Let Sleeping Dogs (and Cats and Rabbits) Lie
—and Late Summer Wildflowers
As I was drawing a Desert Cottontail in my Perpetual Journal recently, I was thinking about the classic 1941 Merrie Melodies cartoon “Wabbit Twouble” in which Elmer Fudd looks for (as he says) “west and wewaxation” at Jellostone National Park but ends up running into the “wascawwy wabbit” Bugs Bunny instead.
I was tempted to channel my inner Elmer Fudd and use the phrase “wascawwy wabbit” in the title of this post but (a) the Desert Cottontail I saw wecentwy wasn’t being wascawwy (it was just westing and wewaxing); and (b) maybe not all of you are familiar with Elmer Fudd.
One of many truly inspired parts of Wabbit Twouble was that even the opening credits were written in Elmer Fudd’s style of speech ("Diwected by Wobewt Cwampett" instead of “Directed by Robert Clampett" for instance). 🤣
But I digress. I wecentwy recently saw a Desert Cottontail s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out in our yard, probably trying to cool down from our hot Tucson temperatures which are still over 100° F! 😠 (See ☀️ NOTE below.)
Here’s my Desert Cottontail art in my Perpetual Journal, coincidentally (or not?) the same week as my 2023 PJ art of a Bobcat stretched out relaxing on the short brick wall by our front walkway.
While doing research for this post I found myself going down a wabbit hole and I learned that Elmer Fudd’s manner of speech has a name—rhotacism—which can mean the substitution of another sound for the letter “R”. In Elmer’s case, he replaced his R's and his L’s with W's.
But I digress again.
My next week’s PJ featured another mammal—a Coyote—westing and wewaxing in our yard in 2023, plus a Purple Aster in bloom in 2024—one of our late summer wildflowers. Other late summer wildflowers in our yard this year have included Saguaro and Barrel Cacti flowers, though the latter are tapering off now.
☀️ NOTE: September 2024 was the warmest September on record for Tucson with several monthly records set or tied. ☹️ On the positive side, in September 2024, the rooftop solar panels on our house produced the most power of any September! That's over a four year period (since 2021)! 🌞
With that negative climate news (and positive clean energy news!) I’ll end this with a positive quote:
"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."
- Thornton Wilder
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Greatly enjoyed, as always!
BTW - if I interpret the rabbit's repose correctly; that is, that it was stretched out due to being overly warm, I have learned that this is called "splooting". Our neighborhood squirrels do it regularly in the height of summer.