We have laid out hair, sprinkled mothballs, put up netting, hollered out the window and clapped hands, set up traps -- all to not much avail. The aggressor bunny hordes are still invading our land, munching our plants as they go. And they have enlisted allies from among the chipmunk, groundhog, and deer nations - the axis of evil. Diplomacy has failed, and we are not going the Neville Chamberlain route. This is war, bunnies. Be afraid; be very afraid...
Our family has never really used or thought much about guns before. But the necessity of self-defense (and a little inspiration from the Servens) has brought us to the point of mustering our army. Recently, we rendezvoused with an arms dealer (clerk at the local Walmart) and made our first weapons purchase: a $70 Remington/Crosman pellet/bb air rifle. Next on the agenda: a little boot camp rifle training.
Here are some photos from our first training camp, showing PFCs Jonathan, Hannah, Sarah, and gunny Sargent Dad. The army, operating under a tight defense budget, had to improvise a practice target: a fan box with a paper plate taped to the middle of it. A red bulls eye was added with magic marker to bring it up to military spec. Many shots were made, and most hit the box. Very few hit the plate. More training coming, troops!
Conspicuously missing from our first camp, though, was our most zealous anti-bunny warrior, Mom. She promises that she'll come up to snuff soon enough and that she'll bag more than her share of the enemy.
The winds of war are blowing....
~ Tom
Hahahahahaha! This made me laugh out loud, Tom! Thanks for sharing the family's military experiences. :) I wish you luck in your mission.
Posted by: Bet | Monday, July 24, 2006 at 05:14 AM
OK. I'm VERY afraid! Armed as you are, the bunnies have no chance of success. I'm usually the last to recommend deadly force, but I admit that Jess has pelted some squirrels around here with BBs, but the raccoons could care less. I hope your bunnies respond appropriately. Happy hunting! :)
Posted by: Rhonda | Monday, July 24, 2006 at 09:35 AM
LOL Carry on troops.
The little critters have eaten my tomatoes and squash, so let'm have it!
Posted by: lisa | Monday, July 24, 2006 at 10:33 AM
LOL!!!!! What a funny post! I loved it and would love even more to watch your "troop" in action! (and maybe a picture of the Militia Mama at war:)) Sounds like you have the makings for a good "war" novel! LOL
Posted by: Chris | Monday, July 24, 2006 at 11:14 AM
That was hilarious! I was mentally hearing a hick western accent, like in an old cowboy movie :).
Posted by: Susan | Monday, July 24, 2006 at 12:13 PM
You're going to kill poor, innocent bunnies???
LOL I hope you have good success!
Posted by: Tammy S. | Monday, July 24, 2006 at 12:24 PM
Tammy, not the innocent ones...only the guilty ones. Those would be all the brown ones. :)
(I told Tom we might get all the bunny lovers upset with us.) :)
Posted by: Deb | Monday, July 24, 2006 at 01:01 PM
LOL! Love it. Remember they are vermin. Since gardening I do not find them cute! We live in the city and can't shoot them. Our oldest knows how to set a snare. Last year one had the audacity to build a nest in my squash patch and have babies in there!
Posted by: Cindi | Monday, July 24, 2006 at 04:10 PM
Please refer to my comment of
June 1,2005 at 8:49pm:
Rabbit problem could have been long gone and you could have had some good Hasenfeffer!
I heard a good lemon herb seasoning goes well with rabbits!
Posted by: Fred | Monday, July 24, 2006 at 06:45 PM
Rabbits and deer are vermin which attract dangerous predators and eat everything in sight. Bang! We are ruthless when it comes to such critters :-).
I think maybe I'm gonna have to start a new page with pictures of Prarie Muffins packing heat. I can imagine the comments now...
Posted by: Carmon Friedrich | Tuesday, July 25, 2006 at 02:01 AM
Hilarious! I've never used a gun but my brother enjoys hunting and ''stuff'' like that so I know a bit about it. I'm sure he would love to see your gun....and I would like to see Sarah in action.....(:
Posted by: Sarah | Tuesday, July 25, 2006 at 09:26 AM
We also had a rabbit escapade . . . but we were not exactly sure how best to put it on the blog. So we didn't. : ) The fun part: We found a family of eight baby bunnies in our winter garden boxes right next to the house. The sad part: The parent bunnies were eating several crops in our garden . . . and then our dogs took to mouthing the baby rabbits . . . which was, uh, not a happy thing. Regardless, the rabbit population was significantly diminished by "the survival of the fittest" (aka dogs) and later "natural selection" (aka shotgun). Happily, we have not had problems since then. : )
Posted by: The Serven Clan | Tuesday, July 25, 2006 at 04:22 PM
Very funny! We had a time when you couldn't walk around our house without seeing 10 rabbits. After a few weeks of consideration and failed dimplomacy, we deployed the sniper team with semi-auto .22's and high powered scopes. Soon the aroma of gunpowder wafted over the yard. Amazingly, no more rabbits! I don't like killing them, but when they become a destructive pest...
Posted by: Bryce | Thursday, July 27, 2006 at 02:34 PM