I’ve always said it would happen.  Today it did. One of the dust bunnies under my stove was alive.

A hazard of living in the country is wild animals sometimes come visiting.  Yesterday, twice I had to shoo a young gopher snake out the door.  Once it escaped and discovering a tiny hole under a cupboard slithered into my wall.  (I hope it’s not still there.) Several times rattlers have crawled inside the house.  Once we corralled one into a basket and carried it to safety.  Once, well…being woken with a rattlesnake in the bedroom creates a violent reaction in some men. Once, a skunk wandered in the door and past our bed and, thankfully, out the other side. There was the bear. And there were other bear visits that ended in raided refrigerators. There were untold numbers of raccoons raiding the dogfood etc. But today was unique.  A little bush bunny was carried into the house by our cat, Silver.  The bunny escaped and raced under the kitchen stove. There it communed with the silent dust bunnies—searching for safety in numbers

The ruckus almost caused me to burn the waffles.  Luckily, my 18 year old was home anticipating waffles and helping his dad mill up some fallen redwood.  My littlest one held the flashlight, I saved the breakfast, and my older son grabbed a leather glove.  He fished out the frightened bunny and set it free.  Its ear was a bit bloody but we hope it will survive.

The waffles were delicious and the some of the dust bunnies were swept up by the live one’s whiskers and carried out to freedom.