funnystrange.com

Despite Lina's attempts to decimate the cute little rodent population, we've had a lot of rodent sightings in the past couple of days. First, we have at least 2 bunnies: one adult who hangs out in the front yard, and one younger rabbit, which must have been from the same litter that Lina got into a few weeks ago, and hangs out in the back yard. The bunny in the front yard seems to be better about getting the heck out of sight than the bunny in the back yard: one time I was dumping food into the compost bin, saw something out of the corner of my eye and realized the young bunny was less than 10 feet away from me. I wish we could leave vegetable scraps out for them, but that would probably increase the chance of them falling prey to Lina. In any case we're being careful about checking for signs of rabbit before letting the dogs out, and making a whole lot of noise as we're opening the door.

Besides the bunnies, we have a thriving chipmunk community. They like to hang out under the bird feeder, I guess because we use a birdseed mix that has lots of sunflower seeds & even some peanuts. And the birds spill a lot of seed on the ground where the chipmunks can get to it. There are also chipmunks living outside the fence, near the herb garden. I see them running across the driveway sometimes. I've been thinking that maybe I should try to mentally distance myself from the rabbits, and focus more on the chipmunks. They're almost as cute as the rabbits, and way, way smarter about avoiding the dogs. Lina's never had a chipmunk kill. Once years ago, she and Thirteen trapped one inside the gutter spout, but Georg and I got them away in time. We had to pry open the spout with pliers as I recall, because the dogs had chewed it so much, trying to get at the chipmunk, they'd closed up the end and the chipmunk couldn't fit through the opening. I thought that poor thing was going to have a heart attack but it survived!

Besides the cute bunnies and the brave chipmunks, I saw a rodent yesterday that I couldn't identify. It was about as big as the adult rabbit, maybe a little smaller, grey fur, and very rounded. Rounded body, no discernible neck, rounded head, tiny ears, no tail. It actually reminded me a lot of a short-haired guinea pig.

I'm certain it wasn't a rat, that is if Womzilla and Nellorat's rats are typical of the species. This guy's head was totally different -- more snub and almost the same size as his body -- his ears were much smaller, and he had no tail. Any ideas about what it was? A mole maybe?

He was hanging out under the bird feeder, eating seed. I took a few photos, but without a telephoto lens (and through a screen window) it might as well have been the Loch Ness Monster. Eventually something spooked him -- he probably heard me or maybe the dogs inside the house -- and he disappeared into the tall grass behind the feeder. He moved fast but there was something waddling about the way he walked.

The mystery rodent was cute. I hope he's a harmless species.