Hi all,
My name is Cari Lombardi and since I have been reading the posts for a short
while now, I thought it was time to introduce myself. I too have lived in the
neighborhood for quite a long time--12 years--and have seen numerous positive
changes our neighborhoods, including the influx of rabbits. I deem this
occurance *positive* because for 10 of those 12 years, I never saw a rabbit in
my neighborhood...not one...ever...which I thought odd and kind of sad. Back
then someone explained to me that it was likely due to the number of outdoor
and/or stray cats in the area. Now in the past two years I too have seen quite
a few of them in my yard, and yes, they seem somewhat fearless other than when
my noisy and fast rat terrier chases them through the yard and out the
fence!They do like to munch in the garden from time to time (although I never
see much evidence so my garden is not so tasty perhaps!), but I am always happy
to see wildlife in the city Luckily for us all, we are surrounded by the
natural beauty of the lakes, creek and nearby river/Fort Snelling Park with its
diversity of wildlife, and I think it is one of the reasons many of us have
chosen to live in this little nook of the city.
When not watching rabbits in my yard, I enjoy our local off-leash dog parks,
biking the lakes/river area, taking in free concerts at the parks and eating at
our many local, non-chain city restaurants. If I may give a plug: Colossal Cafe
is one of my favorites. I work in marketing for a unique health and safety call
center in St. Paul (where I enjoy walking Como Lake on my lunch break), but I'm
always happy to come home to our little nook of Minneapolis at the end of the
day where it is mostly peaceful except for the occassional airplane overhead
(which I have learned to tune out over the years) and barking dog...mine being
one of them at times (I am seeking out new methods to curb this), but as a
previous poster pointed out, these barking dogs do provide some
safety/protection in our neighborhoods as well. Last year my dog woke me in the
middle of the night so I let him outside to go to the bathroom. He started to
bark, and when I looked across the alley (in the dark) I saw someone crawling
out of the passenger door of my neighbor's car across the alley. The person
took off and it was dark so I was not able to get a good look, but I know my
neighbor was thankful for my barking dog that night as nothing was stolen from
his car.
Looking forward to being a part of this very interesting forum. (And much
shorter posts on my part in the future!)
Cari Lombardi