Stories

My years living with my family in Basalt (1986-2000) were very hard working years as we re-built the houses and shop, grew our enormous gardens, fixed and built several cars, raised Tamas, and explored different careers. They were also years of extraordinary domestic experiences. The joys of encouraging my son’s imagination and arranging the many wonderful childhood events of Easter, birthdays, Halloween, May Day, and the like are treasures of my memories. Our wonderful pets, projects, and the support and nurture which we gave to each other are things I will never forget or regret. Many of the years were hard and I spent many sleepless nights in worry, but the unexpected happiness and humor of our days was inspiring and sustaining.

Many animals came and went in our lives there; two adorable and affectionate rats handed down from another household, two bunnies who met untimely ends. A rooster, a visiting and jealous cockatoo, Jagular, the cat who would climb anything and not be able to get down and who vanished one day on the UPS truck, and our mainstay cats; Korga the epic kitty, Tubby, the black tabby who moved in with us and worshiped Steve, Shade the cranky cat and her kittens who were just the opposite; the softest sweetest cats ever.

For our bunnies my husband Steve built a beautiful open-air cage with a large root-covered stump half-buried inside and an elevated hutch. The rabbit in residence had enough room to tear around the perimeter and kick up his heels. This rabbit loved seeing us, and if we put out hands through the wire he would take them and hold them to his chest.

For a couple of summers we collected boulders from passing trucks (from excavation further up the mountain) so that we could use them to build a retaining wall at the back of our property. The property line on that side was over 100 feet, so we collected a sizable pile of boulders before beginning our project.

One a day in early spring a feral domestic rabbit appeared in our yard, talking to our bunny in the cage. He was a medium brown color, thin, with unkempt ears. He wasn’t much impressed by us, but if startled he would run and hide in the rock pile. He was very curious and explored every corner of a yard within a few hours. He scratched at the door, and when I opened it he came right in and lay down on the floor in front of the refrigerator. He was so thin he looked like a rug, and so that is what we called him.

Rug would jump up alertly whenever the refrigerator door opened and sniff the air with great expectation. But if I offered him any fruit or vegetables, he would turn his head with an exaggerated air of disappointment and dismay, and stand there for a moment with his paws and head drooping. Huh! I’d never had a bunny that didn’t love to eat. I decided to take a look in his mouth. What I saw was that his teeth had grown out further than his mouth would open, and the incisors were curling around. I went to find the toenail clippers and then I clipped his teeth off. Then I grated some vegetables and gave him a dish full. He nibbled cautiously then simplyvacuumed the plate.

Despite his familiarity with my house, Rug preferred to live in the rock pile. He would come in when he pleased or if I called, but he liked having his own place. He was still underweight when it came time for Easter. My house in Basalt had the largest yard in the neighborhood, and I always had a big Easter egg hunt for the kids in the area. We would start at 7am and then have breakfast afterward. When the children flooded out of the house and into the yard they found Rug the rabbit stealing eggs.

He would dart out of his rockpile, grab an egg, and run back in. I looked under the rocks where he had his lair. There were bits of foil, eggshells and paper. He was not just stealing eggs he was eating them. The children and I were laughing at this bad Easter bunny. He needed fat and protein after half-starving through the winter.

One day my neighbor Michael came to see me. Michael and his beautiful wife lived on the other end of the block. They were smart young professionals; he was an architect and she was a clothing designer. They lived in a beautiful little white house and had two picture-book little girls who dressed in ribbons and lace. Everything about them was charming and graceful. But Michael looked cross and uncomfortable.

"That brown rabbit," he said "is causing me problems. He comes over to our rabbit house (they also had two pet bunnies) and jumps into the cage, eats all the food, fucks our bunnies and leaves! The girls are just beside themselves they are so upset. "

I could see this was a terrible thing for him.

"Hmmm" I replied, "That bunny just moved in with us, and we are trying to fatten him up, but I hadn’t thought about what to do with him permanently." Rug was so independent and socialized I wasn’t sure he would take to life in a cage. I told him I’d think about it.

Within the week all the rabbits except our caged one disappeared. Michael and his little girls combed the neighborhood and put up signs and cried. I was mystified. Several days went by. I thought I might call the dog-pound. Sure enough, they were at an animal shelter in Carbondale, thirty miles away. They had been turned in by an irate homeowner who caught them eating his newly-sprouted vegetable garden. I called Michael; he went and rescued his girls’ bunnies and didn’t speak to me for six months.

I went down to the pound to get Rug. The staff was not particularly helpful.

"This rabbit has special needs," they said, fidgeting. "and he’s very malnourished." Ah. They thought I was a negligent pet owner. I explained to them about how Rug came to live with us and his teeth. Still they were not forthcoming with the Rabbit. After several more minutes of getting nowhere it dawned on me that the staff had grown fond of Rug and his quirky social personality.

"Are you wanting to keep this rabbit?" I asked. Their gazes looked up from the floor.

"Could we?" they said, beaming. "He just hangs around with us all day". "He’s so expressive" He’s so sweet" "We would miss him terribly".

So I left Rug there surrounded by his admirers.