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!