Photo by Gary Bendig on Unsplash
(NOTE: Click on the image link to see video)
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the “stay at home” order was in place, we entertained ourselves by watching bunnies hop around in our back yard. At first, we saw just three–two adults and a baby. I even named them after my ancestors (since my sister, Kathy, was doing genealogy research at that time). Probasco and Mariah were the two adults and Wooley was the baby. As other babies snuck out from the holes in the bottom of our aging back yard fence, they became Griffith, Chisholm and Ulysses.
But as quickly as the bunnies arrived, they began to leave, venturing off to explore the world, or (sadly) enduring an early demise at the hand of a predator. We were sad to see them go.
Our sorrow brightened as new bunnies showed up, however, finding their way into the yard from the holes in the back fence on the other side of which is an open field. These we named “Skittish” (he ran off whenever we went outside) and “Itchy” (he scratched himself a lot).
Throughout the day, we’d find ourselves searching the back yard for our cute, entertaining friends.
We’d look out the front living room window too, for there were always a few bunnies hopping through the neighborhood.
One front yard bunny was especially entertaining as he/she decided to hide in our downspout close to the front porch. In and out of the pipe she’d run, and we’d laugh and laugh (click on image link above to see video). We’d sit together on the porch bench talking to her, for she was a brave one.
I’d run out of names, so we decided to call her “Some Bunny”. Whenever we saw her, we’d jokingly say things like, “Some Bunny is in the front yard,” “Some Bunny just ran up the downspout,” “Some Bunny is under the tree over at Katie’s” (our next door neighbor). How else are we going to entertain ourselves during a pandemic?
As Some Bunny grew, she would dig furiously at the entrance to the rainspout, for she no longer fit inside easily. She was trying to make the hole bigger. We wondered if she hoped to have babies there.
We saw this a few times: in frustration, after lots of digging, Some Bunny sat just outside the entrance to the spout. I swear, once she even looked up at me as if to say, “Can’t you help me make this bigger?” I told her it was not ever going to get any bigger. Resolved, she would hop off to the safety of the tree in Katie’s yard.
Once, she made it up the spout, but didn’t come back out. Elmar painstakingly took the spout apart, thinking she was stuck. Gently elevating the end of the shortened pipe, out she ran, hopping off to Katie’s yard.
Another time, (even bigger in size now), she ran up the spout and we saw that she had to back out of it for she could no longer turn herself around. Poor Some Bunny.
Eventually Some Bunny decided that Katie’s tree would be her new spot. We saw her there daily throughout the fall. As morning light dawned, we’d look for her as if the day couldn’t progress until we caught sight of our precious animal friend. It made us happy, reminded us of simpler times, told us life goes on. God has designed creation to impart messages of endurance and hope.
But now winter has settled in, and we rarely see her. In fact, we hadn’t seen her at all for the past several days. Saddened, we wondered if she was gone for good.
Until yesterday, that is! There she was in the early morning hours, resting under the big spruce tree in our neighbor’s yard. It brought such joy! Some Bunny is still alive and well. Simple pleasures can always be found. The cycle of life continues and God grants us enduring hope. Amen.
