Wabbit Wars Part 3

As if the week was not exciting enough, Thursday brought another memorable evening.

I had talked to another friend about the mysterious tunnel in my Pine Tree Garden.  "Oh, that rabbit was digging a warren hole for her babies. The 'he' rabbit you have been chasing is actually a 'she.' "Well, I'll be", I replied.  I found a big rock and put it over the tunnel. "Sorry, Ms. Rabbit, my garden is not a rabbit maternity ward." That rabbit might still be hiding out in the yard. This concerns me but I've not seen that one. Maybe she was one of the seven.....

That Thursday morning I was mowing the lawn and Alex (who was just home for a few hours) was edging. He put his hand in the tunnel (I would not do that), felt nothing, but marveled at this feat of rabbit engineering.

Thursday, another nice evening, I sat down on my deck with a cup of tea and a good book when I noticed movement over near my garden. Just barely visible in the grass, a small rabbit, not more than six inches munched contentedly on our grass.

"Of all the nerve," I fumed.

What was I to do?  I texted Brian but he was busy and could maybe come later.  Shooting this little guy would have been a real challenge.

I tried to read but could not focus. "Patience, Lisa MacGregor, patience."

The rabbit got spooked and disappeared. "Rats!"

I got up with my rake and stealthily walked over to the garden. The baby rabbit was now along Debbie's fence, behind a bush.

What could I do?  I had an idea. I'd boil water, put it in a pail and dump it over her fence on the rabbit.  I texted Debbie.

"I'll open the garage and get Ruthie (their dog) out of the garden. Come on over," she graciously said.

I tip-toed through her backyard to the fence as silently as possible although I could not help imagining someone watching me and let out a giggle.

I peered over the fence. The rabbit was still there.

Dump!  I dropped the water.  The rabbit got wet but was not injured.

RATS!

I was laughing at myself and walked over to Debbie. She said, "Hey, why don't I bring Ruthie over to your backyard. She is a good hunter. She has brought her catches,  squirrels and rabbits, to our back door."

"Really?" I said, hope rising. "Sure come over. Want some tea or biscotti? Limoncello?"

So a few minutes later, Ruthie and Debbie entered the yard. Ruthie immediately went nuts sniffing around. She knew that rabbit was somewhere.  We watched in amazement as she went over to the air conditioner.

"Debbie," I said, "That baby rabbit is under there."

"He sure is." Ruthie was going bananas sticking her nose under the unit, reaching her paws in.  To no avail. Debbie got the broomstick and shoved it under the air conditioner but could not feel anything. "The rabbit must still be under there somehow. Ruthie would have gone after it if it ran out."

I took the broomstick and looked underneath. I noticed a section, about 2 inches wide, that was separate from the main part of the air conditioner.  I stuck the broomstick in there and said with excitement, "I hit the bunny! He is in there."

It all happened fast after that. The bunny ran out, right into the jaws of Ruthie.

"She got the rabbit!" Debbie yelled. She sure did. 
Okay, now this is where it got rather gross.
Yet, I can't resist this picture.

Although Ruthie always left her "offerings" at Debbie's backdoor, maybe because this was not her backyard, but she was not letting the rabbit go.

The neighbors all must have heard us yelling, "Ruthie, let the rabbit go, " as if Ruthie could understand us.  Poor Debbie was trying to pry her jaws open. I ran to get rubber gloves. Ruthie was not letting go of this rabbit and to our horror, she started to eat it!

There was nothing we could do. I was glad though that I did not have a rabbit corpse to put in double bags in my freezer since the garbage truck had come that morning. (Thank you, Stan Piper, for this idea. He is also a neighbor who shoots rabbits.  His wife finds bags of frozen rabbits in her garage freezer, waiting for garbage truck day.)

Debbie looked on disgust and frustration. She later told me in a text," Years ago I had a wolfhound, huge dog. Ate a rabbit unbeknownst to me but she lost it in the bedroom that night. Awful awful! Worst smell I have ever smelled."

I felt bad about this. No word to date if Ruthie "lost" her dinner.  I texted Carol and Brian about the excitement. The Italian hunter replied, "LOL. Good doggie."

Wabbit Wars Part 2

I could hardly sleep Tuesday night, even after the limoncello. I was just so excited about the shooting event.  I texted a number of concerned citizens (concerned about the rabbit plague) and received messages of humor and congratulations.  I sent Brian and Carol a cartoon I found:

With the comment, "O Great Hunter! What a night!"

