So much to post, so little space...

Mickey thanks one and all for the concern and well-wishes over his tooth issues. His ability to use his front teeth has improved a little each day, so he's almost back to normal now. He still has a little trouble with larger pieces, so I have been shredding his greens and putting them in a bowl for him. I still plan on making an appointment with his regular vet once she is back from her vacation, but I've decided to postpone calling until after New Year's.

His Majesty lounging on (and off) his throne



Christmas was lovely, but of course very busy. Mickey got absolutely spoiled rotten by Santa Paws, but being the uber-persnickety bun that he is, he turned up his nose at much of it. The new toss-toys got barely a sniff, the dried dandelion blossoms have been untouched, and the Bunspace Christmas "stocking" (a paper bag full of bunny goodies) wasn't even opened, despite containing many of the treats he loves such as dried apple rings and hay cookies. I finally opened the stocking myself last night and gave him one of the apple rings. It was gnawed a bit this morning, but may have been a bit too much for the front teeth to handle, so I shredded it and added it to his pellet mix.

Having a bit of a lounge in the living room

He still hasn't quite figured out that it's currently okay to go into the living room, although I didn't have to noodge him there the last time he was out. The boy was in there with us the last time, having heard about Mickey's leaps into the recliner and wanting to see one for himself. Mick was not thrilled at having his nemesis in his new space, but an unexpected five-minute-long tummy rub from the boy cheered him up to the point where he was willing to oblige with another leap into the recliner. It was not as spectacular a leap as the first two--he barely made it onto the seat--but it was enough to impress and amuse my son.

A bit of exploring

Surprisingly, he was more interested in snuggling with me that night than in playtime. After about an hour and a half, he began noodging at me until I finally picked him up, which earned me a long face-licking and lots of tooth-purring. The tooth-purring in particular has picked up considerably as of late; he will chatter happily in my ear for quite some time when I am holding him, which makes me wonder if perhaps there has been a silver lining in this tooth-filing cloud.

Taken just before another flop and nap session

I received some lovely Christmas presents as well, but pics of those will have to wait until next time. Can't wait to share them, though, so expect another post very soon. :)



To everyone and everybun

Mickey and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

(Mick was even willing to tolerate wearing a Santa hat for the occasion...

as long as it was a photoshopped Santa hat.) 

In which Christmas doesn't help matters

Didn't think I'd be posting again so quickly, but stuff has come up and I need to vent a little. (Don't forget to scroll down to see what I posted last night as well, plz. )

Lesson learned: NEVER allow a vet to work on my rabbit who I haven't talked to either in person or on the phone beforehand.


Mickey gets his molars ground down every 3 months. This time, he happened to be scheduled for Dec. 23rd. The day before, I get a call from his vet's office; his regular vet is going to be away on that day, and another vet (also rabbit-experienced) is going to be there. Did I want to reschedule or have the other vet take care of things?

If it wasn't for the fact that Mickey was already showing some signs that his teeth were starting to bug him, I would have postponed the appointment, but because I didn't want things to get worse, I decided to let everything go as scheduled. I figured I would talk to the vet beforehand, so everything would be fine. However, when I got to the vet's to drop off Mickey, I asked to speak with the vet and was told that he was with another patient who was under snesthesia, so I left him there with instructions to call me once everything was done.

To my surprise, they called a short time later and left a message on my cell phone; he was fine, didn't need anesthesia, his teeth were trimmed and filed and I could pick him up any time.

"Didn't need anesthesia"? "Trimmed"?

I called them back. It turned out that the vet had done his front teeth, not his back ones. I talked to the vet; he said that the front teeth appeared to be causing some irritation, so he trimmed and filed them. He didn't know about the regular back teeth work, but they appeared to be fine. I explained the situation and he told me that he would put Mickey under and do the back teeth as well and they would call me when he was ready.

