The Village White Rabbits

A property that I drive past each morning as I leave our little village has some cute residents. These are the young members of the family.

I'm not actually sure how many babies there are. I have seen more than one grey one at a time and I'm still uncertain of how many white ones there are. Mom and Dad are white and grey. They are what I would describe as semi wild. I couldn't get very close to them to take these pictures, but they are out in the open most of the day.

For quite a few years, this village has had several white rabbits. This is how it all started:

A family that lived above an old store on the main street, moved away rather quickly. It was rumoured that they had a number of pets, rabbits included. Instead of finding homes for their pets, they simply let them loose. There were rabbits in a few different locations in the village. Some spots were lots where people kept cars, people's yards, in the undergrowth close to our home, under sheds...
There were always white rabbits. Some of them had black spots. One had a black spot over one eye. We called that one Patch. One lady around the corner bought big bags of carrots and enticed them out from under her back shed every evening. We would go for walks and see these rabbits. One rabbit had a habit of running across the road from our property to our neighbours a few times a day.

What we couldn't understand was how they didn't become prey for all sorts of predators. Every spring, more rabbits would show up, whether they were some of the original ones, or their offspring. I hadn't spotted any this spring and thought for sure this was the end, until I noticed the "parents" on the property I mentioned earlier. It's the lot for a local plumbing and heating company. It wasn't too long until I started to see the young ones.

I certainly see lots of the regular wild cottontail rabbits and unfortunately some of them fall victim to our tabby cat. But it is the white ones that make this such an interesting phenomenon. Our cat has never brought any of those home. Now I just enjoy the "rabbit spotting" game that I play when I drive past.

On a whole different note, I believe we are at the forty days and forty nights stage of rain here. I'm pretty sure we have had rain every single day for what feels like three weeks. We've been fortunate, but some areas have experienced flooding and short term evacuation. The ground is so wet, I can't even step into the garden to weed. Plants are growing like crazy and if we start to get some heat, it will be a jungle out there.

Here are some raindrops on delphinium buds. I'm hoping that when they open, they won't get beaten down too much with more rain. I do love delphiniums.

It is our Canada Day weekend coming up. I'm not sure where we will go to see fireworks, but I'm looking forward to it. I will try to take pictures.

I am adding this about 10 minutes after I hit publish: it is raining. again.