Fuzzy Adventures

2011-12-25T23:05:00.000-08:00

Hi followers and fans! *Waves a paw*

I've decided to unite all my various google and youtube STUFF under my main account. This account was created when blogger was first bought out by google and the transition wasn't a smooth one. So -- all further updates we'll be at the new home. There should be a Christmas post soon'ish. (Depends if I go fall on my face before I finish or not.)

Thanks for your understanding and patience!!

http://rabbitsandfuzz.blogspot.com/view/classic

Hop everyone had a Merry Christmas and hop y'all will have a good new year. :)

Steven and Chris on CBC.

2011-12-16T15:39:00.000-08:00

I don't have cable, so I typically have CBC on. I like CBC, it's fairly neutral in its media output and television shows. Considering its technically run by Canadian government that it would have *less* heckling of politics than any other channel rather than more. Rick Mercer is their king - if you ever need a laugh, youtube him. His rants are epic of the Dennis Miller variety.

Today I was watching Steven and Chris as I often do. It's a home design, cooking, fashion, etc show. I don't have much use for the information as I am NOT a home decorator type by a long shot, BUT, they're always interesting and entertaining. I was only paying half attention as I was filling out a form for a contest when I heard "..and this one is trimmed with rabbit fur!" (..) "Only $5.25!" and Chris started squeeing. You can probably imagine my reaction!!!

So I decided to write them an email. You can as well, if you wish, at stevenandchris@cbc.ca

* * *

Dear Steven and Chris,

I am a big fan. I am hopeless when it comes to home decorating, I could boil an egg for an hour and have it come out raw, and my fashion sense is permastuck in the 90s, but something about the happy, feel good, energy of your show keeps me tuning in. I think it’s that Chris is not afraid to try anything, no matter how good or bad he may be at it. But my heart skipped a beat and I got that plummeting feeling when you showed an item with rabbit fur on it today. $5.25 was the price. Yipes.

I am going to talk about bunnies; pet bunnies.

Rabbits are the third most popular pet in North America. They’re almost the second most popular in Great Britain, starting to edge out cats! They are friendly, affectionate; they have senses of humour, make lifelong bonds and can mourn just like other high intellect animal. They can be litter box trained and as long as you protect your delicious looking electric cords, they can be free range in your house. They may damage your furniture, but let’s face it, so do cats and dogs! It’s the price of animal love! I don’t think you’d squee over an item with cat or dog fur on it, and that’s how I react to something with bunny fur.

My first rabbit rescued me. I was living far from friends and family, I didn’t have a lot of resources and I was slowly circling the depression drain. I came home one day from grocery shopping and saw a couple of the large feral dogs of the area trying to get at something under my front steps. I hit my car horn, flipped the lights and slammed the car doors – fortunately for me, the dogs took off. I went to investigate what they’d been after and saw the cutest little brown bunny.

I looked at her, she looked at me, and I said “You’re safe, you can go!” I, foolishly, thought she was a wild rabbit. Now shen who would be named Scout, was no dumb bunny. She knew a sucker when she saw one. She took one look at me and hopped to stand between my legs, close to my right ankle. I looked down at her, “You can go!” I repeated. She just sat there. It was pouring rain, I had groceries in hand, I didn’t have much patience to muck about. Figuring the fastest way to get a wild animal to be gone is to try and pick it up. I did so and she let me. She promptly stuck her head under my chin and was shivering away. Oh, not a chance this poor thing was getting tossed out into the big, bad, cold, wild.. So, sap that I am, I took her into the house, put her in a box with some towels, left my groceries on the floor and went BACK out into the pouring rain to get rabbit supplies from the local Petcetera. She was still in the box when I got home, but it was suspiciously closer to the heater.

Over the four years I had her, Scout taught me a lot about patience, love and laughter. She talked to me, giggled with me, and was a quite vocal little bun. And like every small being ever born, she had a Napoleanic attitude. There was no where in my home she couldn’t get to. She had a four foot leap across and could leap five feet up. She only liked three males; my Dad, her vet, and Jethro Gibbs. As soon as he talked on NCIS, both ears would come up, she would run into the living room and periscope and stare at the TV until he was out of the scene. She would then sit down and patiently wait for his reappearance and repeat as soon as he spoke again. She had all sorts of health issues, she’d come from a very abusive place, but she stayed with me for four and a half years.

After I’d had Scout for about four months, bunny people on the net convinced me bunnies are happiest when they have a bunny friend, so I went and got her a pal. Sage, as she was eventually named, was a silver Dutch. She was probably dumped because she wasn’t of ‘breeding or showing pattern.’ Sage, the little five pound rabbit, taught me the true meaning of the word diva! She could be so wonderfully dramatic. If the house wasn’t as warm as she would like it, she’d gather up bedding (yanking it off my bed!) and drag it to the living room floor in a big pile and then with a teenage girl like sigh, flomp into the middle. If her food bowl was empty, she would pick it up and throw it at my head – and she had frighteningly good aim! After I wised up and got them crockery dishes, she once threw one of my shoes at my head because the water bowl was low enough she had to lean into it to drink. Apparently, this is completely unacceptable to bunny divas.

Scout, forobvious reasons, was terrified of the outside world. She didn’t want anythingto do with it and every time I had to take her to the vet she would cry when Itook her out the door. She was fine once in the car, but that initial step horrifiedher. I didn’t know bunnies could cry, and it is an absolutely heart-wrenchingsound! Sage, however, LOVED the outdoorworld. She rescued an abandoned litter of kittens. She knew every kid in theneighbourhood. She took me for walks at the lake. She didn’t mind dogs as longas they didn’t lick her. (Any dog licking her instantly got the upset divalook.) The kids brought her clover andgrass. Unfortunately, November 13^th, 2010, bad wiring in my homeresulted in a house fire and Sage did not survive. Bunnies are such tragicallydelicate creatures for all their personality.

So, whenyou say something has bunny fur trim – I think of a bunny that could have beensomeone’s beloved pet, but instead was slaughtered for its fur. I don’t expectyou to fight the fashion industry – but maybe in counterpoint, have a memberfrom a local bunny rescue on one day to help educate the masses. I’m sure theladies at Rabbit Rescue, Inc would be thrilled to hear from you! (http://www.rabbitrescue.ca/ )

Thank youfor listening,

[My Contact Info Removed]

2011-11-27T13:53:00.001-08:00

The tail of two gerbils.

2011-11-18T07:49:00.000-08:00

Gosh - isn't he just such a cutie pie, that Fergie? Doing a very credible flop for us, to show that bunnies and gerbils have some characteristics in common. It was almost .. foreshadowing.

Yesterday morning I stumbled out of bed and into the kitchen to make tea. I saw something flash by on the ground near the couch but didn't think much of it. I am not unknown for hallucinating movements when tired. (I'm sure Lena would remember me ducking a non-existent bat in Bino's) I made tea. I went into the living room and sat on the couch. I stared at the gerbil cage as a few neutrons tried to rub together and give me an important message.

Hey - why's Fergie running around underneath the cage?

Oh. Crap. WHY IS .. *&@#!!

Fergie, fortunately, is too dumb to figure out how to escape the wood skirt that was under their cage. Freddie, however, is a devious little snot and probably wiggled out in under two seconds. I started Googling "How to catch a gerbil" having had trouble catching rabbits in the past.. and let's face it, rabbits, even Scout Bunny!, are much larger than gerbils. Another flash of movement and Freddie has run under the TV. "Ack! Not my cords!" I had flashbacks to every bunny proofing Scout defeated and every cord she'd nommed. (How she never electrocuted herself, I have no idea.) I dived (figuratively) across the room and managed to corner Freddie. With a bit of artful hand movements I managed to catch the little .. uh, sweet wee guy. (Little mother farter!)

Into their travel cage they went. Not that this could, or would, hold them for long. Fortunately for me, they're now too tired from all their adventures to chew through the top and have escape number two. (I'm fairly confident even Fergie the Challenged could have figured out how to climb out the top.) As its not the end of the month, I'm at the end of my bank account. A panic message to parents and brother "Send money, the gerbils have teeth!" (Okay, it was a little more explanatory than that.) Dave saved the day and sent me money to get them a new cage.

Problem is - I was discovering as I went through the local petstores - all the available cages had *plastic* bottoms. It wouldn't be long before they just chewed through it again. One of the very nice people at a locally owned and operated store said "Get them an aquarium!" I couldn't manage to transport a 20 gallon aquarium by myself, so they got the 10 gallon model with a screen for the top. ("I could sell you the clips to hold it down, but really, just go down to the river and pick up a big rock and put that on top. Gerbils, unlike snakes, aren't strong enough to tip the lid.")

The real challenge was the water bottle. I hadn't even thought of that "slight" problem when I bought the aquarium - there was no way or place to attach it! So, in went a crock and for them to dump bits in and I went on a quest for something that would work.

I ended up having to borrow MORE money (this time from the parents) and drove out to Abbotsford, just over 30 kms (19 miles) away. The Petsmart didn't have any real solutions either, just a bottle holder that she said would go over the top, you put the lid back on and Bob's your uncle. (Like my Mum needs another brother??) So, I buy that and go home.

I was right to be dubious. The way the bottle sat, the holder sat, AND the lid of the aquarium sat.. even if I bent the holder about to fit over the side, i wouldn't be able to get the lid on! And while the furry felons have yet to figure out how to get to the top of their new home, I don't doubt they will very quickly! Especially if I put a shelf in there for them! So - I threw in the towel and went to bed.

Unable to sleep I got up and started mucking about. I had two bottle wire holder thingys. (Y'know the bit that goes around the water bottle to attach to the wires of the cage?) I had twist ties. Surely I could do SOMETHING. After application of pliers, profanity, and ingenuity, the water bottle now hangs from the metal screen lid and is within drinking range. Now if I can just get them to stop tipping their food crock about..

Over all, I think the aquarium is a better home for them. If for no other reason than it's darn harder for them to chew out of and they can't fling the discarded shells and bits from their food every which way. (Again - I give them time to figure out how to shove it out the top.) Best yet - the freaking wheel no longer thumps loudly every time they run on it! (It would bounce against the bottom of the plastic cage.)

Its a good thing Sage and Scout trained me to be outsmarted by cute furry things on a regular basis or this could have been a real blow to my ego!

Own a part of a Canadian!

2011-08-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Gerbil in the Sky, thank you for this grub. Do you think you could get the humom to put more sunflower seeds in next time?

As some of you know - I write to earn money for things like food, and internet and gas for my car. It's been a slow couple of months. So! Here's your chance to own part of a Canadian's heart and mind. Doesn't that sound most nifty?

Do you want something written? A poem, an introduction to a product, a short story, a retelling of an adventure? Do you want help with a report, or homework or what have you? (I can't write those whole from the cloth, sorry!) Do you want a story about your child, pet, significant other, favourite plant? Well, here's your chance!

For a mere cent a word, you can order what you like. You can pay by paypal, you can mail me a cheque, you can drive to Chilliwack, BC and meet me for coffee to hand me cash! I'm very accomading that way! :) Canadians can also Interac. I normally have a $5 minimum, but in the crazy, crazy, "Own part of a Canadian!" sale, there is no minimum! You want a 16 word poem? It'll cost you sixteen cents! Amazing, huh??

If you've not seen an example of my work, you can find it in the blog history here or on my (desperately needs updating) writing blog, or you can hear me read it aloud! (Be warned, next weeks won't be suitable for children!)

Have a cute gerbil pic.

2011-08-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

Have a cute gerbil pic, because I'm gonna rant. It's my blog and I can if I want. If you want happy, perky, joyful Lorna - well, I have a podcast over at http://www.youtube.com/shadowydreamer ..

A few months back I was seeing a guy, we went on a few dates, he disappeared. I'm not one to go chasing where I'm not seemingly wanted. I'll try and touch base a couple of times, but if I get the brush off, I'm not going to make a nuisance of myself. I DO want to know why, and if the person won't tell me, I'll be sneaky about it. I want to not repeat the same mistakes in the future. (If they're mistakes, and they probably were.)

So, this morning, friend of a friend of a friend found out for me why he'd dropped me like a dead fish. Its because I'm disabled.

Wow, eh?

Now, its not even my fibro or my CFS, which are really the things that keep me from having a real job and making more than 15k a year. It was my crutch that "totally turned him off." (His words.)

WTF.

I have a damaged L5-S1 nerve in my back. Any one who has ever suffered sciatica knows this nerve and knows it well. This means that my left leg gets cranky. Most of the time it's numb, but sometimes it just goes into overload and it's on fire and I'm a very unfun person to be around. Mostly, however, when I abuse myself, my left leg just shuts down and I fall over. Its quite comical, in fact. (Hey, I laugh because if I don't, I'll cry..) So, when I know I'm going to be doing a lot of standing (which is the worst!!) or walking, I bring my crutch.. it makes me able to do those two things for longer as I'm taking it easy on my left leg.

The last date we had, I'd walked over to the coffee shop, and I'd expected to be sitting yakking for quite some time. (I know, me talk nonstop.. hard to believe.) I expected to need the extra oomph to get me home again. Apparently, that crutch ruined all romantic thoughts.

Okay, I can get that I'm not the most fun person to try and deal with in any sort of close relationship. (Friendship or otherwise.) I sometimes have to cancel plans, sometimes I just plain can't do things that I would love to do, sometimes I miss out of events and am sulky. (I'm not blaming my friends for doing stuff without me, I'm just miffed at the universe I don't get to play too. I'd rather they do it without me than sit and suffer because of me!) I get that my sleep schedule is f'd up at the best of times. I tend to have insomnia for two - three weeks, and then my CFS flips the switch and I'm groggy and tired and dragging my feet for two - three weeks. My legs burn when I'm not dead straight on with my meds (which is sometimes a bit of a juggling act). I have other fun issues.

I don't blame ANYONE for not wanting to get involved with me. I'm a mess! I try to hold up my end of things, but lets face it, because of physical limitations there's gonna be extra stress/work on the part of a partner. (There certainly is on my family and close friends.) I try not to be a drag, but life is what life is sometimes. So, if it had been all of THAT I'd get it.

But my crutch?! The sole physical representation of my disability? (Besides the giant circles under my eyes and going on manic posting sprees on FB now and then.) I don't get that.

Yes, its his fault on this one. There's nothing *I* can do about it. I had one guy tell me I didn't phone him enough, he always felt like he wasn't important. (Wish he'd told me while we were going out - I would have phoned more.. I was trying not to be a dead weight/clingy girl.) So now I negotiate what comfortable communication levels are. I'm happy going four days without talking to my beau if that's what their work schedule is. (Okay, not HAPPY, but willing.) Its a give and take thing, right?

So maybe that's why I can't wrap my head around this. Its just so plain butt ignorant.

And why the hell do people just disappear instead of EXPLAINING or at least EXCUSING themselves? Do people REALLY think that a blank wall of rejection is better than closure? Quick rip the band-aid, people.. don't leave the wound to fester.

Okay - done venting. Have another gerbil pic.

And thank you Lena and Jim for dragging me out of mopey mookyland. We'll just work on getting me out of incredibly pissed off land!

Silly Gerbils!

2011-06-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

I have a fez. Fezzes are cool.

Gerbils are so very silly. Or maybe it's just my two. When I cleaned out their cage, I put them in their small carrier thingy with some kleenex to dig in. When I returned them to their clean cage, I just dumped the kleenex in after them. Silly little desert mice like to have fluff in their nest, so I'd bought some cotton balls. A couple of those keep them quite happy.

Freddie has spent the day pulling the kleenex out of the hidey hut and putting it down on the ground floor. He then runs back up to the cotton is in the hidey and starts fluffing and seperating it to give maximum coverage. Fergie has spent the day watching his brother run down the ramp and then back up, then runs down the ramp, picks up the kleenex and runs it back up to the hidey where he promptly shoves it in the door. After a few hours of this, I swear Freddie thumped both back feet in irritation. Fergie tilted his head to one side and let out the cutest squeek/chirp. Freddie then gave Fergie a Glaswgow kiss to the middle and picked up a huge mouthful of kleenex and ran it down to the bottom.

Any guesses on what Fergie did shortly there after? :D

From Vancouver.

2011-06-16T21:24:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I live about an hour and a half east of Vancouver. I moved to Surrey, BC, 40 minutes south of Vancouver at the age of 11. I grew up (pretty much) in the Lower Mainland. As a few of you know, I'm a rampant Canucks fan. While we emigrated to Edmonton, AB in 1982, I've been a Vancouverite for longer than I was ever an Edmontonion. The Oilers are my #2 team, the Canucks #1.

I want to apologize on behalf of Vancouver. What you saw on your news was a group of young adults planning destruction and then dragging others along for the ride. Some people tried to stop the damage. Some people stood around and took pictures and lived vicariously. Some people tried to get out. Some people just had fun smashing [stuff]. There was talk on Skytrain (our elevated light rail transit) before the game about how they were going to riot win or lose. They packed in moltov cocktails, g8 protest signs, and various items of destruction. They thought it would be cool to destroy and run rampant.

That is not the Canadian way. That isn't the Vancouver way. Everyone I know of is appalled by the riot. They're horrified. And they're all for identifying each and every one of those people and having them slapped with a criminal record. Actions have consequences, and these hooligans should be facing their's.

The true face of the Canucks fan is the ones who were cheering for the Bruins when they were declared the winners. The fans gave Thomas (Bruins' goalie) a standing ovation. It was a hell of a game and the Bruins played better - they deserved their win.. and while we were disappointed we didn't win, you have to salute the team who just wanted it more. The booing you heard was us booing Bettman. I don't think there's many Canadians who like him.. but even still with our extreme dislike of the man and his actions, we didn't even throw things at him.

It was reported that the first car to be torched had been brought downtown for that precise purpose. Who the heck thinks of these things??

Last night was a nightmare. I'm proud of the police, the paramedics and the fire fighters. I'm proud of those who stood between rioters and those already down on the ground. I'm proud of those who yelled "STOP!" and tried to prevent the destruction and looting. Those are the ones I'd like to think of as the typical Canadian. They're certainly the ones we saw during the olympics.

Kisses!

2011-06-15T18:05:00.000-07:00

Its still hard to get a picture of the boys - fast shutter speed (because these two NEVER STOP) means flash, which means bad picture.. or I get a ghost.. or no gerbil at all!

In my earlier post I mentioned Petcetera and then never went anywhere with it - I got distracted by something shiny. (Ooo..Shiny) I had then gone to Petsmart. Where once again I got INCREDIBLE service. I mentioned that I'd just been adopted by two gerbils and got asked what size cage do I have, is it multi-level.. etc etc. I then ended up buying a better cage. Now, I know they may have been trying for the upsell, BUT, that wasn't the feeling I got at all. Especially since previous conversations there I've been told (pretending ignorance) that rabbits are like cats and need room to roam and play. (Yay!)

So, tonight I was taking a break from yelling "OMFG, stop sucking Canucks!!" at my TV to make faces at the boys. Of course, I typically end up wriggling my nose like they're minature little bunnies.. Anyway, had my face plastered against the cage when Fergie came running up and put his nose against mine. I just about melted from the OMG, CUTE!! Then he gave my nose a lick and disappeared into his tunnel. I got a kiss! Awwwwwww... <3

Now, Mr Mick.. I appreciate that there will be a bunny in my life again one day. But until I can find one as absolutely awesome as you, who will tug at heart strings, boss me around and train me right ('cause, y'know, humans lose their training practically overnight) .. I shall have to make do with two very silly little desert mice. My heart isn't strong enough for a rabbit at this point. (Or in short, one hasn't thumped and told me different) One day tho, I'm sure.

Very sorry to hear about poor, poor Betsy. Not only dragged into a noisy car for *two* hours, but she had things stuck in her. Sage would have offered several colourful metaphors to employ about vets and their liking to stick cold metal objects in personal places.. But I'm happy to hear that she'll be well, once she finishes peeing on her humans on a daily basis for two weeks.

My new masters.

2011-06-06T11:37:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking for weeks what my new master(s) will look like. Another rabbit? A hedgehog? A fish? (Beta fish are so pretty!)? Some mice?

