The burned prairie is greening and growing.

Last night, I flipped on the back-yard flood-lights and let Pax out for his pre-bedtime last chance. We were standing on the patio, thinking about it, when we heard a squealing noise. Then a large rabbit came out of the brush and ran right at us. I waved my hands and shouted, "stupid rabbit," because any rabbit that comes running right at Pax is a stupid rabbit. At the last minute it wised up and veered off across Vi's back yard, but with Pax nipping at its pompon. Eventually, some time later, Pax came back and rejoined me on the patio. And then we heard the squealing once again. And then, once again, Pax took off. A few minutes later he returned with a smallish rabbit in his mouth.

Too many rabbits for one night, is what I think. It took some creative psychology and a little insistence on my part to get Pax to give up his new toy and come back inside, but eventually he did. He is such a good dog, but I have to admit that his dreams during this afternoon's nap seemed especially animated. I imagine he was still in the back yard last night..

Cut the grass today (or as Unkie would say people in the old country say) "mowed de lawn" for the first time in in this fine year. The grass didn't really, really need mowing, and the lawn service is shecduled to begin in a week, but it felt good to run the mower, which started not the 5th pull. The result is nice. Not wild, which is what I think should be the ultimate right choice, but civilized, and neat, which, embarrassingly, looks good to me. I think it all harks back to our ancestry in Africa, and when we moved out of the forest onto the savanna, and learned to love short grass tall under trees.