We had been visiting relatives that afternoon, so I didn't pick up Mickey until almost closing time (this had been prearranged with the vet). He appeared to be fine and in his usual mildly grumpy spirits post-dental work. When I got him home and back in his cage, though, I noticed he was having a little difficulty getting his greens into his mouth. Normally, he chews up a piece of cilantro like someone would suck up a piece of spaghetti. This time, he took the piece into his mouth, but once the initial bite was chewed up, he couldn't seem to get the rest of the piece into his mouth. I figured perhaps his mouth was still a little tender from the dental work and left it at that. The same thing happened later on that evening when I gave him some kale at bedtime; he nibbled at it a little, then just dropped it.

This morning when I got up and checked on him, I noticed some kale was still in his cage. That was not normal; kale is never left uneaten. When I got home a short time ago, I gave him another piece of cilantro; same thing as last night. He ate some small bits of dried banana that I gave him and didn't have any problem chewing it with his back teeth, but he couldn't eat the larger piece that I gave him beforehand. It's like his front teeth can't break through anything. Could his vet have filed them down a little too much?

I called the vet, but of course, they're already closed for Christmas. Since he can eat small pieces, I don't consider it an emergency; I can chop up his greens into small bites for him or feed him by hand if necessary until I can reach them on Monday, but they're going to be getting an earful on Monday if his situation doesn't improve.

In which Christmas is a mixed blessing

Christmas is not always kind to Mickey.

For starters, from the week before Christmas until sometime around New Year's, he completely loses access to the dining room, which is usually where he spends most of his out-of-cage time hanging out. This is because that is when we put up our Christmas tree, which is always a real tree. It's not just the possibility that he might ingest a few pine needles and get sick, it's the certainty that he would not only eat any cords and light strings attached to said tree, but because we have to move so many of his blockades to put up said tree, he would eat every cord in the room. This means that the dining room is off limits until the tree comes down and natural order is restored.

In past years, this has meant not much fun for Mickey, as not only had his exercise space been reduced, but his loving bunny-mum would sometimes be on the other side of the new blockade at her computer where she could not be reached--and that would annoy the bejeezus out of him. In my defense, I did always try to spend as much time with him as possible as he was running around, but sitting on the kitchen floor for extended periods of time causes my legs to go numb, and that is not fun--and he didn't appreciate me sitting on a chair in the kitchen, either.

This year, though, I decided to try something new; something that would hopefully keep both of us happy. I decided to allow him into our usually off-limits living room. I blockaded off all the trouble areas, put his dining-room litterbox in the living room, went into his kitchen and opened the cage door. He hopped out and immediately headed for the dining room as always, stopped at the gate, tugged on it for a bit, then turned around...and went back into his cage.

All within full sight of the now-wide open doorway to the living room.

I went into the living room, sat down and turned on the TV, thinking he'd come running in a short while. Five minutes later, he hadn't budged from the cage. I coaxed him out again; again, he went over to the gate, tugged on it and then returned to his cage. I tried to coax him out again, but he gave me a disdainful look and a Bunny Butt O'Snub. Apparently he was convinced I was playing some kind of game at his expense.

After almost a half-hour, I finally lost patience, scooped him out of the cage, sat him on the floor and nooged him with my foot until he went into the living room.

It was bunny bliss after that. I don't think I've seen that lazy bunneh run around so much in ages. There was much dancing and rejoicing and chewing of wrapping paper scraps (I was wrapping Christmas presents and watching TV while he did his thing). Fortunately, I remembered to bring my Flipcam into the living room:



For the most part, he was a good bunny, with the exception of two times when he leaped into my husband's leather recliner and I had to shoo him off. (I wish I had been able to get that on video, I haven't seen him leap that high in a long time.)

After a while, he finally tired himself out and decided to flop down and clean himself off:



Of course, getting Mickey out of the living room at the end of the night was even harder than getting him into the living room--and now that he's had access to the living room and will be having access for a while, I'm not sure how I'm going to handle things when the tree is gone and things are back to normal. I guess I'll have to wait and see how it goes.

Star light, star bright...

Oh, Miiiick...we have a present!

"Present? For me?!"

For both of us, Mick. It's from your auntie Shell--do you remember me telling you about how I won the giveaway at The Raspberry Rabbits ? Here's our prize!

"Oh, so that's why you have me posed here--is my fur straight? I don't want Sugie and Harrington to see me looking messy."

You look fine. Let's open it up and show everyone.

