Day 64
Here comes Peter Cottontail … hopping down the bunny trail … hippity hop it’s Easter on its way …
Eons ago I sang that song to my Pug, Molly … substituting Peter Cottontail for Molly – Little Pig Tail. Somehow it worked and the dog loved it (or so I think) and I sing it now to Gertie and substitute her name in instead of Peter or Molly. And she loves it (or so I think). In any case a pig tail is very like a pug tail and those pug tails wiggled furiously when being sung to.
When I was little the EB (Easter Bunny) would come and early on those long ago Easter mornings we’d find our hidden baskets of goodies filled with whatever candy my dad (and us kids) hadn’t already eaten from the stash “hidden” on the floor of my parent’s closet. We let my dad take all the blame for the dwindling stash cuz we certainly weren’t going to admit knowing about the “secret place”! (Sorry Dad!)
We had jelly beans and the prominent chocolate bunny who would somehow disappear sooner than you thought possible (DAD!) … and malted milk ball “eggs” (the good, big speckled ones from Brach’s) and then there were the peeps. Not the actual PEEPS (marshmallow bunnies and chicks) but those little fuzzy chickens and pom pom bunnies. Some held umbrellas and some just stood there and some were glued all together into tiny little baskets. Each year the three of us kids would hoard our wares and then line up our Easter animals and they’d have their own little non-moving Easter parade.
Oh those were the days!
And then there was the year when our dachshund Marvin (whose real name was Ginger – but we kids changed it cuz she looked more like a Marvin than a Ginger even though she was a female) … found the “hidden” stash and helped herself to something like 2 pounds of jelly beans. Or more. (I should ask my folks for clarification.) Well, what goes in must come out … eventually. When we found her she was lying on her side in her dog bed with a lumpy stomach … you could actually see the outlines of jelly beans against her extended stomach skin! She eventually threw up those 2 pounds of jelly beans – all along the baseboard of the kitchen wall. It must have impressed me immensely for me to still remember that – but when she threw them up – all the color had come off and what was left against the wall looked like millions of clear fish eggs. Super gross. Maybe that’s why I’m not such a jelly bean fan anymore?!
Our other dog was found “guarding” a chocolate rabbit – still in its wrapper. But she was cuddling with it and the heat from her body had melted the chocolate and my dad pulled from her side a cellophane encased chocolate blob. Ha.
Fun times! Off to feed my own dogs – but not jelly beans. And as I hippity hop my way down to the kitchen … Gertie will enjoy my singing as I go.