Wednesday morning I went outside for breakfast and to my frustration, there was a rabbit by that tunnel in my petunia garden.  Rats, I thought.  I guess we did not get that rabbit.  I got my garden rake and went after him (actually "a her" More on that later).  Carol had planned to send her 13-year-old grandson over for shooting practice as a treat.  But he had a doctor's appointment so there was nothing I could do but take on the Mr. MacGregor persona and go after the rabbit. But those rabbits are fast.  I had already worked out that morning but I got a second work out chasing the rabbit. Unbeknownst to me, another neighbor saw me and got quite a kick out of the sight.  I sent this picture to my family.

With my focus on the rake and the rabbit, I'd not noticed Petra in her yard. "Are you chasing a rabbit?"
"Oh, yes, hi Petra.  Yeah, the rabbit ate my beans and I really am irritated."
"If you want, I'll lift up the chicken wire and we can let the rabbit run into my yard."
"Oh," I said, "Thanks. That is nice of you but I really want to know how the rabbit is getting in the yard."
Then Petra went on, "I just can't kill anything. I am a pacifist. And the baby rabbits are just so cute."
I replied, "Well, not cute to me anymore, I must admit.  I think there is a baby rabbit hiding somewhere and enjoying my lettuce.  Just call me Lisa MacGregor."
So we laughed good-naturedly.
Petra said, "We have had to keep Ellie our cat inside as she killed one of the babies."
I looked at her and said, "Can you loan me Ellie for a few days?"
More light laughter.
Then she dropped the bomb.
"We had a dead rabbit in our yard last night."
I felt a wave of panic. "Oh?"  I said innocently.
"Yes, I guess Frank got rid of it this morning as it was gone when I woke up."
I mumbled something and we talked about some other things.  Inside, I adrenaline rushed as I thought, "Carol is bringing her grandson over for rabbit target practice. I have to get to my phone."
"Oh, Petra," I inquired, "So are you working today?"  I wondered if she would be gone.
"No, I'll be around for a few days."
"Well," I said, "Thanks for offering to get the rabbit out of my yard to yours. I gotta go."

I got in the house, grabbed my phone and called Carol. "Carol! They know there was a dead rabbit in their yard last night."
"Oh no!" she said, "Do you think they suspect?"
"No, actually, I think they saw the rabbit but somehow missed our Italian hunter loping through their yard in the dusk."
"Whew, " she said, "That was close."
"But, Carol, " I said quickly, "Don't bring Garrison over. We need to lie low."
"Got it," she replied, "Keep me posted."

A few hours later, Ruthie another neighbor's dog who is the star of Part 3 of this sagas, somehow got in Petra's yard. Maybe she smelled rabbit blood. I was at the grocery store and Paula texted me, "There is a dog in my yard."  I told her I was on my way home and I'd help her out.

I rushed home and realized it was Ruthie, Debbie's dog.  I texted Debbie and we got Ruthie out of her yard.  Then Petra said, "I found another dead rabbit in the front yard."

"Oh?" I said calmly, "That's odd."
"I don't know what is going on, a dead rabbit in the front and one in the back."

FOR THE RECORD, I had nothing to do with the "body" in the front yard. Well, after I thought about it, maybe I had secondary guilt.  This might have been one of the seven rabbits The Italian Hunter picked off on his way home. Maybe the rabbit, injured had limped over to Petra's house, somehow knowing that house did not mind rabbits eating their lilies and grass and he could pass peacefully in the middle of their petunias?

For me though, I was cheering inside. One more down, heartless as I am.

Wabbit Wars Part 1

It all began Tuesday at about 11am when I drove in from the airport.  I knew that Tom had left the trap with the usual peanut butter saltine cracker on Sunday morning.  And sure enough, within hours, one was in there. Debbie, our "shoot the rabbits and squirrels" neighbor noticed and texted Tom.  I did not get home for 48 hours but the squirrel had not lost much energy. He was as nuts as ever in the trap.

I had a surprise though.  Keeping the squirrel company there by the iron stove stood a good sized rabbit. I chased him and cornered him or as it turns out "a her" near the Baileys. The idiot squirrel kept running into the chicken wire to get out. I thought, "Is he a shape-shifter or something? How did he get through the chicken wire??"

I went inside the house and fumed a bit, thinking, "I am not re-locating the squirrel. But what to do?  We no longer had our friends' pellet gun.  So I texted Marodi.  The week before I'd had an entertaining conversation with her at her mother's house around the corner. We discussed how her Italian husband was quite the hunter and taking our rabbits left and right near their home in our neighborhood.  I said to her at that time, "Could I borrow him and his pellet gun sometime?"

