More Conversations with Sage.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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 :)

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.

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

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 :)

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!

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!!!

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

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!

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!

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!

September 23rd, 1975 an angel was born.

Coincedently, so was I.

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

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.

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.'

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.

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.

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!

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.