Bunny Blues

I know that I have previously written about my struggles with bugs and bunnies and other creatures that don't belong in the house or yard. Recently, a new crop of bunnies has been visiting my yard, probably venturing out from the home which the messy young male students two doors up the street created for them--a bunny paradise with a hollowed out pile of sticks and debris. Yesterday I was trying to chase the scampering munchers away, running at them like an insane woman and making weird noises--but they kept coming back. The "kit" below just stared at me and refused to be intimidated! I was hoppin' mad.

Bunnies have a blind spot in front of them and although this bunny was looking at me sideways, maybe he didn't see me clearly. (I took this with 3x zoom so he wasn't all that close.)

My neighbor and I replenished our supply of putrefied egg solids and sprayed the perimeters of our beds once again. If the neighbors are providing a safe haven for bunny replication, all we can do is make our yard unpleasantly stinky. The main damage has been to some hosta leaves and they will survive. I had stopped spraying a month or so ago, but this new crop of bunnies is hungry!

Neighbor's Bunny Shelter

Rabbit gestation is about 31 days and they can start breeding after 3-4 months, so a population explosion over the summer months is certainly possible. A resident cat that is allowed to roam will control them, but my people are highly allergic to cats, so that is not going to happen.

At Aunt V's house I recently planted some spent Asiatic lilies so they can bloom again next year. Something (most likely rabbits) ate all the leaves off within days, leaving ugly stalks.

Some creatures have been mowing down certain vegetables in my aunt's garden as well. Especially delectable are the newly sprouting beans, it seems. Over this past weekend a trap ensnared an opossum--who probably crawled right over the fence. My aunt is very discouraged, replanting many things and now wrapping unattractive chicken wire around vulnerable plantings. The traps are in groupings and as the 'possum struggled he was caught by a second foot and his tail. That must have been quite a sight. It's hard to empathize with an ugly 'possum, but I don't want to see any animal suffer unnecessarily. My uncle is softhearted and hates to kill anything, but the vegetables are his food, so it's a man against beast survival environment. He just hopes the opossum has no wife or family or friends who will return to take revenge.

Into yards of rich and poor people, into homes of citizens or immigrants or even aliens (illegal or from space), into clean houses and slum dwellings--the creatures will come in.

It is hard to imagine that Martha Stewart has ever had to kill an earwig in one of her beautiful houses, but I'm sure she has. I'm betting Queen Elizabeth hasn't squished any bugs at Buckingham Palace--but surely someone there has. Do you suppose any bunnies dare to wander into Michelle's White House vegetable garden?

One does what one has to do. Now where did I put that web site for a cheap German-made pellet gun?