Bunny Jumping

We can sign Mr Mick, Speedy and Mario for next year's, right?? :)

[Bunny Fiction] Speedy Rabbit and the abandoned house!

It's Speedy Bunny!

Speedy Rabbit and Mr Mick had a bro-date. Speedy had managed to get a copy of the schedule of the Olympics and the two were going to sit down and plan out what they wanted to see and when. The tricky bit was fitting in nap times, food times, and show up so your human see's you just often enough not to be suspicious times.

Making sure him Mum was busy with the dishes, he ducked into the linen closet. He thought very strongly of Mr Mick's place but was interupted just before transport with a mighty sneeze. He landed in a very dusty closet and sneezed again. And again. Shaking his head, his ears brushed old cobwebs. "Gah!" squeaked Speedy with a sideways hop.

Curious as to where he was he nosed open the closet door. It seemed he was in a very old house of some sort. Perhaps it was a Victorian mansion he had heard about? He'd heard they had all sorts of secrets that women bought and men appreciated. Humans were strange. It smelled very musty and the air was still. He could hear the strangest thump-thump noise coming from deeper in the house, followed by very high pitched squeaks.

The windows were boarded up, but enough light snuck in through the slats to give one sharp-eyed rabbit a navigatable route. (Okay, so it really was only one eye that was sharp, since the other had been misbehaving lately, but Speedy wasn't letting that slow him down!) He found himself navigating around some twisty stairs, heading down into murky below. The stairs had once had carpet on them, but now the carpet was dusty and rotted and mostly gone. He could just about see that maybe they'd been a royal red with some sort of border. Maybe this was a lost royal's house? That would be one heck of a secret!

Reaching the floor below, he hopped along the old, bleached, half-varnished floor boards. Some bits were slick, some were rough. Time hadn't been kind to the wood. There were piles of things that might once have been furniture. The strange thump-thump, squeak-squeak was getting louder as he slowed down to make sure he didn't fall into any holes or get eaten by any grues.

Whiskers twitching, trails of cobwebs hanging off them, Speedy snuck around a corner. He was beyond stealthy, a white ninja in a dark world.. right up until rapid fire sneezes gave him away!

The thumping and squeaking stopped. Speedy froze, not moving. Silence ruled over the house. "Hello?" a high pitched voice asked tremulously.

"Hello?" Speedy echoed, peering around the gloom and finally spotting the owner of the voice, a small rodenty creature with large skin wings. Was that a BAT? "Are you a Bat?" Speedy asked with more curiosity than tact.

"Uh huh." The little fellow dropped from where he'd been beating against some of the wooden boards to the sill to look down upon Speedy. "You're a funny colour for a rabbit." He said, peering short-sightedly.

"I'm a house rabbit!" Speedy said proudly, puffing up his chest. He hopped over. "What're you trying to do?"

"GET OUT!" The bat wailed, "I'm STUCK. And I'm HUNGRY!"

Speedy back peddled, "You're not a vampire are you?!" He'd heard about vampires. He didn't believe the latest public relations attempt that vampires were pretty and good and sparkly. EVERYONE knew that vampires were scary and turned into bats and things.

"No!" He squeaked, "I eat bugs and stuff, not rabbits!"

"Oh. Phew." Speedy hopped forward again, front paws reaching up to the sill in a long rabbit stretch along the wall. "I'm Speedy!"

"I'm Fredrico." The bat said, holding out a little wing hand to shake Speedy's paw.

"Back up a lil!" Speed said and as Fredrico did so he gave a mighty heave of his back paws and leapt up onto the sill with only a little scrabbling necessary. He sniffed at the boards on the window. "Well, this should be no problem!"

"No problem?" The bat asked.

"Well, sure. Just a nibble here.." Speedy demonstatrated what a rabbit's powerful teeth could do, "And a nibble there.." he added as he moved. "And maybe a little over here.. And.." he turned around and applied a mule kick to the boards, splitting one of the broad boards in half, the bits spiralling to the vegetaion down below, sun streaming in. "There!" Speedy said happily.

