The King of Wake Forest

By Timothy Martin Daher

The King of Wake Forest is a story about the epiphany my wife and I underwent while living on a wildlife reserve near Sea World in Orlando, Florida. We were transformed into animal lovers, bird watchers, and wildlife nuts as we identified many realizations about the parallels between our newly formed love for each other and the bonds we developed with the animals. We moved to Wake Forest, North Carolina for career reasons then continued this journey by becoming rabbit owners! Anyone who is an animal lover, a rabbit owner, or who is thinking about becoming one, will enjoy this book and find it insightful. It is not intended to be a pedantic how-to guide about caring for rabbits, but rather an insightful and lighthearted look at the day-to-day life of pet ownership. It also encompasses the joys, responsibilities, sadness, and unique experiences we had in adopting rescued animals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493179725

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Timothy Martin Daher. 604669

ISBN: EBook 978-1-4931-7972-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 04/07/2014

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER 1

Friends of the Forest

CHAPTER 2

Monogamy

CHAPTER 3

4daluvalouie

CHAPTER 4

The Ways of Nature

CHAPTER 5

Battling Goliath

CHAPTER 6

Swanny and the Magnetic Ducks

CHAPTER 7

The Torment of Snowflake

CHAPTER 8

What about Bats?

CHAPTER 9

Off to Mayberry®

CHAPTER 10

The Sighting

CHAPTER 11

February 29th, Leap Year Day

CHAPTER 12

The Ritz Carlton

CHAPTER 13

The Misconception

CHAPTER 14

Creatures of Habit

CHAPTER 15

Snuggle Buns

CHAPTER 16

Bunny Positions

CHAPTER 17

Communicating with Rabbits

CHAPTER 18

Bunnies in the Mist

CHAPTER 19

Parallels

CHAPTER 20

What is a Binky?

CHAPTER 21

Rules, Rules, Rules

CHAPTER 22

The Follower

CHAPTER 23

April 6th 2011

CHAPTER 24

Tornado Swarm

CHAPTER 25

The Family Reunion

FURTHER INFORMATION

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Figure 2 Twylo Cappuccino

This is a lighthearted look at animals and domestic rabbit ownership.

Did I say ownership? I should have said worship.

FOREWORD

This book was written to convey my love and appreciation for nature. I hope that readers will enjoy the analogies, appreciate my off-beat sense of humor, and learn a little about all animals, especially rabbits. It is hopeful that you will draw a parallel between human love and the love in the animal kingdom as I have done. You will find that this story refers to rabbits and bunnies synonymously. This book was not intended to be a scientific how-to guide in order to care for pets. It is an autobiographical epiphany about love. Special thanks to my wife, Susan, for her input and editing of this project, and for experiencing it together with me.

auphoto.tif

Figure 3 Timothy Martin Daher

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Timothy Martin Daher is an author, entrepreneur, musician, and producer. He attended Ohio State University, earning an English degree. Throughout college, Timothy played bass guitar in a progressive rock group called ‘The Event Horizon’. He maintained a genre-specific pursuit of music; self-producing three solo music CDs: Mortal Dreams in 2004, Visual Music in 2006, and Duality of Song in 2008, along with three singles in 2010. He co-produced a country album in 2013 about the late Betty Swain called The Betty Swain Project (Centersound Records). Timothy is currently writing the screenplay about the true life story of Betty Swain.

This book is not in any way designed to be a doctor-recommended guide to caring for your pets. It is the responsibility of the pet owner to check with their local licensed veterinarian to determine the best course of action for the health of their pet. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the author or publisher. Copyright registration number TXu 1-778-080 Sept 26th 2011.

Cover designed by Timothy Martin Daher and Xlibris

Paintings/Illustrations by Martha King, Pixabay and Timothy Daher

Photographs by Timothy Martin Daher, Living Arts College and Pixabay.

This book was edited by Susan Daher. Copyright © 2011 by Timothy Martin Daher all rights reserved.

CHAPTER 1

Friends of the Forest

The story began in the spring of 2006. My long-distance girlfriend, Susan, finished her studies at Queen’s University in Ireland and decided to move to Orlando, Florida to further explore our relationship. We communicated very well and had a strong bond between us. We moved into a townhouse together that was located on a wildlife reserve, just south of Sea World®. It was located on a private golf course that ran through the whole complex. The wildlife area around the golf course was protected and contained a wide variety of animals, including rare species of birds, unusual snakes, swans, and what seemed like thousands of ducks. In simple terms, our neighborhood overflowed with nature’s beautiful creatures. Some of the animals living on the nature reserve were endangered species that were released into the wild in order to recover from injuries or to (hopefully) propagate their species. We really enjoyed the wildlife! To qualify that last statement, we enjoyed our interaction with the wildlife. We certainly didn’t eat any of it! Neither one of us had ever experienced such an up-close look at so many different types of giant birds and tropical creatures. We were simply overcome with delight and awe-inspiring feelings.

All the action began a few days after we moved in.

Susan called me into the dining room and said

Honey, look out the window.

Perched on a tree branch, just 20 feet from our balcony window, was a bright red male cardinal who glowed majestically in the early morning sun. The contrast between his bright red feathers and the green leaves on the tree branch was breathtaking. He was trying to hide behind a tiny green leaf that hung from the branch, and just barely covered half of his face. He nonchalantly peeked around the thin leaf, hiding one eye to see if we spotted him. It was like a cartoon; his bright red body against the green leaves stood out like a sore thumb in a finger smashing contest. We were elated! We admired him for a long while, and then went on with our day.

Intrigued, we began to research cardinals on the web, and bought several books about birds. We learned that this was a Northern Cardinal, and that they are born with a light brown color. As the male matures, his body turns bright red, ready to attract a mate. The females are slightly smaller than the males and remain mostly reddish-brown but have a bright orange beak. Though cardinals weigh only about 1.5 ounces, the males seem quite dominant among other bird species and show little fear; they rarely back down from intimidation by other birds. Their sharp beaks and incredible speed have helped the species to survive.

Susan suggested that we hang up a bird feeder to make sure our little friend had enough food to eat. I agreed that it was a great idea. We named our little buddy Louie. He just looked like a Louie; a real character. We purchased a hanging feeder dish for the patio balcony of our townhouse—and wow! There were tons of birds that showed up every day! It was unbelievable how many different species ate at our free buffet. Our private and secluded view was perfect. We lived on the 17th hole of the Marriot® Timeshare Golf Resort, and we had our own private Animal Planet® show, right in our backyard, on our balcony. It was truly dreamy.

We soon realized that we needed another dish or maybe even two more feeders so everyone could have a snack without a fight. The buffet traffic was booming! We now had our own successful restaurant! As some people say, Build it and they will come.

I