Will Ray Stay?

Freckles:

Ray immediately answered. Again, the answer formed in my brain. “I’m just visiting. I’m in search of a new home.”

“Where are you from?” I thought.

“Not sure. But I’m looking for a field. You never answered my question – why are you in jail? And, why are you so close to those big ones?”

“I’m not in jail. I’m enjoying the sunshine and the grass. These big ones, as you call them, are friends. They make sure I am taken care of and provide a comfortable life for me.”

“Well, sounds like you got a good deal here.”

I found the bunny fascinating. I wondered if I should ask him to stay with us, but before I had a chance to form the question, Ray said, “Guess I’d better be moving along. Don’t want to stay long in one place. Too dangerous!”

Bunny Communication

Deb:

The bunny and Freckles continued to stare at each other for a long time. Neither one moved, both frozen in place. I wondered what kind of communication, if any, was passing between them. Maybe they were exchanging some kind of high-frequency signals that I was not hearing.
I still hadn’t decided what I should do. I didn’t want to scare the little bunny away, so I sat as still as possible, as frozen as the bunnies, letting them make the next move.

Think-Talk

Freckles:

I was so stunned by the little voice speaking in my head that I froze in place. Was that the bunny who talked to me? Where else would the voice be coming from? I hadn’t been around any other bunnies so I didn’t know if that was the way we communicated. But, something deep inside me said that it was. How would I answer back? Should I just think what I wanted to say?

“Yes,” said the voice.

I looked directly at the bunny and thought, “Hi, Ray, I’m Freckles. What are you doing here?”

Wild or Pet?

Deb:

What had caught our attention was a small brown bunny munching at a green patch beside the driveway. Most of the wild bunnies I’d seen were short-haired, lean, with pointed little faces. This bunny’s head was round, unusual for a wild bunny, and its fur seemed longer than normal. Could this be someone’s pet who had escaped? My mind whirled with questions. What should I do?

Ray

Freckles:

The object of my thumping was a small brown bunny several yards away. He was nibbling a small patch of green by some rocks. The thumping caught his attention, and he raised his head. The bunny stared directly at me, and I felt a strange sensation in my head.

Suddenly, I heard a voice saying, “Hi, I’m Ray. What’s your name and why are you in jail?”

A Visitor

From Thriller to Thrilling

Deb:

I read my book while Freckles slept. What a beautiful day this was with the sun shining and the green grass rustling slightly in the gentle breaths of wind. I’d just finished an exciting, suspense-filled part in my thriller, when something forced my eyes to shift from the book to my bunny. Her ears stood straight up and her body tensed. Suddenly, she thumped. I looked around and immediately saw what had placed her on alert.

Freckles on Alert

Freckles,

I don’t know how long I slept, but when I awoke, the air had a chill to it. I hopped to some fresh green leaves growing near my resting spot and started to chew. Before I had finished the second leaf, my nose detected a strange odor. It was a somewhat familiar scent and signaled “danger” someplace deep inside my brain. All of my senses went to full alert and I thumped a warning.

Testing the Boundaries

Deb:

Freckles hopped around her little enclosure with spirited little jumps. She chewed on the wire and I hoped her teeth wouldn’t break. She poked and prodded the wire, and although it moved slightly, it did not give way. Suddenly, she was digging. This was not unexpected, however we didn’t want it to get out of hand, so my son moved to the spot and gave her a little nose rub while filling in the hole she’d made with his other hand.

She soon seemed to give up on escaping and plopped at the edge of one side. Before long she was asleep.

Attempted Escape

Freckles:

I couldn’t figure out any possible way of getting through the fence. I tried chewing the skinny sticks, but even my sharp teeth could not make a dent. I tried poking with my nose and pushing with my head. Still the fence did not give way. I tried digging. This created a nice little hole in the ground, however Nice Guy soon rushed to the spot and filled it back in, nudging me to another part of the grass.

I rested from my hard labors and munched a yellow flower that I found when it landed on my head. I would figure this puzzle out. Perhaps, I should sleep on it.

Safe and Sound

Deb:

Freckles hopped around her pen, making paths through the tall glass. My son and I set up guard duty on lawn chairs near the pen. I’m not sure what dangers lurk in our backyard, but it is not unknown for hawks to fly over and there are many cats in the neighborhood who frequent the safe haven of our fenced sanctuary. If Freckles was going to meet any furry neighbors, I wanted to be there to make sure everyone was safe.

