Sunday, March 15, 2020

Bachelor Bunny and Friends (Mice and Squirrels)

The stories below have appeared in several different postings in the past few years. This time I've taken different stories and combined them - as there is a recurring theme! These stories happened during the time we lived in our house in Massachusetts.

My plans for tonight were to do some laundry and of course, work on my blog. I got delayed because of Mary’s rabbit. Did you know Mary had a rabbit? Well, neither did I. There is this rabbit living under our shed that we call “the barn” because it looks like a barn. She was worried that due to all the snow it would have trouble finding food. So she has been putting out cabbage, broccoli, carrots and even a radish. The radish was not well received. Mary was running late this morning and asked me to deposit the morning carrot near “the barn.” I checked when I got home tonight and it was gone.

So what did I do? I went in and got another carrot for “Bachelor Bunny.” I then went out on the Internet to see what one feeds wild rabbits. Some people mentioned feeding Cheerios to them. Are you kidding? That is not what I consider healthy food for humans much less a rabbit. I also read that they need a fresh water source when everything is frozen.

So I spent over 15 minutes going through the house and basement looking for a container that could be donated to the cause and I found a couple of potential candidates. Personally, I like the little Corningware dish that has wild flowers decorating its sides. I think “Bunny” would like it as well.  My concern is, will “Bachelor Bunny” have enough head room to drink the water with the container under “the barn.” Mary took a cream cheese container and cut it down. She just went outside with warm water so it wouldn't freeze as fast, we hope. Aren't we funny???

The bunny saga continues. Mary is still putting food out by the shed. This morning it was organic carrot greens. Regular carrots don’t normally come with the leafy part. Mary read that the leafy top part of a carrot is healthier for bunnies than just the carrot. Also included on this morning’s menu, was a piece of broccoli and a hunk of zucchini. At lunch time it was all gone except for the zucchini. So we have now learned that there are two things that our bunny doesn’t like, radishes and zucchini. 

I hope there are several bunnies because if there aren’t, we may have one very fat bunny living under our shed. By the way, the shed’s foundation consists of 4” by 4” wooden beams that are sitting on a paved section of our driveway. If he gets stuck under there, we may have to cut a hole in the shed floor so he can get out!

We are kind-hearted souls, but our various attempts at dealing with wildlife has had its memorable moments. Such as Mary running around in our basement trying to catch our “one” mouse so she could put him back outside so he could scamper off to a safe haven. The problem was that our basement had become his safe haven because it was 20 degrees out. He liked his new digs so well he invited four of his friends over for a party. So I invited Kevin, our friendly bug/pest exterminator, over to have a chat with them.

I couldn’t deal with the traps. Poor Mary was the brave one and she deposited them in our trash can while saying a prayer that St. Francis would care for them and forgive us. I was the one nominated to take the bags that included all five of them to the local dump with the rest of our garbage. My plan was to go there before my therapist appointment, but of course I was running late. So they sat in the back of my car for an hour while my therapist and I had a discussion over the fact that there is never just “one” mouse. 

Another mouse story. I was retrieving something out of Mary’s car when I looked down and there was a baby mouse on the floor mat. I screamed and he disappeared. We were looking all over in the car for him when I looked up and there he was sitting on the top of the head rest. Again, I screamed. Again, he disappeared. Can you tell that there was a pattern developing? Since Mary’s car is gray, we figured the little fuzzy gray mouse thought he was on the mother ship.

Our solution: we used my car to run our errands and left Mary’s in the driveway with all the windows down. When we got home, Mary placed some lettuce out hoping to lure him away from the car. Unfortunately, during the night we had a heavy rain and Mary found him in a puddle. We held a small service and Mary carefully carried him out to the woods and covered him up with leaves.

We live in an area with a large population of squirrels. During the spring and summer months, there are many hit and left in the middle of the road, only to get run over.  One of us goes out with our designated shovel that is used only for corpse pick up. Luckily, there is a wooded area across from our house where the burial site is located. We’ve been known to walk down the road a ways to pick those up as well. We believe that getting squashed once in a lifetime is more than enough.

News Flash!!! Mary saw the bunny hopping around the shed. Yeah, the bunny is alive and well. We may not have to cut back on his portions. Mary thinks he has a membership at Planet Fitness.

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