Well, I made the mistake of going into Petcetera the other day and mooching around. If I hadn't already sworn never to buy from them while they sell rabbits as 'low maintenance pets,' the fact they followed me around as if I were a criminal would have done it. There's a difference between the 'I'm desperate to make a sale' stalk and the 'You're going to shove pine shavings down your yoga pants' stalk. I left without even pricing anything, I did look at their empty fish tanks, their sad looking birdies and the bunnies who were in what I'd call an sick-bed cage and wished I could rescue them all.

This morning a lady posted on a local mailing list she has some gerbils to go. She said she can't promise anything about them other than they're all from the same litter and gender. (Male gerbils have similar, ah, characteristics to male rats, rabbits and other very male animals.) I hit delete and continued with email. Then I went back to it and dug it out of my trash folder.. and phoned her.

Long story shorter, I am now enslaved two very cute little male gerbils. ("Did you know gerbils can mate through cage bars?" "I knew rabbits could.." "BUT GERBILS!!")

I was thinking "Ferdie and Freddie" for names, after the mischievous foxes from Rupert Bear. ("Rupert The Bear" if you listen to N. Americans.) But the tan gerbil doesn't seem like a Ferdie. (The grey does seem like a Freddie) So, tentatively they're Marty and Freddie.

Boy, did I think taking pictures of rabbits was "fun" .. at least they stop moving! For creatures that are supposed to sleep during the day (especially during the warmest part!) they haven't stopped exploring since I put them in their new cage.

RIP Chance Bunny. :(

2011-05-21T23:51:00.000-07:00

From Sorelle :

RIP Chance. Chance was such a compromised rabbit from the time she got here (she was 1/4 the size of her litter mates, splayed, fat stomach, skeletal body, poopy butt, vacant demeanor, etc), never really expected her to survive, but after six months, she was actually looking like she was going to be okay. She very quickly developed a small swelling on her cheek, she was taken into the vet almost immediately, had surgery the next day, and it was discovered to be a very abnormal abscess with gas and thin, wet pus, which is a sign of a potentially nasty, abnormal bacteria. The vet couldn't keep her overnight so so went home with a caregiver who was going to keep her in a better environment than I could provide -- with carpets for her splay legs -- but it was not to be. Even though she was looking fine post-op, I suspect the bacteria was aggressive and she went septic soon after. We will find out with the necropsy. She was a very sweet bunny. Slow, yes... but very very sweet. Sleep tight little one. :(

From Lorna :

Chance was possibly the nicest, sweetest, most loving bunny I'd ever met. She didn't let her disability slow her down and she was generous to a fault. She got dealt a very rough deal and she wasn't here anywhere near long enough.

Hop painfree, little Chance.

A bit of pirating bunny.

2011-05-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

I may have posted this before - if so, my apologies!

Sage was sitting on the dock with the sea wind in her fur. She had her eyes half closed as she watched the antics of a human crew trying to unload their cargo. It was obviously a pirate's booty since it had been badly loaded, rifled through and packed worse when they'd gotten it aboard. She wasn't quite sure why any pirate would steal a piano, of even why one would have been shipped in the first place, but it did provide plenty of amusement.

"Why hello there belle," a smooth lapin greeted her, nose wriggling ear at attention as he came up beside her.

Sage glanced over her shoulder at the black and white Dutch who had a bandana jauntily tied around his neck. No blaze, but plenty of attitude. She replied with a yawn and a stretch and looking back at the antics of the human sailors.

The buck wasn't deterred, if anything the disinterest of the silver and white doe seemed to interest him more. "And why is a beautiful lady like you sitting here alone?"

"Because I choose to." Sage replied with a sniff. He smelt of sea-salt and drowned rat. Probably either off a riff-raff ship that didn't clean its bilges nearly often enough or floated up on some driftwood.

"Waiting for someone, perhaps?" he continued, sneaking just a little closer.

Sage eyed him again over her shoulder and snapped her teeth in warning in case he was about to get any ideas. "No, just watching the humans." She gave a head toss towards the ship that had been entertaining her so.

The buck looked beyond the sleek silver and white dutch doe to the ship beyond and then shook his own ears in amusement, "Humans. They're a bunch of no-brainers."

"But they have the rum." Sage replied, intrigued by the strange accent despite of herself.

"Now, if it's rum the doe wants, it's rum she shall get." He raised his head above her's in the bunny equivalent of a bow, an offer to groom. Sage wasn't sure she was ready to have the brash foreigner groom her, but she'd certainly drink his rum.

The black and white rabbit bounded off down the dock and turned up the other pier, weaving between seamen, dock workers and the occasional lady of trade.

Rabbits, no matter their size or colour, could be very stealthy. Sage agreed that rum would definitely worth the effort of stealth.

It seemed no more than six nose twitches later than the buck had reappeared from the bilge leaking ship with a bottle of rum in his mouth. His gait was altered by half-carrying, half-dragging the bottle the same size as himself but he seemed to have no problem with the weight. Sage was impressed with his strength and his audacity.

Soon he was back beside her nibbling off the wax seal of the bottle. Sage did her part by donating a couple of half shells to use as dishes. With an ease that bespoke practice, the buck poured rum into each shell.

"The humans call me Jonny." He introduced himself.

"I'm Sage." She'd chosen her name, she'd just had to get it through her thick human's skull. "How'd you make it here?" she asked.

The bunny called Jonny seemed more than happy enough to regale her with stories of his adventures on the seas. Sage was sure even one or two of them might have a hint of truth to the fish stories.

The sun was nearing the horizon when she let out a delicate burp, a trick she'd learned from Janice. She leaned forward and gave Jonny a lick on the cheek. "Thanks for the good time, sailor." Sage turned neatly on her hindquarters and hopped back down the dock. There was only a *little* lateral movement to her forward motion.

Jonny sighed as he watched the view. "Hate to see you leave, but love to watch you go, darling." He muttered before turning back to the shells and bottle of rum. The shells were empty and so was the bottle! The girl had milked him and left him to the winds! A broken heart and nothing to show for his troubles. He sniffed, normally the answer would be to drink more rum.

"But why is the rum gone?" he wondered, his first choice of first-aid prevented.

Sage did a binky, almost falling over in her inebriated state, at the end of the docks and hopped off to find her human. She hadn't even had to slap the pirate to keep him off her!

A review!

2011-05-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

I got my first review. I'm all a giggly. :)

* * *

I must tell you I enjoyed your story,as it avoids the stereotypic "I would be a happy little cute thing,but my owner kicked me off the house and I died because YOU didn't care!"

Although the story is light hearted,I like the fact that you didn't exclude danger and the difficulties of the domesticated animals to adopt to their natural environment.

And that goes double for dogs,because the poor creatures are genetically evolved to live among human beings and they suffer without human company.
I do not admit that your story made me smile (I am not cute-remember?),or that I laughed when the dog claimed that he trained his human masters (which by my own experience,I tell you that this is accurate-dogs train us almost to the same extend we train them),but I will admit that those were the best 2$ I ever spent.

Verdict:
If you can spent $2 to make you smile,then this story definitely is worth the money.

This is not a sad story,it is a funny story that will entertain you,it will entertain and teach a few things to the kids (it is not a kid story,it's all ages) and most important,you don't have to like bunnies to enjoy it,or feel like you're doing a charity.

This is an honest,well written,feel good short story-the fact that by purchasing it you help actual animals to escape death,is an added bonus to make you fell even better,even if you don't have a cute string inside you!

Just like I don't :-)

I

2011-05-07T18:17:00.000-07:00

I decided Miss Plushie Bunny was looking lonely, so I got her a friend. A fairly nice, soft, lop named Bert. As you can tell - she's simply thrilled about the matter.

People keep telling me I should publish my short stories - so okay, here you go!

Its a short story called "Fizzy's Story" and its about a cute little lop who is abandoned by her humans in the woods. Its a story I think most rabbit owners are familiar with. Its cutesy more than anything else.

I have a friend who is working on some illustrations for a real paper edition, but as he has one of those pesky "life" things.. :)

And for something completely different..

2011-04-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

I should be editing videos. (Ben just said "Yes, you should be!") This is occupying my brain instead. Some fiction involving everyone's favourite Azerothian gnome.

* * *

Reeska stood at the edge of Dolomaar and sniffed the air. It seemed strangely sweet, a sickly sweetness that seemed to permeate the breeze and infiltrate the sinuses. There was an odd amount of giggling - fully grown night elves giggling like children as they clutched baskets that made them run around at ridiculous speeds. Little fuzzy bunnies were hopping everywhere.

"Why don't you have a tail?" a piping voice asked from somewhere around her hip.

Reeska looked down to discover a gnome with cotton-candy pink hair bouncing up and down on her toes beside her. "Because I am in my human guise?" Reeska answered, still disliking the rough edge to her voice. It was if a thousand nights of screaming and howling had forever darkened her voice.

"Nono, silly!" The gnome slapped her on the leg. Well, it was a slap for a gnome, it was more a light swat to the worgen druid. "When you're a doggie. Why don't you have a tail?"

Reeska's eyebrows raised in surprise at the rudeness and directness. "I am never a 'doggie'. I am occasionally cursed to wear the form of an anthropomorphic wolf. As for the lack of tail, I would not know. I would imagine you would have to find a druid of the scythe and ask them."

"Where would I find one of them, then?" The gnome asked ingeniusly.

"Hopefully in the forever dark being tormented by a thousand stinging fire ants." Reeska snarled and turned away from the gnome.

"I'm Mishke GoesBoom." The gnome said, circling around to stand in front of Reeska. "You're a druid right? But not of these scythe guys, right?"

Reeska closed her eyes and pushed the anger and beast back down. Biting the head off a gnome might make her popular with some factions of the alliance, she doubted the night elves would be one of them. For some masochistic reason, they seemed awfully fond of the little irritants. "I am a student of Mathrengyl Bearwalker." She counselled patience to herself once more. "I am Reeska."

"A pleasure to meet you, Reeska!" Mishke held out a small, plump, hand. "Are you hear to watch the bunnies?"

Reeska tentatively shook the hand with thumb and forefinger. "No." She wondered, like thousands of people before her, how to make a gnome go away.

"I'm not a huge fan of Noble garden, myself." Mishke continued on, obliviously. "Running around searching for eggs? Why not just get some hens?" She shook her head, "No offense, but humans are strange."

Reeska was amused and gave the gnome a half-smile, "Yes, we are."

Mishke looked like she was going to say something then changed her mind, "Of course, if someone blows up the hen house - which, by the way, was a totally understandable accident, his feet were very cold, I guess bunnies that poop chocolate eggs would be a good second choice. I can't say though, I'd really want to eat pooped eggs."

Reeska blinked several times rapidly. The gnome had a point.

"But, the kids do seem to like it!" Mishke said as a mixed group of children ran past. "The Draenei certainly caught on quick, didn't they?"

"They're children." Reeska said, as if it was obvious.

"Right." Mishke agreed, "And, uhm?"

"Children. Chocolate." Reeska extrapulated.

"Ooooooh. Riiiiight." Mishke said, rocking back on her heels. "Well, this was fun, but I have to go make sure the rabbits don't eat the fireworks. You wouldn't believe what those little guys can get into!"

"Bye." Reeska managed as the gnome ran off, ponytail bobbing behind her. She rubbed her temples and wondered if she could take up the offer of the Gilnean restoration team after all. Certain death in the nightmare city could only be less painful.

She sensed her companion before she saw him, she turned to look at the high elf who raised one blonde eyebrow to her, glowing green eyes seeming to dance. They stood in silence for several long minutes. "No, I have no interest in sniffing out eggs."

He smiled. "Its for a good cause, Reeska. Think of the injured orphans."

She rolled her eyes at him. "You have a wolf, ask him to do it."

He snorted, "Cisa has too much dignity to rummage around in the bushes."

She turned to stare at the hunter with open mouthed shock. "Oh, and I should just grow fur and a nose, ditch my own dignity and rummage around in the bushes for you?"

He smiled and gave her a half-bow. "Of course. It's a holiday. It's for children." He tilted his head to one side and looked at her thoughtfully as she growled under her breath. "Unless you're worried you'd eat the bunnies?"

"I will not eat the bunnies!" Reeska snapped. ONE incident where her worgen nature had grabbed control when she was learning how to track in cat form, and no one was willing to let her forget it. It wasn't as if the screech owl had been traumatized beyond a few lost tail feathers."

Another grin and Doilan slipped his arm through her's, "Come, Reeska. You take yourself too seriously. You must learn to relax and have fun."

"Says the man who once bathed himself in blood for power." She growled, and instantly regret it as he stiffened. She sighed, and hugged the arm he'd started to pull away. "I'm sorry Doilan. I'm just.." She gestured with her free hand, "Missing what it is to be human, I guess." Another sigh. "I can wear the mask, but I'm still other."

"Other is not so bad." He said, turning her so he could kiss the tip of her nose. "I quite like it, myself."

The rapid blinking again and then another round of shoving her worgen nature back down as a surge of emotion ripped through her. "Damn."

Doilan laughed and took her hand, "I know. You still have a lot of progress to make, but I am in no hurry. I have centuries."

"That makes one of us," Reeska grumbled as she let him tug her along.

"Really? Have you ever seen grey fur on a worgen?" He asked, head tilted to one side.

"What?" She said, pulling him to a stop.

It was his turn to look pained, "I thought Bearwalker.." He shook his head, "Obviously not." He pulled her over to a nearby bench, lightly tapping two rabbits to move aside. He patted the bench beside him, and she sat down carefully. While noble garden rabbits tended to make bell like sounds as they hopped, they still had a frightening ability at sneaking up on you. "You are infected my magic, entwined with the dream, and further woven with more magic. You won't age so much as you will eventually just .. lose your connection with the weave of the world and stop being."

"Much like elves?" Reeska replied, more a statement than a question.

"Much like elves." He agreed. "Though, Night Elves do tend to live longer than High Elves, and we both live longer than Blood Elves."

"Burn the power, enjoy your life, leave a good looking corpse." Reeska said, showing a glimmer of her old humour.

"Well, its more a splatter of sparkling lights." Doilan said with a wry smile. "So.."

Reeska ran a hand over her face, "It's another thing to get used to, I suppose." She turned to him, "Centuries, really?"

"I like you, Lady Niliana now Reeska," he said formally, "But I do not wish to have parts of my anatomy very dear to me bitten off in the heat of passions."

Reeska stared at him, blushed, and then laughed. For a race of beings her mother had insisted were the height of nobility and glory, Doilan could be remarkably .. earthy, sometimes.

"There, you smile. Come, let us let some children infect us with their own joy, gather some chocolate and bring it to the hospice, yes?" He rose with ageless grace and Reeska couldn't help but shake her head and follow him.

Rabbits scattered as they came towards the moonwell, bells jingling merrily. "I'm thinking I know why elves like Noble Garden so much." Reeska said, running her free hand through her now much shorter hair.

"Hmm?" Doilan prompted.

She touched his nearer ear and caressed its underside. "Awfully rabbit like, those ears."

Doilan stood very still under her touch and then broke into a wide grin, "That, my dear, is the least of our rabbit like qualities."

Bunny Humour

2011-04-15T22:44:00.001-07:00

Maurice, an animal loving Frenchman was disheartened to find that Paris didn't have a rabbit rescue. He decided it was long overdue and he would organize one. While he could find plenty of rabbits to rescue, he was having trouble finding housing for them. He went to businesses, chatted up his friends, talked to charities and no one had room. Finally the Archbishop contacted him and said he could keep them out back of the cathedral if he promised to keep them quiet and clean. Extatic, Maurice phoned his wife, "Daria, good news! I've got a hutch back of Notre Dame!"

*adjusts halo*

It must be Easter..

2011-04-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

I sent this around to my Facebook friends, but I thought I'd repost here for others to pass on if they'd like.

* * *

If you've heard my Bunnies are the third most common pet in N. America and the most misunderstood speech before, skip to the end. :)

Animals lovers, I contact you today in hopes of spreading a little education and gaining your help in stopping some ignorance. Whether you have cats, dogs, turtles, birds, a pig in the barn.. I think all of you know that uncontrolled breeding is a *BAD THING!* A female rabbit can put out a litter of 6 - 8 kits every thirty two days. ("Can't add or subtract, but boy, can they multiply!")

Bunnies need room for exercise and play, just like cats and dogs. They're active around dawn and dusk, or if their human is one of those day slaves, typically as you're trying to get ready for work ("Pet me!") and then ignore you for a couple hours when you come home from work. ("Do you have dandelions? Meh. I'll continue my nap.") Rabbits are litterbox trainable. They're very curious and hyperactive little demons.. er, I mean darlings. They like to chew, dig, play, dance, and some have a vocabulary for communicating with their pet humans.

Commonly rabbits get advertised by breeders and pet stores as "starter pets" or "quiet, low maintenance animals, like hamsters." Unfortunately, it's not true. They may seem boring in the classroom, but imagine a cat stuck in that cage all day, with kids poking and yelling.. and worse yet, imagine if that cat was a prey animal! Far from their ideal home! They're also expensive to take care of when they get sick. They have delicate bones and digestive systems and they can't have penicillan. (Amongst other little quirks.)

It's Easter time once more. The tragedy of Easter is that so many people buy a rabbit on a whim and then as soon as said rabbit hits puberty - instead of getting it in to be fixed (and solving a lot of those, ah, overly social, activities) they just dump them out in the wild. The only thing bunnies can do in the wild is be eaten. The average life span of a bunny out in the wild is about a week, the poor things have *zero* survival instincts! The "nicer" dump the bunny off at the already overfull shelters and rescues, where if the bunny is lucky, it isn't euthanised within a couple weeks.

What this lecture is leading up to (are you at the top back with me now?) .. There's a mall in Edmonton, AB that is hosting a rabbit show for Easter. They will be handing out information from breeders on where you can buy your very own cute little pet bunny. And let's face it, breeders, for the most part, need to make money. Yes, there's responsible breeders like my friend Lena (*waves*) but unfortunately, their furchildren get outnumbered very quickly by the puppy mills, the bunny mills, the kitty cat mills all too quickly.

So please, if you have time, write a letter of protest to the Bonnie Doone Shopping Centre at : emills@morguard.com .. Anything from a nice long lecture (You know I typed up one of those!) to a "Please research rabbit care at http://www.rabbit.org before you encourage their sale to the general public."

For more information on the joys of bunnies and easters, feel free to visit http://www.makeminechocolate.org/

Thank you.

What a long strange trip it's been!

2011-03-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

While that picture is actually of my brother's couch - I am indeed moved into my new apartment/flat/condo.

The feeling of freedom is incredible. Having my own space that is mine, with no responsibilities (per say) outside of the walls, is amazing. I don't have a lawn to mow. I don't have plants that I should water (but never remembered to - good thing I had awesome neighbours.)

The last six months has been a long, strange, trip. The fire was November 13th, I recieved my settlement in late January, I took possession of the apartment March 11th, my Mum immediately took over and bought me new carpet and painted the walls. Heck, my realtor (Bonnie Radke, for any needing a realtor in Chilliwack, BC. She's AWESOME.) even painted my kitchen.

My couch arrived from The Brick on the Tuesday, so that was my first day living here. (I had still been camping on my brother's couch.) Then on Saturday I got my washer & dryer, and bed. The bed is an adventure unto itself - it's hard as a rock and I need plush. The model in the store had been VERY soft, so I'd thought what a deal at $379! It was PERFECT. Nope, not so perfect. Sears won't take it back - they'll do an *exchange* but the next cheapest model is $400 more.. And I have to say, I'm not being real impressed with their customer service over this. (The washer and dryer, however, work awesome once my Dad hooked them up.) I have said I'll take a store credit (Lord knows I buy enough of my clothes through Sears!) that's been debated amongst their customer service upper echelons for the past four days. So currently, I'm sleeping on an air mattress on the floor. Good thing its a comfy air mattress.. even if it needs re-inflating every couple of days.

