since i need a tonic from my own cynicism, here are some cute animal stories

i'm currently staying somewhere with cottontails traipsing around out the window behind my desk. it's been fun seeing the rotating cast of characters over the season. between the housepets and wild dogs, i name every cottontail "don't get attached", or "thumper" for short, a rule i break multiple times in this post.

i even got to see a mom raise a baby, teaching her how to forage and how to flee (now that baby is older i'm fairly certain she is a lady lagomorph given her size) before eventually moving on and leaving her daughter on her own (as rabbits do). I like to see the juvenile once a day just to check in. I wave out the window as a way of saying "hi! i'm here. i move around and make noise but i don't chase bunny rabbits. i'm not lying in wait to pounce. if i want a bowl of soup or a new hat i can just go to the store". i'm sure she'll be having boys over in no time at all.

i take solace in the fact that she comes from hardy stock. mom was big (given her apparent age there's a chance she was a grandmother rabbit) and had a chunk out of one of her big ears. one tuff bunny. it isn't hard to imagine grandmother rabbit with a gold hoop earring. i don't know what became of her once lil' thumper was big enough to live on her own, but i like to think she found a nice nest to retire in.

• a male doing a binky after "kissing" a female on the nose. much cuter than what he was doing immediately before (enthusiastically sniffing at her hindquarters). if you've never seen a bunny's binky (it's a real term!), the feeling you get from witnessing it is the opposite of having your stomach sink and your heart skip a beat. it really feels like you witnessed something special and you have to take a look around you to make sure you're not in a disney movie.
• a territorial dispute between two juvenile males. one chased another in circles around absolutely nothing before they both slipped under the neighbor's fence smooth as butter. around 30 seconds to a minute later, they both ran back under the fence. immediately thinking "were they traveling that speed the entire time!?" i laughed so hard it startled them both and they ran off in separate directions.
• baby's first windy day: mid-scurry a fir cone fell about a foot in front of her and she was so startled she lept up into the air in a surprisingly graceful arc. then she sat where she landed for about a minute looking supremely embarrassed.
• baby's first rainy day: not once but twice i got to see a raindrop fall off a leaf and onto her back and each time she did a 180 degree spin-hop like "who touched my butt?"
• lastly, they all eat dandelions by biting the stem off at the bottom and then chewing them all the way up to the flowerhead like they're slurping up spaghetti. majestic beasts.