So, I know I’m posting twice in one day, which is unusual. But I have to let you all know about this morning’s Bunny Incident.

Our lawn is ridiculously long, so Neal went out this morning in between rain showers to at least get the front lawn done (our front always grows faster than our backyard). I heard our lawn mower sputter and go off, and just assumed it stalled, like it always does when our lawn is too long.

Then Neal called my name through the front screen door.

“Megan. Megan! Come here, quick!”

I jet to the door and he points to a tiny baby bunny huddled right beside our front porch. I opened up the front door and he sprinted off under our pine tree. We then spotted another baby bunny huddled in the long grass of our front lawn, the part Neal had not cut yet.

And then we spotted the nest – in the MIDDLE of the front lawn. Neal had seen an adult rabbit sitting in our front lawn a couple of days ago. I remember because he remarked how weird it was that it was sitting in the middle of the lawn, nowhere near any cover. Well, turns out it was sitting on its nest. Will someone please tell me what possesses wild rabbits to make their nests in the @#$%## MIDDLE OF THE LAWN?

So anyway, Neal said he was mowing and all of a sudden, he saw a baby bunny dart out of the ground right beside the mower. Luckily it ran in the opposite direction of the mower blades. Another bunny followed him. Neal had pushed the mower literally RIGHT beside the nest. Thank God he didn’t run over it or we’d have total carnage on our hands. And it happens. I think just about everyone has a story about lawn mowers and rabbits that ends tragically. My best friend Andi recently had her own Bunny Incident, with tragic results.

So, we shooed both bunnies under the pine tree. We checked out the nest and found at least two baby bunnies still in the burrow.

So Neal made me stand outside and watch the nest while he mowed to make sure no other bunnies ran out. I protested, because I was so concerned I would witness something horrible. However, Neal wouldn’t hear of it. I’ll tell you – Neal has the biggest heart for animals. He stepped on Simone’s paw by accident one time and proceeded to hold her for 10 minutes, rubbing her paw to make sure she was OK.

He’s like that with pretty much all animals, except maybe dogs. He’s really not a canine lover, HAHA. So anyway, he said if I didn’t stand and watch guard while he mows, I could either have an unmowed lawn or a lawn littered with dead baby bunnies.

I chose to stand guard.

So I was watching the lawn and I saw one of the bunnies that we shooed under the pine tree dart out from under it and toward the curb. Then he disappeared. I alerted Neal and he shut off the lawn mower. He walked over to the curb and looked at me.

“He fell through the grate.”

“What?” I said.

“You might not want to come over and look,” he said. “He fell through the grate.”

I ran over anyway and looked down and the poor baby bunny was huddled in the corner of the sewer drain, his little sides heaving.

Oh boy, did we both feel sick to our stomachs. Look, I know that they are wild animals and survival of the fittest and all that shit. But bet me if I’m not going to get upset at picturing a poor helpless bunny starving to death or drowning in a sewer drain. God, it’d probably be better to just run him over with the mower.

So Neal and I decided to perform Operation Bunny Grate Rescue. Neal tested out the grate and found he could lift it. I ran inside to get some gloves to handle the bunny. I’m sure I looked crazy to people driving by, I was wearing shorts, a T-shirt and red cotton gloves, HAHA. Kinda wish I had pics of this, but we were in rescue mode.

So anyway, Neal lifted up the grate. Chunks of dirt and stones crashed down on the bunny, but he didn’t move. I laid down on my stomach, stuck my hand down, and got a hold of his tiny little body and lifted him out of the drain. He didn’t really move, but I knew he was breathing. I ran back to the nest and plopped him in. He kind of nestled down into the burrow.

Neal insisted I go inside and read about baby bunnies. We were concerned about the mother abandoning them because I now had my scent on them. Some googling showed me that is a myth, and mothers rarely abandon their babies. I sure hope that’s true. They do recommend placing separated bunnies back at their nest.

So looks like Neal and I did the right thing. I sure hope so. We haven’t seen the mother back at the nest, but my research said the mother doesn’t come back very often. Plus, they might be old enough to venture from the nest, see as how they did run out on their own.

So that was our big excitement for the day. I mean, seriously, how cute are these babies? Could you leave it huddling in a grate? I doubt it.