The Bunch Run A Nature Preserve

All our pets are just weird. She even likes it when the sink drips. It's actually how we keep her quiet when we lock her up.

Ok. Not Really, but I swear sometimes it feels like it. We have crawfish (like literally all over the yard and I can't get rid of them!). We also run a bunny brothel. We must have, no joking, 50 grown rabbits and this past week I have found 3 more nests with 15 baby bunnies! Now sadly, the horses took care of three of them. The bunny mama made her nest too far from the wall in the horse stall and well, I am sure you can imagine. However, I found one nest with SEVEN bunnies in it that had been laid in my onion bucket, which is 3ft tall and 3 ft wide so I really wish I could have seen super pregnant mama bunny jump in there to have them. She basically just had them on top of everything since the bucket has no grass for her to cover them with. Imagine my surprise when I started watering my onions the morning they were born and the bucket started to move and squeal (apparently newborns don't like cold water). I went and got some hay to cover them with so they wouldn't burn in the sun (or get eaten by the hawks). When mama came for her daily visit to feed them, she tucked them all in under the hay I gave them. I thought for sure the 3 inches of rain would have drowned them, since it is a BUCKET. However, the hay kept them nice and dry and now all 7 have their eyes open and are starting to hop. They are sooooo cute, but they need to grow up and leave my house. The neighbor has 120 acres. He can support them. The surviving 5 bunnies in the horse stall are also starting to hop. I don't really worry about them because their mama picked a good spot for their nest. 

This was how mama left them. Completely exposed. They now are nice and comfortable in some hay I put over them that mama later made a nest out of. There is 7 of them.

In contrast, the mama who made a nest for her 5 babies in the horse stall, lined her nest with nice soft fur and buried them deep. In fact, I only found them when I accidentally raked them up while I was cleaning out the stall chips. No, worries, they all are fine.

We also have a bird's nest in the chicken coop that we had to put a baby bird back in. The wrens built their nest in the door of the coop so when it is windy I am sure those babies are almost bouncing out. They have had a nest on the front porch for over a year. I want to clean out their nest, but THEY NEVER LEAVE! They also ALWAYS have 3 parents taking care of the nest. Even the ones in the chicken coop have 3 adults. It is really weird. Every year Field Larks also nest in the pasture. Field Larks lay 3-5 eggs just on the ground out in the open. How the horses don't just step on them I will never know. Mama doesn't really lay on the eggs. When the eggs hatch the birds are born with feathers (like chickens) and can run, but not fly. The babies then spend the next month learning from mama bird before they fly off to start their own life. It is so cute to watch mama bird and her 4 chicks walking around in a line.

T won Offensive Player of the Year for his basketball team. He had more than twice as many points for the season as the next best offensive player. I am really proud of him. He works very hard all the time on his basketball skills. He is working especially hard now at being able to dunk. I think only two guys on the 16U team have a higher vertical than T does (and he is working hard to fix that). His goal is to dunk at next year's try outs in August. He is really close. He can dunk on a 9'5" goal now and touch the rim at 10. He just needs a couple more inches. I really think he can do it. Hopefully by next year I will be ready for all the driving that basketball season entails.

That's my boy. No congratulatory handshake, just some weird wave off. Uhhh, Boys!

We are all looking forward to not only our Galveston vacation, but being done with school for the year. L just ordered her senior shirt and is really excited that her last year in high school is next year. However, I think since she is on the younger side that we will wait to send her off to college (unlike her sister she likes to spread her wings). I think we will have her take some online classes toward her degree/certification for at least the first year. I really am pushing her to get into sonography. They make good money and it is only a two year degree. Plus, they are always in demand. Healthcare is a good field to get into. She wants to work in theater though which has almost no job openings and tons of people wanting to do it.

D has a busy month this month with all his training days. He came home so tired the other night from being outside ALL day long in the sun that I felt really bad for him. Luckily, the rest of the training week was mostly indoors.