Day of the Bunny #2

When DH is still abed at 5:30 on Friday morning, I know that I can pressure him into walking to the park with the dog pack. It is a matter of stretching out achy muscles (from CrossFit the night before). Today was such a day.

And we moved slowly. We didn't get out of the house until 6:00. But this time he had his coffee and I had a cane (and a camera). It is light by 6, so we did not need as many flashing lights to help the distracted drivers see us.

About half-way to the park we slowed at the house of the woman with the lovely flowers. Her house was all lights, but the newspaper was still in the yard. I commented that "This does not seem right" when I saw our neighbor through the breezeway - just standing in the back. Relieved, we walked on.

But then I heard her voice. She commented on how she had not seen us walking in some time and had wondered about us. I confessed our laziness. And we confirmed our neighborhood connections. With all the coming and going, birth and death, it is nice, a comfort, to have some sameness.

Arriving at the park I further coerced DH into a walk down the dirt road. We have avoided it in the past weeks as we knew the rain had turned it into a hazard, a mud-wallow waiting to happen. And while I love playing in the mud, I don't relish a face-plant caused by dogs pulling and the loss of solid footing. And DH has no sense of humor about some things...

There was a little mud today, but we were able to make it with no trouble down most of the track. The dogs caught scents in the grass and on the air, but we saw no creatures save an occasional bird moving in the trees or a butterfly fluttering among the wildflowers and a perhaps imagined deer snort.

And the wildflowers! The coneflowers were a riot of color - yellow, orange, burgundy and brown. Here and there a purple verbena or white wild carrot bloom peeked through. And I did see a single horsemint blooming as well as a silver-leaved nightshade. It is as if everything happened overnight.

Once home I released the pups for breakfast. Scruffy, freed first, flew across the yard in pursuit of - yes, it was the bunny. Scruffy was fast, but the bunny faster. It scooted under the fence and into the front yard.  Poor Scruffy could not follow.

DH is convinced the rabbit is stealing dog food while we are walking. Silly rabbit.

Photos will follow.