Tuesday, June 30, 2020

catching up

Okay, so Sue said that New England cottontails don't dig burrows like European rabbits do. I looked it up, and found this. And after several days of not seeing any, I did see one today. The grass is longer, and we think that's maybe the reason. My brother had cut the lawn and the clover was mostly gone for a while. It's all a guessing game to figure them out.

hydrangeas are blooming everywhere now

Today was the feast of the first martyrs of the church, just about thirty years after the death of Jesus. A devastating fire broke out in Rome and Nero blamed the Christians, about whom little was known but too much was speculation. How quickly things can change in this world, as we all have been seeing lately. 

Next week we open the library to the public. We've been working together, our small group, through these three and a half months, through the trepidations, the confusions, the distancings, the trying-to-figure-out-how-to-serve-the-public discussions, and now it's time to see what happens in the next step. We are still going to offer curbside pickups, and we've tried to think of everything. I think we're going to be extremely busy. And we've got to wear those blasted, stifling masks all day. Sorry, I just had to say that - I don't look forward to it; it's bad enough having the thing on at the supermarket. 
But anyway, I made brownies today to bring to work, to sort of mark the end of this phase. I took them out of the oven too soon and had to put them back in. Twice. They seem fine now. 



Sweetie has been bothered by a problem with her mouth for a couple of months, which we couldn't figure out, but today the traveling vet discovered that she's got a growth in there. So, a biopsy is planned. 

5 comments:

  1. Poor Sweetie. I hope the biopsy shows the growth is benign.
    I am sorry you have got a very busy, worrying and stifling time ahead of you at work. Does this opening of the library to the public seem too soon/early for you? Are the Covid cases going down in your state and in your town or are they starting to go up again like elsewhere? Have you written a proviso saying you will close again if the cases start to rise?
    Your rabbits must be like our hares; they don't dig burrows either and nest in little scrapes in the grass.

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    1. Clare, apparently our state is doing way better than most in the country. At the moment, for we all know how quickly it can all change. We haven't written anything - it will all depend on what the governor says (if infections pick up again), and if our First Selectman decides to close town offices. As for whether we may be opening too soon - I don't think so, since things are going well, and we have to give it a go sometime.
      So now I'm really confused -

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    2. Twice now I have tried typing this response and twice the computer has flipped me out. (And I may really flip out any minute.) I'm confused about the rabbits. So where are the burrowing rabbits? I'm really wanting to read a definitive book about rabbit habits. Didn't Watership Down take place in your country?

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  2. We have both burrowing rabbits and hares (which don't burrow). Hares are bigger than rabbits and I think are more like your rabbits. I don't think hares are anywhere near as destructive as rabbits are. Yes, Watership Down was written and set in Britain.
    Aren't computers really annoying?!

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  3. Clare, computers are SO annoying, especially that I was almost done typing this reply when I got thrown out AGAIN. :D One has to laugh. Anyway, I googled images of our cottontails and hares. I tend to think of hares as elongated, athletic rabbits, and these photos confirmed that idea. Ours are nothing like that, but more what you'd call "bunnies". So cute and rounder. Your burrowing rabbits must have stronger forearms to be digging so deeply! And while we're on a rabbit run, I saw this beautiful short video on a swimming rabbit, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBvKq55uMOc&t=104s. Swamp rabbits!

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