My Rabbits Are Gone !

     Today when I checked to see if my family was still here,  I could find nothing. Now everybody knew this was going to happen but I have to tell you anyway.

    Rhubarb boy disappeared about 8 days ago. Whenever I walked by the rhubarb patch, Rhubarb Boy would pop out and look at me.  Now I didn't clean up my rhubarb patch because I didn't want to disturb him.

    Bleeding Heart girl disappeared about 3 days ago. She was not in her usual place and I couldn't find her. 

   Tomato Boy was here yesterday but he was pretty antsy. He moved back and forth in the tomato patch and he had not done this before so I knew something was up. This morning I couldn't find Tomato Boy. I watered my tomatoes thoroughly but nobody went skittering down the row to get away from the water.

   Now these little guys did no damage.  Many of you were worried about this. The mother has probably taken them to another quiet place and hidden them. When they leave their mother they will probably move out of the area.

    I have been trying to get pictures to show the size after 18 days but I did not get a good shot. What I did get was a good example of how they can find cover to hide from everybody else.

Young jack rabbit at 17 days old.

    I learned much by watching these characters. I had many misconceptions about how they behaved when they were young. The material you read varies wildly. I'm also quite sure that the behavior of each litter is somewhat different.

   So I enjoyed my visitors and was finally able to cut my grass, clean the rhubarb patch and really soak the tomatoes.

Bunny #3 is Discovered

      I found bunny #1 in my tomatoes the day after his birth on July 23rd. I've been trying to avoid watering him when I water tomatoes. This morning I checked tomato patch very carefully. He wasn't in his favorite spot. So I thought he's a big boy I guess he left my yard. I began energetically watering my tomatoes. You guessed it. Bunny # 1 got watered again.


     I accidentally found bunny # 2 when I was cleaning up the rhubarb patch. I see him occasionally as I walk by.


     Today I scared up bunny number 3 and it was a little more violent than the other two. I was cutting grass and got about 2 m from the large bleeding heart and a terrified little bunny left in a hurry. He went about 8 or 9 m  over to the tomatoes and found some cover. What a surprise! I had guessed that all four would be in the yard. I wasn't going to search for them and I'm surprised that I found them.


    These little guys are about four times the size when they were born  and they are now 13 days old. I can't get pictures as they are tightly under cover. I am also surprised that they have stayed in one spot. I always thought they moved around. So these little guys have taught me much about their life stages.

The Bunnies are Still Here

     Eight days ago I reported on the birth of four jack rabbits in my Yard. I further posted about one of the liverets (babies) I found in the yard. This little guy is still sitting in my tomatoes and my wife's afraid he's going to die. Don't worry his Mommy knows where he is and comes back every night to feed him. He has tripled his size so he's doing well.


    I had always thought and read that these little guys left the area of their birth. I thought they traveled more  so I'm very surprised to see this guy holding his spot in my tomato patch. I watered him a couple of times and then he found a secure spot. I checked on him several  times a day. I found he was terrified of the garden hose when I tried to fill the bird bath. I'm painting the fascia on the house. I put up a very noisy ladder. When I checked the little guy was gone so I was a little sad that he had disappeared on me. This morning I found him right back in his favorite spot.


    I have a large overgrown rhubarb patch and I started to clean it up this morning and suddenly there was a second bunny. I suspicioned that they would all be in the yard but I wasn't going to search for them. 


    Now Colin in Australia is going to be chortling with glee as he has been forecasting dire problems from these little guys. The jack rabbits that I'm observing are not rabbits but hares. These guys are born fully furred with their eyes open. Rabbits when born are not covered with fur and their eyes are closed. The jack rabbit is fairly large compared to rabbits. 


    So these little guys never cease to surprise me. At about age two weeks they start to move more. Nursing stops at about thirty days. 

Uranium: It's Frantic History

     I'm reading a very interesting book right now that  a geologist friend gave to me.  It's called  Uranium  : War energy, and the rock that shaped the world and it's by Tom Zoellner.


    I admit that my knowledge of uranium is somewhat limited. I've never read anything that's in any depth. My knowledge comes from news and that can be sketchy.


   When we were kids in school in the 40's and 50's we were told that if there was an atomic attack we were to go under our desks. I was not old enough to remember the Hiroshima attack. To put it bluntly as little kids during the cold war we were frightened as we didn't understand the situation and our governments were only too willing to feed the public fear of an atomic attack.


    So now to the book. This book tells the story of uranium from the time it was discovered to the present day. The first large uranium mines were in Africa. People did not know what this mysterious mineral was like. The Dutch mining company employed slave labor to get the uranium out of the ground. Another location was in eastern Europe were German prisoners were forced to mine the stuff. There was no concept of what danger there was in uranium. The ore was reduced to a more pure form and became more hazardous. The stuff was shipped around the world in barrels.


