I suspect there is a true reason that magicians of yore used white rabbits as subjects for their prestidigitations. White rabbits, in my experience, are quite canny.

Last spring, two young bucks came into our lives via a friend who's friend couldn't keep them any longer. The Wauna menagerie was shy of rabbits, so Hubby and I agreed. After all, rabbits are not much different than, say, goldfish for entertainment. Right? Little did I know! I know that some of you veiw rabbit as a food item, but keep in mind I live in America where pets are valued by many as children are.

These new additions were dubbed Merry and Pippen and we immediately set them free from their former 3' wide by 4 1/2' wide penitentiary wire existence to a spacious rabbit wire enclosure on the ground. The children were delighted and astonished at how much fun they had. The pen we created was a 6' round complete with three large rocks in the center to climb atop of or hide below and a weedy patchy garden for bunnies to nibble on.

We learned rabbits can do the bunny fling--a wild leap and twist in the air, followed by a race in circles. They would then throw themselves down when exhausted and bask flat in the sun. They would rather be on something (rocks, a recycled bottle recycling bin, each other...) than under something.

But for Merry (who turned out to be the grumpier of the two bunnies and not nice at all) the garden was greener on the other side of the fence. Within a week, he found a high spot in the bottom of the fence and wiggled under. Off he raced to check out the neighbor's barn and horses. I didn't find him until the next day!

We anchored the wire with big rocks and figured he wouldn't budge that. But we were wrong! For his next trick, he managed to push the bottom corner of the gate and slither through the crack to freedom. We placed a cinder block in front of the gate so you had to drag it out of the way to get in. Naturally, if we would forget once to replace it after going through, he was out again. Pippen, through this whole escape attempt was content to remain in confinement.

By this time, Pippin care down with "head tilt" (many bunny illnesses are weirdly named and fatal to bunnies, come to find out) Merry ceased his escapee ways and spent his day propping up Pippin's bad side and helping him to the food and water dishes. Bunnies have compassion?! Who would have thought?

Nit picking

My maternal grandma Pearl pulled out of high school in the 9th grade. I'm unclear whether she dropped out, or that her Dad thought 14 year old girls didn't need more education. She was the youngest child of five, the only girl, and her mom passed away during the great influenza epidemic when she was 12 years old, so Gram "took care of the men." She cooked, cleaned, sewed and read a lot.

Why this bit of trivia? I suppose that is because though she never graduated from high school, her love for reading kept her educated and interested in the world. What's more, my fondest memories were our hours-long conversations over tea and toast. You would never find her at a loss for words. We would talk about politics, religion, family, music, television and books. Later in my life the topics for discussion turned more toward relationships and raising children. And our "visits" were never less than an hour long, whether over the phone, in person or by post. (Some family members would complain about that bitterly, too!)

But one thing still strikes me to this day: She would never lean on the crutches of using cheater words such as, "Ya know", "Like", "Basically", "Uh", or swear words of any kind. A good Methodist girl, she followed the commandments of "thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain" and took it to the next level. Swear words were for the simple-minded who couldn't think of anything meaningful to say.

She and I would grouse about our pet peeves. Hers was often Internet related. She would say, "It really bugs me when these announcers on TV will say 'double u, double u, double u dot'..."And she would enunciate each syllable clearly and emphatically. It makes me smile to this day when I hear someone say it.

Hey grandma, how about this one. "The people? Who are always ending each sentence fragment? With a question in their voices?"as if to constantly reassure themselves that you are hanging on their every word by asking for your approving nod. My nine year old does this, and I know that's how the other kids speak in class. But maybe I am so distracted with my thoughts I'm not keying in to what she says.

Now it gets more difficult for me to overlook people who use the word "basically" or "like" in at least every paragraph. Come folks. Truly, everything can not really be like everything else. Like, ya know?

And in conversation that is mostly conjecture why use the word "basically"? It's got to be a warning that when I looked up "basic" in the American Heritage Dictionary it used "base" in every sentence to describe it. "--n. Something that is basic. As in ba'si.cal.ly" Thanks for the clarification! If I hear one more person who uses "basically" in their conversation and then go on for another 10 minutes, I'm gonna strangle them!

I miss you Gram. I hope you and St. Peter have good conversations! You would have been a great blogger!

Okay. After the "heaviness" of my last post, I thought I'd put up some fun photos. Here's a few snow critters that the girls created when we had our cold snap.

Daughter 1 made this snow mouse just outside of our raspberry pen. (You gotta keep those berries penned. You never know what'll happen if they get loose! ^_^)

Unfortunately, the rains started up the next day, so the mouse is just a blob of snow. But cute while it lasted!

Daughter 2 created her snow "Rosa" on the lawn of a friend. They had a great time of it, and here is the results! She poached hard from the surrounding garden, so Rosa had a hydrangea hat, fir branch hair, coal eyes, carrot nose and holly arms. She sported a variegated ivy belt and matching hair band, and tangerine buttons on her snow jacket. Very lovely, I'd say.

I changed my "personality" icon on the top of the page to the snow fairy photo I took during last January's snow. The only photo shopping I did was to crop the picture and enlarge it. Pretty cool, huh? The snow was falling in huge feathery clumps because it was relatively warm and because we were so close to the water. I have no idea why the flake was "flying" upwards. Perhaps the wind was blowing from the south and was curling upwards. At any rate, some things should not be over-thought. Here's a larger shot of it:

A recent Tacoma News Tribune ran an editorial last week caught my eye titled “Blogs VS Newspapers" written by David Sego. (Update 1/22/07. Apparently the TNT has moved the article. I'll try to find it and re-link it!)

