Bunnies & New Pets.

 Last week was an off week, to be sure, and I'm glad to be done with it. Just a bunch of small things to start the week off and then it ended with the husband's grandfather passing. He was 95 and it was less of a surprise and more of a blessing, but sad nonetheless. Another WWII vet gone. We always visit the husband's father at the veteran's cemetery  for Memorial's anyway so it was doubly poignant this year.:(

In between times, I busied myself with knitting bunnies. I do love a good obsessive knit to take my mind off things. Something you can get lost in. These patterns were just released by Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits the week before and, originally, I purchased them just to support her with not much intention of knitting them up. (She uses her bunny sales to help with the cost of caring for her autistic son.) I've done a few similar toys years ago for my niece but she's a full blown teenager now and has no more need for my stuffies. *sad* 

 

But then I thought, why not? They're fun and intensely detailed (read: lots of work to weave in 351324123 yarn ends) and a few extra bunnies around the house isn't exactly a BAD thing, right? And I know from past experience that her patterns are impeccable.

So I got myself a sack of worsted weight inexpensive wool yarn from Knitpicks and set to work. (Which I would not recommend. It is cheap and it is wool but it's works as well as you would expect from cheap wool. Should have sprung the extra $$$ for some Cascade 220. Live and learn. /shrug) Of course, I still have a sackful of yarn left so I might have to knit a few more of these guys to burn through more of this yarn. I'm already working on another batch of bunny bits to be sewn up when I have time. :)

Also, we have some new 'pets'. Not very cuddly ones though. Heh.

 A pair of Cooper's hawks have come back to nest in our yard again, after a year's absence, this time RIGHT over my bedroom window/driveway.

(unzoomed view from my window)

The leaves *just* finished filling in so you can't see the nest as well from my bedroom anymore but I still have a clear shot of them when sitting on the deck. (Luckily, there are no branches in the way from that angle.) We've had great fun watching them build the nest out of twigs and switching off on hunting and incubating the eggs. Unfortunately though, I think there is another pair of hawks nesting nearby because there has been a lot of fighting this week, with adults zooming all over and tons of squawking, etc. I think they keep trying to attack one another or something. The fighting was so bad on Monday that one of the adults seemed stunned or something because I found one sitting - not standing- in the driveway for a long while, maybe gathering his wits? He flew off and seemed ok though.  Can't wait to see if any of the eggs eventually fledge. They can have as many as five babies survive. EXCITING. (And NOISY. Very, very noisy. Wow, do these guys make LOTS of noise all_day_long!!)

Not as fun: I think they are picking off and/or scaring off a lot of the birds that come to our feeders. 0_o

But on the plus side, I haven't seen any squirrels around either. lol

Also: Maggie is no longer allowed on the deck by herself. Too big for them to eat but I'm not taking any changes. :)