A Rainy Day

There's a blanket of rain falling from the sky and squirrels at all feeding stations, their tails flipped over their heads like fuzzy umbrellas. They seem to eat twice as much food when it's raining outside, and it's been pouring! We're getting the tail winds and rain from Hurricane Alex, which is fine with me--these 105 degree days have turned the land a crispy brown and all it takes is one good rain to turn our world green again.

I took the dogs our earlier during a break in the rain. Buddy ran to the trees at the base of the driveway's slope and suddenly, a cottontail darted out a few feet then stopped. Buddy started toward the bunny, but stopped when I called his name. He turned around and continued sniffing the ground. The rabbit took a step toward Buddy and that was when I knew something was beneath the tree. I could also see that the rabbit had something small and dark in her mouth.

I ran down to Buddy and moved him away from the tree. I could see a nest beneath the tree. I turned around and the rabbit was still behind us with the dark object in her mouth. Buddy jerked toward her, then stopped and looked up at me. I shook my head and led him back to the house. I am certain there are babies in the nest and think it's possible that the mother had a baby in her mouth, as well.

One of my girlfriends was at the playground with her children when they discovered a snake. They tried to call the police and humane society and were confused that no one would come to remove the snake. They live in Arizona. I cannot imagine anyone responding to a snake call here in Texas, either. I think when you live in areas such as this you are expected to learn about the animals and how to avoid them and/or live with them. My friend's husband eventually realized it was a bull snake, walked over to the snake, picked it up and tossed it over the fence. Bull snakes

The incident did make me think about the way we approach wildlife, though. We teach our children about stranger danger, doesn't it seem logical to teach them how to respond to wildlife encounters? Many of the women who responded to my friend's post seemed to think it would be appropriate to grab the children and run, but if the child or parents is too close to the snake that would be a sure way to startle the snake into striking.

Back to the rain, our hummingbirds don't seem to be bothered by the downpour. We're already seeing three and four hummers at each of the feeders either eating or chasing each other about. I have another friend who was trying to take a picture of the hummingbirds outside his door and noticed two birds coming toward him, so he flipped on the video recorder and captured the two birds chasing each other in circles in a territorial dance. It's a fantastic video that I've watched more than once. It seems as though I never tire of watching God's creatures at play.