I am also still doing battle with Alliance One / RBC Visa. I had gotten an offer of "buy out the debt" from RBC via Alliance One (a Canadian Credit Agency). So, when I got my insurance settlement, I paid it out. Alliance One said they'd send me paperwork. Long story short, I still haven't recieved any paperwork and RBC Visa says I still owe them another almost six thousand dollars. I am NOT a happy camper. Just sent off a couple of registered letters. They have a week from reciept to reply or I'm going to the BBB and the media. Enough is enough. I think I've been remarkably patient with Alliance One, having accepted four claims they've either mailed or are mailing the paperwork, one claim of email, two claims of faxes.

On the bunny front - its almost time for the UVic rescued bunnies to move down to their sanctuary in WA State. We're having a garage sale, and I have to confess I'm donating a bunch of my stuff from my shed instead of having to sell via Craigslist or pay for storage. (Er, I mean, its a sacrifice for the bunnies! .. *Cough*)

The first strata meeting is mid-April. So I get to investigate the pet situation then. :) Chance's future Momma and Poppa are back in their real home, so she will (probably) be going across to them soon. I wish I could claim her.. but.. alas, I think her medical bills are beyond my means. She's a very special bunny, but special bunnies have special needs. And I am the first to admit the disabled are expensive! (MY family would agree!!)

But with the living situation settled, I'm once more getting back into video taping friend's bands. Very excited for some upcoming shows.. Tho I'm not quite sure if I'm up to the 2.5 hour drive to Kamloops! :D

Also - Pacific Northwest Rabbit people! There seems to be a whole shlock of us, why don't we have a potluck picnic or something in the Seattle area this summer? (June maybe?) I'm a bit limited on what I can bring across the border, but I can certainly do beverages. (Propane stove + 10 types of tea = Lorna's idea of travel.)

Hoppy Birthday 'Shell!

2011-03-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

Hoppy Birthday Shell!

Hope your days are full of love, laugher, binkies, hugs, kisses and nifty STUFF. :)

Bunnies and Tim Hortons.

2011-02-27T23:20:00.001-08:00

Nirvana requires two simple things.. Friends and .. oh, wait.. three things.. ;)

I am bunny sitting for the lovely Lynn and the Daring Darin. (I'd say Darling, but that's not terribly masculine)

This means I get to spoil Miffy, Vinnie and Jackson rotten. Miffy is the only creature on the planet to still be demanding pets after I've gotten tired of petting. Normally its the animal saying "okay, enough now!" Even the declared pet sluts. I'm pretty sure you could set off a bomb beside Vinnie and he'd just half lift a loppy ear, peer around, see that everything he cares about is still standing (Miffy, his food dish and his water bowl) and he'd go back to sleep. Jackson is a tad perterbed that his kit (Caitlynn) is not around, he's stuck in a condo, AND I don't know how to do his salad Just Right.. but he's putting up with me, being the stoic bun he is. He's almost as handsome as Sheeba is purdy, being a black lop.

Oh.. and they left me Tim Hortons blueberry muffins and a Tim Card. (Gift Card) .. Mmmm.. Heaven.

Good friends, bunny wabbits AND Timmys. Heaven! ;)

UVic Bunnies.

2011-02-04T23:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Year of the Bunny! I'm being a bit slack and just posting a link to a video.. the little cutie pie at the start is Chance Bunny.

Oh.. and settlement finally came in so I start house hunting soon! (Which means, bunny hunting shortly there after, right? In the bunny slave sense..)

Take a Chance on me..!

2011-01-04T19:31:00.000-08:00

That's Chance. She's one of the many Flemish bunnies that Sas rescued. She's a midget Flemish who was failing to flourish in with her family. I hand fed her the couple times I was over there. She's just entirely too polite for her own good. If a bunny snatches food out of her mouth, she'll let them. She'll share what she has, even if it means she gets none. When in a family of ten.. that doesn't work so well.

So, she had very brittle fur and ears, she hadn't outgrown her baby white spot on her forehead, she could barely hop. Sas is the bunny whisperer. She doesn't like separating buns from their families because they keep improving their immune systems the longer they're around their siblings and/or parent. So Chance and two of her splay legged siblings (Who I've been calling 'Snowy' and 'Whitey') and gave her extra TLC. What you see now is a very health looking Flemish Midget. (She's still very small for a Flemmy.)

I plan on kidnapping her as soon as I have my own place. Sas warned she's a walking vet bill.. but so was Scout and she was my little heart bunny. Apparently, I'm just a sucker for the waifs and wobbles of the bunny world. Now.. if I can get through the adoption process. (I don't think Sas approves of my "Wait till she's looking the other way and snag the bunny!" idea.. ;)

Oh deer.

2010-12-31T21:04:00.000-08:00

The Nanaimo deer are right cheeky little buggers.

Okay, so they were here first, I'll grant them that. And they do politely stand by the side of the road for cars to stop and let them across .. well, until they get tired of waiting and then just walk anyway.

Today I got home from the mall (the wrong mall, but more on that lower), and drove into the driveway to see a female (or first year male) nibbling on Mum's heather. I got out of the car, she twitched an ear in my general direction but that was about it. I was probably about twenty feet away.

"Oi, there!" I say and start walking towards her to shoo her away. "If you were nibbling on the cedars I'd let it go - they're pretty ugly. But as Scottish born, I have to defend my nation's plant." Well, probably the thistle is our plant, but shh, what does a deer know?

By this point I'm pretty darn close. I could probably reach out and with a quick lunge, grab an ear. The deer finally looks up at me warily. I say "Well?" She shakes her head and bounces away. Now, most would think this is typical deer antics, but as a bunny slave in waiting, I know better. I recognize that gleeful headshake and binky bounce when I see it. I KNOW the saucy herbivore is laughing at me! I call after her "I could like venison, you know!"

She just flicked her tail in my general direction, not slowing down as she hit the sidewalk, skipping away. Cheeky bugger.

Ignore the stained shirt. :D Today was laundry day and that's one of the ones fished out of my dryer post-fire.

The quest today was to do some shopping for necessities to hopefully recover the data from the hard drives that survived the fire. (Survived being a loose term.) I also wanted to pick up some other odds and sods. I thought London Drugs was in one mall and everything else at the other. I tossed a coin and decided I'd data fetch and do the rest another day. So off I go, to discover I had been wrong - London Drugs was at the OTHER mall, along with Sears and Zellers and.. Oh buggar.

So I did what any bunny slave in waiting would do at a mall 30 minutes before closing. I bought a bunny hat and a Tim Horton's coffee.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-26T01:17:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year bunny friends!

I'm out staying with my parents on Vancouver Island again. My first trip, I came over and stayed for five days so my brother could have his home to himself for a while. It was weird, every time I walked into the main room in the basement I looked to Sage's corner to see if she was okay. Of course, there was no Sage for me to see. My Mum was on "Operation save the plushies." I'd pulled a few plush toys from the house which she'd managed to rescue from stench and stains, so I'd gone back and retrieved several more. One of this was Miss Plushie Bunny, Sage's friend and nemesis. I plonked her down in Sage's corner and I no more looked for the live bunny each trip in and out.

My Mum thought Miss Plushie Bunny looked awfully lonesome in the corner, so as the other plushes were rescued from their spa treatments (15 rounds through the washer) she started plunking them down. Miss Plushie Bunny is now surrounded by sheepies, and bears, and a dog and.. :)

This trip it's my brother and I. He's staying for a couple days before heading back to the mainland. (As the islanders call the Vancouver area and beyond ;) I'll be staying here through most of January before (OMG, HOPEFULLY!) getting my own place once more. Yup, Insurance Adjuster is still dragging his feet. On the plus side, housing (apartments) in Chilliwack may potentially be within my financial reach, in the very area I wanted to live in previously. So there is a bright spot in the clouds. Lets hope it sticks around for long enough.

Three years ago I participated in a secret Santa exchange and my secret Santa sent me ornaments of Scout and Sage. Last Christmas I dropped the Scout ornament and it shattered. I cried my eyes out, it hadn't been *that long* since Scout had hopped off to the bridge and it was on top of a whole bunch of other "everything is falling apart" events. I posted to the PB list to whinge, and my secret Santa from the year before sent me a new Scout ornament along with a Fric ornament. (My Foster). I cried again, this time at the heart and caring of PB people. To many it would have been "just a stupid ornament" but the new one was not only a remembrance of my beloved little heart bunny, but of the wondrousness of bunny people.

After the fire, my secret Santa (Nancy, shhh ) sent me a new Scout and Sage ornaments. She said she didn't know if the "old" ones had survived the fire or not, but even if they had, she felt they'd make me smile. My brother said it was the longest and biggest smile he'd seen on my face since the fire. Those two ornaments, along side the others on my parents tree now, sum up the wonder that is both bunnies and the people who love them.

And I'm honoured and overjoyed to know you all. I hope you all have happiness and love in 2011!

Still Here!

2010-12-07T01:24:00.000-08:00

I'm still here!

I've been staying with my brother in Langley. He's been remarkably long suffering about his little sister living in his dining room and infecting his bathrooms with GIRL STUFF.

The insurance company was very cooperative and communicative up until last week and then my messages stopped being answered. Very frustrating. I got my "preliminary" cheque from the, which took nine days to reach me (apparently it's harder to get a cheque 35 km/s than it is from Vancouver, BC to Denmark. That only took four days.) and of course, my bank has a hold on it. (Can't really blame them on that one.) I haven't decided if I'll be buying or renting. Both have a lot of attraction, but if I buy an apartment I'll probably be back to living hand to mouth.. but I'll also have an investment.

It's amazing how much life a little dutch diva brings to a home. When my brother's out at work I start feeling awfully hollow and lonely. No life around me. I end up going out to the stores to window shop and just have humanity around me. I do have a winter jacket and boots now.

I've gotten to meet an internet met friend twice now. Sas who runs rabbitsonline.net was part of a Flemish bunny rescue. For those not in the know, Flemmies are very big bunnies. A small Flemmie is about 17lbs. So you can imagine my heaven at getting to meet 21 very friendly, very happy, puppy-bunnies. Most of these rabbits were kept in tiny cages as meat bunnies and had zero socializing. Yet, they were happy to get head pets and follow you around and let you nuzzle them. Not to mention I got to pet my very first Rex - oh that velvet fur!! I think I am partial to the silky, soft, fur (satin) that Sage had on her neck. (Her white fur was satin, her silver normal) but I may be a tad biased! Two visits to bunny nirvana.. And Sas is every bit as wonderful as her buns.

It's amazing the floatsam than piled up in my car because I was too lazy to move things into the house. Seventy-five percentage of my wool, some of my knitting needles, my old jean jacket that my Mum had sewn patches on. (And by old, I mean high school!) The pacific ocean sea water that I'd collected for a friend but have become attached to. The Rose Alarm (a friend's band) concert poster.

The clothes I'd 'rescued' were a write-off. My Mum tried to save some of my plush toys (Unfortunately, half the cast of my webcomic were lost) but they're still very smokey scenting even after a good dry cleaning. Crossing my fingers that they can air out on the patio, where they've been exiled to. (It's covered, so they won't be rained on.)

Everyone keeps offering me rabbits. ("Oh, let me buy you a new rabbit" "Have you got a new rabbit yet? I have this rescue..") And I'm just not ready for a new pet. The next pet may even be a cat - something completely different. I appreciate the sentiments but wish that people would just leave off it.

On a yet another tangent.. I got to meet a Gus clone and pet his nose for a good ten minutes. He was almost as good at disapproving looks as our beloved Gus!

I haven't decided what I'll be doing with the blog.. Maybe posting old Scout and/or Sage stories that went to the petbunny list. But I'm sure I'll be around in some form or another. :)

Stay safe!

Thank you.

2010-11-17T22:07:00.000-08:00

Thank you everyone. It HAS been a bit of a rough ride, and I miss Sage terribly. I have a place to stay (my brother's), I have got some clothes (the advantage of staying in Greater Vancouver is the rediculously good quality of clothes in the 2nd hand stores), I have food. My basic needs are taken care of and I have insurance that will take care of other stuff down the road. I want to appreciate every single offer of help - especially considering how the economy is and so many people are just getting by themselves.

But - bunny people being bunny people.. They want to help. They want to do SOMETHING. So, if you would.. Please make a donation to your local shelter. Whether that donation is time or money, it'd be appreciated.

Sage came from the Chilliwack SPCA, and they have very limited resources for rabbits. Its my dream that every humane society, SPCA, etc, can get educated about rabbits and how they are house pets, not livestock. Maybe come up with a basic breed guide in poster form. Something, anything. But this dream requires people, time, and money. If you have money you can spare, please donate. If you have some time, that's even more needed - teach the people who are helping house and rehome abandoned buns what they're saving.

So, if you can help.. Please do, there's a certain silver and white Dutch who lived 5 years longer than she would have thanks to the SPCA.

Sage ATB.

2010-11-13T22:52:00.000-08:00

I don't have a lot of words at the moment.

I can only cut/paste what I posted to Petbunny.

I'm halfway between numb and crying at the mo. I'm sure nervous breakdown is around the corner somewhere.

I generally go to my brother's place on Saturday's to watch "Hockey Night in Canada" (two Canadian teams (min) playing back to back) on his monsterous HD tv. It's an hour'ish drive. This afternoon it was an early start so instead of taking a nap after lunch like I normally do, I just made tea, planned a stop at Timmy's, packed up and left. I got gas at the gas station in the village and was halfway to Yarrow when my Dad called. I normally don't answer the phone when driving but Forrest had been texting me bunches so I figured it was him and pulled over. No, it was my Dad to say Edith from the Park called to say there's smoke coming from my trailer. She's worried about Sage. We won't discuss velocity in which I travelled back.

By the time I got back, it was beyond unsafe to enter. Smoke was wisping out of the strangest places, but we couldn't see flames.. but the windows were all black from soot and smoke. It was obvious nothing could have survived, but I wanted to check anyway. Lawrence (the male half of land management) said no way Jose. Which, of course, was the right decision. I think it was 20 minutes later when our volunteer fire fighters got on scene, followed by Chilliwack fire fighters a few minutes later. Once it was established no human life was inside, they started the tactics on how to handle it. They ended up breaking the front windows (at this point my gallow's humour thought 'My Mum's poor curtains, they survived rabbit teeth to go to haven by fire.') and smoke billowed out and then we could see flames. As it wasn't risking any other structure, they were mostly happy to let it burn itself out - but apparently my trailer was just too well built to do that in any hurry.

So, then became the war to get in to said trailer. Let me tell you, I'd had more than one nightmare about living in a home with no "security door" ala apartment building. (And we all know how secure THOSE are!!) The firemen tried kicking. They tried axe. They tried *chainsaw* and in the end one came over and asked if I happened to have a key. Yeah, that's how they had to open the door.

They found Sage, miscommunication and for a moment I was told she was actually alive. No, she wasn't. The firefighters placed her in her carry cage and brought her out. She looked pretty darn peaceful, no whites in her eyes, not even pinned pupils.. so all things, considered I guess.. as peaceful as she could go in the given situation. And I know Scout is hopping around up there saying "Look Sage! I have a bacon tree!" (Okay, now I"m crying) My neighbours insisted on burying her for me so I wouldn't have to. Some of these people I'd never met, but they *ALL* offered me couch to sleep in.. spare bedroom.. one guy offered me the use of his motorhome. Insurance would have paid for a hotel room, Dad offered the same. (He happened to be working) But.. I stank of burnt stuff, my clothes and myself were covered in black crap.. I just wanted a shower and to wash clothes.. so I may as well abuse my brother's home.

My friends, my family, my brother's friends.. have all been incredible. Thank you.

Hitting the High Points

2010-11-10T05:20:00.000-08:00

Just a quick status update to say "Yup, we're still alive!"

We spent an extended Hallowe'en weekend at my parents' place on Vancouver Island and I have pictures to post. Unfortunately, the pictures are on the computer that is currently being debugged and devirused. (It's not connected to the net while I do so.)

Sage wants to pass on her thanks to Hef and his Mommy for letting him come to the Petbunny party. She's sorry if he had one too many carrotinis, but she isn't sorry she helped him dance the night away and sample five different types of hay. Not to mention the buffet, the dancing, the music, the food.. Hopfully he wasn't too tired the next day! Sage spent most of it stretched out napping.

I tried moving Sage's litterpan into the main bedroom since she spends most of her time there, but she would go into the ex-computer room and thump. "I want my litterpan HERE, thank you very much!" The bunny is always right! Silly human, you'd think she'd learn this..

To wrap up - another "Conversations with Sage" moment :D

The master bedroom is at the end of the hall, just before you get to it, the master bathroom is on the right. I was walking down the hall to do what humans do in bathrooms, and Sage was meatloafed by the closet doors in the bedroom.

I said "Good morning, Sunshine!" She didn't even twitch an ear in my general direction. "You're looking particularly radiant." I added, even though by this point, I was fairly convinced she was deeply asleep. Nope, not an ear movement or a whisker twitch. "You know, you're getting better and better at ignoring humans." I tell her with admiration. She doesn't like us two foots approaching *her* .. she'll approach US when she wants, thankyouverymuch.

I'm pretty sure, if a) she was awake and b) she could speak, the reply would have been "Well, DUH." She's a very articulate rabbit, after all.

Buttons (Furniture, not rabbit)

2010-10-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

Sage here - Blogger's not letting me put a picture up. *Thump*

There has been discussion lately about bunnies eating buttons. (Not to be confused with Buttons - one of the cutest buns to ever hop.)

If you want to get your bunny to stop chewing on your buttons - stop making them so tasty and fun to play with.

Dearest Hef!

2010-10-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

*Ahem*

*Scuffs floor with forepaw*

'Scuses me Hef.. I knows your hoomans are currently away.. so you're a bit busy.. but I was wonderin'.. if you had plans for Hallowe'en yet?

Y'see the Pet Bunny mailing list buns have a Hallowe'en party every year. An' its wots and wots of fun. There's games, and food and food and food and singing and story telling and food. You can get there by magic carpet or closet portal or even ride a dragon if you're feeling brave! (I go by closet portal.) You gets to dress up! I was thinking of being a penguin or Bugs Bunny or .. okay, I haven't decided at all yet.

Anyways - I was wonderin' if maybe you would be my date? I pwomise to have you home before beds time and not drink too much carrot-shine.

Sage's Revenge and other things.

2010-10-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

Sage took careful note of all the suggestions on how to take revenge on her human. She decided to take "revenge is a dish best served cold" literally. Halfway through the night, she yanked all the bed clothes off the bed.

This is a fairly impressive feat, since she's a 5lb bunny, and I have a queen size bed. She pulled off both comforters AND the duvet. When I woke I figured I'd just kicked them off even though I normally toss them to the other side of the bed. The next night, it got repeated. A little more awake this time, I registered the bunny looking quite smug and lounging on the pile of bed clothes. "Yes Sage, I'm sorry I stole your toes. Quit stealing my covers!" That just got a bees in bonnet head shake and a half binky as she got off the duvet. Yeah, yeah, love you too, Princess Fluffybutt.

Speaking of her Fluffybutt.. She likes to play in water. Unfortunately, for her, she doesn't then groom after her playing with water.. so her undercarriage tends to get matty. While combing a bunny's belly is a little less dangerous than combing a cat's.. It's still Not Fun.

In other news, I took up knitting again. I haven't knit a thing in 27 years.. but its amazing how much I remember. With minimal reading of instructions, I was off and running. "In goes the needle, around goes the thread, in goes the needle, off with his head!" (Taught to me by nuns!) My Mum tried to show me how to crochet once, but I'm not getting my head around it. So a trip to the island is in order so she can try again. :)

And while I completely blame a certain needlepointy rabbit slave (You know who I mean!) for the re-addiction, I decided to attempt to relearn on scrap wool, so I posted on Freecycle asking if anyone had any to share. A surprising number of people responded with "Oh sure, some spare needles too!" or "Yeah, I even have some patterns you can have.." or basically any number of ways to add to the addiction. One lady was up the highway 20mins (so a 45m drive) and had a huge bag of wool and things for me. Of course we started talking rabbits and she had to show me her rescues. Over a dozen featheredkids, and five furkids. I fell in love with a little ND. I told her Scout stories, I resisted asking her for him, and went home.

