Rabbit test

Years ago, when the Tommy dog was young, we had a house rabbit. One of those mini bunnies. You know the ones. Barely enough meat to feed a person, much less two. I would joke to people that the bunny was our emergency earthquake food. Wonder-Girl never thought this was funny.
So when I joke about catching the bunnies down the street and having them in a stew, I know it would last a long time because WG would never eat bunny.

Rabbit stew is quite tasty, as I remember it. Every so often, my dad would bring home a brace of (dead) rabbits from the lab he worked at. Dad would gut and skin them, mom would make us a nice dinner. Two big, plump rabbits would feed our family of seven.

So decades later, when I was remembering the rabbit stew, it occurred to me to ask my dad just what kind of experiments they did. Part of me didn’t really want to know. After all, I am somewhat normal, I think.
So five years ago I finally bit the bullet and asked him what they were doing with the rabbits. They were doing test on plant viruses and were using the sensitized rabbit blood to test for the presence of the virus.
Okay, not some kind bizarre growth hormone or long-lasting neurotoxin to kill insects. Simple plant viruses.

I am glad I didn’t ask him when I was little. I still remember the Thurber cartoon about his uncle that caught Dutch Elm disease!