Up, Periscope!

The rabbits have now begun to stand upright on two legs. What's next? Opposable thumbs? Soon bunnies will be taking over the world! And so we welcome our new rabbit overlords . . .

Actually, the rabbit depicted in this photo is the mild-mannered Mini Bunzini. This behavior, of standing on the back legs and looking all around, is called "periscoping." Yes, rabbits are very curious about what's around them. Periscoping is a way to gather more information about the environment.

In this photo, Mini-B is looking up toward the porch, where my husband has just arrived, bringing snacks. (I am convinced that is how they think of him, as "The Bringer," bearing gifts.) And after the snacks, we are sometimes treated to a "binky," which is the crazy/silly jumping around done only by very happy rabbits.

My family kept domestic rabbits as pets in a hutch behind our house when I was a little girl, so I'm no stranger to bunnies. I've loved bunnies as long as I can remember. In fact, some of the very first pictures taken of me are shots of a tiny blonde girl with a happy look on her face, hugging some rather large rabbits. However, this recent bit about taming a yard rabbit or two - wild eastern cottontails - well, that is a bit different.

My husband is officially in charge of our current rabbit support activities, which include placing appropriate rabbit snacks and fresh water out for the two rabbits who live in our yard: Mini Bunzini, shown in this photo; and his/her buddy Spot. I am just the one who documents these events with my camera.

The weather in central Pennsylvania has been amazingly wintry: frequent snow, followed by mind-numbingly cold temperatures. I'm not sure the rabbits really need our assistance, as eastern cottontails are very hardy critters, but we love them and want to help them out in any way we can.

So we do little things for them here and there. (And for the birds too, as that's how it all started: with peanuts for the birds.) And the bunnies reward us by showing up and offering free entertainment on winter days so bitter cold that we sometimes spend them mostly indoors. (Yes, folks; even me, indoors.)

So binky on, friends! Up, periscope!

The song to accompany this scene is: Elton John, with I'm Still Standing.