The entire drive home I thought of him. I asked Sage if she wanted a boyfriend. (She thumped and ran away, I figured she was just playing coy.) I talked it over with friends. I thought of it overnight and in the morning phoned the lady. Before I could even ask about stealing him, she started gushing that she'd sat him on the back of the couch like I'd said I'd done with my Scout and he immediately rubbed his head against her cheek and meatloafed beside her. She added, just like my ND, he was happiest when he could see her eyes. .. And she's fallen in love with the little guy who is a foster no longer.

So, little ND is happy, Sage is happy, Mom has to deal. But at least the covers are staying on my bed.

Buttons - you stink!

2010-10-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

It's no secret my humom reads WOTS of bunny blogs. (See da list below!) An' she eben has made some new friends. (*Waves paw!*) This mornin' she was catchin' up on what all our fwiends had been doing for da weekend. Buttons' humom posted a video of Buttons doing what bunnies do best. (Wookin' cute!)

SHE decided dat SHE needed a hug and snuzzle. As if being cornered and being picked up wasn't bad enough, SHE decided dat my toes needed stealing, my fur needed yanking out and my teefies checked. FANKS BUTTONS.

So she carries me into da wiving room. The Humom turns me onto my BACK and den starts baby talkin' me. Hewwo?! Does dis torture never end?!?! Out come da toe stealers. Chomp. Chomp. Chomp. ALL my toes, she cuts dem right off. Baby talkin' da whole time!

DEN she looks at my tail. My perfect, perfect, perfect tail. She then TOUCHES my tail. Do hoomans have no respect or sense of privacy or sense of decency or sense of smell! Or hearing or.. Well, I coulds go on all day about the deficiencies of da furless two foots. She decides dat the fur is all matty. So she.. she.. she.. CUTS FUR OFF MY TAIL! MY FUR!!! MY TAIL!!!!!

..Buttons stinks. Dis is all HIS fault.

Sage's Friends.

2010-09-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

Sage is still staring at that bit of her cage. I still have no idea why. I moved it, I looked around, I checked under the cage. I moved some of the stuff behind her. Nope, it's officially her new favourite spot. I guess even bunnies need a change of scenery once in a while. She still hops in at night to guard my dreams, so all is good. :)

My bunny thought I should introduce some of her friends on the web. OBVIOUSLY the bunny list is going to be the biggest list, so I thought I'd start with the "not bunny" list. ;) (I'm only including those who have updated in the last six months or this list would be a mile long!)

Mr Flapper Duck - Mr Flapper lives with his feathered family down in the Seattle area. He has three duckie friends, three chicken friends, a very handsome pet cat and a humom who is a darn good egg. He's a very handsome duck who has participated in protests, has tried the working with his humom thing. (He decided it was overrated and left her to work while he napped) and has his very own french fry tree.

Stinkin' Thinkin' - These have GOT to be the cutest sheepies on the face of the planet. I ALWAYS smile after seeing a picture of one of his sheepies or seeing one the videos. The flock is in Wales (way over in Great Britain!) and are spoilt rotten regularly by their humans.

The Daily Coyote - Charlie is a coyote that got rescued by a human. He lives in Wyoming with Eli the cat (Who is boss), Chloe the dog, and some cattle. Oh, the human's in there too somewhere.

Dobby's Day - Dobby is a capybara who lives in the Seattle area. (You'll notice I seem to know lots of people in the Pacific North-wet.) He lives in a zoo that, of course, has bunnies.

And now in alphabetical order.. (Since I couldn't think of a fairer way to list!) THE BUNNIES!

A House Full of Rabbits - Nine bunnies! Home of the very handsome Chico, who Sage kissed via my monitor. Then there's Princess, and .. well, you'll just have to go look yourself. These buns have the ultimate set-up.. even if there's a cat in it.

A Penny For your Flops - Always lots of cute bunny pictures! There's Mochi and JD and Ickus and Kiwi and.. Oh, heck, there's twelve rabbits in the house being treated like royalty. Its probably easier for you to click through and meet them yourself. :)

Adventures of Freckles and Deb - Freckles is a very handsome English Snot looking bunny. Deb is a very nice human. SPOT! I meant SPOT.. Oh crap, there go my shoes..

Big Ears, Tiny Tales - This is a new addition to Sage's friend list. It's the posts from the Rabbit Residence Rescue. Lots of bunny pictures.. baby bunnies, adult bunnies, playing bunnies. It's Bunny Utopia!

Buns-of-Silver - The world from the view of Silver Bunny. This is a very unique and very cute blog! Silver is also a very, very talented bunny who can grow hearts in her fur!

Daily Bunny - Of COURSE we in Sage's warren (okay, Sage and I) read the daily bunny! Always a bunny story every day, and best of course, is it highlights many wonderful shelter bunnies who need a loving home. (And Sage says "NO!" every day. It's kinda 'House of Frightenstein'..)

Diaries of a (Slow) Triathelete - I'm pretty sure that the bunny is the slow one, because Cadbury's Mommy sounds pretty darn switfy to me. I originally came across the blog via my brother the Marathon Maniac, but stayed for the bunny. (Okay, I enjoy the adventure marathon stories too, but like my brother's they make me tired listening to them! :D )

Disapproving Rabbits - Sage has appeared on this site, so OBVIOUSLY she's a DR fan. ;) She thinks poor Cinnamon has her paws full trying to keep two humans in line. They *obviously* don't appreciate her gloriness the way they should! (Where's her purple pillow for when she's brought too bookstores, just for starters!)

Diva Kitty & The Fluffies - Sage isn't sure how the C-A-T got top billing, but there's enough stories about Orlando and Fiona that she's not gonna stage a picket. Well, not just yet.. she reserves the right to change her mind.

Eye of the Needle - Please don't tell the Humom, but I'm here for the bunnies. I don't really understand cross stitching (that's what it is, right??) but I did do tapestries and knitting as a kid.. *Cough* It's a good thing Pink, Peaches, and Elvis snuck me in the backdoor..

Furrybutts - You have to a bit careful here, 'cause D-O-G pics sometimes sneak in with the very important Bunny pictures. Home to Buttons, Yohji, Bailey and Sherry D-O-G, we know who really runs the warren, right??

Gräs Mellan Tårna - This is the Swedish blog of a very lovely lady. I *think* the name translates to "Grass Between your Toes" Now, I don't read Swedish, I barely read German and French, so most of the text is lost on me - but I do love the pictures!

It's Safer than Spying - The home on the web of a Canadian Magician (I FINK he's in Calgary) and his two furry masters; Snowdon and Augustus. I <3 Lionheads. Thanks to Scout Bunny, I will always have an extra large softspot for them. So he can never post enough pictures for me. :)

Life at the Zoo - Sage sends strong disapproval because the buns don't get top listing, but she supposes *some* of the C-A-T videos and pictures are cute. But she's still pulling for Patch and Pumpkin to get the positioning on the title page that they deserve!

Life with Reno Rabbits - I'm pretty sure the "Reno" stands for "Renovating" not for the city of Reno. Sage thinks that's rediculous, everyone knows bunnies are just fixing what the humans don't get right. I tried to say that's what renovation IS, but she hind-foot-flicked me. Ahem. Cute bunnies within!

Little Bun in the Big City - Biff and Sogna struggle with trying to train two humans and figure out what all the two foot problems are. Don't appreciate bunny art, don't feed treats 24-7. It's a very tough bunny life in the Big City!

My House Rabbit - This is a site dedicated to all things bunny. Their care, their health, their toys, their happiness, their everything. Of course, anything that's dedicated to bunny has to have lots of cute pictures right?? (Unless the author's camera implodes.. *cough*)

Potentially Nervous - I think the subtitle of the world's gone to hell, have some pictures of bunnies pretty much sums it up. D. is an incredible photographer with incredible bun(s).

Some Bunny - Every bunny needs some bunny to love! Fez, Jack, Abbey and Norbert rule the warren with iron paws!

The Raspberry Rabbits - Sugie and Harrinton live in Bunningham palace! Their humom shares her heart and home with us, and of course, that heart includes two of the cutest bunnies on the planet. I sometimes wish my house could love as beautiful as their mom's.. but I'm far too lazy to put all the work into it. :D

The Bunny Boys - Buttons is over in Essex. That sounds suspiciously ENGLISH, doesn't it? Home to Buttons and Angel Bunny Skittles, lots of mischief, mayhem, cute pictures and cuter videos. I think Buttons is still trying to train his humans into proper behaviour, but he's a little bun he can only do so much at a go!

The Bunny Lounge - Sage has a huuuge crush on Hef. ("Mooooooooom!") Not only does he live in paradise, but his Mom is an awesome cook too. He *does* have to live with Shadow D-O-G, but as D-O-Gs go, Shadow doesn't seem so bad..

The Life and Times of Bunnies - Sage wishes she could be as good a blogger as Gus and Betsy. She even asked if she could have her very own rabbit cam like they do, but I said no. I'm a big mean human, you know. She also thinks Gus doesn't groom Betsy nearly enough. Bad Husban, no carrotcake.

The Qi Papers - Lots of bunnies! Okay, there's Harriet, and Amelia, and Tyler and Sydney. There's a human who keeps reorganizing the warren, changing the walls and making it difficult for everyone to get outside and beat each other up. (The humans are always so unreasonable.) I am so glad I'm not trying to bond four rabbits, and instead just get to read about it.. :)

What are you looking at??

2010-09-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

Every time I've walked past the ex-computer room, Sage has been staring at her cage. Typically she only goes in and out of this room to eat, drink and litterbox. The hay is down at that end, so I thought maybe she wanted more. Nope. I then tried changing it out. Nope, next walk by she was still staring at the cage. I replaced the water and her pellets. Nada.

I then got insanely enthusiastic and swept out the room of stray fur. (Somebun maybe shedding AGAIN..) I decided that didn't irritate her enough, so I picked her up and carried her outside and plucked a bunny from her fur. I put her down in the hallway and she immediately hopped back to the ex-computer room. (I should really come up with a better name.) She once again stared at the cage.

I KNOW she's trying to tell me something, but I have no freaking idea what it is. Anyone have any brilliant ideas?

Sage's Say

2010-09-16T04:59:00.000-07:00

Hi Betsy'n'Gus'n'Fur Fwiends out dere.

Let me say dat my humum has been harder to train dan normal. The room service has been stinkin'. I'm about ready to pitch a full out mutiny.

But, she IS twyin' to rally support for my Victoria cousins. Did y'all hear (I'm practicin' my Texan!) dat dey are all up and movin' to Texas?? It's twoo!! Dey have had V-E-Ts hewp wif da "fixing" (Wike dey were broken?? I don't fink so. Dumb hoomans.) BUT dey need STUFF to keep goin' on dere twip.

Dey need dwibers .. not alls da way to Texas!! Just for hops of da journey. Dey need foods, and crocks, and well, bunny STUFF. Dey also weally need monies for all that STUFF and to hewp da volunteers with gas and dere own food and STUFF.

We all knows dat bunny people are soft in da head. (The Humom says "They are nicest of nice people.") BUT dey could use some help helping HUNDREDS upon HUNDREDS of bunnies. Stoopid hoomans dumped dem and bunny hoomans are not clearin' up the stupid hoomans' mess. If you can hewp, in *ANY* way, pwease, pwease, pwease, visit http://www.tracs-bc.ca/uvicbun.html

Do it for da bunnies!

Fank yew.

(Hay Betsy - how was dat? You make dis blog thing wook easy!)

In Dutch.

2010-09-13T01:03:00.000-07:00

(I seriously wish Blogger would come up with a better editor.)

I knew I was forgiven for abandoning her at my brother's when she started guarding my dreams again. (When I sleep she sits on guard in the doorway.) Papaya and a sour cream and onion potato chip works well for bunny bribes. (*Cough* Not that I'd ever let my rabbit have the very rare, very bad for her, treat..)

Two days in a row I've been down at the hospital getting shot with drugs due to pain. The short form is I'm an idiot who re-caught a 30kg bag of feed after it half-slipped out of my hands and wrenched my already gimpy back. Yesterday I was in and out of the hospital in fifteen minutes, tonight it was about an hour and a half. Either way, not exactly a long time.

I came in the door after getting my prescription filled to find a certain rabbit sitting on the mat looking up at me with flat ears. "What?" I say. I expected her to grunt and head into her cage/food/water room and demand something be updated. She sat on her hind legs and thumped her forefeet on the ground a couple of times. This took me a rather long time to figure out. (Humans are stupid, dontcha know!)

When Sage is out on her leash, sitting on her back paws and wiggling her front paws up and down means "Pick me up!" It took me a while to figure "You get down here!" So I sat on the ground, wondering if I could get back up again and had a bunny hop onto my lap and grab my shirt with her teeth, pulling down. I put my face near her face and she intently started sniffing away. She grunted, chirped what I'd have called Scout's "query chirp" and hopped out of my lap to sit meatloafed beside my leg.

Scout was a chatty bunny. She had a huge vocabulary of chirps, cheeps, grunts, and even a noise that sounded suspiciously like a giggle when she was truly happy/amused. Sage has never vocalized beyond a grunt or the very rare tooth purr. So a chirp, one she hasn't heard in probably 18 months, was pretty darn impressive. I wasn't sure if she would let me pet her or not, but took the chance and stroked her nose. She put up with it for a surprising five minutes before getting up, shaking out her fur, and hopping off to her third favourite napping spot; under the rocking chair in the master bedroom.

Think if my back is still screwy tomorrow, I'll just skip the hospital and snuggle a bunny. It's better, and cheaper (no cab fare!), therapy.

Goodbye Furfriend.

2010-09-13T00:48:00.000-07:00

Angels can never stay as long in our lives as we'd like them to, but we learn our lessons from them and grow. Goodbye Baxter, you will be missed.

Demanding Divas.

2010-09-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

My friend Tracie is getting married. You might wonder what exactly this has to do with the beautiful bunny above, but it IS relevant, I promise you!

I am a very casual dresser. I'd wear clamdiggers / flood pants all year round if I could. I like t-shirts and tank tops. I typically don't wear much more. I gave away all my fancy clothes several years ago when it became clear I wouldn't work again and then I decided I'd never fit in them. So, this required shopping!

The original plan was for me to go over to the Island with my Dad and back with him again on his first day back at work. I would get to go shopping with Mummy. (I trust her a lot more than I trust sales people!) Unfortunately, I got violantly ill and my Dad went off without me. So, plan B was I go over THIS weekend. However, with Dad going for surgery, he was taking a month of work, so I'd have to get my own butt back to the mainland. My choices were take my car and spend 10x as much, or go over with him and walk on passenger back. For obvious reasons I decided on the latter!

I figured Sage would be okay for a couple days and I was gonna leave her on her own, but it was so hot on Friday I didn't want to abandon her in the closed up house, so off she went with me. The dilemna would be what to do with her on the ferry back. Stay on the car deck by myself for 2.25 hours? No bathroom breaks? Dogs around? Was not happy with this plan. So I asked my brother if my little angel could stay with him. He said he guessed. (Awww.. what a nice guy. Gives me a place to park my car, agrees to meet me at the ferry AND bunny sits!)

So Sage didn't have to ride on a ferry, I didn't have to carry a bunny who hops in her carrier to unbalance it while it's being carried, and no dogs sniffed at her. Bonus all around. When I got BACK to my brother's place, I said "Hi baby!" as I got to the top of the stairs. She perked right up and half periscoped, ears at the happy. Then she grunted, dropped to all fours and presented me with royal bunny butt.

I translated this to mean "MOMMY! You're BACK! .. Oh, wait, I'm mad at you! You're in big trouble!"

Good Vibrations.

2010-09-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer : I wrote this while sitting in the hospital today. I was a little loopy on painkillers and lack of sleep. Thank you for the well-wishes to my last post. You're very right - Bunny love cures a lot of ills! My Doc is pretty sure my latest round of issues are my lung airways closing up / shrinking, rather than heart related (and treatable with an inhaller/puffer) but I still got to get lots of blood vampired and an ECG.

* * *

At the beginning of the summer I joined a walking club that was eight weeks of hiking around the Chilliwack area. I've lived out here for six years now, and I still don't know the place very well and only have a splattering of friends. I decided to get off my ass and start meeting people.

On of the hikes was at the Blue Heron Reserve. (Some may remember I took Sage there a few times and when Audrey was visiting she got to look around too.) One of the trails they ziptie debris found on the trails to the bushes and make it a game of "How many items can YOU find?" and then a list at the end. A bit of an ecological lesson too on the weird stuff that shows up even in a wilderness park. What was the only item I found before anyone else? A bunny eraser. (As in, something that erases pencils, not something that erases bunnies.) I also pointed out a bunch of the cottontails hopping through the area and spotted them before anyone else. For some reason I got this reputation as bunny obsessed.. *cough*

The last hike of the year was out at the Cheam wetlands. I'd never even HEARD of it before. It was about twenty minutes up the highway and if it wasn't wilderness, it was certainly obscure farmland. I had fallen in with a couple of ladies, one age of 70 who liked to walk a little faster than me, and another of aged 55 who liked to go a little slower. We went between the seniors (never doubt the speed of a mall walker!) and the Moms with strollers. (They're typically my speed if left to my own devices.) When we got back to the parking lot, I was dribbling blood from losing battles with the blackberry bushes (I don't have a lot of feeling in my left leg - so I didn't even notice until later.) and the younger lady said she has a present for me. I am rather confused because while I had done the Blue Heron hike with her and chatted with her, I didn't think she'd remembered me on the hikes inbetween.

She opened up her car and pulled out some wheatgrass. She said "I was getting some for my cat, and I realized I'd be seeing you tonight and thought 'Wouldn't her bunny LOVE this??' So I couldn't resist."
Sage, yet again, has people who don't even know her buying her treats. I'm starting to think Quantum String Theory is bunnies pulling the universe's marionette strings to get more stuff.

Pain Poem.

2010-08-27T14:04:00.001-07:00

I have some posts on my PDA to transfer and post, but it's been a rough couple of weeks. Have some bad poetry instead.

* * *

The cloak of pain settles around my shoulders
Weighing me down, tightening my muscles
Fogging my thoughts and distracting my movements.

Another night of trying to find the comfortable spot
The place of least affliction
Toss to one side and squirm
Turn to the other side and sigh
Soft is the pillow and matress
Hard is the suffering of an achey and tired body.

Morning dawns, the pain is still there
It is joined with exhaustion that twirls
Amongst the list of things to do,
The things to finish
The promises owed
The work due
The friends waiting
The bunny wanting food.

The bunny is the easiest to please,
Talk to her, pet her, tell her she's pretty.
Change her little, give her hay and pellets
And perhaps a treat to tide her by.
Watch her nibble in a happy world of yum,
Soothes some pain away.

Stand, stretch, collect the rattle and din of bones
And get on with the day much like the last
A pained shroud, but a smile on face anyway.

How does she do it?

2010-08-04T14:55:00.000-07:00

On the left we have the hallway at the beginning of the day. On the right we have the hallway at the end of the day.

What you may not be able to see on picture #2 is the stray pooties, clouds of fur and various other debris that she skatters. How a not-even-five-pound bunny can move the mats so drastically and consistantly day in day out is a mystery. How she can lose so much fur all over the house and always have plenty more? Even a bigger mystery.

My bunny truly is a magical creature.

..the little snot..

Way up north, not very far off..

2010-07-31T23:32:00.000-07:00

Grrr.. This is my second time typing this due to Blogger eating post #1.

Anyway!

My friend Jeffy got an opportunity to go forth to Devon Island in Nunavut Territory with a team for NASA as their chef. For those not familiar with the finer points of Canadian geography, that's about as close to the magnetic north pole as you can get before you start swimming. The idea is to test equipment in a "Mars like" environment. Lets see.. Flat, rocky, cratered, and cold even in the warmest of the summer months; Yup! That's both Mars and Devon Island.

Not a whole heck of life up there, but what there is seems confused by the humans more than anything else. As you can see, the arctic hare above has absolutely no fear of humans or their devices.

Jeffy apparently made vague threats about a stew pot but the scientists he were with took him more seriously than the hare did. The scientists said "ABSOLUTELY NOT!" .. Apparently they're not willing to eat martians. That's okay, Jeffy wouldn't really either.

Summer means BooBerries!

