week for the past several months. Diesel and Dumb Bunny have their own cadence and routine. Recently, it appears the two have created something of a pact out of reverence for their relationship. After a long day in the house, Diesel really has to go. Brad let Diesel out last week, he looked and Dumb Bunny, who stayed put, and started peeing. It was as if they were having this silent conversation:

Diesel: I really gotta go today!
Bunny: Oh, no problem. Take your time. I'll wait.
Diesel: Thanks. It's been a long day. So how are the kids?
Bunny: Just fine. Trying to get away from the little ones right now. They wear me out.
Diesel: Tell me about it. The owners have a new baby.
Bunny: I sympathize.
Diesel: Ok, I'm finishing up here. You ready?
Bunny: Ready.

Zip!!! The both explode from their positions and commence their regular chase.

I was doing laundry yesterday and one of my old laundry baskets which is cracked, broken, and barely still a basket tears and falls from my hand, pinching as it falls to the ground and hits my toes. I let out an explicative and continue outside to put laundry on the line to dry. When I return back in, there are two fancy new black laundry baskets on the washer! Just what I asked the Easter Bunny for - new "Easter Baskets."

Upon asking Brad where they appeared from, he said he didn't know adding, "It must have been the Easter Bunny. "But Easter isn't for another week," I countered. "Well, maybe Dumb Bunny is filling in for the Easter Bunny this year. You know he's not that bright." So true.

No comments:

Post a Comment