The Rural Voice, 1985-01, Page 34OLSEN
RM. OLMN (MALTY LTO. m.ALTOA
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32 THE RURAL VOICE
GISELE IRELAND
Stay slack
and well back
I am beginning to wonder, after
our bout of teaching responsibility to
our son Doug, if kids wouldn't cope
better if parents stayed slack and well
back.
We spouted several cliches to him
concerning the lessons in life he
would be required to learn and how
important they are to his develop-
ment. He agreed, mainly because he
had little choice. We did let him, with
a little prodding from us, choose the
enterprise he would undertake. We
settled on a small market garden and
a rabbit business. Doug went to town
and asked if the local grocer would
handle his produce. The grocer was
glad to help him out and Doug soon
started having visions of a healthy
bank balance.
Super Wrench heard of rabbits and
cages for sale over the radio. He took
Doug along for a lesson in dickering.
I'm sure that had he asked the seller
of the rabbits the reason for getting
rid of them, he would have answered,
"I'm tired of teaching kids about
responsibility." As it was, the
previous owner of the rabbits did the
smart thing and kept quiet.
The initial investment for the
garden and rabbits was loaned by us,
with the understanding that it would
be repaid from the profits. There is
no doubt in my mind that the venture
would have been successful, had the
parents stayed out of it.
Super Wrench picked the spot for
the garden. By the creek he found a
loamy area that had not been planted
for a couple of years. The reason it
had not been planted was that it was
always too wet in the fall to get the
corn off without getting hopelessly
stuck. That alone should have told us
something.
The planting was a family effort, as
time was of the essence. A couple of
weeks later the garden germinated
beyond our expectations and grew at
a phenomenal rate in the black muck.
Then it rained. After the third day of
steady downpour, all the little plants
had drowned. Those that survived the
flood were finished off with the
chemical run-off from the corn field.
Well, Doug still had the rabbits.
Rabbits are cuddly and cute, and
no chore to take care of. After the in-
itial problem of trying to figure out
which was male and which female,
things went pretty well. Little bunnies
were hopping around and I voiced my
concern to Doug that the bunnies ap-
peared unhappy. I felt that they need-
ed more space to play in. Not being
much of a carpenter, I convinced him
that we should build big pens for
them out of hay bales. We worked at
the job an entire morning and put the
bunnies in. The next morning, half
the bunnies had taken off for parts
unknown. We put the ones that had
stayed back into cages and I convinc-
ed Doug that we would catch the rest
eventually. I agreed with him that my
idea stunk. Catching rabbits that can
dodge into miniscule holes and run
much faster than a mother who is
aging fast is not easy. The bunnies
eventually won the war. They'd had a
taste of freedom and weren't ever be-
ing confined again. In the night they
must have come and freed the others,
because more and more of them
seemed to escape the cages. We final-
ly admitted defeat and decided to ship
the remainder of the bunnies to the
clearing ceAure in Pinkerton.
r•
-4�
~.`yail�iYN\C
Doug rode • shotgun on the last trip
for the rabbits. We made it to Pinker-
ton and sold them. The money he re-
ceived certainly did not come close to
the initial investment, but by that
time neither of us cared. On the way
home, just to cheer him up, I told him
we would take a short cut.
After some miles he ventured the
opinion that I might be going in the