2010-07-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

Summer means blueberries and dandelions in this house. Well, the dandelion crops are non-existent due to the crappy and unpredictable weather. Late snow, late frost, monsoons of rain, then blistering drought. I think we've finally found what'll kill dandelions. Too bad I now want them to live and be healthy so my bunny darling can bite their heads off with glee and enthusiasm. Fortunately, the blueberries crops have ripened and peace can be bought once more.

There is a whole group of people who buy from the local farmers and sell at popular traffic locations. One of those locations is just down the street from me. I stopped by to check prices and see how much cash I'd have to drag with me to rebuild the blueberry supply. I typically freeze a few flats and eat them through the hot months to keep cool. The bunny, of course, gets her fair share. So, the guy was just closing up and said I could take what's left for $5. Oh yeah, I couldn't turn THAT down. I dumped my change purse out and I was, after a careful count, an entire penny short! Fortunately, having sweet talked him with Sage stories (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) he sold me 1.5 *kilograms* of blueberries for $4.99!

So my freezer is full of blueberries, as is my rabbit. Life is good.

Sage speaks.

2010-07-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

Hokay - the human is being lazy again. (Still) So I am going to write a post. Hay, Betsy'n'Gus can do dis, so I can too, right??

First off, Fank you Chico's servant for the very fab pic of his handsome fuzziness. That made my week. The humom didn't like me licking the screen to show my appreciation, but duh, it's CHICO, he needs to be groomed at every opportunity. Humom's can be so dumb sometimes.

Anyways. Busy stuff 'round here.

A few days ago the humom went into the badroom [bathroom] and put this gawd awful stinky stuff on her head fur! Furever did the house STINK of this chemical goo. Then her head fur was a different colour! I don't know what she was thinking, but I refused to come near her for the rest of the day 'cause she just smelled That Bad.

It's been warm again, but it's a nice warm not a blistering warm. I get to lie in my sunbeam with my window fan wafting the wisteria smelling breeze into my room. The humom is no longer threatening to throw me in the lake. Don't gets me wrong, I like water and I like swimming, but to share it with all those humans?? Ewww. Cooties.

I hear cousin Hef (*waves a paw*) is having a party. I think I'll just hop through the magical closet portal when all the humans are asleep and go help him plan. Cilantro margaritas, and some carrot wine, and.. oh, rum! Maybe I can introduce Hef to the bunny pirate ship Rumrabbit! I bet he'd look just dashing in a kerchief.

The humom has supposed to have gone camping in Sumas, WA two weekends in a row but "life" keeps intruding. I'm not sure who she thinks she's kidding, her life is taking care of my every whim and need and they're being met. For now, anyway. Oh, she says stuff like a friend needed her or this or that, but I know the truth; she's bat nut crazy. But that's no secret to anyone who knows her.

Wot else. Oh, yeah, she's been working on a photo book of the area we live in. Its kinda pretty, but since she won't let me eat it when she's done, I don't much care.

*Yawn* *Stretch*

Time to find a new sunbeam. Remember bunny-cousins, keep confusing the humans. Its the best entertainment on the planet and it's free!

-Sage Bunny.

Hot Cross Bun.

2010-07-10T03:06:00.000-07:00

Summer finally arrived on the wet coast. It peaked at 36C (~96F) and is going back down again. I figured it was a bad sign today when 31C (~88F) didn't seem so bad.

Sage has been a bunny on a mission. She's been sort of circling her chosen section of the house. For whatever reason she no longer comes into the front room. Well, other than that one time to come fart at me and leave. So, she'll go into her napping/lounging room and flomp. After a while she gets up, and goes into her cage/litterbox/food room and flomps in there. After another while, she gets up and goes into the master bedroom and flomps. She'll move around there a few times and finally just give up and take a nap wherever she got fed up.

Why she doesn't just go lie on the nice, cool, vinyl of the bathroom, hallway, kitchen or living room I have no idea. For whatever reason she has to lie on carpet. But its still cute that when I start to head down the hallway I can see her lying in the master bedroom. She'll have her head on her dewlap and her back legs kicked out to the side. As soon as I start walking towards her, she immediately switches so her head is on the floor in the "pathetic bunny" pose. This is meant to garner her sympathy and get her treats.

I told her she wasn't getting any more sugar in her diet, so she'll just have to make do with the amount of treats she already gets. She says she'll accept pictures of that handsome Chico instead. Gosh, I guess I better find some sugar to bribe Chico's picture taking slave with..

Dandelion Hunting.

2010-07-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

Chilliwack, the city to the north of me, is having an "8 walks in 8 weeks event." There's LOTS of walking and hiking trails in the area, it's a bit of a show around to introduce new paths to people, let people socialize or just get the heck out of the house and enjoy the outside. If you pick up a "passport" you can enter to win some nifty prizes. (I'm hoping for the skating pass.)

When I went into the YMCA to pick up my passport, I saw a host of dandelions. "Ooo." I thought. My dandelions are non-existent this year. The spring has just been so miserably wet, they have been drowned out. I have buttercups (toxic to bunnies), I have clover, I have grass. No dandy candy to be found. So when I went in I asked the lady behind the desk if I could pick their dandelions. You can imagine her confusion.

"You want to pick the dandelions outside?"
"Yup! They're for my bunny."
"Your bunny?"
"Yes, bunnies love dandelions. The flowers and the leaves!"
"Uhm. I'll have to ask my manager.." and she didn't quite flee into the back.

I then got to overhear the conversation between the first lady and her manager.

"There's a lady who wants to pick our dandelions, is that okay?"
"Why does she want our dandelions?"
"For her rabbit."
"Rabbits eat dandelions?"
"Apparently!"
"She can have all the weeds she likes." was the decision and the first lady reappeared.

"My manager says you can have as many as you like." Nice of her to edit the answer a little.. :)

So, outside I went, put the papers I'd gotten about the walking program in my car and then went and started to pick dandelions. As I was finishing I noticed a little boy staring at me. I said hello and tried to look friendly and harmless.

"Do you have a bunny?" he blurted out.

I grinned, "I do! Do you?"

"YEAH!! And he LOVES dandelions!" he turned around and ran off yelling, "See Mom! I told you! She has a bunny too!"

I got home and gave Sage her bouquet of dandelions flowers and leaves and she decided I may not be the scum of the earth and decided to let me sit beside her as I read. She did, however, refuse to share her goodies with Miss Plushie Bunny. She probably thinks Miss Plushie Bunny is the one who ratted her out about her home redecoration project.

Sage's PROJECT.

2010-07-04T12:29:00.001-07:00

My little darling angel has been rather quiet for the last couple of days. I should have been suspicious, but you know us oblivious humans, I figured she was just entertaining herself. Yesterday when she started pelting away from me whenever I came near, I started getting suspicious. Why does my bunny think I'm trying to catch her? What has she DONE? I gave a cursory glance around, didn't see anything out of sorts and went on with my day.

This morning I was in the bathroom arguing with my hair when I could hear digging sounds from the room next door. "What the..?" I asked the air and went to investigate. As I came around the corner, my genius little girl was busy trying to push her play boxes into the corner. There's bits of carpet EVERYWHERE. "What have you DONE?" I ask. I didn't yell, I didn't even snarl, I think I was more stunned by her ingenuity than her destruction. A two inch, by eight inch strip of my carpet has been absolutely shredded.

Now, I agree with my little furball that the pink carpet in the computer.. er, HER, room, is hideous. And I do know bunnies must dig when bunnies feel the need to visit Sirius Lee in Australia, but she still got some serious cuddling as punishment for me having to clean it up and cover that chunk of carpet to stop more home decoration.

It's a good thing she's cute!!

Happy Canada Day!

2010-07-01T23:35:00.000-07:00

(Stolen from the web)

It was national party day in Canada! I would put one of MY pictures up there, but I'm being lazy about fiddling with my phone to get the pics and wanna get to bed. :)

Normally I go to the celebrations in Surrey or Vancouver so I have packhorses to carry my stuff. (Hey, you try juggling crutch, backpack AND a foldup chair!) but this year I decided I was gonna stay in the Fraser Valley. After zero of my friends showed any interest in my company, I said the heck with them, I'll go on my lonesome. I can have fun in a cardboard box if I put my mind to it. Unlike my bunny, however, I won't actually EAT said cardboard box!

So, I went down to the Chilliwack celebration not expecting a whole heck of a lot. It was held at Heritage Park and after 6.5 years of living in this part of the world, it was the first time I'd been on the grounds. (My local readers have just face-palmed.) A long walk from the parking lot to the stage, and a lot of home grown talent. Some of it was definitely better than others, but all had talent.. A great ska band (The Lazy Susans), a great cover band (Da Boys), some dancers, the Bruinettes, lots of stuff. Then at 10pm was the long awaited fireworks.

Again, I wasn't expecting a whole heck of a lot. But WOW. I would say the Chilliwack fireworks were EASILY as good as the Surrey ones and certainly better than the ones I saw in Vancouver at Canada Place. Fifteen minutes of an incredible fireworks show. (My bunny, for the record, doesn't even twitch an ear at fireworks. Not that I'd have subjected her to those crowds!)

Then the exodus. I had brought a book in preparation. (I'm a smart cookie like that) I was surprised *yet again!* I think I read for about 7 minutes before I could just pull forward and out to the far exit. It was orderly, it was polite, and there was no honking traffic jam. (Or at least, there wasn't to go south, I don't know about the other two exits!) Thank you to the RCMP who were working on Canada Day, in the rain that started at 10:30pm. (Right after the fireworks ended, in fact.)

The quotes of the evening include :

Mayor Sharon Gaetz : Is everyone proud of the Canadian hockey team for winning gold??! [Cheers] And wasn't it cute when the boys won too??

Anna (one of the MCs) : It's CANADA DAY, people! [cheers] Canada is 143! [cheeers] Today is the first weekend of summer vacation! [Many cheers] The first day of HST! [a lot of boos] [She turns to Chuck Strahl] Aren't you glad you're Federal and not provincial??
MP Chuck Strahl : Darn straight!
[Mayor Gaetz was laughing at this point]

MP Chuck Strahl was also seen bunny hopping with a group of teenagers as the crowd moved from stage to fireworks. Wish I'd had my camera ready!

It was certainly a fun evening and I'm very glad I went. And heck, the price was certainly right. :D

Sage celebrated the evening with a piece of papaya, a piece of carrot and a snooze. It's a rough bunny life.

2010-06-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Things I love about my bunny :

I love the sound she makes when she goes galloping down the hallway.
I love how she guards me from bad dreams at night.
I love how she can go from looking interested to "OMG, I can't believe you said that." with just a flick of her ear.
I love the silky softness of her white fur in comparison to the coarser silver fur.
I love how when I start cleaning HER room she thumps up a fuss and dashes out with footflicks a blazing.. but sneaks back in to give Mr. Broom a hare cut every time I put him down.
I love how she supervises me cleaning her litterbox to make sure I do it Just Right.
I love how she is the absolute MASTER of passive-aggressive communication.

but mostly..

I love how she loves me.

Financial Fridays.

2010-06-26T05:40:00.000-07:00

Sage says she pointed out to the hooman it's already Saturday, but the hooman is a slacker and procrastinator which is how she gets into financial messes in the first place. I said the post is late because I fell asleep while snuggling with her on my bed. She says I'm still a slacker.

The rest of this post is boring, personal, financial stuff. I just thought I should bribe my readers with a picture of the beautiful diva first. ;)

I am over $16,000 in debt. I'm also disabled.

Many would wonder how I got where I am. Partially it's that money has always burned a hole in my pocket and I've never been a saver. Partially it's that my bank, for whatever reason, gave me a credit card for $12,000. Yes, I did have a home business, but it didn't pull in more than $7,000 a year. Considering disability is on average $10,174 a year, they're obviously bug nut crazy. Home repairs, car repairs, Scout Bunny vet visits, all sorts of things put that credit card over the top. Two vacations to Buffalo, NY were certainly not responsible decisions either. So, over six years I dug myself a very nice deep hole.

I talked to some credit counsellors, but their bottom line is my car is worth too much to declare bankruptcy (The car my parents bought for me since my Sidekick was such a money suck) and my income per month isn't enough for a collateral loan. They all pretty much agreed, tell the credit companies to sit and spin. Gee, that doesn't seem very useful or responsible.

So, I started doing a little research here, a little research there. In the meantime, RBC keeps on taking money from my account, even though they're not allowed to. (It's a disability cheque. They're not supposed to touch it.) So I had to fight to get it back, and bounce cheques in the process. ($25 fee here, $20 fee there..) So the first step was opening a new bank account and transferring as much as I could over to Scotiabank. (They offered the cheapest options for what I wanted/needed.)

My monthly outgoing expenses look something like :

$32.60 to Enterprise Car Rental to pay off their "loss of use" from when I dodged the drunk and hit the parkade. Insurance paid for the rest, minus the $500 deductable. Sadly, the best I could offer them was 10 post-dated cheques. So, this debt lasts till February of next year.

$66.67 to Dell Canada. I don't even have that desktop anymore. It's the computer I sold a while back to make a payment on my CapitalOne card. (I'll save a rant about CapitalOne and their magical fees for another day.) This adventure in computer land taught me 'never again' about computers and credit. By the time it's paid off, the computer is probably broken past the purpose of repair or replaced. My laptop, which I won, is a Dell Inspiron 1525 - and after two years of use started falling apart, after three it's on its last legs. If it were on credit, I'd still be paying for it for another two years! I'm FINALLY done with this payment on the 16th of July. Woohoo.

$44'ish to Telus for Internet access. I have tried three times to ask them if I can downgrade my internet connection to 'lite.' I can't say I'd much like it, I'm a bandwidth diva, but at $10/mo difference in price I'd just have to learn to suck it up. Their phone system is beyond irritating and then their customer service idiots, er, I mean, representatives. Gah. I emailed them, nada. I wrote them a letter, nada. They're a phone company, you have to deal with them by phone! Grrr.

$43.27 to Fido. I signed up for Fido last December to save me money from Rogers. This would work well if they'd actually do what I ordered. I have tried to cancel my caller ID and voice mail several times. (I'm paying $8/mo for it..) When they set up the account I got some shpiel about how they had to add it to give me the $5/mo unlimited browsing but would remove it right away. Ah ha ha ha. I get 50 minutes of talk time a month. This, in theory, should do me fine since I loath phones to begin with, but no one seems to get that I don't want to talk for more than a minute to establish whatever the point of the conversation is. Did I have this problem when I was on Rogers and got 200+ minutes of talk time a month? Of course not, I used, on average, 30 minutes a month. Oh, but when I pay .35/minute over my limit, lets chat away. I'm starting to get very good at saying "This is costing me .35/minute." I will admit I haven't been as vigilant on following up on kicking Fido's butt in gear as I should have been.

I'm currently on credit with BC Hydro. (Electricity.) They kept claiming I was using $80/mo in electricity and jacked up my equalized payments each year after saying I was $200 over. I finally told them to switch me back to pay per month, AND OH LOOK, I suddenly had $600 in credit. Of course, I don't get cash back.. So I have heat, hot water and power for the foreseeable future no matter what I do.

I pay $368/mo in pad rental. (I'll touch on trailer ownership another day.) My property taxes are about $100/year because I live in the sticks. (Beautiful sticks, but it's 10 km/s to the nearest grocery store.)

My car insurance is $119/mo. Not much can be done with this, and it'll go up in November when I have to renew - due to my having a smashing good time in the rental car. Unfortunately, no bus service means I have to have a car.

I typically spend about $40/mo in gas dribbling around town, $20/trip if I go see a friends band play and whatever I spend at the bar for beverages. (Typically Sprite - and typically my very generous friend Chris pays.) I consider this my monthly entertainment costs. (Yes, between bands and internet, my entertainment is as much as my grocery/household supply bill *cough*)

This month I spent $106 on groceries and STUFF. That includes pharmacy off the shelf, cleaning supplies and beauty products. The latter is the new Pantene thin hair shampoo/conditioner that makes my head not look like 3/4 of my hair has fallen out in the last three years. (Stress? Chronic Pain? Naw, no effect.) Pantene is always sending me coupons and samples, so I'm pretty damn loyal to them. Good product, good company. (Er, I digress..)

Sage costs me about $10 of that a month. She loves the locally made pellet that costs me about $20 for a bag that lasts her six months. (It went faster when I still had Scout the pellet hoover.) She uses wood stove pellets as litter ($4/bag at Rona. 40lb bags last a while.) The rest is whatever local produce is on sale in a given week. I'm hoping I can dig a chunk of my debt out *before* she gets to senior bunny years when vet care will be a regular occurrence.

So, right now, I break about even each month *before* credit card payments. I have three cards, one with CapitalOne, one with RBC, and one with CanadianTire. The *only* one that isn't in little itty pieces is the CT card. That's purely because I use it for my gas, etc (and pay it immediately on getting home) and then use the points for my car's maintenance. I still owe money elsewhere. My dentist for one is being remarkably patient.

I have no cable. ($40/mo so I can watch CBC? Are you kidding me??) I have no landline. No A/C. And my Dad buys me lunch four days out of eight. (Thank you, Daddy. For some reason my parents believe I'd starve without it. NO idea why.)

Dad is looking to retire. I'll probably hang tough until he does so, then sell my trailer and go back to renting. Taking care of a yard and garden is beyond my physical limitations and taking care of a home is beyond my financial. Yes, technically rent is just paying someone else to worry about maintenance and all the fun of ownership with a pad for their efforts, but after seven years of home ownership, I'm very happy to go back to the nightmare that is renting. :D Actually, I've been pretty lucky with apartments and landlords in the past. Some nightmare roommates, but then my roommates would probably say the same. ;)

Once I sell the trailer, I can pay off my credit card debt, stick the remainder in trust (maybe - if not it goes to my parents. Otherwise disability will just claim it.. and I'll be off disability long enough to require me to go through the "fun" that is reapplication.)and probably live even keel.

That's the dream, anyway.

The first step, was reading the financial blogs. The second step was learning to write EVERYTHING down. Every penny incoming, every penny outgoing. The latter has been really hard. Today I had an eye-doctor appointment an hour and a half drive from home and I was quite hungry. I debated for quite a while food, and really, I should have gone to the grocery store, bought some rice and veggies and stored them at my brother's but this didn't occur to me. Instead I bought a Teen Burger at the food court. Not the wisest decision, but I'm learning. I already pack green tea with me wherever I go, I should be able to learn to pack emergency rice and dried veggies, right? (This is south-wet BC, EVERYONE owns a rice cooker.)

The next step is to identify and cut out the fluffy stuff. My friend Wonda has already been amazing. We meet at arenas to watch her kids play whatever, or go sit in a park, or something that is cost neutral. She even buys me green tea and muffins. This will probably mean not filming/seeing my friends bands play anymore until I get all sorted out, but I'm hoping to stick it out for now. I was also really hoping to get to Warped Tour this year, but I guess I'll be a mature adult instead.

My laptop (the one I won) is dying a very rapid death. The screen is already toast. It'd be $187 to fix, and I thought that worthwhile, BUT, then the touchpad started to go. I've already replaced memory and hard drive. It's at the point of not worth the cost to keep repairing. I'll keep it till it dies and go back to the PoS laptop that my friend Darin can pick me up some memory for dirt cheap.

I'm turning 35 in September and I still don't want to be a responsible adult. Can't I make Sage do it for me instead?

2010-06-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

Sage and I went out to the council office today to take a picture of her beside the begonia's in a Canadian Flag pattern for my Tux & Bunny's Canada Day comic. It was a few tries to get her out of the begonias and on the wall, but we managed it. Afterwards I plunked her in some clover in case she wanted a treat. She hopped off to be under a tree and then sat there for fifteen minutes.

I'm pretty sure grooming is secret bunny code for "I'm not with her."

Bunny Fiction

2010-06-18T03:30:00.001-07:00

I do writing improv most mornings. Sometimes I ask a friend "What do you want me to write about today?" if I can't think of something myself. Often, I can. These develop into 'thumbnail' sketches. Sometimes I go further with them - sometimes I don't. My dreams typically provide fodder and always the grammar and spelling is attrocious. :)

This morning I got a request from a friend's twelve year old to write something Fantasy and with bunnies. Who am I to turn down a bunny request?

