Belinda Says Hay: “Weather”

Hello. It's Belinda.

It all started a few days before Christmas.

I was sleeping on my rug beside the furnace. "Soundly."

Next thing you know I hear thumping.

BAM

I opened my eyes. The room was dark except for a slight glow from the window above the dryer.  

BAM

Then I heard another sound. Like tiny claws tapping the window.

BAM

The thumping was Little Fang. I rolled over and yelled toward her pen.

Stop that! I'm trying to sleep!

The tapping on the window got louder.

"Someone's throwing stones at the house," said Little Fang.

I stood, turning my left ear to the window.  I heard a "whoooo," and the rattle of metal.

That's not stones, I said. It's sleet. And wind blowing into the dryer vent.

Just then a draft hit my legs. It felt like ice water.

"I'm cold," said Little Fang.

"Go tell that lady."

She meant our roommate. 

I'm not going to bother her, I said. It's the middle of the—

Suddenly the ceiling creaked. 

Our roommate. Walking across the living room, then the kitchen.

She hit the light switch and I squinted as she walked down the steps. 

"Batten down the hatches, ladies!"

I tried to make out what she was carrying. Her arms were wrapped around a jumbo load of sheets or blankets. 

Of all times to do laundry, I thought. Ice is slamming against the house and—

Once again I stopped in my tracks. Because it wasn't a load of wash after all. 

If you read my blogs last summer, you might remember that Little Fang was upset about the Fourth of July fireworks. So my roommate hung thick black curtains over the window and door to muffle the noise.

And that's what my roommate left her warm bed to carry down to us. The curtains.

Turns out they do a good job of blocking cold drafts. They make sleet quieter too.

Little Fang and I watched as she covered the window. Then she covered the door, and pushed a rolled blanket against the bottom.

"OK! Snug as a bug. Go back to sleep, bunnies."  

She walked upstairs. 

When she turned off the light, the room was dark as a burrow. Nothing was getting past those curtains.

Speaking of burrow.

The next morning, when I went upstairs, I couldn't help myself.

I walked to the front window and looked outside at the storm.

It was so bright. I've never seen anything like it.

I immediately started to worry about the outdoor rabbits. How would they eat?

I know what it's like to deal with a bad storm.

A few years ago, the bottom level flooded and I lost my entire stash. 

My roommate told me the wild rabbits would be fine. I wanted to give them some of my pellets but she said "pellets are for indoor bunnies."

I tried to stop thinking about it but there's a "wrinkle" to not thinking about outdoor rabbits. The more you try not to, the more you remember they don't have any pellets.

My roommate closed the blinds so I couldn't look outside again. By dinnertime, the snow and wind had finally stopped.

The next morning, my roommate raised the blinds again. A few minutes later, she called me from the top of the stairs.

"Your Christmas gift arrived a day early," she said.

I walked up and joined her at the window. We looked outside.

The front yard was covered in snow. And the snow was covered with dozens of tracks from rabbits running, playing and otherwise going about their business.

She was right. It was the best gift I could imagine.

Until I opened Abigail's present, shipped all the way from California.

It's not what you'd expect. "To put it mildly."

I'll write about that in next week's blog. 

Sincerely,

Belinda

Spokesrabbit, Small Pet Select
Belinda@smallpetselect.com