Goodbye friend

On Monday, we said goodbye to our faithful companion Russell.  He came to us in a miraculous way on November 2008.  He lived a little past 12 years and we enjoyed him for almost 11.  He leaves a big void.

We moved in our current home in June of 2011.  My interest in the outdoors did not start with this house and surroundings and not when we got Russ.  But I credit him for giving me a reason to go out every day, to look out our back window at what he was barking at and for giving me a reason to take him on walks.  Because of him, I've been able to get some memorable pictures and video over the years.

I will still put out my trail camera and I'm still going to look out the back window, but not without thinking of my "sheriff" who patrolled the back yard knowing something was going on out there.

I could post hundreds of photos of him, but I don't need to.  On the right side, there is a category for Russ and that's enough.

Goodbye friend.  It won't be the same without you.

I covered the nest yesterday

This is the first time I've watched a nest of rabbits so closely so I didn't know what to expect.  But we are not seeing any little ones and I'm not sure what to make of the recent sightings of what we think was the mother.  I do know they are big enough to be on their own so it was time.  But not before one last visitor...

Here are close-ups of the nest...

And filled in...

And final inspections from Russell...

Still seeing two...

I'd like to think we have more than two...I just can't verify it definitively with a picture.  And no sign of mama so her job may be done.

First, here is a picture of what Russ experiences when we go outside...

And here are pictures from last evening.  We see in a few of the pictures.  Cindy thought she was seeing "eyes" in the hutch but if you look through the photos, those "lights" don't move...

 

Look by the steps for the second one

Rabbit rescue aka "Bunny Cam"

I was noticing a low spot off the deck this past week.  I knew it was there from mowing but what caught my eye was the way the grass seemed smoothed or washed back.  Thought maybe it had something to do the with rain and I didn't investigate further.

Well Rusty put his nose in the hole on Tuesday and kept pressing deeper and I knew we had a situation.  I took him inside and came back out with some to poke around a little.  I pulled back the grass clippings and got to rabbit hair.  I didn't know if it was a ball of hair or the back end of a rabbit. I pulled that back and saw an opening and some movement.  Saw a naked bunny and quickly closed it back up.  I knew I had to cover it but wasn't quite sure how.  I called Steve for some ideas and he thought maybe a bucket with a hole and a brick on the top.  My main concern was keeping Russ out of it.

I didn't really have a bucket to cut and thought of crates that Gene and Ruth would bring to me from Pella. They were used for tulips/bulbs.  So I cut a door in one of those crates and used some of the many bricks still on my deck and here we have a shelter...

Here is the hole

 



 

Closer look

 

You can see how close this is to the desk

 

Crate over the hole

 

Showing you relative to deck

 

Nice cut doorway (used a file)

 

With the bricks

 

Closer

 

Another view

 

Looking from the deck

 

This is why I covered the hole...

 



I put out the trail camera to see of mama would come around

 



Rabbits are notorious for leaving nests.  Part of it is to not draw attention to the location and I've read a mother really only spends about five minutes a day feeding milk to the little ones.  That is enough for them. So the questions were "would mom come back" and "would she go inside"?  Here are just two images but you can see she is very careful to look out before going inside.  Last night she went in it three different times.  So I don't know if that is normal or due to the change in what I put over the hole.

 

Making sure the coast is clear

 



 

You can see her inside

I feel I have them covered (literally) for now.  The concern is when they come hopping out and keeping Russ away until they are old enough to be on their own.  Then they will need to dodge the fox, coyotes, hawks and owls in the area.  Welcome to being a rabbit!

As you can imagine, I will be following their progress and hopefully be able to capture images of bunnies tumbling out.

Happy 11th Birthday Russell! (Rusty, Russ)

We like to celebrate his coming home date of November 5, but unlike Bentley, we do know Russell's actual birthday and it's today!

While he spends most of his time on one of his beds (or ours), he can still spring into action (and yes, these are recent photos 😊 )



Take Your Dog to Work Day

Officially, that date this year is June 22.  But for Russell and me, every day is "take your dog to work day".

Here's just another day at the "office"...

I feel safer already

"Sheriff" Russ sees our neighbor dog is on the loose and he doesn't like it!



He will be 11 next month but doesn't look ready for retirement :)

Deer, birds and Russ

Who can resist a title like that?

I feel sorry for the ground-feeding birds.  The deer have been lapping up the seed. 

Here are photos from Monday...

 

 

Here is action ON the feeder...

 

White-breasted Nuthatches

 

 

For this one, look on the tree as well

 

Downy Woodpecker

 

 

Russell patrolling...

 

 

And when the sheriff is out, the deer take notice...

 

Rusty likes snow (just not the cold)