TNT’s David Sego quoted a Wall Street Journal opinion writer, Jospeh Rago, who voices concern is that though blogs are a current, undeniable force, there appears to be a real problem with quality. (Here’s my opinion right now.) It must have been a while since Mr. Rago glanced at the tabloid rack next to the grocery check out line. Oh, sorry, he must have meant real newspapers like the Wall Street Journal!

Perhaps the article that appears in the TNT really addresses those blog writers that tackle the big political issues and who then discusses their viewpoint. To be fair, the first blog I had ever tapped into was “Power Line” through a link on the Internet. This Internet site was created by three Dartmouth grads, who as far as I know, do not get paid by a media syndicate. But you never know. They are getting a kick back from advertising now!

The gist of their blog seems to be a rehash of the news available through the American media chain, and then is filtered through their own dogma. How is this any different from the newspaper political editorials? I was fascinated by Power Line’s strength of conviction and the apparent depth of their understanding about what is going on in the news. Do I agree with everything they say? No more than I agree with our local newspaper columnists who write about similar issues. Do they reread what they have written and use spell check before they post? Absolutely.

Admittedly, I am no political pundit. I rarely have a strong political party stance and am the first to admit that I am woefully ignorant about the general machinations of our political system.

Mr. Rago, here’s the thing. I read blogs for an altogether different reason than you. I read them to get a taste of what an average person’s daily life is like in another country. I love to think about what someone with a sense of humor has written. I appreciate the angst that is out in blogs there also. Very little worth having is without struggle of some kind, and I am repeatedly touched by those who share their struggles.

Like you Mr. Rago, I’m easily bored with the badly written and the schmaltzy wedding and new baby blogs; the mySpace crowd that try to branch out and away from the mySpace format, but brings it along with them any way; the poets and the peep shows; the religious preaching. Sometimes, though, you’ll run across a gem that informs and entertains. Is it news? Not in any real media sense.

Do I need a media mogul to select what I should be reading? Not with the advent of the Internet. As always, I will glance through a newspaper as I come across it. I will read the elucidating editorials. I’ll admire the photos and cheer the good news and ponder the bad. But for an unfettered glance at the world, I’ll read the gritty blogs of people very much like me.

Happy "week after de-lurking week"! For those of you who were unaware of "delurking" as I was, it seems that we folk who browse through people's blogs but do not comment while we are there, are called lurkers. Much like peeping Toms (or Janes) we want to take a visit into other people's lives without the mess or fuss.

So the story goes that if you regularly check into someone's blog, you should post a comment on what they have written...or just introduce yourself. I found that unless you are a card-carrying blogger, you can't post a comment at the bottom of a blog entry. But if you aren't a blogger, now you can say your howdys (?) in the chat box to the right of this column. Do you see it? Its over there!--------------------------->

The problem now is that I've procrastinated so long in writing a new entry, Delurking week is over. Sigh.

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It always makes my family nervous when I post names and photos of loved ones in my blog. I have always felt more comfortable behind the camera than in front of one, so I do have empathy. Really! But my first and foremost reason for writing a blog in the is to stay in contact with my far flung family and friends.

And I am REALLY BAD at writing letters. Besides, you know what they say about pictures being worth 1,000 words? So "Hi" to my Thailand teacher friend! "Hi to my Australian friend (and her great family!)" "Hi to my sisters in the corners of our great state!" "Hi" to my Snow Bird parents who are, at this moment basking in the southern sun and applying yet another coat of sunscreen to their sunburned beaks!

And "Hi" to all of you who admire Tucker the wonder dog and stop in for dog biscuits for your four-legged fur people! Thanks for visiting the Waunaspot~~

Hi all! Here is a 2006 family photo for those of you grousing (sister!) that we never send you an updated picture. So sorry! I'll have to break out the digital camera and get a really good one for 2007. Daughter1 and Daughter2 are currently taller with longer hair, and Hubby sports a dashing moustache/goatee combo that resembles Sean Connery! Sadly, I'm much the same as last year. I'm always tempted to chop my hair short and bleach it blond, but I'm just not the adventurous...yet.

Can you still wish friends and family a happy new year, even if the New Year is a week old? I hope so, because true to my nature I am running a bit behind. Made any resolutions yet?

Isn't interesting how we try to explain away or justify our tendencies? I have a mountain of laundry to do, my garden is a swamp with last years flower stalks still poking through, my car needs a good cleaning and the dog needs a bath. AND I'm running behind on my Christmas cards, thank-yous, and, well, "Happy New Year"s. (Hang on. I don't think that last bit was grammatically correct!) So now its resolution time:

• Sort and wash those clothes
• Get the muck boots out and get to raking
• Vacuum the car and use window cleaner (doggy nose prints!)
• Take the dog to Petco and use their do-it-yourself wash station
• Loose 10 pounds

(Wait. Where did that last one come from?!)

For those of you who are interested, I found the link to the Tacoma News Tribune article, "Blog vs Newspaper". I'll link to it here, once I post this piece and try to shorten the rebuttal I wrote in response. I'd never make a columnist. I spend too much time thinking about what I want to say, and I'd never make the deadlines! Another resolution?