What a perfect day today was weather-wise! And it was something we were very grateful for because several weeks ago we had written YARD WORK in large letters on our calendar for this day. Our yard has rapidly descended to overgrown jungledom and it's gotten to the point where I almost get teary when I look out into our backyard. It used to be so pretty. Now it all just screams at us, and taunts us. I think of myself as a Warrior Against Entropy (a WAE for short) in our home. And inside our home I am usually the loser in the battle... but I have occasional victories. But our yard.... well, entropy has become the clear winner.
Until today! Pete made a valiant effort to turn back the tide... or at least to remove some of the last year's fallen leaves. He worked hard for several hours and the yard is looking slightly better... and it's pretty sullen at us for lashing back at it.
We started our morning with a little wildlife adventure, though. As I headed into our back-jungle, I was startled by a little bunny running across my path. Then I noticed it was a really little bunny -- just a baby! I started to yell for Strider to come over and see it, but as soon as I got the words out of my mouth, our neighbor's cat leaped around the corner and pounced on the little guy! (The rabbit, not Strider) The poor baby started screaming --- did you know bunnies could scream? So I started screaming too -- and yelled to Strider, "No! Go back ! Go back!" He had no idea what I was talking about but he knew something good must be happening so he was trying to dart around me to see it. I quickly herded him and Rayna (and my traumatized self) over to the other side of the house. Pete meanwhile had the sense to try and rescue the little bunny (I was sure he was a goner.... the bunny, not Pete). He took the little thing to Mary, our next-door neighbor who owns the cat and loves all kinds of wildlife. She brought him (the bunny, not the cat) back over to our house a few minutes later and it turned out he was fine! He was all sweetly cuddled up in her hands and seemed pretty calm... very sweet. Mary tried to convince me that I should raise this bunny (who was named Easter by this point), but I recognized my limits -- which are already stretched to the max by the 2-legged critters in our house -- and told her I regretfully could not handle raising the bunny at this point. So she called her granddaughter Jessie (a high school student) and she was very excited to come adopt the bunny.
A couple of hours later, Pete was raking in one of our flower beds and he found the little bunny nest -- and the bunny's sibling! Again, so cute. But again not going to raise a bunny. So I called Jessie and told her about the situation and 15 minutes later she was in our driveway to adopt her 2nd bunny of the day! Not sure what's she's going to call this one... Passover? Palm Sunday?
Our other wildlife adventure was less fun today when Rayna found herself covered in fire ants. She's so brave though.... she barely cries. The rest of us all moan for hours (or days in Pete's case) when we get just one bite, but not Rayna. She's the tough one around here.
This afternoon we were all out again (the entire neighborhood actually), doing more weeding and trimming. One neighbor boy decided to set up our card table at the corner of the street and try to sell more of his baseball cards. So then one of the neighbor girls decided to sell lemonade. Of course Strider wanted to set up his own little shop as well, but I told him this time we had nothing to sell. So next thing I knew he and another little girl had a sign that said, "Money for the Poor." They proceeded to try and collect money to send to the Charlotte Rescue Mission. It was quite a little open-air market at our corner by this point!
A car drove by our house a little later and they stopped and introduced themselves as the parents of the former owners of our house. It was fun to talk with them and hear all kinds of trivia about the building of the house, etc. Strider collected $2 from them.
Tonight there was a big basketball game between Ohio State and Georgetown. Pete, of course, was obsessed with watching it as an avid OSU fan. Shortly before the game started, though, Strider announced he was going to root for Georgetown, because he "needs some variety. I've never not been rooting for Ohio State in my whole life." So later when Pete said we had to hurry to get home to watch the Ohio State game, Strider promptly said, "You mean, the Georgetown game."
Just now the game ended and Strider came in and told me, "Just call me Mr. Depressed." I guess Ohio State won.
Well, I have some more thoughts but this is already way too long. Congrats to all of you who made it to the end.
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