bunnies

we've been out in the yard a lot lately, enjoying the new playstructure. max, our bouvier, loves to join us and has found a great 'resting' space near some hostas along our back fence.

yesterday max was wandering in the back area looking a little suspicious. maya and porter picked up on his behavior right away. and a strange squeaking sound that accompanied it.

"MOM! Max has something in his mouth!" screams maya. i look at max. max looks at me like "dang. caught again." and proceeds to drop something to the ground. as i'm making my approach, he picks it up again and squeaking resumes. clearly, his 'something' is alive. or perhaps, close to death.

i yell again. this time, i'm close enough to him that when he drops the item, he runs away, giving me time to find whatever it is that has been squeaking.

what i found, was a VERY small bunny. barely had bunny ears. eyes not open. and really no fur. i guarded it until it found refuge under a plant and 'caged' max in our screen room, with orders to everyone to clearly observe his behavior while outside to go potty to ensure a bunny snatching incident doesn't occur again.

maya elaborates that she saw max pick up the bunny out of the myrtle near our birdhouses, which are right next to the house. i check out the area, but don't see anything.

today, grandpop was babysitting while i headed to porter's preschool end-of-the-year parent/teacher conference (at which he was highly praised!). when i returned home, he was outside with the kids. upon heading back in the house to leave, he says, he picked up a baby squirrel near the myrtle and put it back in. i said, no, i think it's a bunny! and we both start looking for it.

i find one, near my suet feeder. sure enough, clearly a sibling to the one max played with the day before. my fil says, no, i think i put it more over here...and he looks, and sure enough, there's another one!

you can sort of see how small it is based on the size of the myrtle leaves by it's head...this guy is SMALL. so at least, for now, we have two survivors, hanging out in our myrtle. my internet research tells me that they are less than a week old. here's hoping i can chronicle their growth in the coming weeks. they are definitely bite size for max.