* * *

Originally they'd been bred to be food for dragons. Giant rabbits made it less likely for dragons to raid the farms for sheep and cows, they could run to stimulate the hunting senses and they were supposed to have bred like, well, rabbits. Unfortunately for the dragons, the rabbits developed intelligence past their tiny originators and were quite willing to take their own destiny in their own paws early. As the years passed, they decided the two foots weren't all bad, some were worth knowing, and it led to the forming of the King's Messengers. No one could get across the Kingdom faster than a rabbit and her rider. No message was safer, no messanger more trusted. The dragons had to go back to sheep.

Tasi stood back from grooming Goldenpaw. It was a stupid name, but she'd named him when she was six. Whatever his rabbit name was, he hadn't told her. Some did, some didn't, you just learned to humour the rabbit. "So now that all loose fur is gone, food stains removed, and your ears are perfect, you'll go find some dirt to dig in, right?"

The rabbit sighed and turned his tail to her. He didn't have much patience for her teasing, but she could stick to him like a burr and they'd broken trail records, so he put up with her. Well, that and she knew where to scratch.

"Oh, don't be like that." Tasi said, stepping into the next stall so she could look in his deep brown eye. She stood on tiptoes, to lean chin on the top of the three-quarter wall between the stalls. "C'mon, it's time for inspection, and you know I look bad if you look bad."

He twitched his ear in her direction but otherwise didn't acknowledge her existance.

Tasi took her turn to sigh and wished horses could approach the speed of rabbits. The dumb beasts were a lot easier to deal with than giant, moody, finicky, demanding, brats. "I was going to scrounge some mint from the gardens.."

His nose started wriggling despite his trying to play disinterest.

Tasi grinned and hopped back out of the empty stall, "Just stay there! I'll go get some.." Fortunately, mint was plentiful and the rabbits easily bribed.

She was barely out of the stable doors when she was stopped by the lead messenger. "Has Masoc returned yet?"

Tasi lost her smile, despite the summer's day and her mini-victory over Goldenpaw. "No." He was three days late. He was the second to go east that hadn't returned. Diruc, once a messenger like her, but now one legged and on a crutch, looked down at her. "I'm getting to skip out on inspection, aren't I?"

"You are. Ride fast. Don't find fights, find truth." Diruc told her, holding out a messenger's satchel.

Tasi nodded and turned back to the stables. "CHange of plans, 'paw. We've got a run."

The rabbit did one of the whirling turns he was so good at and his nose was going a mile a minute. His ears were cocked forward and his tail was up. One eager bunny.

"Daysil and Masoc are now gone too. Three days late. No word, no pigeon." Goldenpaw knew the score as well as she did. She grabbed her travel pack, prepared for two days now and tied the satchel onto the front. She took a run and a sprint and was up on Goldenpaw's neck. He shook his head. Not for the first time she wished the rabbits would allow saddle or harness.

The rabbit walked sedately enough out of the stables, his eyes scanning skies and road as soon as they were in daylight. Diruc watched them grimly as Goldenpaw stretched his warm up and Tasi took a good grip of his underfur. A final shake of his head to make sure she had a good grip and he was off. Three bounds across the stableyard, one over the fence, a blur of gardens and shrubbery and he was on the main lane and pelting through the grounds. The guards at the gate saw them coming and dropped the rabbit railing above the main defensive gate. Goldenpaw tucked his ears down behind his head, either side of Tasi, as he lept between the top of the gate and the wall above. Some of the taller riders had to duck, but Tasi was short enough that she was in no danger.

Riding a rabbit was a learned talent and the ability to put up with a pounding on your tailbone. They did gain into a steady pace once they started to lope, but it was still a lurch back and forth for the rider - and pity the human whose forehead smacked the rabbit or their shifting threw their mount off stride. A rabbit was not above dumping the rider and taking the packs without them. They didn't *need* humans, but having someone who could talk for them, write, and more importantly do all the work, was to their liking. Unless, of course, that rider interferred with the things the rabbit loved - running, racing, and eating.

Well, Tasi supposed girl bunnies came into it somewhere, but she wasn't about to ask 'paw about it. If she had any sort of social life to speak of, she was pretty sure he wouldn't want to hear about it and she certainly didn't want to hear about how many kits he did or didn't have. The giant rabbit females could control their own fertility - a male had to prove his worthiness. Tasi's experience said the does were even more of giant pains in the butts to deal with than the bucks, so she could only imagine the hoops the bucks had to jump through to prove their worthiness.

Being a glorified servant to a moody furball was all worth it when they were on the road or trace, though. Wind whistling through her hair, the taste of freedom on her lips, it was worth all the sorting of clover, the drying of hay, the grooming, nail trimming, and discontent. The Messenger quarters and their warrens were at the edge of the king's preserve, north of his city, it wasn't long before they were out and on dirt tracks that rabbit claws dug into so well.

If she was lucky, sunshine and fair wind would follow her all the way east.

The Bunny Mind.

2010-05-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

Every time I think I've started to understand the bunny mind, she has to go change the rules. I'm starting to have sympathy for every bitch and moan session men have about women.

Yesterday, I went into her lounging room and she presented to be pet. I can't recall her having done that before. (I'm not saying she hasn't, just my memory is swiss cheese.) So I sat and petted her and she tooth purred and I was very happy. Then when I went to bed she hopped down the vinyl to my room and kept me company all night. She hasn't hopped on the vinyl for *months*. This morning, she kept looking down the hall, then at me, down the hall, rinse repeat. The human is slow, it took me a few to realize she didn't want to hop on the vinyl again. So what do I do? I go to Wal-mart and buy some cheap mats for the hallway and place them between her rooms and mine.

Her first use for the mats? Take a nap on the first one. I make an effort of showing her their intended purpose every time I walk between bathroom and kitchen. She mostly ignores me.

Then, this evening, she hops into the kitchen, around the living room, farts, and goes back to her room. "If you're willing to hop on vinyl again, why did I buy all those mats??" Her answer was to present her tail to me and start grooming.

A fart in my general direction from the Dutch diva. I should be happy with that, right?

2010-05-16T10:50:00.000-07:00

Friday evening my Dad picked Sage and I up for a four day vacation at their lovely home on Vancouver Island. They have a sea view on three sides. They watch cruise ships, eagles, deer, and are twenty minutes from a huge shopping centre. It's a beautiful house in a beautiful place. Mum, while appreciative of my beloved bunny, refuses to let Sage run free. I don't quite blame her; the house is VERY bunny unfriendly. (Or a bunny snack in glory, depending on your point of view. :)

So, we go outside for a romp around the yard, nibble of the scenery and Sage's favourite game of 'Where can I go that the human can't follow?' Which, here, is up steep slopes. Of course, when the human on the end of the leash refuses to go up the steep slope (which I probably couldn't have managed when both legs still worked properly!) she is forced to come to a stop. She's on a fairly long retractable leash, but still, she's on a leash. :)

My little bratty bunny has been eating and drinking fine. Miss Plushie Bunny has even done a nose dive into the water bowl to get her share. But Sage's output has been quite low and after a couple of days I was starting to get concerned. Baby carrot disappeared like magic, grass in seed, too. When I was cleaning her cage this morning, I found she'd been burying her pooties under her hay. She had quite the output, she'd just been having fun making her human worry.

Now, the reality is probably hay is more comfy to lie on when there's not lumpy pooties on top, but I like the conniving, cunning bunny theory better.

This afternoon I'm off to visit my fellow petbunny slaves Lynn, Darin and their kit Caitlyn. Pictures will follow, I'm sure. :)

No matter how bad the mood..

2010-05-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

So, the main shutoff tap for my water is leaking. This tap is located right beside the hot water tank which is in the wall between the bathroom and the master bedroom. In short, my master bedroom is being turned into a swamp. I can't afford groceries this month - I'm not sure how I'm supposed to cover plumbing emergency. (Okay, I do know how, I add it to my growing list of things I'm paying for by the month.)

Mr. Rooter wanted a $100 travel fee just to come to my house. This was on top of the service call fee and everything else. They were somewhat surprised when I said "No." Their office is 20 minutes from me. Why the hell would I pay them $100 to travel that far to charge me $80+ an hour in work, minimum of an hour billed? I decided to start calling local plumbers instead. I'm waiting for them to call me back.

Needless to say, I wasn't in an a very happy place while waiting for said phone calls. I went into Sage's room to bug her. I figure misery shared is misery halfed. She let me sit there and talk to her while stroking her nose. I started to feel better; less stressed and more cheerful. She then even tooth purred for me before she seemed to realize she was being affectionate and social. Once she realized that she tossed her head and disappeared under the table.

But still, I feel better. Even if I'm still waiting on plumbers to call.

We has a deal.

2010-05-03T22:17:00.001-07:00

Sage and I have a deal; it works very well for us and it's quite simple.

She looks cute and I feed her, house her and clean up after her.

It may seem a bit one-sided to some two foots.. but she's damn cute.

Noises Bunnies Make.

2010-04-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

Gus and Betsy's Dad over at The Life and Time's of Bunnies posted the cutest video of him feeding his starving, abused, unloved, never catered to rabbits(*) and talked about noises bunnies make. After writing a two paragraph comment I decided to steal it for a blog post. That way G&B's Dad can't complain he hasn't heard from Sage's warren ;)

What? Revamping something he's already read doesn't count as a post?! Damnit!

Anyway - noises my little furry masters have made. :)

Scout, my little heartbun of epic proportions. (2lbs, 1lb of that being her fuzzy mane) made all sorts of noises. She giggled when she was happy or amused - or at least as close to it as bunny vocals can get. She cheeped, she chirped, she snored. The last she did quite loudly. Considering she had some sort of respiratory infection or another the entire time she owned me, the last isn't too surprising. She also snorted, thumped, loved to bang toys off things, or in short .. she was one noisy, but very happy and cute, rabbit.

Sage, my Dutch Diva, isn't particularly talkative. She's tooth purred for me once. I'm not even sure why. I was leaning off the bed, she was sitting at the end of it, watching me. I was talking the sort of nonsense things one talks to one's pet about. (Balancing your cheque book, the latest boyfriend, how the rain sounds like music on the roof..) She started making the oddest noise. Her ears were forward, she was sitting up, it couldn't be pain.. so I immediately dashed off an email to the Petbunny mailing list. Once they stopped laughing at me (again) I got "Your bunny is HAPPY, she loves you, she was tooth purring!"

She'll grunt if I interrupt her nap and it's not with treat in hand or child following me. She'll turn her tail towards me (the ultimate in bunny insult! 'You're not even a threat!') and close her eyes and go back to sleep. (Or at least try to) With a few grunts to let me know her dissatisfaction. She's also grunted while getting toweled down after her very rare butt baths. The rabbit LIKES swimming (She likes swimming and children - she's one damn odd bunny.) so I think she's just upset that she's been yanked out of the water and now the interfering monkey is not only holding her, but rubbing her ticklish private areas. Every so often when I walk past her napping room (She has two rooms, y'know.) she'll just grunt at me randomly. I think that's to remind me of my place in the pecking order. ("THE BOTTOM!")

Foster, the Foster bunny I had for less than twelve hours before he was adopted by a neighbour, never made a noise. He had a bit of a noisy gallop through Pat's trailer, and he certainly did the 'Dead Lop Flop' with the best of them, but that was it. He was one mellow dude.

Fric grunted, growled, lunged and bit. I donated blood to that rabbit when he was separated from his brother. He grunted if you touched him, he grunted loudly and regularly if you picked him up, he grunted when I passed by in the hallway and I didn't have a treat (even if it was a strand of hay!) for him. He was a diva. (Probably still is!)

Frac was a lover, not a fighter. He would tooth purr if you held him and rubbed the ends of his ears. That was it - no other noises, just happy little sighs if you held him in your arms and stroked him from noise to tail. Fortunately, his attention span for cuddles was about the same as my own.

Or to sum up - bunnies are pretty much all individuals, just like the monkey pets they keep. :) *Grunt, Grunt*

* - This is, of course, the BUNNY opinion and probably has absolutely nothing to do with reality.

She's no dumb bunny.

2010-04-26T09:23:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I came in with dandelions for the beast who lives in the spare bedroom. I am not brave enough to enter the house without a treat for her highness. I put the dandelions down and continued on down the hallway to get changed. I was barely finished before I hear thumping and grunting coming from Sage's room.

"What the..?" I ask as I come back down the corridor.

There's a smudge of dandelion flower sitting under Miss Plushie Bunny's chin. There is no further sign of the dandelions that have apparently been inhaled. Sage is growling at Miss Plushie Bunny and thumps and looks at me.

OBVIOUSLY Miss Plushie Bunny stole all of Sage's dandelions.

So to pacify the poor, wronged, bunny, I had to go back out to the garden and get another one. (But just one, too much Dandy Candy wouldn't be good for her tummy!)

I'm pretty sure she stuck her tongue out at Miss Plushie Bunny when I wasn't looking.

Update from the furry farm.

2010-04-22T12:19:00.001-07:00

Or at least, I'm pretty sure the tumbleweeds that go billowing past are fur.

Last week I decided that maybe Sage is lonely. So I brought Miss Plushie Bunny off her shelf and put her in the spare room with Sage. I was three steps down the hallway when Miss Plushie Bunny passed me.

"What are you trying to say, Sage?" I say with some facetiousness. She snorted. I'm fairly sure it was 'Humans are idiots.'

Well, this means war. So Miss Plushie Bunny goes back into the spare bedroom the next time I go past. Miss Plushie Bunny was back in the hallway on my trip back down. Since she was sitting, I took it to mean she hadn't been grabbed by an ear and flung out the door as per previous visit and just shoved out. Miss Plushie Bunny went back into the room.

I put her in the far corner from the door, which is Sage's least favourite corner of the room. There she sat for a couple of days. She didn't eat Sage's dandelions, she didn't use Sage's litterbox, she didn't even start any fights. Then she started moving around the room. Sometimes she's under the table, sometimes she's back in her corner, sometimes she's sitting beside Sage in her favourite lounging spot.

This morning I found her in the computer room, beside the food bowl. I guess she got hungry.

Sage has let me pet her nose four times in the last seven. Obviously Miss Plushie Bunny stole her sanity when she wasn't looking. Poor Sage.

Sage's Diary

2010-04-08T16:09:00.000-07:00

If my bunny kept a journal, or a diary, it would read something like this..

Dear Diary,

The human sucks. Today she plucked me bald and then cut off my toes. She only gave me ONE papaya treat after the torture. I flicked her several times, thumped to make sure she was watching and then flicked a few more times for good measure.

I know where she sleeps. She's getting a soggy pillow tonight.

I'm not actually sure about the soggy pillow, but if you saw the LOOKS I kept getting.. Apparently it's MY fault she's middle-aged now and can no longer stomach as many sugary treats.

Bad human, no snuggles.

Snuggle Buns.

2010-04-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

Day before yesterday I brought her in some dandelions. She presented (lowered her head) to be pet and let me pet her nose three times. I was truly honoured.

LAST night, she'd obviously completely lost her marbles. I went into "her" room to talk to her and she didn't even move away so I picked her up and cuddled her. I didn't get grunted at, she didn't try to struggle. I asked her if she was feeling alright. But no tempreture, no tummy distention, no yucky tail and she ate a papaya tablet with gusto.

So I carried her into the living room and lay down on the couch with her on my chest. This is NORMALLY when the mad scrambling begins and the bunny takes off like her tail is on fire. Nope, she just meatloafed and let me pet and stroke her for almost twenty minutes. In all honesty, I got sick of it before she did. I put her down on the ground and she hopped off behind the chair.

She's been there since. I thought this would be a great opportunity to pluck some of the fly away fur, figuring it would also get her to high tail it. She watched me for a bit plucking fur off her butt and then closed her eyes and seemingly went back to sleep.

There is rumour of tooth purrs during the snuggles, but she's denying it all.

P.S. Sage says, since she was such a snuggly Easter Bunny, I should tell Gus is the most handsome Easter Bunny she's ever seen. Betsy is one lucky doe, even if she is a no good, stinkin' lop. (SAGE! Lops are NOT bad.. Just because Sheeba.. Oh, nevermind.)

I may be in the D-A-W-G house.

2010-03-01T18:26:00.000-08:00

After five days at my brother's I was happy to crawl home. It was a wonderful vacation but there's no place like home. :)

I came in and said my usual "Hi Pookie!" as I started my multiple trips in from the car. (My brother is a very generous, wonderful, individual, but he's still a BACHELOR and his house proves it!) I got everything in, locked the car, locked the door behind me, took off my boots and went looking for a rabbit.

The bunny who was sitting in recline in the master bedroom sat up as I approached and her ears flattened. Uh oh. So I turned tail (so to speak!) and went and fetched a piece of papaya. I made sure to make the "treat!" noise as I went back down the hallway.

She met me at the door and very daintily took the piece of papaya from my hand (Thank you Lisa!!) and turned and hopped back to her favourite lounging spot. Phew, I may not be dead meat. She then turns her butt to me. Uh-oh. She then wiggles her butt and kicks a pootie right at me. Have we discussed Sage's amazing aim with thrown objects recently? Her ability with kicked apparently is as good, she nailed me right in the forehead and then hopped under the bed.

After unpacking, etc, I decided it was nap time. Sleeping on my bed instead of my brother's couch was nice.. Snore, snore, snore. I half woke up at one point to a small warm fuzzy lying against my back. When I woke up for real the spot behind me was still warm. When I got out of bed, she stopped in mid-hop to ear flatten at me. I said "I love you too, shnookie bear!" and decided it was computer time. :)

I suspect, however, someone will be getting a second piece of papaya tonight before bed so I'm allowed in my own room. ;)

Sage, the friendmaker.

2010-02-23T19:19:00.000-08:00

I'm going to stay with my brother for a few days and the debate was whether to bring the heathen with me or not. Edith, half of the land management team is an animal lover.. (spoiler!!) .. and offered to look after her for me. I decided to take Sage over there to meet her and get Sage's opinion.

Sage likes kids, doesn't like adults. I wasn't expecting much. However, Edith is 4'9.. apparently Sage considers that a kid, because as soon as I walked in the door she was trying to get at Edith and as soon as she was in Edith's arms promptly stuck her head under Edith's chin and started tooth purring. Edith was tickled pink to stand pet the bunny for thirty minutes while my spoiled little diva was happy to be pet.

Yeah. I think she'll be fine. I'm not sure, however, she'll want me back again as her slave..

Olympic Wins.

2010-02-19T11:43:00.001-08:00

Olympic Wins

To me it's not about medals. Would I like to see Canada take number one in the medal rankings on our own soil? Of course I would, however, it's not terrible realistic. The U.S, Germany, both have ten times out population and resources. Finland, Sweden, Switzerland have centuries of practice ahead of us. However, we can try our best, be good hosts and try our personal bests and that's a win. We want to share out beautiful city and country, we want to show the world who we are and what we're about. We're not about being showy, we're about being Canadian.

A win to me is being Canadian and showing the world what that means. Being Canadian is our figure skating pair (whose names I failed to record and it's not on CTV's site yet!) showing up at Robson Square to skate with the public. The female half gave skating lessons to some kids while the male half gave the kids airplane spins. They did some demonstrations with smiles on their faces since they were obviously having *fun* and not just doing a public stunt. That's Canada, that's Canadians.

There's always room at the table for one more, there's always some instruments being played in the kitchen, and there's always a helping hand. We won't carry you, we'll help you get back on your feet. We won't hate, hurt and hit, but we will defend with enthusiasm. We're good-humoured, we're sharing, and we love our neighbours. Even Torontonians. Heck, say something nice and we'll probably even share our beer, explain curling and invite you to skate on the backyard rink. (Well, outside of the pacific south-wet where they actually have winters and backyard rinks.)

We'll sit on the edge of our seats and pray for gold in hockey (Women's AND Men's!) and we'll cheer each and everything athlete who stands on the podium. The world's success is our success. And heck, our Olympic village is one million dollar condos.. Top that Russia!

Hello Gluten, my old friend.

