The Terrible Ceiling Fan!!

Well, it's finally warm enough in the house to have to turn on the ceiling fans to help get the air moving.

Stewbun, in the addition, didn't even notice when I turned the one out there on. The gang in the bunny room, however, practically had a fit!

Cadence, the one with the best view of the scary fan, dashed around and ended up cowering in the corner of her house. A few failing dashes and thumps from the other buns, but they calmed down a lot quicker. Cade was still cowering when I left. She'll figure out that the fan won't attack her....I hope.

Mama

Exercise

I took Stew out this afternoon to stretch his legs for about an hour. He had fun, though he still won't go onto the top floor of the bunny vacation villa. I then took Jenna and Conner (the pellet marking maestro) out for an hour as well. Jenna seemed rather subdued, so I hope she's feeling okay. She has some matted fur around her butt from urine (not true urine scald). I have her on almost no pellets, so I'm sure that is messing her system up a bit. (She needs to lose weight again.) She ate weeds for most of playtime, so that was a good sign.

A neighbor walking by couldn't believe how fuzzy Conner was and took some pics of him with his cell phone. I picked Conner up so he could feel him. Conner looks like a hopping afro right now, so I need to give him a haircut tomorrow if the weather stays okay. Too windy today to do it. I end up eating way too much fuzz when I do it as it is without Mother Nature blowing more into my mouth.

Mama

Disappearing Stew

This morning, I was giving everyone their breakfast, leaving cage doors open until I'm done with each bun. I look over at Stew's house at one point, and I don't see him. Now, he's a big boy, so it's not like he can hide easily like one of the Lionheads can.

I thought, "Hmm, now if he'd have jumped out, I'd surely would have heard him hit the floor." His house is as high as Caspian's (see post below), but I still looked around on the floor to see if he was around. Nope. I walk over to his cage and I see that Stew is hiding beside his litterbox, keeping it between him and me. When we were visiting Grampy back in May, Stew would hide behind his litterbox, but he hasn't done it much at home here, and certainly hasn't done it in the middle of getting breakfast. I don't know what prompted his "I've gotta hide" instinct, but it sure gave me a scare for a second.

I think the buns are trying to "Gaslight" me, I swear!!

Mama

Stew in Wonderland

Photos from the Alice in Wonderland themed Spa Day at Red Door, a Chicago shelter that rescues rabbits (and where I had adopted Calvin and Jessica). I had to take Stew since he's my white rabbit.

I love this big lug :-)

Mama

Sunday Play Time

Yesterday, the buns got play time outside. The weather was great, and I set up a double pen for twice the space for them to zip around in and sample the weeds. Only two buns were brave enough to go upstairs in the cardboard playhouse - Capsian and Stew. Neither went to the top floor, and both did jump out the window a few times. I was worried that Stew would weigh too much, but he was fine.

Calvin and Julia had another date yesterday. She solicited a groom from Calvin, and he obliged her for a lick or two, then groomed himself. Hmm, not overly friendly, and it certainly seemed narcissistic. Poor Julia was left "hanging" with her head down and thrust towards him for quite a while before she moved. Still, it showed some promise. Julia has been very lonely lately, and hopefully she and Calvin can finally work out their differences. She just wasn't that into DeVille, and Stew, Caspian, Heath and Jake don't like her. Poor girl.

The buns reacted to a very odd occurrence last night - the furnace kicked on around 10:30 last night! I had it set to 50-something, and it clearly read 72. The buns were thumping, so they knew something weird was going on, too. I had to turn the furnace off by a switch on the unit itself (and the gas, too). While I know I was safe at that point, the rest of me didn't, and I lay awake half the night unable to sleep. I installed a new thermostat today (works fine, and it has an off switch that works), so the buns and I should be able to spend a peaceful night.

