Showing posts with label wild rabbit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wild rabbit. Show all posts

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Ozark News





Lately, at the fringe of the mornings, 
when the wild creatures are not afraid to congregate near the house, 
we've been seeing a family of turkeys. 
It's easy to spot the mother. She watches over her clutch of poults with great vigilance.





The little ones run over the ground in a smooth, synchronized motion, like a school of small fish, 
turning and pivoting for the pure joy of movement, anticipating the day they will fly. 





It won't be long. 
When we saw them first just over a week ago, they were earth bound, 
but this morning out on Don's loading ramp a few of them were flapping their wings, 
and graduating from small hops to tiny flights. 

I'm counting on them to grow up and eat lots of grasshoppers out of the garden. 
We certainly get the other kind of help.





   This year the daylilies were beautiful, and I thought the big, bossy doe we call Lily 
had seen the error of her ways or had found greener pasture, 
but she's back, and she has her technique down to a science. 
She stretches out into her giraffe pose until she has located the right stem...





...and when it's in reach, it only takes one or two bites before it's out of sight.
Judging from the hoof prints in the green beans, the daylilies must have been desert.








At least the rabbits are smart enough to look in the window and see if we're home 
before they raid the garden.





By the time the first light slants down through the trees, 
rabbits have hunkered down out of sight to sleep until evening 
and deer and turkeys browse in the shade of the woods.

And that's the news from the Ozarks, 
where the deer are well fed, the turkeys are vigilant, 
and the rabbits are way above average.



Linking with Saturday's Critters



Saturday, December 27, 2014

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Morning Missed


The night was restless; I forgot to set my alarm and got up late.  Remnants of mist lingered in the air.  It was undoubtedly glorious earlier, but now, the sun was far above the horizon. 

You don't get overs on mornings.




I missed a misty morning as I lay asleep in bed
Bright rays, the trees adorning, streamed through my dreams instead.




A rabbit ate the meadow rue, from what I ascertain
The only bunnies in my view hopped 'round inside my brain.




The droplets on the new-mown lawn were diamonds, so I'm told
But all the treasures of the dawn were someone else's gold.




In dreams, I held some butterflies, but dreams I cannot keep
I missed a misty sunrise as I lay there fast asleep.




Linking with Saturday's Critters



Saturday, June 28, 2014

On a Summer Morning




A wild rabbit appears in the soft light of dawn...




as a chipmunk's chant broadcasts his whereabouts.




While yesterday's rain still lingers, God streams light down from the sky
and my heart breathes the prayer that Moses sang centuries ago:


Oh satisfy us in the morning
with Your lovingkindness, 
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Psalm 90:14




Linking with Saturday's Critters

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Rabbit Territory




At first light...




...this is not a bad place for a rabbit to hide,
where the early sun turns tree trunks into cinnamon sticks
and mockingbirds sing morning medleys.




There are instructions for the little ones.




"Watch out for Mr. Fox and Wiley Coyotte."




After Mom gets a kiss...




...they're off to bed.



Linking with Saturday's Critters



Friday, April 23, 2010

Predictability





Recently returned from her annual trip South, an Eastern Phoebe is nesting high on the wall above a bedroom window where we can see her from the kitchen. The nest, plastered to the wall with mud, went up in just a few days, and now cradles 3 tiny cream-colored eggs. Soon we hope to watch her raise her young, as Phoebes have done here for the past 20 years or so. We love the predictability of nature. And then, just when we're counting on something to continue just as it always has... it doesn't.


A couple of years ago a wild rabbit made our dog kennel her sanctuary. (Needless to say, we didn't have a dog in residence at the time.) She would flop down there and survey her domain from behind the chain-link fence. We called her our Guard Rabbit. Her other favorite hangout was between the north wall of the house and the air compressor, only 10 feet from my downstairs studio window. She used to wash there, licking her paws, then cleaning her face and behind her ears before snuggling down for an afternoon nap. Rabbits survive by being unpredictable. It's been 2 years since we've seen her, and by now, we don't expect to see her again, but just maybe, if we're lucky, one of her great-grandkids will find the same haunt and repeat the cycle.
 "But ask the animals what they think— 
  let them teach you; 

  let the birds tell you what's going on.
  Put your ear to the earth—   
  learn the basics. 
  Listen— 
  the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
  Isn't it clear that they all know and agree 
  that God is sovereign,  
  that he holds all things in his hand—
  Every living soul, yes, every breathing creature? 

  Job 12:7-10 The Message