rabbit season (arguably a mammal post, but not a panda post)

In conducting some research about teaching and writing, I ran across this funny bunny story. (It's almost Easter, how timely =) This is a first person (bunny) acount of a day in the life of Gene Spafford, english professor and part-time rabbit impersonator for worthy charitable causes.

"With a resigned sigh, I donned the costume and took my seat, awaiting the first child. Who was terrified of this huge white figure with big ears and large teeth. Whose mother insisted he be put kicking and screaming in my lap. Whereupon he kicked me in a spot sensitive both to bunnies and to men in bunny suits. The paper maché head continued to grin while I momentarily lost consciousness inside the suit. My "whoof" of pain was muffled and baffled by the echo inside the head, and undoubtedly came out as some kind of cute bunny noise. Mom picked the little terror up, warned him "The bunny will bite you if you do that again!" (adding to his panic and terror) and put him back in my lap. I could only grunt through the waves of pain, so I couldn't do anything to reassure him as he cowered in the shadow of my ears. So, with mom covering his escape route, and me holding tightly to his legs to keep from a repeat of the kick, the flashbulb went off and he proceeded to show me why the costume had come with extra pants.

He peed his pants. And my bunny pants. And on into my real pants under the rabbit pants. Not just a little, either. The kid must have been to a keg party prior to coming to see the Easter Bunny. Me? I was just being a big dumb bunny noticing that my leg was getting very warm. The kid is going "Uh-oh" and his mother is starting to apologize profusely. It takes a while for the reality to sink in, but suddenly I jump up and swear. Whereupon the mother gets very offended, grabs her kid's hand, and walks off in a huff.

So, one kid into the morning, and we had to shut the booth. Karen and Donna (the Bunny's attractive helpers and co-conspirators) were laughing so hard, they nearly wet themselves too (would have served them right) as the Easter Bunny retired backstage to change.

Backstage, with the head off, I surveyed the damage. A huge wet spot on my jeans. The rabbit pants were clearly wet and stained, too. So, I changed the rabbit pants and left my jeans off to dry. After all -- I had the rabbit pants on, and there was no sense spending the morning smelling like I was a rabbit that hadn't been house trained."

Mr. Spafford's Miscellaneous Page is fun too! ("Terror alert level: Bert") Another fun link is the "make a map of places you've been" link! My Map of places I've been in the US looks like this:
create your own personalized map of the USA or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

My map makes me laugh! As you can tell, i've driven across the country twice: Once east to west, and once north to south up/down the eastern seaboard!