Mama

Back from Vacation

The buns and I spent a great vacation in NW PA. "Grampy" got to meet Stew and Conner, and I took Caspian out to meet a friend. Everyone thought he was cute. (He is my poster child for cuteness, and rotten-rabbitness - he's so stubborn!) It's a 6 1/2 hr. car ride to and from, so the kids were tired when we got there. Grampy got us some awesome hay, too (even better than what I've been able to get lately around here). I certainly had no room in the car to bring my own, so we really lucked out :-)

I did 2 bonding sessions, one with Calvin/Julia and the other with Conner/Jenna. Dad was surprised at how Cal and Jules fought. I'm telling you, rabbits can really fight! It wasn't a bad fight, but a big ol' chunk of fur was torn out of Julia.

On the way back, we got stuck on the Indiana Toll Road for a while because of President Obama's motorcade (he spoke at Notre Dame's graduation). I didn't even get to see it because he was way ahead of us.

I rearranged the bunny room a bit when we got home. There was a thumpathon that night as they adjusted to being in different places, with I guess different sounds and stuff. At least it was before I went to bed.

Mama

Pet Expo

Well, the Pet Expo appearance was a bit of a bust. I got to talk to a few people about rabbits, but I didn't really get to pass out much information. No donations, either, so next year I'm thinking about doing a raffle for a gift certificate or something.

Stewbun and Caspian did really well. Caspian is still mad at me for some reason. Stew got a little spooked at times, but he was a brave bun. I put on the sign hanging on his pen that he was raised as a meat rabbit, and people were touched by that story. Some people didn't know that rabbits were raised for meat, and he helped put a face on the idea of eating rabbit meat. I had a few people say that they couldn't eat a cute bunny like him, so maybe a few seeds were planted that will help rabbit rescue in the future.

Mama

Special Appearance

Capsian, Stew and I are going to a pet expo tomorrow at the Porter Co. Fairgrounds in Valparaiso, IN. Since I don't have foster buns any more, I've decided to drag the two buns of mine that should be the least freaked out when they see dogs and things. I'll have a display set up to talk about the Indiana House Rabbit Society and rabbits in general.

I was there last year for the IHRS, and not having any rabbits there hurt us, I think. I'll have printouts of the rabbits in the foster system, and I'm hoping Stew can change the thinking that pink-eyed buns are evil looking. Stew's such a sweetie, and his curious nature should mean that he'll handle the crowd well. Caspian will just be happy to be with me all day.

While I didn't get to do a lot of stuff that I wanted to in preparation for this year's event (like creating a game or quiz that people could take for a prize), I think having the buns there will help.

If any of my readers are in the NW Indiana area, please stop on by :-)

Mama

Hurray!

Stew's using his litterbox properly now! I guess his bunny feng shui said he had to eliminate in the west end of his house. Moving the box there worked, and he still lounges around in it.

Stew is pretty skittish when he's out for play time, but he does enjoy driving Caspian crazy by running around outside of Caspian's house. Stew also does a half-binky salad dance every morning when it's breakfast time, and he'll stand up on tippy toe for quite a while to be petted before getting his greens. Talk about buttering me up for food!

Mama

My Name is Stew...

How do you do? (If you actually know what song this lightly parodies, you get a gold star for the day :-)

Stew (alternately called Stewie, Stewbun, and Stew Pot) came from the group of meat rabbits my vet bought and was the bun left behind when I took Conner home a few weeks ago. He so charmed the staff at the clinic that they had to find a home for him. I've never had a pink-eyed bun before, and he is exotic to me. He's a friendly guy who's getting used to being spoiled. He sits very still when being held and petted, and I guess he's a very nosy guy, too. So far he has perfect litterbox habits. He hasn't pooped in it once! He likes lounging in it, but he does his business on the other side of the cage. When I clean his house out tonight, I'm going to move the litterbox into that end to see if he'll use it or just use the other end of the cage.

I have a total of 6 buns now. I miss getting to foster, but I'm hoping one of these new fellows will bond with Julia or Jenna. Jenna, especially, needs a friend. Keep your fingers crossed, and I'll let you know what happens.

Mama