We have two cats. Freida is a fluffy Maine Coonish sort of cat - she has the ruff, the ear and toe hair, the fringe on the legs, etc. We got her as a kitten from an animal rescue group and we often joke that it would have been easier to adopt a human infant - we had a home visit, had to write an essay about our philosophy about pet ownership, etc. But we prevailed, although she had already passed through the insanely adorable kitten stage and into young cathood by the time the rescue finally and reluctantly delivered her to our door, still peeping into corners to find a kitten consuming reptile or some other hazard we had neglected to mention in their five page application.

She was an only cat until she was eight years old and completely spoiled and totally oriented on her peeps, a very loving cat. Seven years ago I got it into my head that we were being very selfish by only having one cat and depriving Freida from the companionship of another feline to cuddle with and commune with when the peeps weren't around to confab about our human shortcomings and foibles. So we went and introduced Eddie, the Russian Blue into the household as a rambunctious kitten from the litter of a friends cat. The mother of Eddie was famously lax and pawned off as much of her maternal duties as possible to a very conscientious rat terrier dog who took over as au pair to the kittens. To this day we maintain that Eddie was imprinted and self-identifies as canine as opposed to feline and he is as close to having a cat in a dog suit as I can imagine.

To say that the cats never took to one another would be the understatement of the century. I always say that Freida missed her opportunity to impose her will on Eddie when he was small to lay out the ground rules about who was head of the house and Alpha cat. Instead she ignored his efforts to play and interact and met every overture with a hiss and a swat and looked at us with eyes that implored us to remove this nuisance. Of course, by the time it had become evident that the two kitties would never ever be buddies, it was way too late to disengage from Eddie, who became the weirdest, most entertaining cat I have encountered in a lifetime of cat ownership and who had firmly established himself as Vice-Alpha cat in charge of our home. In Eddie's version the dominance of the household is that my husband is number 1, he is number 2, I am number 3 and poor Freida brings up the rear at #4. At night my husband and Eddie occupy one loveseat and Freida and I occupy the other in what we call our version of an eight grade sock hop, where the two sexes avoid intermingling.

Now as to their political preferences. We are convinced that Freida is Ready for Hillary and looks forward to smashing any and all glass ceilings and removing the oppression of male dominance. For some reason, Freida just looks like she would wear pantsuits if she transmogrified into human form. Eddie we believe started out as being a Rand Paul Libertarian mostly due to his adolescent failure to look deeply into policy but has recently decided to Feel the Bern. Unfortunately, this schism in political outlook has only served to drive them even further apart, even though they are nominally on the same side. For some reason it amuses us to think this.

Both times after dog found the nest and tore in. First time, bunnies were close to weaning (eyes open, white star on head). I used kitty milk replacer and did a lot of bottle feedings, supplemented with dandelion leaves from the yard. We released the bunnies in a state park, with raptors wheeling overhead.

Second time bunnies were younger and all died. Much heartache. If pinkies, absolutely walk away, unless you are willing to do euthanasia. Which I did to two preemie kittens. Not good karma, I hope I have rebuilt that.

The location is in the front yard maybe 10 feet from the sidewalk, so once the Momma Bunny has the kids out of the rabbit hole, discouraging her to have another litter there is the way to go. People walk dogs past there too often, some on long leashes - not a good spot. Hopefully she'll relocate to the back yard.

The trunks will be milled into lumber for wood working projects so the stump will be cut as close to the ground as possible.

The emerald ash borer is a beetle that is killing all the ash trees. The tree is about half dead and leaving any of the tree intact leaves some of the ash borers and helps spread the beetles. The lumber will be milled locally and kiln dried so all the ash borers will be dead in the lumber.

We called the tree service today and told them to delay 3 weeks the trees' (there's actually 2 in the front yard, but the bunny issue is with just the one) removal. Told the guy why and he said it wasn't the first time he's gotten a request like that. All's good.

Super big thanks to everyone that offered comments on this. If I can catch the babies when they emerge, I'll post in a future pootie blog.