The Rabbit Hour

Just in case you are wondering, 4:52 a.m. to 5:52 a.m. seems to be a good hour to spot rabbits from our living room window.

I slept through the Rabbit Hour yesterday morning. Due to a severe case of exhaustion, brought on by *too much kitchen time the prior evening, I could not budge out of bed until almost 5:49 a.m. (our alarm system's hallway monitor lets me keep tabs on such important events). I opened the blinds, only to find one speeding rabbit running like its life depended on it. Sure enough, a dog and his dog walker soon appeared. That was the first and last rabbit sighting of the day.

Thanks to aches and discomforts from a day of moving and shaking yesterday, I woke up this morning at 4:52 with the sole purpose of taking a pain killer and going back to bed to see if it worked its magic. What happened instead, was finding a rabbit nibbling on the food under our fir tree. When it departed, I did a few of my morning chores and by the time I returned to the window, the Rabbit Parade was in full procession.

The seven rabbits I saw a few mornings ago were not a dream or a mirage. They are real. I believe they may have a home a little south of us. They seem to come from that direction. Then again, they tend to come from all directions once they are on the move.

Rabbits, rabbits and more rabbits. Be still my beating heart. I think I am in heaven ...

On a related note, I am convinced that the mating season has arrived, which may be the reason I am spotting these rabbits en masse [my fingers typed these words and then I had to google the definition: "in a group; all together", which is exactly what I meant to say]. Plus on at least two occasions I was convinced I would witness the mating ritual right in front of my eyes.

I furthered my investigation to discover jack rabbits mating season in cold climates such as ours, is from December to September. The gestation period is an average of 43 days and at about 21 days old, the juvenile rabbits start to venture out on their own. The average litter size is five. Now, assuming half of the rabbits I have recently witnessed in our neighborhood are female, that equals a heck of a lot of rabbits due to make a public appearance in approximately nine weeks.

When I told my son about the rabbit count a few days ago, he looked at me and asked, "Do you think you had anything to do with that?"

Hey, a rabbit's gotta eat. All I did was sprinkle a little nourishment under our fir tree so I could help them through a long, cold winter. The rabbits existed long before I started feeding them. Did they migrate from other neighborhoods once word got out about this ready food supply? Only the rabbits know for sure ...

*Definition: "Too much time in the kitchen" - providing a home cooked meal + preparation for my son's pot luck supper the following day + simmering chicken soup broth + dealing with the aftermath of a trip to Costco + dishes, dishes and more dirty dishes after the supper hour