Marodi replied to my text and told me to text Brian.  He replied that he'd try to come over that evening.  I was hopeful.

Later in the afternoon, I did my perimeter check of the garden to discover that all the green bean sprouts that looked great a few days before had been eaten.  And there was a tunnel about 12 inches long in the garden where that wabbit had been connecting with that trapped squirrel.  The wabbit had not been lounging but digging.  There was a big pile of dirt next to the entrance to the tunnel. The dirt there was like a rock but the rabbit had tunneled just like a machine. What was going on? And where ws that dern wabbit?

I continued to fume.  I cut some lettuce and spinach, made myself a salad about 6pm, sat down on the deck and saw movement near the garden. A small rabbit, about 6 inches was munching happily on the grass.  I chased him and he disappeared somewhere.  Where?  More on that in part three of this saga.

About 7:45, Brian showed up with his impressive pellet gun. It was heavy and had a scope.  I glanced around nervously hoping none of the neighbors would notice an Italian-looking young man with a big gun walking into my house. "She's finally gone and done it. She's taking out Tom."

I brought the trap up near the house and Brian put the squirrel out of it's misery.  We sat down for some limoncello and homemade biscotti just as his mother in law, Carol, arrived, walking over from her house with her glass of wine.

As dusk approached, Brian said, "Look over at your neighbor's yard. There is a big rabbit munching on grass right in front of their patio."  Sure enough.  I really like these neighbors, Petra is a talented gardener and has given me great advice. I sit on my deck and enjoy her poppies, peonies, petunias and other flora and fauna from my "summer office."  We often chit-chat over our split rail fence.

Without saying a word, Brian got up with his gun. He walked over to the fence and "pop."  The rabbit was dead, shot in the head.  It was an impressive shot from that distance...but this was not my yard and Petra and her family are not hunters. They don't mind the destructive antics of the squirrels and rabbits.

Maybe it was the effect of the limoncello, maybe it was the euphoria that maybe the rabbit that took out my beans was no more. Whatever, I did not care about the dead rabbit in their yard.

However, about five minutes later, Petra's daughter, who is a niceyoung lady came outside with their little dog.  I jumped up and ran to the fence, "Mindy!  How are you?"  She picked up the dog and we talked a bit.

I went back to the deck, heart pumping. Carol and I were in a little bit of a panic. Had she seen the rabbit? I said, "Oh, maybe a hawk will get the dead rabbit by morning."  Brian, who is a man of few words, quietly got up from the table, picked up his gun and went in the house.  I didn't ask him where he was going.  Carol and I stifled laughter and continued enjoying the cool evening. Suddenly we looked up to the neighbor's yard.  Brian was running across the yard, holding the dead rabbit by it's legs. He leaped over the fence, silently depositing the dead rabbit next to the squirrel!

Carol and I were in happy shock. "Brian!" I said, "I can't believe you did that, but thanks. Maybe they never noticed the dead rabbit and you were able to shoot and take the evidence."  We had more limoncello and I just reveled in the thrill that there was one less rabbit in the neighborhood.

We put the squirrel and rabbit in a bag. Carol took a picture of me with my trophies. I walked Brian and Carol outside to the street. Carol said, "I've not had so much fun in a long time."  I gave Brian a hug, thanked him again and he got in the cab with his gun.

As he started slowly down the street Carol said, "Oh no! He is going to get in trouble. He trolls the neighborhood and shoots the rabbits from his truck."  We walked back to the house and noticed that the truck had stopped just a few houses up the street. We heard the "Pop" and "Got him."  We burst out laughing and ran in the house.

A few minutes later Brian texted us, "I got seven on my way home."

Green beans all eaten but still have zucchini and cucumbers June 5

These rodents put me in a foul mood that is for sure.  And here I have some stupid squirrel still in the trap because I won't just drive it away, 3-5 miles and hope he does not return.  Then there are the rabbits.  A big shape-shifter one and a baby ate all the green beans and sugar snaps.  For some reason they don't eat the lettuce or kale.

But some good news!  The dahlia bulbs are coming up in two different pots.

The tomatoes look good but I need to get the "suckers" off tomorrow.

And the garden has lots of color!

Here is the veggie garden
I ate a big salad of baby kale, spinach and lettuce tonight

Green bean thing just aggravates me. But by a fluke, Tom had through bean seed in a pot with bad dirt and lo and behold,