All Caught Up

Okay, we've got one last bit of catching-up to do and then you'll be all caught up on what's been going on around here.

First off. check out this bit of adorableness:

It's a tissue box cover made to look like a couch--I had to laugh; my son saw it and said, "How's the rabbit supposed to fit on that?!"

Isn't it great? My friend Paula contacted me on Facebook about a friend of hers, Melinda (who is now my friend too), who was involved with a fundraiser for Junior Achievement selling these adorable covers in a variety of patterns. There were three that had rabbits on them; this is one of the other ones:

I immediately contacted Melinda and ordered one. You can order one, too--the fundraiser for JA is over, but Melinda has some covers left over and she is donating the proceeds from selling those to rabbit rescue. The covers cost $20 plus $5 shipping ($7 for international shipping), so if you are interested, please email me at jade@jademyst.com and I will give you Melinda's contact info.

In other news, this past Friday, I finished the second baby blanket I was making for my cousin's new daughter:

Here's a closeup of the pattern:

This and the other blanket I made will be given to my newest family member on Memorial Day. Next project on the list is a throw blanket for my niece and her new husband; they got married last month, so this will be their wedding gift. I'm just waiting for the yarn I ordered to get here so I can start.

And now, your moment of *squee*...

Wait, did I say *squee*? I'm sorry, I meant *SQUEE*!

A friend of mine sent me these pics: this is a nest of baby bunnehs found under the slide in the playground of one of the local preschools. The nest was not disturbed, and the children were allowed to peek, but NOT touch, and they are thriving quite well. The following pics were taken more recently:

Mr. Mick was gracious enough to allow me to post these pics instead of his own, although if you are looking for a Mick fix, feel free to click HERE--I asked The Boy if he would take some pictures of Mick for the annual Bunspace calendar contest--I wanted 10, he took over 200. These are the best of the bunch.

*whew* I thought I was never going to get caught up here. Yay!

To everyone and everybun--Mr. Mick and I wish you a Happy Memorial Day, and to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country, we say "Thank You and Bless You".

More Catching Up

First off, a big "Hello and Welcome!" to our newest followers (Don't think I didn't notice you come in--I really did, just keep forgetting to mention it.) as well as some big hugs and much love for those who were already here (Did you think I was going to forget you? Sillies, that's just not happening.). Mr. Mick and appreciate each and every one of you--feel free to invite your friends as well; the more the merrier.

More stuff to catch up on--not quite so much bunneh-related. As some of you know, I've mentioned that I was working on a few crochet projects; a couple of baby blankets for my cousin's new daughter and a throw blanket housewarming gift for my friends Duncan and Lesley. One of the baby blankets is finished, and I'm hoping to complete the second before the belated baby shower/Memorial Day party. (Miss Samantha showed up 10 weeks early, and was in the ICU for a while, so the shower was postponed.)

This is the one blanket I've finished:

Here's a closeup of the pattern:

It is actually two strands of the same variegated yarn put together (the yarn is very thin--kind of like what you'd use to make socks); the second blanket is being made with a single strand since we're going into summer and they'll need something thinner. I just hope I get it done in time, I've done way too much procrastinating with this project. As is, I have more baby blankets to make, and all need to be done before September--three babies are on their way! My older stepdaughter is expecting her second child (a girl this time, so she'll have one of each like her sister). One of my husband's employees and his wife are expecting their second child, and a dear online friend and his girlfriend are expecting their first child (a boy). (Honestly, people, what's with all these babies? It was a MILD winter--you couldn't have needed to get warm THAT much! ;) )

This is the throw blanket that I made for my friends:

It's a simple wave pattern, which I tried to capture closeup, but the coloring kind of hides it.

It's alpaca, very thick and soft, and very snuggy. I had a hard time finishing it because we got a warm spell of weather and I literally couldn't sit under it to work on it. 

Lesley and Duncan surprised me with one request: they are devoted pet lovers (they have two adorable cats, Victor and Benny) and they are big Mr. Mick fans. They said that since a blanket is not a proper blanket without some pet hair on it, would I please include some Mick fur on it?

Mick and I were more than happy to oblige:

"Well, this is a first. 

Mum usually doesn't want me on her stuff."

"You know, this is pretty comfy.

Are you sure you want to give it away?"

"Oh, ok--as long as it's for them

and not their silly cats, I can live with that."

"Now where's my treat?

Don't think I'm not getting compensated here."

I also included a small amount of fur from a grooming session in a little bag, in case they needed more. ;)

The blanket was a big hit in the household--once Benny and Victor let their humans use it. Duncan said he fell asleep under it in five minutes easily--and he has a hard time falling asleep. I told him that was the Mick fur--it comes with Mick's power of napping at warp speed. :D

I was so happy with how it came out that I may have to make one for us--assuming I ever run out of baby blankets to make. Good thing those are easy to do. 

Okay, I've almost got you caught up on everything going on here...maybe one more post left. See you soon!

Catching Up

Did you ever have so many things you want to talk about, you couldn't figure out where to start?

That has been the case for me lately; I've been wanting to update everyone as to what has been going on, but either there hasn't been the time or my brain has refused to function--and now there's so many things I want to tell and show you all, I almost don't know what to do first.