It's a handmade star! Isn't it gorgeous?

"Can I chew on it?"

No.

"Not even a nibble?"

No.

"Auntie Shell would let me nibble on it."

No, she wouldn't; she worked very hard on it.

"Well, she won't mind if I chew the wrapping paper, will she?"

You can chew the wrapping paper.

"Good--she sends the best paper. Tell her I said thanks."

But wait, there was more!

Along with the lovely star I won was an envelope, and inside the envelope was...

THIS! *SQUEE*!

and a handmade card! YAY!!

and chocolates and tea, and oh, do I feel so spoiled!

Thanks lots, Shell!

(and don't think you're not getting a gift in return for this.. it just might not get to you until after Christmas, though)

A couple of other things to mention before I sign off:

Mickey's meditation room is now official. He says that he can now finally perfect his loaf technique.

Annnnnnnd...we have one more gift to show off:

Meet the newest member of our family: Grandbaby #3, my older stepdaughter's first child.

Name: Christopher Michael
Weight: 9 lbs., 13oz.
Height: 20"
Date/Time of Birth: 12/9/2010, 3:11pm EST

Picture was taken a few hours after he was delivered by c-section. He's a BIG boy!

Don't you just love presents at Christmas? ;)

Pictures!

The fershlugginer battery charger has finally been found! And just in time, too; it seems that Mickey was going to keel over and die if I didn't get some new pictures posted:

Well, at least keel over anyway...

Um, Mick? You can get up now, I've got the pictures uploading...

Oh, come on, Mick! It's not like it's been that long...

"Humph! Sez you...How's a bun supposed to keep his popularity ratings up if he can't be seen? You even posted a RECIPE, for cryin' out loud! "

Ok, ok, I'm sorry...I will make sure the battery charger is always within reach from now on.

To be honest, it's been crazy here these past couple of weeks. My house is still somewhat in Thanksgiving mode, I have to get my Christmas decorations up this week. The orders for the candle party I had have been arriving in dribs and drabs instead of all at once, so my dining room has been knee-deep in boxes and candle stuff. I've finally got it all sorted out, though, and almost all of the orders have been delivered. My house still looks like a UPS warehouse, though...

...not that somebunny minds all that much...

"Do you HAVE to throw this one out? I could use a new meditation room."

Mick, there are at least four other boxes you have for that. We can't keep all of them.

"Hmmph...Fine then, I'll just use this while I can...now stop bothering me and let me meditate."

As you wish, Your Majesty. 



Taking A Page From The Bunny Lounge Cookbook

 If you have not been to The Bunny Lounge, you have not only missed a chance to see the adorable Hef and his canine roommates, Shadow and Bandit, but you have missed out on Hef's Mom's cooking. She loves to cook and is always happy to share her recipes with her readers. I gain weight just looking at her food.

Recently, she shared a recipe for slow-cooking pork tenderloin in the crock pot with BBQ sauce until it became like pulled pork. Now, I luvs me some pulled pork, but I'm not a big BBQ sauce fan; I like to taste meat before sauce, so I decided to take the recipe and experiment using tomato sauce instead. I ended up adding diced tomatoes because it didn't look like I had enough liquid (and running to the store on the day before Thanksgiving was NOT an option) and using Italian seasoning as well.

The results were AWESOME! Hubby loved it so much, he had thirds. The pork was tender and juicy, the broth was tomato-ey, yet not overpowering. Hubby and I had it over bread, but you could just as easily serve it over pasta. I'm calling "Italian Pulled Pork", and here is the recipe:

Italian Pulled Pork for Crock Pot

2 ¾ - 3 lbs. pork tenderloin (I used two tenderloins, about 1 ½ lbs. each, since they were Buy One, Get One Free at my local grocery store)

1 small can Contadina tomato sauce with Onion and Garlic (tossed the can before I realized that I would need the size for a recipe--it's the smallest can they have)

2 14.5 oz. cans Contadina diced tomatoes

Mrs. Dash Italian Medley spice blend to taste (I really loaded it on, probably used a tablespoonful in total)

Pour tomato sauce in bottom of crock pot.

