Bunny Dreams

I had a dream about Scout last night. I don't think it had any greater meaning or my subconscious was trying to beat me with a message, it was a fairly simple dream as far as dreams go. I was in bed, she hopped up onto the bed and bonked my face in the bunny 'hi there!' nose bonk, hopped off and went into the front room to eat hay.

Of course, how I knew she was eating hay in the front room when I was sleeping in the bed room is part of dream magic, but it amuses me. Scout was allergic to hay, it made her sneeze. This, of course, meant she was forever sticking her head right into the fresh pile of hay and sneezing her fool head off and always managing to look surprised each and every time she sneezed. Apparently she kept expecting me to find the magic hay that wouldn't make her sneeze. I tried the glomped up hay blocks in both timothy and alfalfa forms but both bunnies ignored them. I probably could have slathered them in honey and both bunnies would have continued to ignore them. 'Can't possibly be hay, Scout isn't sneezing!' Of course, she never stuck her nose against one either.

But still, I woke up with a smile on my face having dreamed about my hoppy little bun.

Uber cute x3!

My brain leaked out my ear this evening when my friend Wonda said she'd rather spend time with her husband and kids than me. I KNOW! The nerve, eh?? So I sat and stared at Sage and said "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

She gave me the ear, which I took to mean "You're a human, I have doubts you know how to think."

I told her she's a smart ass and decided to take her down to the Blue Heron Reserve in Chilliwack. Some weeks ago Wonda, her kidlet, and her guide group did a bike through the reserve and I had to say it was gorgeous. More so there were lots of little cottontails bouncing around. I thought maybe Sage would like to visit with her cousins. I've had stupider ideas.

So we packed up and off we went. Sage seemed a little grumpy that the top in my new car doesn't go down so the wind doesn't blow her ears around the same, so I cranked the air vents and told her to deal. She ignored me. She does that a lot; I think it's how she preserves bunny sanity. Soon enough we pulled into the reserve and I unpacked Sage, checked she hadn’t chomped her harness and off we went. We sat down at some benches and I was kind of surprised that there weren’t any other humans about.

Soon enough little twitchy noses with very big ears attached came to investigate. Okay, so maybe I brought some carrot tops (the green leafy things) to bribe the wildlife with. Sage did what she always does upon meeting another bunny, she stuck her head down and presented for grooming. “I am princess, worship me!” There were four cottontails who had come to visit, three turned their backs; one of them thumping. Sage looked kind of upset, but I couldn’t tell if it was rejected upset or pissed off bunny upset. The fourth little brown bunny came up and gave her a lick on the eye. Not standard grooming practice, but Sage seemed willing to suffer with it. So, the cottontail groomed her a bit, she groomed the cottontail back and then the other three decided to come up and groom her. The four of them made enough of a rabbit to get most of Sage. One of them tugged on her harness and she grunted. It grunted back. Then suddenly all four and Sage thumped and ran. Sage and one of the cottontails (possibly the first groomer – they all looked the same to me!) ran under the bench and the other three dived into the tall grass. I looked up to see an eagle making its rounds. It made it’s screechy call and I, the insane animal talker I am, yelled “Go get your own bunnies!” and tossed a rock up at it.

Don’t worry, I’m no pitcher. The safest place to be in this universe is where I’m aiming. The eagle decided I was obviously bug nut crazy and was worried it might be contagious and winged off. I looked under the bench to see the cottontail had practically climbed under Sage. I moved my legs to fish her off and the cottontail was gone into the grass and bushes like a shot. Sage didn’t seem much interested in coming out and I couldn’t say I blamed her! So I packed her up and we came back home.

She seems bouncy tailed for having got to play with other bunnies, but I’m not sure a bird wilderness site is the best place to take her! At least there were no raccoons for her to pick fights with..

Iron Man - The Bunny Review.

Sage gives "Iron Man" two thumps, a glare and a retreat to the bedroom. She really didn't like all the gun fire. Maybe I should watch "Pollyanna" or something next, she didn't reappear until the radio was back on and Iron Man was closed.

Personally, I liked it. It was quirky, it was larger than life and had a very strong James Bond vs. Moneypenny feel. It was an enjoyable romp, some great lines with word plays, but not a masterpiece of fiction. Which is good in my world, masterpieces are often boring as all heck.

Glad I didn't pay $14.50 for it, plus all the other fun things? Yeah, I can say so. Worth the price of a DVD rental, but even this super hero flick addict wouldn't justify the price of a theatre view. But then, I've seen Star Trek (2009) three times now, take my opinion for what it's worth. :)

..The bunny requests I either go to bed or watch some Johnny Depp.

