We were wondering this past week where the rabbit had gone. We've been putting carrots out for him for months, and they're usually gone in an hour or so after they've been put out. Irving always shovels a clear space for the rabbit at the middle of the back fence, since that's where we often see him/her. It occurred to Irving that since the last big snowfall perhaps access has been hampered for the little fellow. He can't slip through the slats at the bottom of the fence closing in our backyard.

So Irving began leaving the gate open to give him freer access. But the carrots languished (frozen solid) uneaten and left us puzzled. What had happened to the little guy? Then yesterday, there he was sitting on the porch. Sitting absolutely still. Irving had put a carrot out on the porch as well, snapped into smaller pieces. But the rabbit appeared not to be interested in eating though he had nibbled the ends, and there was cubed French toast left over from the morning's breakfast, along with plenty of peanuts.

We've seen him on the porch before, eating peanuts. He appeared yesterday in the late afternoon, and seemed comfortable enough. The presence of squirrels never seemed to have bothered him when we've seen him there on previous occasions. And then he returned and was there on the porch serenely seated and again not eating, just sitting there as though contentedly when we went up to bed after midnight.

Irving feels responsible for the well-being of the little wild creatures that come along from time to time. The forested ravine runs alongside the street our house is on. The houses across the street from ours back on to the crest of the ravine and it drops away sharply beyond their back yards. It isn't too far a trip for raccoons, squirrels, skunks and rabbits to visit when they feel like it.

We've noticed that the cardinals, unlike the chickadees and juncos that come along in late morning, early afternoon, tend to come along just before dusk falls. Whenever they come, and however they travel, we delight in seeing them. Not sure how we'd feel about seeing a coyote on the porch, but that hasn't happened yet.

Jackie and Jillie would certainly have a lot to say about their presence.