Add tenderloin, turn over in sauce a few times until well-coated.

Liberally shake Italian Medley over tenderloin and sauce.

Top with diced tomatoes.

Sprinkle a little more Italian Medley over the top.

Place lid on crock pot and cook on low for a minimum of 8 hours, opening it once or twice to turn the tenderloin.

Take a fork and rake it over the tenderloin to shred it, then mix it with the broth.

Serve on bread or pasta.

Serves 4 to 6.

We'll definitely be having this one again for sure.  Thanks again to Hef's Mom for the original recipe.

To my fellow Americans, I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. To everyone else, I suggest making tomorrow Italian Pulled Pork Day, and enjoy! :)

Gifties!

I was SO excited to get this in the mail on Monday:

*SQUEE*!

A notecard set, magnet and a sweet card from Sue and Clovis of Clovie Boy! Sue is a wonderful artist, and if you have not checked out her blog or her Etsy store yet, you should.

Now. No, seriously, NOW.

It's ok, I'll wait until you come back...

*hums happy tune while she waits*

There you are. Isn't it awesome? And Clovis is just the handsomest boy, I want to squeeze him every time I see him. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sue and Clovis!

This is how happy I am with this gift; I squeezed the last drop out of my dying camera battery just so I could get that pic to show everybody. When I checked the memory card, I had a few pics of Mickey still on there, so I thought I would show those as well.

Please ignore the mess, it's been cleaned since.

This is Mickey's latest toy: a cardboard tunnel from BinkyBunny.com . It can be stretched out, curved or straight, and folds like an accordion for storage.

So far, it has the Mickey seal of approval; he likes to bop in and out of it, and it's great for hiding from or escaping the boy...

...because if you don't escape the boy, this is what happens:

The "pillow on the bunny" trick does NOT get the Mickey seal of approval.

And now, I will be hunting for that fershlugginer battery charger. Wish me luck!

For Malcolm: The Joy of Loaf

My last post mentioned that Mickey is a practitioner of bunny yoga, specifically the "loaf" position. Allow me to expand on this:

"Loaf" is a position of being and doing, of verb and noun; the bunny is involved in the act of loafing while actually looking like a loaf of something. Above, Mickey performs the "fresh-baked bread" variation. The paws are thoroughly tucked in, the head and body are also tucked in, yet the pose is one of complete relaxation. Sometimes, a bunny even gets so relaxed that they transition from "loaf" straight into all-out "flop", but that is often accidental and not a desired occurrence.

Behold the ultra-rare "carrier loaf". "Loaf" is best achieved in one's cage, under a chair or table, or in any sheltered area so as to avoid interruption or in case a full-fledged nap is called for.

The "loaf" position is a time to reflect upon one's state of bunnyhood; to contemplate ways in which one can achieve all that is desired--a few more treats, an extra ear rub, world domination, whatever--or review past actions and their success or failure.

"Loaf" is not a position to be taken lightly; it requires great concentration, and any interruption of the process is guaranteed to result in some serious disapproval, if not some retaliatory poop in your shoes. I was lucky to escape with only minor snubbing after taking the photo above. If you happen to see your rabbit in the "loaf" position, it is recommended that you maintain your distance, but observe them carefully until you are certain that it is safe to approach before attempting any kind of communication.

Assorted Stuff

There are some things that cannot be shown, and yet words do not adequately describe them.

For example, Mickey and I have developed a nighttime ritual recently. Because of his massive amounts of shedding, I have been unable to snuggle him as often as I used to for fear of killing my washing machine and dryer with fur lint. This has resulted in him spending more hours a night out and about for exercise in the dining room, where shedded fur on a rug is easier to remove. His normal routine involves a lot of what I call "under-chair bunny yoga"; find a chair, crawl under it, assume the "loaf" position and meditate, then find another chair, repeat process, and so on. This is occasionally broken up by trips to the litterbox, which he seems to have decided is the best place for any photo opportunites that may be considered as he will sit up and prop his paws on the rim of the litterbox in a pose worthy of any ingenue on the red carpet. Afterwards, he will hop down, leave a few poops outside the box (souvenirs for the fans, perhaps?) and go back to meditating.