Bunny Abuse.

Bad enough when I came home on Monday I smacked the sleeping bunny with the front door but I stunk of cat. We won't discuss how long it took the poor overworked bunny to rescent me to her satisifaction.

Normally when I come up the steps she hears me and moves before the door opens, for whatever reason, not this time. Whump into her goes the door and skitter, scramble goes the claws across the vinyl floor as she hops to the bedroom to give me death looks. Even a craisin didn't prove apology enough, I had to throw in some walnut bits.

She came out and sniffed me. She gave me the offended rabbit look. [Gregg : That's the ears flattened, head stuck flat, looking like your grandmother when you farted in front of her..] Sage then spent several minutes rescenting me to rabbit property. Brian's cats and the NERVE to scent me and rub all over me when I was petting and playing with them. She had to let those silly cats know just who the human belonged to. Once she was done she went back to her usual routine of completely ignoring my existance.

Tuesday after I came home from taking adopted-Nephew Fraser to lacrosse and mooching tea from his frazzled mother I got a look from a certain Dutch rabbit who was flopped in the bedroom. This look said 'Oh, you again.' before she went back to napping. There's nothing in the world like bunny love.. :P

Wednesday was a run around day. Drive to Abbotsford, back to Chilliwack, then to Cultus, then to Chilliwack to get what I forgot then.. Sage suffered through all of this by sleeping in the sunbeam in front of the fan in the living room. I'm not sure if she was chasing the sunbeam or the fan or it was just a nice comfy coincedence. It wasn't very hot here (24C/75F) but Sage didn't get bouncy until after the sun went down. Perhaps it was just that the human was silly enough to think she could take a nap and she had to be taught the error of her ways.

Thursday was another run around day. More doctors appointments, more driving. Sage spent most of the day sorting the latest batch of hay into 'Mine, Good Enough for Scout, Good Enough for peeing on and She Gave me THIS?' This sorting system worked better when there was still a Scout around to give it to. Though, to be honest, I'm not sure the 'good enough for Scout' is higher in quality than 'good enough to pee on.' Mostly it means I sweep up a lot of hay and leave it out for the birds.

Today was another start the day running. Had to pick up a cheque, had to go to the bank, had to go to Canadian Tire, had to go to the grocery store, had to go to the parents (okay, didn't HAVE to, but I chose to!), then off to the dentist's, then off to New Westminster for dinner with Brian. (And who, I might add, chose to watch Game Seven of the Stanley Cup finals instead of feeding me! The selfish bastard!)

I got home and turned on streaming for hockey and Sage perked up. She's a good Canadian rabbit, she appreciates hockey. Or maybe she just appreciates what I eat during hockey since it's generally good for a treat or six. I have a silly superstition in that I can't watch the team I want to win play. It doesn't matter if it's live or on TV, but I can *listen* all I like. So I listened to the game, talked to Sage and she ignored me. It's a very healthy relationship.

After a nap I was wide awake in the wee hours, hamster powered brain churning and unable to sleep. Lying on the couch muttering to myself Sage hopped up and stuck her head under my arm and let me snuggle with her for almost ten minutes. Apparently damaged mental health is also now a condition for bunny snuggles. Think I'd prefer the broken toe snuggles tho, easier to limp through! ;)

Sage the follower.

Sage has taken to following me from room to room. If I'm in the living room, she sits by the fire place and either grooms, naps or chews on her collection of boxes. If I'm in my bedroom she'll nap by the door, under the bed, or under the bedside table. What's cute is if she's by the door she sits in the classic bunny guard position. I'm not sure what she's guarding me from.

Sage has never been a snuggly rabbit. She has been concerned for me when I knocked myself into next week tripping over one of their toys, and then again when I stepped on a wooden block and sent myself into the TV stand. She's been sympathetic when I'm ill. But for the most part, she thinks I'm the provider of sub-par hay and that's about all I'm good for.

Maybe it's the craisins, maybe it's boredom, maybe it's loneliness, but she's been following me around. I did consider getting a second rabbit to keep her company, but bonding is just so stressful and my house is still on the market. She'd probably prefer a cat anyway, but I'm still refusing to clean two seperate litterbox types. So, I tell her 'maybe after we move' and she just gives me the ear. Of course, I pretty much tell her anything and she either flicks an ear in my direction, completely ignores me or periscopes quickly to see if I've forgotten the "I have a treat" noise and have a treat in my hand.

