Bunny Wars

Living in a rural setting definitely has its advantages and conversely its downside. Right now it is
Sunday morning with the bucolic setting of the "gently" falling snow and anticipation of a white Christmas. Never mind driving it the snow, that's another subject to be written about later.

Nature is something to be enjoyed and appreciated, that is understood. However, there are certain critters who although cute and furry can be a challenge to manage.

The Bunny Wars:

Here comes Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail hippity hopping on his merry way. The "dirty wabbit" does not know the words to the song. We must teach him the words to the song and convince him/her to stop nibbling at our shrubs. When there is no snow on the ground , which is hardly ever in the winter living in the North Country the evidence is less noticeable. My husband referred to it this morning as "the bunny highway". There are tracks leading from under our back deck around the side of the house right to the smorgasbord of greenery commonly known as our shrubs. We know this has been a major source of food for the critter(s) so why can't we just laugh and accept this as part of living out in the country . Each winter the fortress grows more elaborate. The first year it was to wrap the shrubs in burlap as a way of protecting them from the deer. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the deer also make feast on the greenery.

In the spring we noticed a large amount of bunny poo under the hedges. The bunny poo looks like Kix cereal by the way. So the next year wire fencing was added around the ground as a way of deterring the lovely bunnies from eating and gnawing at the roots of the shrubs. Well they outsmarted us and shimmied between the openings in the wire fence so now we will be adding a wire screening material as well. So now we have orange snow fencing to keep the deer "away", burlap wrap, and wire fencing and mesh to keep out the rabbits. The deer seem rather ingenious at leaning over the snow fence much like a giraffe and eat patches off the evergreens in front of the house. This is done at night while we are asleep so they are really sneaky. You wake up in the morning and gaze out the window viewing the tell tale tracks and it looks like there was a freakin' animal party on the front lawn. We now know the comings and goings of the local deer by the little trails out and about the property. The rabbits are the same. They like to spend time at the edge of the yard in between the taller pines where there is shelter. I wish they would confine their dining activity to the forest.

We must learn to share our environment with nature and the inevitable animals that lurk around the area. After all they were here first. Tell that to my husband because he is threatening to have our neighbor who is a hunter come by and commence a little target practice on the cute little bunnies. I think I have convinced him to leave them alone or maybe borrow some one's humane traps when spring finally comes and relocate the bunny family from under the deck. I remember my mother use to scatter moth balls around the edges of her flower garden and that the rabbits tended to stay away. The problem is we would then have bunny Kix and mothballs to clean up. For now we'll just try and enjoy the winter and the privilege of nature right out in the backyard.