The new ritual begins with a tug on my pants leg, or if I am not wearing pants, a nose bump against my ankle and possibly a pawing at my shin. That has always guaranteed him some petting (and still does) and sometimes that's enough to make Mr. Mick happy and he'll scamper off to do some more bunny-yoga. Sometimes, though, he will move over to the blue rug in front of my husband's desk next to where I am at the computer and lounge. That is now my signal to get up and go lie down next to him so he can come over for the exchange of kisses. Sometimes, I will lie down on the rug first and he will immediately leave whatever he is doing in order to stick his face up against mine and give my face a good licking while I scratch behind his ears, give him an ear rub or pluck as many tufts of loose fur as he will tolerate before he goes dancing away with a happy little ear and tail wiggle.

He will only do this if we are alone, so it is impossible to capture video or photographic evidence of the ritual, but it is the sweetest of moments. No matter what kind of day I've had, it is always much cheerier afterwards.

The candle party I mentioned in my last post went quite well. Mr. Mick was the star of the show and was brought out by popular demand after the candle stuff was over for much petting and oohing and aahing. Many of the guests had only seen him in pictures and were absolutely overwhelmed with the in-person cute. His Majesty tolerated the adoration of his subjects quite well, content to snuggle against me while everyone petted him and told him what a gorgeous boy he was. He even allowed a couple of the guests to feed him some treats before he was returned to his cage for his afternoon nap.

In other news, my work on the Milo's Bunny square has been put on hold until after the holidays. I have finished one square and it came out lovely, but there's still one or two spots where the execution needs to be tweaked before I'm happy with it, and right now, I've got some other projects that need to be worked on for holiday gifts. I will be picking it up again as soon as the holidays are done, though; I just found out that one of my friends and his wife are expecting their first child in May, and I want to make a Milo's Bunny blanket for them.

A few more bits of PaintShopPro fun for you (since I still can't find my darn charger): these pics are all done with an effect called Time Machine, which will render an image in the style of different photography techniques; from the early days of Daguerrotype--

(click on these to view them larger, the effects are awesome)

to the Cyanotype of the late 19th-early 20th century--

to the look achieved with the box cameras of the early-to-mid 20th century--

to a more modern developing technique known as "cross-process" achieved by processing color film with chemicals designed for processing a different kind of film (for example, the effect shown is achieved by using chemicals for processing photo film on slide film)

Hmmm, I should try putting a bunch of these together and making an Andy Warhol-style Mickey poster or something...

A Confession

This past Thursday, I was the awfullest bunny-mom ever.

Let me say that this has been one of those weeks. I'm hosting a candle party this Sunday and I've been trying to find the time to get the house cleaned and ready, but distractions of one kind or another have been putting me off-track all week. Wednesday, I was supposed to get my nails done (I am seriously vain about my nails, having been a reformed nail-biter for many years, so when they start to look rough, I freak), but had to put it off until Thursday. I also had a hair appointment scheduled for Thursday afternoon at 3:30pm.

Of course, it was a miserable, gray rainy day Thursday, and having not slept well the past few nights, I ended up sleeping far longer than intended, so by the time I was up, fed, showered and dressed, it was already going into afternoon. By the time I got to the nail salon for my manicure, it was already about 2:00pm. I was finished in time to grab a late lunch before the hair appointment, got that done, got home, sat on the computer for a bit, watched some TV, took a brief catnap, and was just about to sit down at 10:30pm to do the weekly payroll when I suddenly realized:

I hadn't fed Mickey all day.

(I know, how bad is that?!)

Now, this is not to say that Mr. Mick had no food. On the contrary, he had a pile of hay and a dish of pellets leftover from the day before, so he hadn't been starved, but he had not received his usual daytime fresh greens and treats, and from the way he carried on as I immediately went to the fridge to remedy the error, you'd think he hadn't eaten in a week. (of course, if he'd made that kind of stink earlier in the day, I would have remembered far sooner). He was trying to open the cage door as fast as I could get the latch open, and immediately climbed all over me as I was opening his dried bananas container to try to snag what he could get. Once he had a piece of banana to chew on, all was well with the world and he was amenable to much petting and apologies. He even gave me a few licks to let me know I was forgiven--even if he wasn't going to get an extra banana slice for his pain and suffering. I still feel bad about completely forgetting, though--that is not good bunny-mom behavior.

