Bunnies Beneath the Holly Tree

 

by Pa Rock

Retiree

By the time the trash man got here at  7:30 this morning on his weekly run, I already had almost half of my 10,000 total steps in for the day completed.   That's not great, but I am on track to make the daily goal.  I have just barely been back two weeks from my drive-about, and and it took most of that time to work myself back up to ten thousand per day.  I finally hit it two days ago, and today should mark three successful days in a row.  

The weather here is officially hot and humid, so mornings are the best time to be outside hiking up and down the driveway and watching the world fly by as my neighbors rush to work - or Walmart.

I was pleasantly distracted during this morning's walk by two bunnies who hopped, about ten minutes apart, from behind the garage and over to a holly tree that is twenty-five feet or so from that building.  My son planted the young holly tree over the corpse of a pet goat five or six years ago.  The tree, conical-shaped, was about five-feet tall at the time.  The goat was un-embalmed - a green funeral - and his body fed the tree during its early years at The Roost.    Now that evergreen is over ten feet in height and still growing taller and stronger with every passing season.  It's goat-tough!   The tree's lowest branches are on the ground, and it forms and impenetrable refuge for small animals.   Beneath the holly tree is a safe place for little bunnies to relax and play.  I'm glad  they have discovered it.

We were still having rain up until a couple of days ago, so everything remains lush and green. That could quickly change, of course, but for today things outside resemble the green, green summers of my youth.  This afternoon would be a wonderful time to sit on the riverbank, perhaps with a line in the water, and pull cold beers from an ice chest until the sun sets peacefully in the west.

Or maybe just take a nap in the air-conditioned comfort of my small room in my small house.

But first I have to get those steps in:  Hup, two, three, four.  Hup, two, three, four!