    Physicists discovered that the substance could be used to make a very powerful bomb. The United States wanted to use the bomb to end the Second World War but they did not have enough uranium to get the substance needed to produce a bomb. They were worried that the Germans would produce a bomb. What surprised me is that much uranium was found in New Mexico. The mining was primitive operation. There were small deposits and some was dug out by hand and trucked to a large processing plant. All of this was done without any idea that the product was hazardous.


    The first bombs made were tested and the developers were very impressed with the big bang. There was no idea of the dangers of radiation. People were very close to the detonation site. They were only concentrating on the power.


   Since the cold war there has been more emphasis on producing electrical power and trying to back away from the abbyss of total destruction.


  I think we are still at the beginning working with and controlling uranium. We have not discovered any way of safely disposing of the substance once it's been used.


   So for an interesting and understandable account I recommend that you take a look at  this book.

Guess What: Part II

     I love tomatoes and so I baby my tomatoes. I've loved tomatoes since I was a little kid. I'd come home from school and stick three of four tomatoes in my pocket and eat them like apples. I water them with a watering can so that water doesn't get on the blooms. Fussy? I know I am. 


     Today I was watering about 1:00 P M and all of a sudden something moved under a tomato. After I recovered from the shock I saw that it was one of the baby rabbits. So there I was pouring water on a poor little baby rabbit. I'm not a very nice guy! He moved less than a meter and then froze. I ran in the house for my camera and got some poor shots of an awesome two day old rabbit . So this is Part II.

Little guy after a bit of  an unexpected shower.

I don't think anybody can see me!

Nice and shady in here.

Nobody will ever see me here.

    If you read my last post I pompously said that all the baby rabbits had left my yard!! You won't believe a word I say after this. I've completely blown my credibility. So now I will go out on a limb and say that the babies  are all probably in my yard somewhere. I did look around but didn't find anything. When I got back home this afternoon the little guy had disappeared.


    And here I thought I was finished with my baby rabbits?

Guess What? New Babies at my Place.

      Okay! I'll end the suspense. Four little Jack rabbits were born in my back yard yesterday!


      I went out to my back yard yesterday about 9:30 AM. He/she was back by my utility trailer and looked as if he/she didn't want to move very badly.I shooed him/her whatever out of the yard because I thought it might be "son of a bitch" . Now "son of a bitch" is not welcome in my yard because he/she leveled a row of lettuce in my garden. A couple of other jack rabbits crossed my front yard in the morning and afternoon.


     About 4:30 PM I noticed a rabbit under my utility trailer and I thought, "Oh ya. I know what's going to happen." She was making a scrape which is a very shallow smoothed out piece of ground. I noticed a lot of antsy movements. Usually jack rabbits will doze in a safe place and are very still. I didn't want to disturb her so I stayed in my house. I tried to get a look with my field glasses but it was too dark under the trailer. 


     A few minutes later I noticed Ma rabbit about to enter my garden so I thought nothing doing. I've lost enough. I went out and she was adamant that she owned the garden and wasn't leaving. I only wanted her out of the garden and had no intention to chase her out of the yard but out of the yard she went. So this was my chance to take a peak. There they were. Four new born little bunnies who just laid there and did not move. I took some pictures but since I have a few things to learn about taking a picture of stuff that's in the dark when the camera is in the light the results are not good.

About 30 minutes after birth

And they didn't move from one picture to the next.

 A poorer view from the other side.

    I wanted to get a shot of them when they came out from under the trailer but because I'm not the most patient photographer I didn't get them. I checked at 8:30 PM and there were only two little guys under the trailer. This morning there were no babies under the trailer.


   So although I didn't  have the babies very long it was quite an exciting few hours.

The Last Laugh

     My whole teaching career was with Middle School kids. They have their own perception of life and it doesn't  go much further than the next hour. If you get to understand a little bit about Middle School kids you can see their sense of humor and play along with them and have some fun.

     In my late twenties to early thirties I developed some pattern baldness. There was a noticeable part on the back of my head where the hair was thinning. Well, did the boys have fun. Almost every day somebody would say, "Mr. Kline , you're going bald!" Now this was a line that one could play with. There are many replies to this one. Also in my head was the idea that I was going bald. But many times I teased these little guys that some day they would be balder than I am. They could never get this one. Some of these guys gave me more static than others. And some didn't mention the topic.


    Now I still live in the community that I taught in. I taught in the same school for 28 years. By the end of my career about 20 % of my students were children of former students. I still live in the same district so from time to time I see former students like my optometrist.  Many of my former students are active in the community.


     Now what really got me writing this post was I saw a picture of John who was teaching kids to fish. I haven't seen John since he left gr. nine but I see his folks once in a while.Well guess what?  John is very hair challenged! 


    One kid Dan, pestered me more than any other. Dan was completely shiny before he turned thirty. 


    I don't know what the percentage is for pattern baldness but what ever it is my former students are in it. 


    As for me , I've stayed the same with the thin hair patch...no more no less. I remember all my great uncles and Grandpa had exactly the same place where their hair was thin. 


   So guys I guess I get the last laugh!