In other news, I have been unable to take new pictures of Mickey because I cannot remember where I put the battery charger for my camera, so I have been playing around with some of his old ones. Karen M. of Rabbits Eat Quilts has been posting about her Photoshop lessons (and putting up some lovely pics), so I was inspired to open up my trusty PaintShopPro and have some fun. This is the picture of Mickey that appears in the 2010 Bunspace calendar:

I edited out the plastic container in the background as best I could, using Object Remover:

This is going to be the base for a bunch of effects, but here's two for now. Here is Mickey in Enamel:



And here he is in Colored Foil:

Isn't that awesome? Wait until you see some of the other effects. Thanks to Karen for the inspiration!

Halloween Friends

Halloween has simply snuck up on me this year. I haven't had nearly the time to decorate as I normally do. There's a few things that are up, so it's not all bad, but not nearly enough that you'd even know we're aware of the holiday.

While getting out my box of Halloween decor, I found a few things that I thought Mickey might like. Perhaps they could be new buddies for him, like Clovis' friends over at Clovie Boy.

Friend #1 showed a lot of potential; Miss Witch Bear is about the same size and color as Mr. Mick, and he did seem to be attracted...



...but not interested enough, I guess.

I offered a couple more friends for his approval:



Unfortunately, while Mr. Black Cat was sniff-worthy, he just came off as having a flat personality, so no chance there. As for poor Mr. Bat, he was flat-out rejected. I guess somebunny is planning on going trick-or-treating solo this year.

Oh well...Happy Halloween, all! :)

Bunneh Beautification

I've mentioned before that Mickey is a year-round shedder. There is not a day that goes by that the fur isn't a-flyin' in this household. However, even for those who shed 24/7, there are certain times of the year that are worse than others, and this is one of them. It's like living with a fur version of Br'er Rabbit's Tar Baby, except that in this case, the rabbit (fur) sticks to you instead of you sticking to it.

Fortunately, His Majesty enjoys a good grooming to a certain extent, and we have also had the good fortune of some sunny weather that's not too chilly, so I have been able to bring the grooming sessions outside instead of filling my mudroom with clouds of fur. Today, I decided to make it a full day of bunny beautification by adding a pedicure and an ear cleaning.

First came the pedicure, which was a bit of a necessity as somebunny's nails have been pretty dang sharp lately. Mickey tolerates the procedure, but neither of us really like it because of one thing; blood. (WARNING: the following details are not particularly graphic, but if blood makes you woozy, you might want to skip to the next paragraph)
A rabbit's nails are like a hollow tube, and can bleed when being cut for the first time, but usually after that, the nail seals off and does not bleed when cut unless you cut too much. Sometimes, though, for some reason the nail doesn't seal and will always bleed, no matter how little you cut it. Mickey has two nails like that, one on each paw on his left side, and they always seem to bleed like a stuck pig when cut, which makes things very messy. I don't mind the sight of blood, but I hate it getting all over him and I always worry about the possibility of infection. Mickey seems to get extra-jumpy when I do those nails as well, but they have to be trimmed like the others, so there's not much I can do. We both lucked out this time; there was much less bleeding than usual--I'm guessing the result of the cooler weather, but I'm hoping maybe the nails are going to seal up after all.

Once the nails were done, it was time for the actual grooming.  I try to keep the grooming to between 45 minutes and an hour, since that's usually the point where I'm never sure if I'm causing more shedding than fixing it. Mickey enjoys being groomed, although he tends to always want his left side facing me for some reason; when I turn him around to get his right side, he manages to maneuver himself so that he's facing left again. If I turn him so I can get at his back end, he decides that he wants to explore the table for a bit, so I'm alternating between combing and retrieving. Facing forward is his favorite part; he likes to sit up and place his paws on my shoulders, then he leans against me and tooth-purrs sweet nothings near my ear and gives me kisses...then tries to chew the neckline of my shirts.

