The Tail of the Jackalope and the Great Cowardly Dog

In an effort to pull myself from the reaches of this years bout with Seasonal Affective Disorder, or as I like to call it, "Why does everyone seem so hell bent on annoying me this time of year?" I decided to crawl out of my cave Sunday morning and take my dog for a walk.

Vermont Cabin Fever be damned.

My housing development backs up to a desert hillside that is pretty ripe with critters and rodents of all sort. More often than not, when I leave for work in the morning, bunnies skitter away from the flowers they were grazing upon in the front yard. Cute, fuzzy, cotton tailed, little bunnies.

So I took the dog out. I had him on an electronic collar and not a leash. There were no cars, he couldn't get too far and he likes to wander. I glanced up to see Freddy and a bunny almost nose to nose with one another, sniffing and wiggling like they were BFF's, getting ready to film some new version of, Bunnies Homeward Bound. Neither seemed to be bothered with the presence of the other. I figured there must have been some cross-species bonding going on during all of those morning continental breakfasts at the flowerbed.

I stepped closer with caution, not wanting to disturb this inter-species Geneva Convention. However, the once cute little jackrabbit with one hop transformed from cute and cotton tailed, skipped right past jackalope, and wolverine, then landed squarely on the freaking Chupacabra. There was hissing, and claws. Spinning and yelping. I'm not sure what or how it all happened, but within seconds Freddy made two laps around my feet then took off as if to say, "WTF? This biznatch is crazy- I'm outta here!" His nub of a tail tucked as tightly between his legs as possible, and scooting away with his butt tight to the ground, just for safety's sake.

This is the part where it becomes apparent why I mentioned he is on an electric collar, not a leash. At this point he would have successfully tied my legs together and taken off dragging me neatly behind him. Laugh if you want- it's happened before. It didn't take long for me to follow Freddy's fearless lead. You know how on cartoons when a persons legs move so fast they just become a complete circular blur and then they take off, practically leaving their torso behind? That is not a completely fictional phenomena.

This one goes to you nature...but I will not be defeated.

Round 1-Chupacabra