Memories of Skooper

Last week we unexpectedly had to let go of Jared's beloved Skooper. She turned 9 on St. Patrick's Day of this year. (Here she is with her white sister Fern, or should I say "pink". Daphne loved the thought that her bunny was pink) 9 Years is pretty old for a bunny. She lived a pretty cush life for a rabbit. She started out her life living in a hutch with misters and ice blocks during the summer. Being let out during the day and put back for the night. Here she is when they were only a couple months old. They were the cutest bunnies. A little blurry. They never stayed put long enough for a picture. About the time I was extremely pregnant with Victoria, Kirk and Jared were out of town. It was up to me to herd them back into their hutch. (Her and her sister Fern) I had had enough of their mischievious behavior and said "fine, stay out!" Well, they got their way. They had complete run of the yard. Skooper will be missed. Now it is up to Ben to eat our leftover vegetable scraps and bananas that no one wants because they are brown. Skooper has done her share of bad bunny behavior in her time. There was a time she took up residence near the sprinkler valves for its coolness. We had noticed that the vegetation in our yard was looking a little crispy. We discovered that she had pulled the sprinkler wires out, and proceeded to strip all of the rubber coating off of each individual wire. And I mean all! There was once when one of the valves up in the back part of our yard was malfunctioning. Of course the first thing we checked were the wires. No problem, they were still intact. That is until I tugged on them and the wire came out of the ground disconnected. Skooper had severed them underground. I should have known, she had been tunneling right next to the valve. I am surprised that she never electricuted herself. Once(before we learned how destructive bunnies can be) the kids and I grew 126 sunflower seedlings. We transplanted them in the backyard. After about an hour of planting these wonderful seedlings we turned around to inspect our accomplishments only to find that every single one of those seedlings had been nibbled to the ground by Fern and Skooper! NO! YES they did! They were eating as fast as we were planting. She has been known to sever vines at the base of the plant leaving us with a completely dead vine clinging to the trellis. She was forgiven. So now she rests behind the gate that was built to keep her and other bad bunnies away from well loved flowers to nibble. The sign on the gate reads "No Bunnies Allowed". Kirk is presently building a new arbor for the grape vine. It should be beautiful. A perfect place to rest in peace.