The Grass is Always Greener ...

Freckles:

The cool grass tickled my feet as I hopped and explored the enclosure. I had to push my way through the grass in places, so thick had it grown, but I found the exertion glorious. I discovered a few more dandelion greens to savor. Some I ate, others I marked a place in my mind to come back to later when I was hungry again.

When I came to the fence which blocked further surveying of the landscape in that direction, I stopped and peered through its openings to the grass on the other side. That grass seemed particularly green and luscious. Hmmmmm. How could I get through the fence to those tasty treats?

Memories of Another Life?

Deb:

As soon as my son set Freckles down in the tall grass inside the pen, her body relaxed and rejoiced in the feel of the grass. She must have thought she was in Heaven. I wondered if she’d felt the grass under her feet at her former home. We had no idea what Freckles’ life had been like before she was found wandering on a city street and came to our house from the animal shelter. Had she jumped free in fields of lucious green grass? Had she roamed through a huge outdoor space? She seemed so happy and at home in this cool green refuge. Maybe she thought she's gone back to where she came from.

Jungle Grass - We Return to Our Story!

Freckles:

The tall jungle grass surrounded me and hid me from any dangers that might lurk in this wondrous place. Although it felt safe in this circle of security, I kept my senses alert for any strange sounds that might precede a predator’s advance. I sniffed the air and rejoiced in the splendiferous odor of uncut grass. I nibbled a bit of a blade that tickled my nose. Delicious! There is something about gathering one’s own food that ignites a spark of satisfaction deep inside. The feeling can’t be duplicated by food laid before one by a well-meaning person.

Not far ahead of me I saw a yellow flower poking it’s head through the grass. I binkied in the air and plucked the flower from it’s stem.

Kidlitosphere Blog Conference, Part 3

Just a few more pictures of the Kidlitosphere conference! Here are the participants, still smiling after a long day of discussing blogging. Don't we look like we all are ready to rush right home and kick our blogs up a notch? That's exactly what happened. People have been so enthused they've posted links to their blog posts about the conference here. You can head there and read all about the fun, if you so desire.

Meanwhile, here are a couple more pictures of Freckles posing with famous people!


On the left is another Deb, only this one has purple hair and horns! (Not really. We think we saw her with regular hair earlier in the day!) Her name is Deb Lund and she's written a very funny book called Monsters on Machines. She's also written a bunch of other fun books that you can see if you go to her site.


This is Freckles with Anastasia Suen, who is author of 110 books for children!!! (She's Deb's hero!) And the neat thing about her is that she is a real person. We discovered that you can talk to her and she doesn't act all famous or anything! How cool is that?

So, what did Deb and Freckles learn from this day surrounded by people who are just as crazy about blogging as we are? Well, here are three things that we are sure we learned:

1. We have to learn how to Twitter. People were Twittering all over the place directly from the conference and we were Twitterless.
2. We need to visit children's writing blogs more often and not be so shy about commenting when we do. (We certainly aren't shy about commenting on bunny blogs...hmmm...very interesting!)
3. We need to stay later at these things so we can take part in any future zombie sock puppet videos. Example here.

That's it from the conference. We'll get back to our interrupted adventure "The Jungle" very soon! Keep watching this space...

Freckles and Deb

Kidlitosphere Conference, Part 2

I'm adding a couple of new pictures of Freckles with some authors at the Kidlitosphere Blogger Conference.


First, we have Lisa Schroeder, who is the author of a fabulous young adult book called I Heart You, You Haunt Me. She has a second book coming out in January called Far From You. Grab a pen and write those titles down, because you're going to want to remember them!

In the next picture we have Zu Vincent (on the left) holding her wonderful new book Lucky Place. Doesn't she have the greatest name! I want a cool name like Zu Vincent. On the right is Lynn Hazen holding Freckles and Lynn's new book Cinder Rabbit. That's right, it's a bunny story! We know that Lynn has to be a good person if she wrote a bunny story!

We also want to share a really fun site for you to visit. I didn't get a picture of Gregory K, but his website is chock full of clever poems. He was one of the presenters and shared with us a poem he placed on his site on Friday, September 19 called "I'm Pretty Well Connected -- A Web 2.0 poem/an online poem/a social network poem." You've got to go to his site here and read that poem! (And while you're there, check out his other poems!)

We've given you enough links to visit for today. We'll be back tomorrow with more interesting people and links from the conference.

Freckles and Deb