Grabbing the pitch fork I already felt tired. I walked to the 1-ton grass hay bale and began pitching it to the steers. On the fourth pitch I noticed some tufts of hair. Looking closer I discovered 3, small, squirmy mammals, so young their eyes haven't opened. The first thought that came to my head was rats. Yuck. Call me a sissy, but I am yet to meet anyone who enjoys dealing with a rat problem.
I went into the tack room to grab a box to make them easier to hide in the garbage can where I planned on quickly sealing their fate.
Returning to the hay bale I pulled my leather gloves out of my back pocket and put them on. But as I went to grab them I noticed a small cotton tail rabbit sitting quite close to the whole scene. I looked at the rats again. You guessed it - rabbits. And suddenly those little naked gray pests turned cute and my heart went out to them.
Deciding to keep the babies I knew I had to catch momma or they weren't going to make it. I knew it would take a while. This is a wild rabbit and I'm on a farm. So I recruited help from 18 year old Skyler. We chased that stupid rabbit the ENTIRE day! The whole day! In an 8 hour work day we probably spent 5 hours running around with boxes and nets.
The end result? Sweat dripping down our faces from running, dirt covered knees from crawling, dehydration from determination, and humiliation from never accomplishing what we set out to do.
So now I have probably killed three once gross but suddenly sweet little bunnies I could have played with all summer long. Stupid magpies.
No comments:
Post a Comment