Thumper...

When I was probably about 5 years old, we lived in town... (the orange brick house at 417 S Smokyhill in Oakley, Kansas!

and on Easter morning, we opened the front door to go to church and...

on the front porch, right outside the door, in a box with a lid, was a beautiful white rabbit with big red eyes.

And a note...

the note said it was a gift for ME!

And it was signed, "The Easter Bunny!"

I was SOOOO excited!!

I remember screaming and running around the yard in my hand me down Easter dress that I loved!!

My parents were clearly surprised....

and not as excited.

The conversation the whole way to church was "who did it".

Ummm....duhhh...the Easter Bunny signed the note people....

this is NO mystery!!

Seriously!!

We got through church where the talk the whole time from my parents and their friends was...

who dunnit?

The talk from me was...

"I GOT A BUNNY RABBIT AND I CAN'T WAIT TO GO HOME AND PLAY WITH HIM!!"

And my friends and I decided to name him, Thumper!

My parents were not "pet"people.  We didn't have a dog or cat or anything...I had my horses...

but they didn't live in the house!! LOL

(My mom was a neat freak just like me!!)

We got home and there was a discussion about how we couldn't keep the rabbit.

And...my brother actually rallied to my defense.

Tears worked too...and lots of PLEASEs...and batting of the eyelashes and promises to take care of the bunny and they wouldn't have to do a thing...and ....and....and.... :)

IT worked.

They located a hutch that we could borrow from the post office manager so we picked it up and put Thumper's cage outside in the back yard near the alley.

At least we got to keep him.

I used to hold Thumper for hours...and had a ton of scratches from his nails but man we loved to snuggle...

perhaps it was ME who loved to snuggle...maybe that's why I had those scratches??  LOL!

I remember going to the grocery store with my mom a few times a week to get the lettuce they cut off the heads of lettuce before they displayed them to feed him.  It was free and my best friend's parents owned the grocery store.

We fed him carrots and cleaned the rabbit droppings...oh so many rabbit droppings!! LOL

But one night, several weeks later, Thumper's cage was open and he was missing.

My brother and his friend, Kenny Ray, went out with flashlights to look for him.

They thought I was asleep when they came back in the house and told mom that there was fur and blood everywhere behind Kenny Ray's house...they guessed it was a dog who got the rabbit.

I cried so hard!!! I still can vividly remember that feeling and standing there in the hallway in my nightgown sobbing!!

So quickly the story changed to the fur wasn't white, it was brown so it had been another rabbit and that Thumper escaped and ran away and was living in the field safely.

Whew...that was a close one!!!  ;)  Thank goodness Thumper was safe!

I still cried for days because he was gone even though I knew he was happy living in the field with his new rabbit family where he didn't have to stay in a hutch and he could run free.

No one ever fessed up to bringing Thumper...again..duh...it was the Easter Bunny....eye roll!!

The theory was that it had been Larry Farmer.

If you ever drive down I-70 heading to Oakley, you will see signs for a place called "Prairie Dog Town" with the world's largest prairie dog..over 2,000 pounds!

Tourists stop all the time to see that...and yes, it's cement!!

But there really is a five legged cow (seriously) and other critters Larry caught (including a rattle snake pit).  I'm not kidding...Larry caught almost everything he had on display!!

And they sell hundreds of "Kansas pies" which is a pile of cow manure in a pie box.

Seriously!  People buy the craziest stuff!!!

I'm not sure if Larry had any influence with the Easter Bunny or not, but if he did...thanks Larry!!

And...don't even think about bringing my kids a bunny on Easter...

I now side with my parents!! LOL!!

The Easter Bunny here brought a stuffed bunny...so much easier!!

Happy Easter friends!!!