Wayne was spreading fertilizer on the grass in the back yard today, when he saw a big ball of fur and grass that appeared to be in an indentation in the ground. He started to scoop it up with his hand, thinking it was the leavings of a hawk meal, and a baby cottontail rabbit bounded out from under it. Upon further inspection, he saw 2 more tiny bunnies huddled in a shallow hole under the fuzz. They looked as if they were nearly big enough to be on their own. Since Wayne had just spread fertilizer over them and into their nest, we took them to a local veterinarian who works with wildlife experts. They foster young or wounded animals until they can be on their own.

The nest was right in the middle of our backyard. Before Wayne moved things around out there, they had been squarely under the middle of the kids' trampoline; in the shade, and out of the view of the hawks that have recently taken up residence here. Maybe that is why Kaiser, our elderly wirehaired dachshund, has been acting nervous about going into the back yard lately.