The hole in the sand

trying to get in after whatever it was proved impossible!

After I got back Sunday night I went out to find Ginger. He came when I called him but he was acting weird, like he was after dropping acid! giddy and erratic. Everyone who has met him and is reading this is now saying, "giddy and erratic? sure that's his normal state!" not to mention socially awkward since he wont make friends with you until you have at least visited several times! No lads, more giddy, more erratic than usual. Eventually though the fecker came in (fecker not a swear word, still off swearing for lent, swearing and chocolate- O God will lent EVER BE OVER?) and I thought no more of it until Monday evening.

As I live on a permanent construction site there is always a pile of wood, or a pile of stones, or now ten tonnes of sand lying around. Walking past the pile of sand on my way to the blackcurrants I spotted a nicely dug hole with a hill of sand neatly piled up outside. Just as I was staring at it thinking WTF? Seamus arrived over and said exactly what I was thinking, what the hell is THAT and (more important) what made it?

waiting for a showdown Ginger on guard

Mink? no river close by, fox or badger-fierce unlikely that these shy animals would pick a pile of sand next to a house to set up home. rat? too big a hole, and why anyway? there were lots of other place to hide or escape from Ginger who curiously enough had been sitting on top of the heap of sand on and off all day, something he only does when there is something worth hanging around for. That left only one animal it could be, only one daft enough to burrow into a pile of builders sand to escape a cat-a rabbit!

We have a bit of a mixed experience with rabbits. When the cats were small Socks and Ginger would regularly go down the field in springtime and catch baby bunnies. This part of Limerick seems particularly rich in rabbits, so much so that a field I walk by I have christened pairc na coinini (field of the rabbits) because of the ridiculous amount playing openly at any given time.Anyway the cats would bring them home, drop them and wait for them to take off again so they could continue the game in the comfort of their own garden. It was hard to watch so between us we often took rabbits off Ginger and released them. They are really soft and fluffy by the way. But there was no chance of getting rabbits off Socks- so rabbits were murdered and once she even managed to eat half a one, although it knocked the stuffing out of her and took several hours of a nap to digest.

rabbit droppings on the road

Rescuing rabbits-bad idea! The bloody rabbits came back maybe to thank us, maybe to gang up on Socks and have their revenge for her murderous rampage, we will never know because they came upon a fine army of transplanted rocket, lettuces and salad greens and stopped to mow them before reaching the house. Well I can tell you that changed my tune on bunnies from fluffy cute animal to enemy no 2, (after slugs of course). This morning I saw a gang of them playing up the hill, and on my walk lots of droppings on the road. Its times like this I miss the viciousness of Socks and lament Gingers slide into early retirement. So beware you all who like your lettuce-rabbit season is upon us!

What happened with the hole in the sand? After unsuccessfully trying to dig the rabbit out (looks like he tunnelled a whole network of passages in the sand heap) we closed up the hole enough to let him out but keep ginger from trying to get in and potentially start a cave in. Next morning the hole had increased and fresh tracks led away from the sand pile. Hopefully that's the last I will see or hear of rabbits this year.

rabit from www.rte.ie/waterways

The worst part?

Ginger probably brought him into the garden in the first place! bloody cats.