Way up north, not very far off..

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

(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.