2010-02-18T12:23:00.000-08:00

After several months of gluten free, I'm pretty much where I started. The short version is I have all the symptoms of malnutrition; hair loss, weight loss no matter what I eat, irritable bowel syndrome, feeling exhausted twenty minutes after I eat, etc etc. It all seems to be fat related. The advantage of gluten-free was I was ingesting a lot less fat so I felt better for quite a while, however, once I figured out the 'bad' foods I could still eat.. back came all the problems.

So, bread is back on my list, but without marge or butter or mayo, I'm not quite sure what the point is. Ooo.. wait.. I can start going to Subway again.. Wooohooo!

What this means to Sage (after all, this IS a blog about Sage!) is that .. no more potato or corn chips. While Doritos don't affect me too heavily, they do affect me. And the 'cleaner' my system gets, the better I feel so when I have something I shouldn't, the worse I feel relatively. Poor bunny will just have to make do with papaya treats in the near future.

Me, I'm thinking cheeseless pizza..

Things I call Sage.

2010-02-07T10:26:00.001-08:00

Still no working camera. So you get text once more. Just picture in your minds a beautiful silver and white Dutch flopped on her side.. giving her human 'the ear' for disturbing her nap with rapid fire typing. See? No camera needed.

I was talking to Sage this morning as I was trying to work out if she was chewing on one of her cardboard pieces under the bed, the carpet or just digging a tunnel to China. (I will eventually move the queensized bed and look.) I realized that the only times I really call her Sage is when I'm trying to get her attention. Typically "What are you doing Sage?" or "Sage, if you don't stop that.." It's about then I realized I have turned into my mother. My mother called me "Missy Chrissy" for years, I got "Lorna" when I was in trouble or it was a serious matter to be discussed.

Sage has a plethera of names; the most common is "Boo". Also "Sage-a-lina" is common for her habit of adopting every injured creature in existance, from abandoned kitties, to injured birds, to three legged spiders. (I kid you not.) The list, which is far from inclusive, would go something like the following:

Boo, Princess Perriwinkle, Princess Fuzzybutt, Princess Fluffytail, Sage-a-lina, Sagey, Sagey-Wagey (which ALWAYS gets flattened ears), Funky Furry Fuzzy Girl, Pookie, Miss Sage-a-licious, Dutch Princess, Mistress of Destruction, Queen Domain Bunny, DAaaaaAAANG RABBIT! (You'll have to picture your own Yosemite Sam accent on that one), Love-a-bunny, Squooshy Nose, Lady Twitchynose, and on the most depserate of occasions.. Sage.

Its a lot of names for a little bunny, but she's worthy of them all. ;)

A Review of Resolve Carpet Cleaner.

2010-01-25T11:19:00.000-08:00

Re: Resolve Three in One Carpet Cleaner.

Wow. Just Wow. Bunny pee is notoriously hard to get out of carpet, especially after it's dried. Vinegar + water will sometimes clean it out, but often not. Products for cat and dog pee don't seem to work on bunny urine; perhaps the enzymes are made for carnivore acidicity or something.

Phyllis O'Beollain, the lady who writes the small animal blog over at the Dayton Ohio Examiner, recently posted an article about Resolvbe Pet Stain Carpet Cleaner. I was pretty cynical about how well it could possible work. Yesterday I went in to wash the sheets in the spare bedroom and discovered what a mess Fric had left me.

He'd been housed in the spare bedroom for a couple of days *at most* but in that time he'd managed to soak the spare bed AND the carpet underneath. In the weeks since the mattress has started to mold. I'd wondered why my allergies were worse than usual but there'd be no smell from the room so it wasn't until I was pulling off the sheets I realized. HOW a male rabbit managed to pee with no scent is beyond me, Sage could learn from him! But, needless to say, there was one heck of a mess to be cleaned up.

The bed is a write-off. It irritates me since it's such a comfortable bed, but it was my Nanna's before me and its certainly far from new. The carpet was gross. There's just no other word. Remembering the article, I decided I had nothing to lose and went and paid the $4.69 (plus tax) for a bottle of Resolve. It wasn't the identicle stuff as described in the article, but rarely are products the same both sides of the border. I figured at $5 I didn't have a lot to lose anyway.

The directions say spritz, leave for five minutes, come dry the carpet with damp towel. I use paper towel because I'm lazy. The stains were less after the five minutes, by the time I was done with the cleaning procedure, they were 95% gone. I'm thinking a second treatment will have it 100% gone. If you could have seen this mess, you'd have said "No way."

Yes, way.

Two thumbs up. Non-toxic to animals and cleans up the worst bunny messes from carpet in minutes. I have found my new love in life.

For Chico

2010-01-15T11:13:00.000-08:00

*Waves to Chico*

The handsomest of handsome has asked for updates from the bunny blogs he reads, and who am I to say no to that cute little face?

The slow down here is mostly my camera has gone gibbly and need repairs. The debate is between 'just replace it' and 'pay for shipping, repair, etc' No wonder our society gets less and less efficient when repair is so much more expensive than replacement!

Sage is good. Her Auntie Lisa sent her, Fric and Frac, a whole box full of treats and toys. She's been slowly decimating her way through her share. I dropped off the rest at Deidre's. This morning I got up to find that she'd gone through her bunny cookies box, pulled out all the bunny cookies (but not the hay!) and lined them up in a row. She doesn't want to eat them, just play with them.

She's taken to napping on the blanket beside me when I'm on the computer. I'm still not allowed to touch her, but she wants to be near me. It's cute. I'm pretty sure that means she's lonely and wants a bunny companion, but after the heel clicking that went on after Fric and Frac left, I'm not sure I want to try that again in a hurry!

Fric and Frac have Deidre firmly wrapped around their paws. You should see the damage Fric has done to her coffee table.. Her philosophy? "No point in replacing it until he's done with it!" .. YEAH, if Sage had tried that, the coffee table would have been sprayed with Febreeze so fast she would have sneezed.

So Chico, sometimes no news is good news. We're all good, just pictureless. Hope all is well in your world too. I think you're a little short on blueberries though.. Has Princess been hogging them all again?

More Conversations with Sage.

2009-12-26T19:51:00.000-08:00

I came in from Boxing Day dinner at my parents to a very dark house. My original plan had been to stay overnight but I pretty much forgot all my toys excluding my laptop. It would have been daylight when I returned, so I hadn't left any lights on excluding the low watt energy saver I have in the kitchen. Sage doesn't seem to care if the house is dark or light so I tend to go for what makes *me* happy.

So, I came in, turned on some lights and wondered where the rabbit was. I took off my boots and wandered down to the master bedroom. Sage was sitting and staring off into space. "Sage?" I say. She doesn't even twitch an ear. "Saaaagey?" I call, she twitches in my general direction. "Oh good, you ARE alive."

She turned to look at me, turned away, and promptly flomped over in a dead-lop-flop. (Dead Dutch Drop?) That shows me. Human is never right, after all.

Sage types : Christmas.

2009-12-24T12:40:00.000-08:00

Hi, dis is Sage, guest blogger. Don't expect dis to happen more dan once a year - I gots better things to do. Like nap.

But - fuzzy friends, I FINK I've finally got dis "special day" figured out.

Once a year da hoomans get trees and put them in their houses. Dese are the things they call 'Gods' and they try to get SUPER treats by giving da tree presents/offerings. But, dese offerings are never goods enough, so da tree rejects them and then they just trade them amongst dem selves. (Lucky bunnies get some left overs too.) What da hoomans expect to get from a tree-god dat's better than the stuff they offer it, I dunno.

I do know hoomans get upset if you chew on their tree-god (Hay, it doesn't DO anything, how're we to know??) and play wif it's jewelry. An' apparently, no matter HOW annoying da blinky/flashy/jewelry is we're NOT allowed to trim the vine to get rid of it. Da tree-god must be pretty to be kept happy.

My Mummy put a bunny at the top of her tree-god, so maybe she was hoping for anudder bunny? Hurmph. Oh! Or maybe treats! But Aunty Wisa sent those, so I'm not quite sure what anudder option IS.

Aunty Criss said she prays for self-cleaning litterboxes. Which is just silly. But, if they DO pray for dat to their tree god, no WONDER they don't get anything year after year.. because everyone knows hoomans were put on this planet to clean litterboxes'n'feed us'n'stuff. If da tree-god took that away, the hoomans would all die of boredom an' then what would all the fuzzy creatures do? (Well, besides celebrating our naps are no longer interupted!)

Anyways. Whatever da hoomans ask for.. I hops dat everybun gets their dreams an' if not their dreams, then love, n' binkies/smiles and hugs. If dey like hugs, I don't - so Momma better not get any ideas.. Grunt, grunt.

-Sagey Bun.

Fric and Frac in their new home.

2009-12-21T22:55:00.000-08:00

Well.. the boys are gone.

Last week, my vet's office called to ask if I knew of any rabbits up for adoption. I looked in the computer room and said "Yeah, why?" and the vet tech went on to explain her sister had been caring for her rabbits while she was on holiday and now wanted one of her own. I said she could come over and meet Fric and Frac.

I'll confess, I was hoping she'd take Fric. I had hopes I'd eventually get Frac and Sage to bond, but Fric and Sage both being very stubborn alphas.. well. Scout was an alpha, but she was also a mommy bun so she generally caved and groomed. Deidre came in, sat down, Frac crawled into her lap and started covering her in kisses. Needless to say, the two of them went home together.

Fric was aggressive again. Growling, boxing, throwing temper tantrums. "You're kidding me!" I told him, "You two FIGHT." He lunged at my foot and I retreated. I phoned Deidre and asked if she would be willing to take Fric too, that he was very upset at being seperated from his brother.

She said she'd give it a try so I drove out to her place with Fric. He wasn't a particularly thrilled passenger, but wasn't nearly as bad as poor Scout was. So I put him down at Deidre's and immediately the chase was on. Watching them though, it didn't seem to be bunny fighting (which is very similar to horse challenges if you've seen footage of those. SCARY!) it reminded me more of how two seven year old boys interact.. with hyperactivity, punching, pinching and lots of chaos and mayhem. If we tried to interfere, they'd both give us dirty looks. So we left them to it.

The next morning, her royal fuzziness woke me up at 0430 by doing the bunny 500 through the house. She did several binkies, I haven't seen her even do a bunny headhsake of happiness in months. She nose bonked my shoulder awake but disappeared off the bed when I tried to pet her. She did a double binky out of the bedroom and raced down the hall. All day she was bounces and hops. She was one damn happy rabbit Fric and Frac were gone.

I don't know why she was so cranky about them. She wanted to be friends with Scout the minute they met. She was okay with Foster, and he wasn't even fixed when he first entered the home. Maybe she's just gotten to like being the solo boss of the warren. She's been very friendly (for Sage!) since too. She'll sit on the blanket that hangs off the couch beside me, where as before she'd make sure to stay WELL out of reach. I don't pet her, and she stays put.

She even let me torture her by retaking the Christmas card pictures (I'll post some on Christmas Eve) without a footflick or protest. Okay, there was one big bunny sigh, but she tolerated me with remarkable patience. She did get rewarded with one Cool Ranch Doritos chip. (Not a recommended bunny treat. *cough*)

So, Fric and Frac are happily demolishing Deidre's home, Sage is happily hopping through mine, all seems well in this part of the world. :)

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Krazy Kwanza, Festivus for the Restivus, Sparkling Solstice, Rousing Ramadan and an enjoyable have a pint 'cause it's the middle of the bloody winter to one and all!

The adventures of Fric and Frac

2009-12-13T20:25:00.000-08:00

Oh boy - I'm rather behind in my posting, aren't I? Sage would be the first to tell you good help is hard to find.

Fric lasted about four days in the spare bedroom. The first day Sage hopped the barrier. I'm not sure if Fric started the kafluffle or my little diva did, but there was fur flying and I ended up tipping the bed over to get at them and toss Sage back over the barrier. (Not that I ACTUALLY tossed her.) My back wasn't happy, Sage wasn't happy, Fric wasn't happy. Frac next door just looked bewildered.

Fric was getting more and more hostile though as time passed. He was growling and lunging and eventually sunk his teeth into me. It FINALLY dawned on me that even though I had shampooed the carpet twice and scrubbed the room post Scout's passing, she wasn't the most continent of bunnies and maybe Fric could scent her and he wasn't happy. So, I split the ex-computer room down the middle and moved him back in with his brother. They celebrated by having a shoving match on who could get the divider further to the other's side for more room.

Frac seemed happier with his brother about, Fric immediately stopped growling and let me pet him again.

Yesterday was bunny cleaning day, so I shoved the two in the same carrier which had been fine before. A fight erupted almost immediately so Fric got put in the bath tub. The tub has the sliding door thingies on it, so he couldn't escape. I gave him a towel to take his irritation out on and went back to cleaning. Halfway through I needed a break so I went and snuggled with Frac. I semi-introduced him to Sage, but her reaction was to growl and thump at ME and make it clear this fureign Ameribun wasn't welcome in HER warren. So he and I retreated and Frac just sat and whimpered in my arms. I have never, ever, before in my life heard a bunny whimper. Poor little guy, he's so submissive, he just wants some bunny to love and neither of the buns here wanna love him.

As an aside, I expected three times the work taking on two more bunnies.. It's easily become six to seven times the work. It's insane how much these two eat, drink and output. A bale of hay I thought would last me ten years is rapidly disappearing and I have to buy more wood pellets for their litter. A couple bags typically lasted me six months; the last two bags have lasted just under a month. I have new levels of respect for multiple bunny households! Three is "fun" .. I can't imagine seven.. or twenty-two as in Criss' case! (But we all know my southern Mom is crazy, right?)

I got asked if I would adopt one of them out yesterday and I'm giving it some serious thought. I have hope that Frac can bond to Sage, but Fric and Sage are oil and water. He deserved a good home after everything he's been through. The proposed home is a bunny newb, but her sister is my vet tech and she seems eager to become a good bunny slave.

Time will tell, I guess!

They're almost Canadian :D

2009-11-23T22:10:00.001-08:00

Here's the pictures :D Linda found me, fortunately. The soft sided carrier looked a lot like a normal duffle bag, so I probably wouldn't have spotted her! I wish I'd had time to sit and chat and maybe go for a coffee or tea or whatever, but best to get the bunnies home, and I had a three hour drive ahead of me!

Here's the brothers in my carrier :)

As soon as I put them in the cage in the car, they started bouncing around like they hadn't just spent twelve (plus!) hours in transit. Immediately they started gnawing on hay and drinking from the water bottle. I had two on the cage but forgot to fill one. Good help is so hard to find!

As you can see, they don't seem much traumatized by all the moving around. Or maybe they're just too dazed from all the air time.

"Home Jeeves, and don't forget the Parsley!"

They're already conspiring against me at this point. I thought they wouldn't be particularly thrilled with the I-5. While my little Yaris is a lot more graceful on the bumps than my Sidekick ever was, it's still a bumpy ride and loud kathump, thumps all the way up. Fortunately, they didn't seem to mind listening to the Industrial music I found playing on 89.5 in Seattle. (Wicked station, btw!) Once I lost that station in Everett, the poor boys had to listen to an hour of Depeche Mode till I could pick up 92.9 out of Bellingham.

I stopped for gas north of Mount Vernon, as you can see, both buns were INCREDIBLY traumatized by the journey so far.

The border guard didn't seem at all concerned I was bringing two bunnies back with me. He asked how much I paid for them, I said a tank of gas, a really expensive bag of chips at Sea-Tac airport while I was waiting, and half a bottle of diet 7-up. He waved me through.

The poor buns tho. The cage is a really crappy, cheap, one that I got from Petcetera. It doesn't hold well together and I typically have it held together with bungee cords. Unfortunately, when I was carrying them up the steps (with them hopping around to keep the weight moving, OF COURSE) I dropped the cage. They both just sat stock still as I readjusted the top (which fortunately hadn't come off enough for them to escape) and shoved it in the door. From there it was shove it down the corridor and into the ex-computer room. (I now work from my couch. Its way comfier.)

Here they decided that the place "would do" until they take over Sage's part of the house. (Which would be the master bedroom, corridor, bathroom, dinning room, kitchen and living room.)

Unfortunately, the boys had a tiff tonight and I decided to seperate them, so Sage lost her spare bedroom to Fric.

Mostly she's just been confused by their presence. No aggression on her part, even when Fric or Frac thumped at strange noises in their new house. She spent a few hours last night sitting in the hallway watching them, but that's about it. She's now playing shark in her litterbox.. where she sits staring at me with only her eyes and ears visible over the edge. I better give her treats before she attacks. ;)
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Bunless in Seattle.

2009-11-22T20:12:00.000-08:00

So, I'm sitting at Sea-Tac airport awaiting the arrival of Fric and Frac. Okay, I guess I'm waiting for Linda, their flight attendant too, but mostly importantly.. ;)

Yes, it's true, the bunny brothers rated their very own flight attendant! Linda is a bunny rescuer and a friend of a friend, when she heard they needed to go to a new home, she volunteered to spend the Sunday of her Thanksgiving holiday sitting around an airport with the boys. She flies free if she flies stand-by, even if it's with another airline. (I'm not sure who she works for, but you can bet they'll be my first choice from here on out!) With the holiday peeps, all the flights she'd planned on taking got booked up. She finally got on a flight at 3:30pm with Virgin, but after she was seated and Fric & Frac were safely tucked under the seats in front, she was kicked off the flight! The Captain disallowed the bunnies to fly on his plane! Hmph. You can imagine who I WON'T be flying with any time soon!

Three hours later the troopers got on an Alaska Airlines flight and off they went, they're due to land here at 9:15pm. I'm glad American customs didn't ask me what time I'd be back since I had no idea then (I crossed at 2:30pm!) He was much more interested in pet bunnies and why I was flying them up from Southern California. He laughed when my first answer was "Because I'm a sap." Nice to know the customs agents have senses of humour even if they try to supress them.

So, I sit around the airport with a hard sided carrier to transfer the boys to. It has a little box with hay in it. I think I have met every single child who has come through SEA-TAC airport. One girl (Lauren) told me all about her pet bunny who was the bestest pet ever 'cause he came when she called *and* used a litterbox. She then asked her Mum (they were British of some sort) if they could get another pet rabbit. She said maybe.. and maybe they should get one from Tacoma since that Humane Society can't be trusted with bunnies. We then spent a while commiserating about poor Copper. (If you haven't heard the story - Check Komo's news here and here )

I then met some soldiers coming in from Iraq. Of course, since I have absolutely no attraction to physically fit men in uniform who are brave and all that, I didn't immediately fire off an email to bestest girlfriend Justin squeeing about their yumminess. One of them was reading over my shoulder and said I should go up to floor two, since that's where the single enlisted are, not like them who are married old men. I'm not quite sure how old they thought I was, but I guess *not* thirty four since they couldn't be even in their mid-thirties. I decided to go find a plug-in for the laptop instead of trolling for soldiers, but as the computer is almost recharged now, and I have forty-five minutes before they land.. (Bad Lorna! What would I do with a U.S. soldier anyway? .. Don't answer that, Justin!)

I also met a gentleman who'd had a stroke who asked where the bunny was. He says he has a guide rabbit at home for therapy and misses him. Said the airline wouldn't let him on with the bunny.. but he had to have surgery in Seattle. (Wonder where the bunny is and who he would have stayed with. Seems a bit rude to ask.) I did ask if it was Virgin, and he looked startled and said yes. I have fired off an email to Virgin to ask about their rabbit distrust!

..I gotta say, you ever want to spread the word of bunnies, you don't need to go downtown with pamphlets. Just sit at your nearest airport with a carrier. You'll meet the world. What's truly impressed me is EVERY kid I talked to knew it was a carrier for a bunny, while the adults were about 50-50 bunny vs. kitty. Kids are definitely smarter when it comes to the cute and furry. :)

Pictures of the boys when they arrive. Probably after I get home. And sleep. And pacify Sage. Hmm. If you don't see pics within a week, Sage has buried my body in the backyard.

Fric & Frac arrive soon :)

2009-11-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

Sage's brothers/boyfriends will be picked up from Sea-tac airport on Sunday. (I have to get up at 0400! Wah!) On the way back (sorta) we're visiting with Tracie in Monroe. .. Maybe it would make more sense to go down the night before, sleep on Tracie's couch and then go UP to Sea-tac..

