NIMBY

I've mentioned in a previous post that Chino runs a tight ship in his backyard, monitoring all surrounding backyards through the fence. Last night, we had a bunny incident (security breach) that really got his juices flowing. Let me back up for a second though. Chino's evening hadn't started out all that well. First of all, its warm. Chino hates being warm and is usually rather dramatic about expressing his annoyance, wandering around panting or flopping down in a huff on the kitchen floor. Adding to the existing drama was Nick, who decided to (had the nerve to) mow the lawn. If you know Chino, you know he has issues and irrational fears of random objects, which defintiely extend to most lawn care equipment, especially lawnmowers. I personally feel that he thinks that a lawnmower is some sort of variation of a vacuum cleaner, so the hatred is inevitable. I'm still trying to figure out why he's scared of the wheelbarrow. I swear, I never even tried to put him in there. Anyway, during lawnmowing time, he tries to casually hide under the guise of hanging out with me. I think if you asked him he'd tell you that he was trying to keep me safe from the evil machine, I won't argue with that. His ego needs a little boosting. So then, as if his evening could GET any worse, the weed wacker comes out in full force. So now there is a panting, worried dog, wandering around the house aimlessly, trying to escape the evil forces of lawn care equipment.

After the yard work was complete, it was time for some frisbee in the backyard. Not only had the sun gone down, but the lawnmower and weedwacker were safely tucked away in the garage. We got out the orange frisbee on a mission to run the mutt, but he wasn't having any part of it. This was odd, because the orange frisbee is usually a sure thing for at least a few back and forths. Enough to take the edge off anyway. Instead of humoring us in our game of fetch, Chino was intently sniffing the ground in one small spot. I went to investigate to make sure that there wasn't anything gross. To my dismay, I saw a tuft of fur, that definitely hadn't fallen off of Chino. I called Nick over for a second opinion. His opinion: "looks like something" and then he hit it with a shot from the hose so it would disappear.

Neither Chino nor I were satisified with this sub-par response. Chino kept sniffing that same spot, even flopping onto his back to roll around in it. When I saw that happening, I KNEW that something was there, or at least had been there. He was wallowing in some sort of smell, happy as a pig in shit, or whatever it is they say. Once he had coated himself in the scent - perhaps as some sort of camoflauge, he went on a reconnaisance mission, starting with the perimeter of the fence.

He didn't have to walk very far before we realized that the nose was onto something. I thought I spied more fur which should have definitely been attached to some sort of animal, so I asked Nick to check it out. After all, isn't that why we're married? Critters, bugs, shoveling, and toilet plunging are just a few reasons that I can think of off the top of my head. Tufts of fur in the backyard definitely fall under the critter category, especially when its obvious that they should be attached to something. Once Nick got closer, he told me to stay put and hold onto Chino's collar to keep him away. Turns out that there was a dead baby bunny in the backyard. Nick had stepped on the little guy while he was mowing the lawn. We didn't have to look far before we found his VERY MUCH ALIVE sibling. Before we attended to the live one, Nick put the deceased baby bunny into a cardboard box - to keep it out of the mouth of Chino, who was now making odd noises and pulling furiously at his collar.

Turns out, the little ones had been tucked away under our grass in a bunny-fuzz lined nest. This was all made possible because stupid Tru-Green told him to cut the grass HIGH, providing the perfect nesting opportunity for furry critters. We tried to prod the live one to get the F out of our yard, but he wasn't budging. I was hoping that he'd stay and that we could keep him, despite Nick telling me NO about 50 times. Since leaving him back there was not an option due to you know who, Nick grabbed some gloves and picked him up. Well, I had no idea that bunnies could scream, but this one started shrieking like crazy. At this point, Chino is going absolute ape shit and had to be escorted back into the house, where he proceeded to raise hell and demand to be let back in on the action.

After hearing the screaming, we saw Mama Bunny come running over to investigate the comotion. She wouldn't come close - smart - so we put the baby on the other side of the fence and proceded to take Seargent NIMBY for a walk to give her some time to collect herself and the baby. We had to force Chino to walk becaues he wanted to check in on the situation in Sector 1 of the back corner of our yard. Thankfully, we seemed to have kept him away long enough for the bunny crisis to be averted....

Fast forward to this morning. Chino is out in the backard, in the same corner. I see his nose burrowing in the grass and immediately call Nick to make sure that there hasn't been any bunny inflitration (see above policy regarding critters). Chino continues sniffing and Nick confirms the presence of additional Bunny Fuzz, indicating that Mama has returned. Now really, we tried our best to get the live one to safety, but at this point, it seems that this rabbit is operating with a few Easter Eggs short of a full basket. Why in this things right mind would you return to the SAME SPOT where one baby was tragically and accidentally crushed and the other was almost a squeaky toy? I feel that we've done all we can for them at this point and are hoping that she's hopped on over to someone elses yard.