However, it is Mother's Day, so first off Mr. Mick and I want to wish all the moms (and bunny-moms) we know a Happy-Hoppy Mother's Day. I got very nicely spoiled by The Boy and Hubby this year:

The stuffed bunny and flowers are from The Boy,

the lovely jewelry from Hubby.

Hubby also made his usual Mother's Day pilgrimage to the local nursery to get the hanging baskets to display in the front yard:

Milo the gardener bun has been given his regular flowers to tend to: 

The impatiens are looking a little wilty right now,

but Milo will have them all full and lovely in no time. 

We also have our fuchsia basket in the entranceway:

The ones with the purple flowers are a must,

because those are the ones the hummingbirds like.

Of course, Mr. Mick has been giving me his usual Mother's Day snuggles and bunny kisses (which makes it very hard to try to get this blog post written, as typing with one hand and trying to pet a bun with the other is not easy). As I mentioned, we had to make a return trip to the vet's last weekend after a repeat of him not eating--at least this time, he was thoughtful enough to do it during regular vet hours. Again, by the time we went to the vet's, he was starting to eat again, and his exam showed nothing out of the ordinary. This time, I had them take x-rays to see if any kind of partial blockage could be found. Nothing could be seen on the initial x-ray, so Mick was given some barium to provide contrast and see how well it processed through his system, and we had to make a return trip Saturday morning for another set of x-rays to see the results.

All went well, no blockages detected, and after discussing the matter thoroughly with the vets, it was decided that perhaps Mick has not been getting enough hydration for his system to properly push things through, so that has been the focus for the past week. Christina of Rabid Tidbits recommended a product called Bounce Back (which is not made specifically for rabbits, but is given to practically every other critter out there) which is essentially Gatorade for animals and very helpful for hydration, so I gave that to Mick for a couple of days, and also gave him the probiotic/vitamin mix his vet gave me (not at the same time) and just syringed extra water into him. 

It did help, although at the same time I found that there were certain foods that I was going to have to either reduce or eliminate in Mick's diet as they were causing him to  have loose cecum. One was dandelion leaves; more than one or two and somebunny was in need of a butt bath. The other was his dried carrot tops, which I was allowing him free access to under the impression that because they were high-fiber, they would be helpful. They helped...a little too much, so I've switched to small amounts of dried fennel tops instead, since fennel is supposed to help with digestion.

 Om nom nom...

"What's that, Mum? 'Too many carrot tops', you say?

Feh, no such thing as too many--you don't give me enough,

that's the problem."

"Humph! Well, that just stinks. 

How's a bun supposed to have any kind of fun

if he can't eat what he wants?"

Re-introducing the brand of western timothy hay I used to put in his litterbox has also helped unexpectedly. Turns out that somebunny started eating the hay out of the litterbox when I put it in--he won't touch it if I put it in a box or hayrack, but put it in his litterbox and suddenly it's munch-munch-munch. Foo' wabbit (not that I'm complaining, but sheesh...).

Surprisingly, the one thing I thought might be causing problems--his banana and pumpkin bites--haven't hurt him one bit. I'm guessing it's because they're hay-based, but either way I'm glad I don't have to cut them out of his diet. After all, a bun's got to have some treats. 

I've also been giving him regular tummy massages, which he's been tolerating far more than he used to do. Before, he would either tolerate them or jump and run; now, he not only puts up with it, but I get way more face licks and tooth-purring. I guess I must be doing something right.

Best of all, I'm starting to see more of this again:

After all, lop is short for flop--

and a flopped lop is a happy lop. 

Must be doing something right somehow--right? 

Okay, that's enough for now. I still have a bunch of pics and videos I want to post, but those will have to wait for another day. 

For RoadBunner

Our blogging friend RoadBunner posted a story recently about how her bun, Mario, somehow got himself tangled up in one of his willow wreaths. This reminded me of the time Mickey's predecessor, Karnage, got himself in a similar predicament.

Karnage loved tunnels. The cat tunnel that Mickey now uses was originally his, and I used to buy tunnels made out of heavy cardboard for him to chew on as well as run through. I also used to make tunnels for him by popping the bottom out of the tube-like containers of Quaker Oats, and that worked as well.

That is, until one day when I woke up to this:

Nope, that's not a Dutchie. That's a rabbit in a cardboard corset.

Yes, I  am a bad bunneh-mom, I laughed AND took pics. 

Apparently Karnage had not let the fact that he had chewed the Quaker Oats tube down to next to nothing deter him from trying to go through it one more time. It had clearly gone easily over his head and front feet, but there was no-way-no-how he was going to get his big back legs through it. 

After documenting his error in judgment for posterity, I got out the scissors and very carefully cut the cardboard off of him. Needless to say, the only damage was to his pride--but I got a day's worth of Bunny Butt O'Snub and Dread Glare O'Sulk. After that, there were no more Quaker Oats tunnels, and all cardboard tunnels were checked to make sure they were suitably wide enough to keep from becoming waist ornaments. 

So Mario, please don't feel bad that you got yourself in such a predicament--and I hope you've forgiven your mom as well. 

As for Mr. Mick, he is doing very well after a recurrence of his not-eating and more trips to the vet. I will post details very soon--I just had to share this story first. :)