So, I sit here typing this on the couch, she sits on the fireplace yawning, and I wonder why she doesn't just go off to bed without me. Could it be the bunny with a heart of granite can't sleep without my musical snores? Naw..

Ocean Spray is a bun's best friend.

A while back Ocean Spray had an offer for free craisins. You gave them your email address and snail mail address and they'd send you a 100 calorie pack of craisins strings free. Well, the pack arrived and for the first time since Scout's passing Sage willingly came within arms reach of me when I wasn't horizontal.

She perked an ear at the 'I got food' chirps and hopped over to investigate. She very generously leaned over and took the craisin out of my hand upon which she turned on her heel and dived under the bed before the human could possibly change her mind. All I could see of her was whiskers moving rapidly as she chewed.

It's actually kind of strange to see Sage with whiskers, Scout always chewed them off for her. (Scout was just so helpful that way.) But they're growing in long and sleek. She still doesn't have as many as Scout did, but give her time and I'm sure she'll overcome.

Not only did she later accept another craisin from me, but thumped at me when I dared to have a couple. How dare I? She was then bought off with a lilac blossom donated by the Warren warren. My bedroom smelled like white lilac for HOURS. Sage, not so much.

She got another craisin this morning and is probably wondering how long this largess will last. Probably a while, it's a fairly healthy couple handfuls of craisins in the package. Thank you Ocean Spray!

Hot cross buns.

Rabbits don't process heat well. They can't sweat like humans or pant like dogs. Some heat does disapate through their ears, but for the most part the bunny defense to heat is either burying oneself in the earth or finding a human with air conditioning. Unfortunately, neither of my rabbits were able to do either.

Well, not quite true.. I did have air conditioning for one summer, but it was abysmal at trying to keep up and fans have proven much more effective in the long run. But I have a plethora of ways to piss off my rabbits, er, I mean, keep them cool.

The favourite of their's is the bunny AC unit. It's basically a styrofoam cooler with a hole cut out at the top for a computer fan hooked to an ac adapter on the top and a hole at the front for the air to go out. Stick frozen 2L bottles of water inside and ta-da, cold air at floor level for bunnies. My rabbits took turns sleeping on either side of it and trying to chew holes in the container. Too bad the mean human always wrapped them in NIC grid so little teeth couldn't get purchase. I'm such a meanie that way.

Their least favourite is me spritzing their ears with cool water. It does cool them off, but neither much liked soggy ears. Other methods that they ignored was cold marble tiles, ice cubes in their water bowl, a frozen bottle wrapped in a towel to lean against and more powerful fans pointed in their direction.

Sage's only interest in a fan is if she can stand/sit between it and where I'm sleeping and shed fur all over me and drive my allergies insane. A bunny's gotta entertain herself y'know.

So far this year, even with the tempreture topping 34C at one point, Sage hasn't been flattened and trying to sink through the floor. She's sat on the metal guard for the fireplace a few times but that may just be to keep an eye on me.

The Shepherd's Pie

Last Saturday I was invited to watch Nephew Fraser play lacrosse at Prospera Centre. (That's where the Chilliwack Bruins play hockey!) Not wanting to miss a chance at lunch with my Dad I met him at Victory Restaurant and then went on to Prospera to meet up with Wonda and The Boy.

I never finish an Alan sized portion. There's some food eating contestants that couldn't finish an Alan sized portion. A small army could live off his idea of three meals. So, needless to say, almost always does a bunny bag leave with me. This day's was about half of a shepherd's pie. Reaching the arena I just tucked the styrofoam container under the passenger's side seat and went inside.

Driving a Suzuki Sidekick softtop, I often drive with the front half of the softtop pushed back to enjoy the sun and wind. I rarely push it back forward when I park. If there's nay a cloud in the sky, what's the point? I'd just bake my car. When I came out from lacrosse I opened the door to see a very large furry object in the back of my car. This large furry object had dark black eyes chittered at me in irritation.

Yup. My car had grown a raccoon. Said raccoon was happily filling his paws with mashed potatoes and eating my shepherd's pie. I looked at the raccoon, he looked at me for a moment and went back to eating. "Aren't you supposed to need water to eat?" I asked. Apparently raccoons don't always wash their food before eating. I went around to the back of my car and grabbed out my scrapper/brush combo with the nice long telescoping handle, opened the passanger's side door and tried to shoo the pest out.

For a moment I thought he was going to pull a Sage and grab the poking device and smack me with it. Instead, Mr Raccoon grabbed another handful of potato and lumbered off on three paws. He chittered something at me from the safety of the median. I don't speak raccoon, but it sounded suspiciously similar to things my rabbits have said to me..