In between grooming, I cleaned his ears as well. According to my vet, lops seem to have more trouble with accumulating ear wax (probably because of the positioning of their ears). I was mortified the day she took a swab and removed a humongous lump of waxy buildup from one of Mickey's ears during an exam, so I have been vigilant about cleaning them out at least once a month. Mickey does not approve of this, although he tolerates it to an extent. He certainly doesn't make it an easy process; there is much head-shaking and bobbing and weaving involved, but I managed to get them reasonably clean.

The final detail is combing his underside, and he hates it with a passion because it means being flipped on his back. It was even worse today, because I found not one, but THREE large snarled fur clumps at the base of his tail and had to very carefully comb them out without completely de-furring his poor little cottontail.
The entire beautification process complete, I brought him back inside and even posed him for a quick photo. (Yes, I was a bad bunny-mum and combed his fur backwards to make him look super-fluffy):

"I had better be getting some extra treats for this

--and stop calling me Mr. Fluff-n-puff!"

Hopefully, the birds and squirrels can use all the excess fur I left outside to line their winter nests. There's certainly enough of it out there; my husband says it looks like the bunny exploded.

Calendar Contest Results

The results of the calendar giveaway are in. Mickey himself picked out the winner; I wrote each entrant's name on a slip of paper (two slips for followers--and yes, those are stubs from an old charity raffle) and offered them to him:

Of course, being Mickey, he wasn't going to make the process easy:

"You want me to do what?!"

"Ok, fine, but I get one banana slice for this--and put away that camera, for cryin' out loud!"

Terms were agreed upon, and so he picked a slip (or more accurately, grabbed and tossed one), and so our winner is: The human (aka Buttons' mum).

Congratulations, my friend--please email me (jade@jademyst.com) with your mailing address so I can get your new calendar out to you (and international mailing is not a problem).

Thanks lots to everyone who entered--this may be my first giveaway, but it won't be my last. :)

New food? Pew food!

A quick reminder: the winner of my calendar giveaway will be announced tomorrow, so if you would like a Bunspace.com 2011 calendar, go to this post and leave a comment (and if you're a follower of this blog, you will be entered twice).

On to the post:

I have mentioned in the past as to what a picky eater Mickey is; if I want to introduce him to a new food, it often takes days before he'll even give it a sniff, and then a few more days before he decides if he likes it or not. Over time, I have figured out some tricks to getting him to try things, and I have figured out some patterns as to what he'll like and what he'll pass up, but overall, it's a whole lot of trial and error.

Until last Tuesday, anyway; I think I may have found an exception to the rule.

One of my regular rabbit-related readings is a column by Phyllis O'Beollain, who writes about small animal issues for Examiner.com. One of her recent columns was about the benefits of cilantro for small pets and humans. I know a number of people who feed cilantro to their rabbits, so I thought perhaps I would give it a try, so I bought some when I went food shopping this past Tuesday.

As soon as I brought the groceries into the kitchen, Mickey started going spazbunny in his cage; not exactly abnormal behavior for him, but a little odd since he'd already been fed. Usually, a full belly means a long nap, and the most I might get is a glare of disapproval for disturbing his rest. I told him to settle down and started unpacking the groceries. I always save Mickey's greens for last, so after putting everything else away, I pulled the cilantro out of its bag...

...and immediately started gagging. According to Phyllis' column, the name for the cilantro seed, coriander, comes from the Greek word for bedbug. I now know why: good gawd, what a stench!

I looked over at Mickey in his cage, still spazzing out, then looked at the cilantro. I washed some of the cilantro and gave it to him; he jumped on it like a rabbit who hadn't eaten in days. It was gone in a heartbeat.

Well, that explains a few things, like why he likes my son's feet.

I have now added cilantro to my list of wabbit food, but I do so reluctantly since I need a gas mask to even handle the stuff. A good bunny-mum must make the occasional sacrifice for her pets, though.

Speaking of which, I need to feed him.

Here's his latest video for you to check out while I do that:

Calendar Bun Contest

The Bunspace.com 2011 calendars I ordered arrived today, and they are just lovely:

(For once, my flash actually makes a pic look even better. ;) )

Of course, I immediately had to open one and look for Mickey; I found him in March.