Nah, logic is overrated anyway.

My List of Sins.

2009-11-12T13:58:00.000-08:00

Or at least, today's list.

I got up this morning to find evidence of someone having supreme poopy butt (aka "Yucky tail") and so someone got a butt bath. This someone didn't even put up much of a fight, which made me think she wasn't feeling altogether groovy. Suspicions of illness were raised higher when she licked my arm. Obviously she was out of her tree.

But as soon as I put her down on the towel beside the running water she gave me the "you will pay for this, human" look and thumped before giving me royal bunny butt. Apparently I didn't appreciate the true meaning of this since I took it as an opportunity to pick bits of hay off her butt.

She put up with the butt bath with a minimum of splashing.. for a rabbit. Which pretty much meant she soaked me from head to waist. Why do I bath her in the kitchen sink? The bathroom sink is too small for her dutchness and if I use the bathtub she'll go swimming and I'll never get her out again. I did consider hosing her down on the deck, but it's a bit too chilly and she'd just eat the hose.

(I jest, I'd never actually do that to a rabbit - I'd end up with a very ill, if not dead, bunny!)

Doesn't she look so cute while she's plotting my death? Should I have added a thought bubble of 'You have to sleep some time!'

..And if that wasn't enough, after putting her down in the bedroom to recieve 10 enthusiastic footflicks, I promptly went and cleaned her cage out. She got it nice and stinky and messy the way she likes it and I go and ruin everything. I have no consideration. WORSE I put the bowls back in the wrong order, so she hopped in, grabbed the pellet bowl to move it and fortunately I realized my error before pellets and water went everywhere.

Good help is so hard to find.

More from Fric & Frac

2009-11-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

I was going to publish the pictures of Sage I took with the duckies in downtown Chilliwack, but instead am gonna show more pictures of her future brothers/boyfriends Fric & Frac. My sinus headache says I'm not up to going through 50 pics to find the choice ones at the moment!

Fric :

And Frac :

I'm already half in love with Frac, so Sage can have Fric.. What?? What do you mean the bunny gets to choose first? Phoeey.
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I'm a published smart ass :)

2009-11-01T20:19:00.000-08:00

Skippy is the infamous man who came up with Skippy's list of things he's not allowed to do in the U.S. Army. I've been following it for a while - his twin daughters were born last week and he's been having guest writers. He posted my list. :D

There may have been some hyperbole employed in the writing of my list, some may have just been hypothetical conversations with my brother when he finally buckled and agreed to take me to a game. :D
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Radiating Disapproval!

2009-10-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

The last few days, every time I turn around from playing on the computer.. I see THAT. I check her water, her hay, her pellets.. everything is fine. I talk to her, she ignores me. I come near her, she runs off and hides. I have no idea what's going on in her fuzzy brain other than maybe she's lonely.

Well, isn't it a good thing Petbunny always provides?

A couple years ago, a petbunny list member named Jane took in two bunnies from a park. They were feral, unfriendly and unhappy. Jane wasn't really happy to have them as she had a full household at the time, but named them Fric and Frac and gave them the best home she was able. As Jane's health worstened, she finally said she can't take care of them anymore.. find them a home or they go to the nearest shelter. None of the no-kill shelters or bunny rescues were willing to take them, so their life expectancy wasn't so good.

I, being the complete sap I am, said I'd take them. Sage is by herself and lets face it, she's not a human friendly bunny. While she tolerates me, and is even affection when I'm sick, she perfers lagomorphic kind. Scout could take or leave other bunnies, but Sage likes having fuzzies to boss around.. er, mother. So, Lisa, who lives near (ish) Jane went and picked them up and took them to her vet. The two girl bunnies who fought, turned out to be two boy bunnies who were just ("just") mite infested. Poor things. Fric, the more timid of the two, was so terrified of humans he almost keeled over when he was picked up to be examined. Frac, the planner, just kept screaming every time he was touched. :(

From Lisa, they went on to Cindy's, where she has been treating them and playing with them. She says they're quite friendly now, and have her well trained in treat dispursement.

I have yet to work out how to tell the difference between them, but I'm hoping Cindy or Lisa can fill me in. At current time, Fric is the one missing the most fur. That's from the mites leaving. Apparently every day his skin gets less scaley. It'll grow back with the next fur growth. (Bunny fur doesn't grow non-stop like human hair.)

Once they're healthy (and they seem to be fairly healthy excluding the mites and general dehydration) they will be snipped and shipped up here so Sage can choose a boyfriend or two. The two seem to get on well enough with each other as unfixed males, so hopefully it'll last through a neuter.. but if not, I'm fully prepared to have three rabbits in different parts of my house until one or both is rehomed with loving families.

I GOT A KISS!!!

2009-10-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

This morning I was woken up by Sage destroying things under the bed. Since she has a small platoon of toys under there this never drastically worries me but I occassionally check it is cardboard or wood she's decimating, not the carpet. This involves me hanging upside down off the side of the rather high queen sized bed and looking under. Sage came over to investigate and gave my arm a nose bonk. (Bunny bonk of affection) I was tickled pink and went about my day.

Then this evening after I had a shower I went into the other bedroom to get some socks. (Yes, I change bedrooms with the seasons, but it takes me months to move socks and things to the master bedroom and vice versa.) Sage normally, if she's in there, will dive under the nearest piece of furniture as soon as I enter the room. This time, she just sat beside the closet and watched me put on socks. Feeling chatty, I lay down on the much lower spare bed and had a usual one-sided conversation with her.

She hopped over and started sniffing my face, then gave my forehead a quick lick before she disappeared under the bed. Apparently completely embarassed she'd groom a HOOMAN. I gave her a craisin to help her get the taste of hooman cooties out of her mouth.

Maybe my little dutch princess likes me after all ;)

Sage's Birdie

2009-10-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

What did my beloved little bunny wish for on her birthday? Why, what makes her happiest.. an animal to rescue and nurse!

Battling it out with my printer I decided to go out to my parents to test it on their system, if it failed there too, I’d bury it. So I pack up various electronics and almost trip over a rabbit at the door. What noise does a bird in distress make? I have no idea, but apparently my rabbit knows, because she wouldn’t let me out the door without letting her out. Having learnt from the LAST time, I made her put on her harness and out we went.

There was a birdie on the lawn. I had camera in hand so I took a picture of the birdie as Sage dragged me down the steps. I took another couple of pictures while Sage crept up on the birdie. Poor birdie hopped away, probably thinking Sage was a cat. It didn’t even try to use its wings. Oh wonderful, I thought, she’s found another wounded animal.

Deciding I didn’t want a cat getting the poor thing, I tossed Sage back in the house (She was most unamused), grabbed a cardboard box and stalked a poor little wild birdie .. through the bracken and bushes. Finally caught him in the box and brought him inside, gave him a dish of water and went down to the corner store and picked up some bird seed. If he was an insect eater, he was S.O.L, ‘cause I was NOT digging for worms!!

Sage sat beside the kitchen table, periscoped the whole time the birdie was up there. I transferred him to the small bunny cage (“The glorified guinea pig cage”) and he sat down on the newspaper with a chirp. Watching him not move either wing, I was thinking maybe he broke his keel bone. Anyway, so he sat there and I decided to leave him be, absence would probably make him a bit happier to eat/drink without a human about. I phoned my vet to ask if he had any advice, he said chances are if I caught it, it wouldn’t live much longer and all I can really do is make it comfortable.

About thirty minutes Sage started thumping up a storm, I came back to find that the birdie I’d been calling “Yimmer” had passed away. I picked Sage up to see into the cage and she sighed and wiggled out of my hands to get back on the chair beneath the table and then hopped off to go lie under the bed in the spare bedroom. I took Yimmer out and buried him in the back yard.

So not the best birthday all around for poor Sagie.

Sage's Birthday!

2009-10-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Sage Boo-Boo Bear!!

'Twas a dark and stormy night.. No, wait, that's how SCOUT came into my life. Let's see.. How did Sage come into my life? Oh, yeah.. I fell for that "Bunnies are happier in pairs!" routine. So the same day Scout got spayed, she got a friend. She was just THRILLED I tell you. Or maybe she was just stoned on all the painkillers. Either way.

Sage was left at the Chilliwack SPCA in a box at the gate as a kit. The problem with this was she was left, probably with litter mates and mother, hours before the SPCA opened. By the time they opened Sage was the only one left. She was raised in the cat room. (Which, really, explains why she's such a nutter.) The SPCA aren't judgemental, they aren't demanding, if you have to abandon your pet and you can't afford the drop off fee.. lie, anything, don't leave your animal to die in a box.

Anyway. I met her, she looked at me, went back to grooming her cute little two month old self, and that's pretty much our relationship since.

So, Sage the princess bunny came to live with me. She was very well behaved and a complete sweetheart up until she was about six months old.. then the teens hit and she's been a bratty teen age, moody snot, of a bunny since. :D

At the age of seven months, she would hop into the middle of the living room, thump her foot to get my and Scout's attention, and then flop over on herside with a thud and sigh. Any one who has ever met a teenage female human knows *that* sigh. Fortunately, she grew out of the melodrama, but she's still grumpy and moody as any sixteen year old girl at the grand old age of four. :)

Her present is a salad served this morning under the bed and my ignoring her completely for the rest of the day. What more could a bunny want? ;)

Sage Disapproves!

2009-09-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

My darling, grumpy, Dutch bunny appeared on Disapproving Rabbits on friday!

It's true, while I was driving the 1200+ kms back from Dawson Creek, my lounging bunny was showing her disapproval around the world! It's so hard for her to live with such a untrainable human. Why, just this morning she had to sit and stare at her human for twenty minutes before the human finally figured out what she wanted. (Fresh rose bush twig, she'd chewn the last one to shreds.)

This was taken down at the Lake last week. The travel carrier was buried in the shed and I had a fit of enthusiasm failure to dig it out so I plunked Sage on the passenger seat and told her that Mommy's often do things they shouldn't - like have an animal lose for a five minute drive. Sage just sat on her hindpaws and watched the world go by, not bothered at all. Makes me wish I could let her hang out like that on longer drives, but if I got in an accident, she'd be toast. :(

Sage had fun trying to eat people's lawns, playing with the kids and freaking out whenever an adult tried to come near her. For whatever reason my silly bunny loves kids and hates adults. It's not like she was abused as a kit, I got her when she was ~4 months old. Well, besides the hopelessness of me and having to live with Scout.. but I don't think either *really* count as abuse, just irritating :)

Click on the pic to see the high-res version :)
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It's my birthday!

2009-09-22T23:21:00.000-07:00

September 23rd, 1975 an angel was born.

Coincedently, so was I.

Have a picture of a bunny at the lake. :)

2009-09-20T14:21:00.001-07:00

I walk into the master bedroom. “Hi Goofybutt.” I say to the throw rug that looks suspiciously rabbit like.

She sits up and THUMPS, ears flattened.

“Oh, I’m sorry..” I say, looking down at her. “Hi PRINCESS Goofybutt.”

She shakes her head in bunny glee and flops back down. It’s hard to keep a human in line, y’know.

Nurse Sage.

2009-09-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

Last night I went from feeling 'kinda grungy' to full on out flu. At one point I gave up walking back and forth from my bedroom down the hall and just pulled my comforter into the bathroom and slept on the floor. I woke up at one point to Sage nose bonking me. I told her I'm okay (I'm such a liar) and she snorted and backed out of the bathroom. I'm not sure how long she sat in the hallway watching me, probably right up until the next round of loud, unusual, noises.

I typically sleep in the spare bedroom. Its a smaller bed, softer and closer to the ground so it's easier for me to get in and out of. It's only when I'm sick do I sleep in the master bedroom and the ginormous, high, queen sized bed. Some point after dawn me and my comforter (that looks like two rabbits used it as their favourite chew toy) crawled into the master bedroom.It's right beside the bathroom. A very important consideration.

I woke up a few times to stumble back to the bathroom and go back to bed. One of my trips back to bed, possibly around 10:00, I found a small pile of hay on my pillow. I picked it up to move it to the bedside table when I spotted a little white nose peering from the far side of the bed. She was stretched almost as tall as she could to see over the bed, paws resting on the covers. So, I pretended to eat some hay and lay down. Sage did a happy bunny head toss and clambered up on the bed to meatloaf at the small of my back.

As far as nurses go, she's not a terrible one even if she doesn't quite understand this whole vomitting thing. (Bunnies can't vomit once food hits their stomach) She has yet to once say 'Eh, its not gushing blood or broken, you'll live.'

2009-09-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went down to Seattle to meet up with a long time internet friend for -

No, Sage, I didn't bring Princess blueberries. .. Because, Sage, I was running late on the way down and I came back past their home at ~12:30am. .. I know *Princess* would still have been awake, but I don't think her humans would have been. .. Yes, humans do matter! .. They do! .. They do! .. They, oh never mind. Go back to staring at the wood stove for no apparent reason.

ANYWAY. I went down to Seattle for the day. Had a fantastic time with my friend, had dinner at the Space Needle with an amazing view of the city in the night air and full moon. When I came home I found Sage's water bowl almost empty and her pellet dish just crumbs of former pellets and the bottom also visable.

Both were full when I left at 0700. In eighteen hours she'd decimated both. Normally a bowl of pellets last her a couple days or more, depending on her hay fetish. I just free feed pellets since I found she only gets piggy when I ration them. I looked in the cage and said "Are you trying to make me feel guilty?" Of course, there was no answer since she was no where in sight.

I refilled the bowls and went into my room to stumble to bed and saw a certain ~~grey~~ silver and white Dutch sprawled on my bed. She looked up at me with an ear twitch. I swear the bunny thought bubble was "Oh you? You've decided to grace me with your presence have you?"

I fixed her wagon tho, I said "Awww.. look who's so CUTE! Definitely needs a big HUG and a KISS!"

She beat a quick retreat under the bed with a thump.

Olympic Bunny Games.

2009-08-31T12:04:00.001-07:00

As we get closer to the winter olympics here in Vancouver/Whistler, Sage and I have been thinking about what would bunnies do in an olympic games.

Now, Sage is pretty sure she can take gold in shoe tossing. She can get shoes all the way from the kitchen into the living room when she's very irritated with the human for putting them in her way. She also does a pretty good dish toss when the human forgets and uses plastic dishware.

Of course, the around the house sprint would be another event. But it would have to be done at 0400 for maximum speed, enjoyment and noise. What would an event be without audience enjoyment? And you need noise and glee for that, right?

Sage isn't much for jumping, but Scout sure could have done the high jump or the long jump. She had quite the pop.

Sage thinks fencing is just silly, why would you want to keep a bunny out of .. Hang on, it's not THAT type of fencing you silly bun. .. .. Having explained the sport to Sage, she now thinks that's even sillier. A good tug-of-war is definitely a better sport.

She also thinks hay-snatch would be good. That's where you speed snatch hay out of your bondmate's mouth and eat it before they can snatch it back. He or She who gets to eat the most of the strand of hay is the winner.

There could be a freestyle binkying event.. and of course, everyone knows bunnies can box. (Eating of as well as batting of paws.)

Obviously bunny olympics would be much more entertaining than those silly human events.

2009-08-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

Now, some of you might think its a disorganized and overloaded human that posts Audrey's good-bye from Cultus Lake *weeks* after she's arrived in Houston and beeing posting her adventures down there.. you'd all be right :)

"What do you mean you're leaving??" Sage asks, having been stopped by the eternally polite Audrey.

"I've been invited down to Houston! I'm hoping to get to wear a cowboy hat! Your Momma asked me to send back a cowboy, but that's silly.. everyone knows cows are girls!"

"Fine." says Sage, "But I don't approve of you going, you just got here! You've almost got the human trained the way I like her!"

"Oooh.. I'll be going first class again?? I'm such a spoiled bun!"

"You're sure it's not too small??" I asked, quite concerned.
"Oh no, I'll just curl up and take a nap while those nice mail-people do all the work."
"Well, if you're sure.."

And with parting hugs and snuggles, Audrey continued on!

Audrey - Day 15 - Lake Stevens!

2009-08-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

Just before Audrey was due to move on, I was invited to visit my friends Tracie & Kevin in Lake Stevens, Washington. So, Audrey got a trip back to the United States! :)

Someone was having a bad day here. They must have really irritated Canada customs or sniffing doggies found something suspicious for such a thorough search!

The line-up was a glorious forty-five minute wait! I'd thought I'd be smart and drive west to the Lynden crossing rather than cross at my usual crossing of Sumas. Ha. Traffic news said the wait at Sumas was five minutes. That'll teach me!

So then came the second problem with my route choice.. It turned out the Nooksack Bridge was down for repairs and I had to travel all the way back east to Sumas (on the U.S. side of the border, at least), south, and then all the way west again. Audrey, ever the cheerful bunny, thought it was very nice of the Washington State department to make sure she got a full tour of the area!

Audrey was a very helpful navigator by twitching her ear in which direction we wanted to go. She'd hop up and down if I wasn't paying enough attention. It wasn't her fault we got lost in Lake Stevens, I took the left Tracie said not to!

Kevin can't believe we're finally there! They'd been waiting two hours for their lunch. "Do bunnies like beer?" A friend's bunny Puffy quite liked Guiness and managed to sneak himself an inch of a glass' worth and slept at a tilt for the rest of the evening. A bit gaseous in the morning, but he was fine. Audrey gave the beer a taste but it was cold and not nearly as good as English brews. Darn colonials.

Poor Audrey got caught out of the next picture. Fire the photographer!

After lunch Tracie took us on a tour of Lake Stevens and Snohomish.

Tracie very patiently explained to Audrey and myself the significance of the Hawaiin art, but it's gone out of my brain. I'm sure Audrey would remember, I wonder if Cadbury's Mom would ask her for me..

Here's a quick look at the lake in Lake Stevens :)

"Ooooh," says Audrey spying the motorbike. I told her getting a helmet in the right size may be a problem.

Lake Stevens was having a faire which we *would* have stopped by if Lorna wasn't such a wuss about walking. Parking was so far from the event that me and my leg said "No thank you!" Of course, with all the hiking I've done since, I'd probably be fine with it now!

Another glance at the lake.

Then we went off down to Snohomish!

For an idea of scale here, Tracie is six (plus?) feet tall. The river was several feet *below* where we were walking, so the flood levels were probably about fifteen feet above where the river normally is.

"Eeeek, Pirates!"

It was pretty hot that day, and poor Audrey did have to do a lot of hopping around. She appreciated the water fountain!

Back at Tracie's condo, we met one of her neighbors; Lucky. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the cat with the long ears and short tail.

Audrey was very confused by my showing her the "Cat Television" she said I was a silly human and everybun knows it's called an aquarium!

Raptor, Tracie's kitty, wasn't terribly impressed with the flashy thing OR the inter-lop-er.

Stewie was a bit more interested in the fellow furry visitor.

Stewie's piggies came over to visit with Audrey, he was very suspicious that they were trying to leave the house without him!

Finally he decided that they were just playing silly piggie games.

Stewie then proved himself a good host and gave Audrey a good grooming. She wasn't too sure about the sandpaper tongue, but took the affection in the spirit it was offered.

All too soon it was time for the trip back north! There'd been some flashes of lightning before I left and it only got more impressive as the night wore on!

The Giant Cedar! This is at one of the many rest stops along the I-5. They're frighteningly clean and well maintained!

Just a bit drippy!

Look Audrey, we're coming up on Bow, too bad it's a bit late in the night to be visiting The Bunns! That, and we didn't exactly phone first.

And here we are back at the border. Almost home again! The line-up north was about five minutes but I'm sure that's all because of the time of night on a Friday rather than a lacking of Canadians who would want to go home in general.

Phew. The Canadian guard did ask about Audrey sitting on my dashboard. She'd seen the flash of the camera while we were waiting our turn. So I explained about my little visitor and she laughed and said it was a good thing bunny rabbits don't need VISAs and welcomed Audrey back to Canada. She didn't welcome ME back to Canada.. Hurumph.

Audrey is in Houston!

2009-08-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

Lorna the ill-organized still doesn't have all her Audrey pics up.. but Audrey has arrived in Houston!

Cadbury's Mommy is much more organized than me!