The first days of the new year were warm and springlike, a portent, I hope for what lies ahead. It was great to be outside with temperatures in the 50's and 60's in January. I’d love to have an early (or at least on time) spring with no winter relapses, no late killing frosts, and a bumper crop of apples this year. But that’s all weeks, even months away. By the end of the week winter began to reassert itself, but it was nice to have a little taste of spring while it lasted.
The Thayns ended up leaving on Sunday evening instead of Monday. It was a good thing that they did because when the arrived home that night, they found their basement flooded from a broken water pipe. We were sad to see them go, but we knew we were getting together again in a few days.
We were all home on Monday, it being the federal observance of New Year’s Day. It was a sunny, warm day, so I spent the morning taking down the outdoor Christmas lights. That’s a job that usually waits until spring most years, but 65° in January is an opportunity not to be missed. Now all the festive vestiges of the holidays have been cleared away.
That afternoon, as a silly treat for the chickens, we took all the gingerbread houses we’d made last weekend and set them in the chicken yard. We thought it would be fun to see the chickens destroy them, like a flock of feathered Godzillas attacking a village in a Japanese monster movie. The chickens were hesitant at first, but soon warmed up to the task. It took them the rest of the day, but they eventually devoured them.
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| The chickens destroying the gingerbread houses. |
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| Godzilla destroying Tokyo. |
On Tuesday morning it was foggy. It rained hard most of the day. I realized as I listened to the rain pouring down that, if it had been a bit colder, in the low 30's instead of the 50's, we would have had a blizzard instead and been up to our hips in snow. I was grateful for that twenty degree difference. That morning, when I looked out the kitchen window, instead of seeing birds at the feeders, it was all mammals. There were the usual three gray squirrels that come to feed every day, and there were two rabbits. I don’t usually see rabbits during the day. In fact, I don’t usually see them at all, just the evidence they leave behind – footprints and droppings or, during the growing season, the damaged plants they’ve eaten. These rabbits must have been very hungry to be out in broad daylight. I tried to take a picture of all of them, but the rabbits were very wary and ran off. The squirrels didn’t care.
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| The three gray squirrels that always come our bird feeders. |
According to the ancient Chinese Zodiac Calendar, 2023 is the year of the Rabbit. According to Chinese custom, people born in the year of the Rabbit (1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023) have certain characteristics.
“Rabbits (the people, not the animal) are predicted to be gentle, quiet, elegant, and alert as well as quick, skillful, kind, patient, and very responsible, sometimes reluctant to reveal their minds to others and having a tendency to escape reality, but always faithful to those around them. Male Rabbits are characterized by always treating people politely, with a gentle smile that makes people feel that they are credible and sincere. When encountering tough difficulties, they are never discouraged but instead remain persistent in their endeavors to find solutions. This means they eventually achieve enviable success. Female Rabbits are personified as follows: apart from having a pretty and demure appearance, they have a pure heart.”
I was not born in a Rabbit year. I am a Dog, but supposedly I am compatible with Rabbit people. My daughter Rachel is a Rabbit, and oddly, she has always loved rabbits. She and I are very compatible. Other Rabbits in my family are my granddaughter Ellie, cousin Rob, two brother-in-laws, several nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews. As with most of this sort of thing, some of them fit the Rabbit profile, and some most definitely do not.
In Japan, at the new year (Shōgatsu), they send out postcards called nengajo that usually portray the zodiac animal for the new year. Back in 2020 I asked Miriam to draw one that we could send out. That was the year of the rat. She has drawn one for me every year since then, but we haven’t been very good about actually printing them and mailing them out.
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| The nengajo Miriam made for 2020, the Year of the Rat. |
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| The one she made for 2021, the Year of the Ox. |
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| 2022, the Year of the Tiger. |
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| 2023, the Year of the Rabbit. |
All of this got me to thinking about rabbits and what the difference is between a rabbit, a hare, and a coney (that’s what Samwise Gamgee calls them in The Two Towers), so I did a little research (surprise!). Rabbit, hare, and bunny, are now the words we use for the animal once commonly called a coney (properly pronounced like the word honey, not like phoney, sorry Sean Astin). The word rabbit originally referred to the young, not the full-grown version, of the coney. I looked up the etymology of the word rabbit and it seems it is a confusing mystery.
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| Samwise with a brace of coneys. |
So, I wondered, what is the difference between a rabbit and a hare? It turns out they are completely different species. Even though they look a lot alike, they are actually members of the same order of mammals Lagomorpha, and family Leporidae, but not the same genus. Hares are in the genus Lepus, and rabbits are in the genus Sylvilagus. There are significant differences in the appearance and behavior of rabbits and hares. Baby rabbits are called kittens or bunnies, and are born hairless, blind, and totally dependent on their mothers. Baby hares are called leverets, and are born with fur and sight, and can move on their own within an hour of their birth. Hares tend to be larger than rabbits, with longer hind legs and longer ears. While a rabbit’s fur stays the same color year-round, many hares change color from brown or gray in the summer to white in the winter. Rabbits and hares tend to eat different foods. Rabbits prefer softer grasses and vegetation, hares will also eat bark and twigs. Rabbits make their homes in burrows underground, often in communities called warrens, while hares make their nests above ground. Only the Cottontail Rabbit is known to make above-ground nests similar to hares. Their different living habits make rabbits and hares respond to danger differently. Rabbits prefer to run underground and hide. Hares use their long, strong hind legs to run away from danger. Jack-rabbits are actually hares. My nemesis is the Eastern Cottontail Rabbit (Sylvìlagus floridanus) that ravages my garden. That’s what was under my feeders that morning.
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| Hare vs Rabbit. |
On Thursday the weather began to get cold again. By that night, there was snow in forecast again and our brief foretaste of spring was gone. It was nice to see bare ground again for a few days. On Friday morning we awoke to find the world white again. It was a very pretty snow, clean and soft, but I can’t say I was happy to see it. We were leaving to drive down to the Thayn’s for the weekend and Stacey hates driving in the snow.
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| Friday morning. |
By the time we left on Friday afternoon, it was still snowy, but the roads were clear. We arrived at the Thayn’s house in time for a late dinner. The reason for our trip was to celebrate June’s eighth birthday and attend her baptism. Tabor’s mother arrived from Idaho late that night and joined the party.
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| Driving down to Thayn's house. |
Saturday was the big day. In the morning we drove into Pittsburgh and went to the National Aviary. We love birds and we had a great time looking at all the beautiful birds there. When we got back from that, we dressed and went over to the chapel in Greensburg for the baptism. It was a nice service. We started out in the Relief Society room, but so many people came that we had to move to the chapel. Stacey and Nana (Tabor’s mother) gave talks. Miriam and Hannah sang a duet. Tabor baptized June.
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| June and Mabel and flamingos. |
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| Enthralled by a beautiful bee eater. |
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| At the National Aviary. |
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| Tabor and June. |
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| After the baptism. |
After the baptism, we went back to the Thayn’s for pizza and to celebrate June’s birthday. We played a fun game, Pass the Parcel, that Sarah prepared. Then we sang happy birthday to June (her birthday was actually on Thursday) and she opened gifts.
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| Pizza. |
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| Pass the Parcel. |
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| Happy birthday June! |
All weekend there were games and food and fun. At church this morning June was confirmed a member of the church. When we got back from church, there was just time to eat lunch and then we headed for home. We arrived home at 7:00. I went down in the dark to check on the chickens and collect the eggs. Now we’re home. The weekend was fast and fun and now another week stretches before us.
