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Tuesday, June 3, 2008

The Cute Fluffy Rabbit Demon from Hell


Who doesn't love a baby rabbit? I mean, even their name is cute: bunny. We have one of the little critters roaming our yard. He's cute, fluffy, and adorable with his twitching nose and perky ears. He's about 6 inches long, just old enough to be on his own. And, no worries mother rabbit, he's doing well.

As I watched him hop near the edge of our fence, I enjoyed his little travels. Baby animals seem to cause even the sturdiest of characters to melt in their presence. I was right in the middle of one of these melting moments when I came slamming back into focus. This little guy could probably get through the rabbit obstacles (picket fence, chicken wire) we've put around the veggie patch. CHECK THE GARDEN!

And so, with trepidation and suspenseful, Psycho shower scene music playing in my mind, I approached our vegetable garden. I froze in my tracks. Yep, he ate my broccoli, chard, kohlrabi, and a few bean and pea sprouts and I think he's working his way towards the radishes and lettuce. This. Means. War.

Now, I know, I can't write a celebration of our Wild Kingdom (see below) and then plan to blast this rascally character into oblivion, right? Although, initially, that was my thought. Since I don't own or know how to operate a gun, and the fact that in the suburbs, gunshots might not be very welcome, I let this go. I'm really a peaceable person. After the steam stopped shooting out of my ears, I sat in front of my laptop and started looking at better solutions.

Many websites waxed poetic on the use of human hair scattered throughout your garden. Apparently the human scent drives them away. They suggested asking at your salon for bags of hair. After gagging several times and envisioning other people's hair on my precious veggies, I took a pass on this one.

Others mentioned scattering cut up garden hose or fake snakes throughout your garden. I nixed this one as I didn't have any garden hose to cut up or any fake snakes and thought that perhaps my own surprise when coming upon said "snakes" in my own garden might freak me out too much.

Next was soap. Shred or shave strong smelling soap and scatter it through your garden. This option appealed to me. Soap? Check. Shredded? Done in a snap. Scattered? Yep. And I looked upon my ravaged veggie patch with new optimism.

And then it rained. And the soap melted. Some of the scent still remained, but I'm not sure it's going to last for long. I haven't seen any noticeable bunny damage, although I did see him last night frolicking in the yard. I think I may try hanging a few whole bars around as the shredding just seems to need more replacing than I want to do.

I'll keep you updated on my battle. And despite all of this, I still do like the little critter, just not in my garden.

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