Where's Mickey?

There's Mickey!

Of course, somebunny was a little disappointed that his picture this year is much smaller than he expected, but he is trying to be humble about it, since he knows how lucky he was to be chosen in the first place. I told him that if his pic was any bigger, no one would want to turn the page when April came around, and that wouldn't be fair to any of the other rabbits in the calendar. That soothed his ruffled fur and put him in a better mood.

And now, the contest part--these are truly lovely calendars (and I do not say that just because Mr. Mick is in there, the cute is to die for), so if you would like one for yourself and haven't ordered one from Bunspace yet, leave a comment on this post. Next Monday, I will choose someone out of all the comments received and will send them a calendar. If you follow this blog, let me know in your comment and you will get an extra chance to win.  Good luck to all! :)

A quick update

Just found out that the Bunspace 2011 calendars (featuring a certain spoiled rotten mini-lop, among others) are now on sale at Bunspace.com . Proceeds from calendar sales benefit the House Rabbit Society.

In other news, Mickey's quarterly molar-grinding went well. It's a good thing we decided to change it to every 3 months rather than every 6 months; while his teeth hadn't gotten to a point where they were irritating his mouth, they were definitely bothering him to some extent. As his vet said, better to take care of it now when he's healthy than risk him possibly going into GI stasis, which would upset his immune system and make grinding his teeth more difficult. He's back up to a little over 6 lbs., which is a good weight for him, so all in all, everything's good.

"Hmph...easy for you to say, you weren't the one getting stuff stuck in your mouth and breathing funny gas..."

For once, a short post

Mickey has expressed great displeasure at not being showcased in the blog lately, so here he is:




He wishes to thank his Auntie Shell for sending him the lovely paper to play with, although he has no idea why she hid it in a package of stuff for me.  ;)

How to Draw A Bunny (Square)

When I was a little girl, my grandpa Milo taught me how to draw a bunny.

I don't remember how the subject came about; perhaps I was talking about drawing or actually drawing while over at my grandparents, but one day Grandpa said, "I know how to draw a bunny, do you want to see?"

Of course, I did. He took a pen and a piece of paper and drew this:

"There's his belly."

He drew again.

"There's his head."

And again:

"There's his ears."

The last step:

"And there's his tail. Isn't that a good bunny?"

Needless to say, the child-me was not amused, but as I got older, asking Grandpa to "draw a bunny" for my younger siblings and cousins became a source of great amusement; a little family in-joke, as it turned out, since apparently he'd pulled the same trick on my mother and her siblings as well when they were little.

It is with this bunny in mind that I have been working on a bunny square to crochet. A very simple design, or so I thought; two circles and two thin ovals in single-crochet stitch and a bobble stitch tail for a little pop-out detail.

Unfortunately, the first square I attempted was a failure, not so much because of my drawing abilities but because switching colors between background and bunny did not give me the clean edges that I needed for the bunny shape. I didn't even get halfway through the square before realizing that this wasn't looking much like a circle as a misshapen blob. I tore it apart and sulked for a bit. How hard can it be to crochet a bunny so simple?

I'd planned to put the project aside for a few days, but today (Sunday) being International Rabbit Day, I thought it would be a good day to get this fershlugginer bunny square figured out. After a bit of thought, I decided to completely abandon the idea of using two colors, except for one small spot. This is the result:

Test Square 1

Much better, although as I looked at it, another idea was popping into my head. What if I went back to the two-color plan, but used the bobble outline to define the edges?

Test Square 1 was immediately unraveled, and back to the hook I went. The results:

Test Square 2

Test Square 2 is not a finished product (and has already been unraveled), but now that I've seen how it looks both ways, I can clean it up and it'll look better. In fact., I think I'll do both styles in the colors I have and put them together 50/50. Each square took maybe about an hour to make, so it'll be a quick project. I'm already thinking about getting some yarn in more natural rabbit colors such as black, brown, tan, cream, gray and white and making an adult-sized afghan out of the squares if the baby blanket comes out well.

I think I'm going to call the pattern, "Milo's Bunny".