Fredrico flapped up and flew out the window and back in with several loop de loops. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He landed with more flap than grace, "Anything I can do in return?"

"Er.. well.. find me a closet?" Speedy asked. He should probably be getting home, Mr Mick and he would have to plan another day. His Mum would probably be looking for him soon!

The bat blinked a few times at the strange request. "Well, I think I know just about the whole house four times over now.." He shifted from foot to foot and then launched into the air, "I know! This way!"

Speedy launched off the sill to run after the bat. He found himself having to slow down a bit from his usual mad hatter pace but soon enough he was in what had probably once been a kitchen.

"Is this a closet?" Fredrico asked, landing on the doorknob of a half opened door that started to swing at his weight. The bat flapped his wings several times and had to take flight to land on what was once a counter of some sort.

"Yes!" Well, it was a pantry, but the principal was the same, right? "Thank you!"

"No, thank *you!*" Said the bat.

Speedy gave a bunny giggle and waved a paw to his new friend as he darted into the pantry. "Can you give the door a shove?" He asked.

Fredrico launched in another batter of wings and thumped against the door, causing it to creek closed.

Speedy took a deep breath and scrunched up his eyes. He'd get it right this time, he knew he would!

Opening his eyes he found himself in a garden shed. He shook his head in irritation. NOW where was he? Nosing out the door he found himself in his grandma's garden. Oh, fine, close enough! He'd just stay here till his Mum came and found him! Obviously the bunny portal was being affected by sun spots or something.

He flomped in the grass. He sure hoped his Mum wouldn't take long, he was kind of hungry after his busy day!

Star Wars and Bunnies.

I was going to do a post here about how if Darth Vader had a bunny..  (Segwaying off my previous post) ..but, I think Kelly Kerrigan has done a better job of it that I can ever do! She's painted Star Wars characters and bunnies together.

What more could the world possibly want?

..Well, besides trying to get that light sabre away from the Hotot above..

(And good luck with THAT!)

International Binky Day (2012 edition)

I know I'm (mostly) preaching to the choir here -- but pass the word to friends, family, coworkers.. heck, innocent bystanders on the street..

So often we just sigh when we hear the "Oh, we used to have rabbits.." stories. We twitch and debate the argument and information session, but we're busy, we have places to be, rabbits to feed.. We don't want to rock the boat.. We don't want to offend someone by getting on our soapbox..  It's hard, I know it is.

That's why today on National Binky Day (International, in my opinion, since the poster is from Great Britain, land of Speedy Rabbit and Whisky rabbit and.. and I'm in Canada. :) ) find one person who doesn't know better and explain to them the wonders of pet rabbits. Explain to them that even er.. not-pet rabbits.. deserve room to run, play, and live. (Just like chickens, and cows, and pigs, and..)

I had a rather one sided debate with a poor innocent gent last night in Star Wars : The Old Republic. It's an Online Video Game.. One of them MMO things. Yes, I'm a geek AND a crazy bunny lady. The two aren't mutually exclusive brands of insanity. (If Lord Vader had had a pet bunny he probably wouldn't have screwed up so badly. That bunny would have been a smarter overlord than that silly Emperor.) I let it drop eventually when he tried to convince me that even though this bunnies were kept 2 or 3 to a hutch they had plenty of room.

Now, in my opinion, a bunny needs 10' x 10' at the minimum for its personal space and plenty of run room for a couple hours a day to kick up his hocks and bounce around. I can't decide if a second bunny needs just as much room or just another 5' x 5'. I know Scout and Sage used to "Bunny 500" together, but it was typically one chasing the other rather than side by side. Of course, they had the whole length of my trailer to get going in.

If you can't think of a non-bunny to pounce on and educate, well, you'll just have to binky. This means, you get to bounce up in spot like a piece of popcorn and shake your head about. (The hip twist is optional, I don't want to be responsible for damaged humans -- salads may be late!)

I think all great bunny education starts with a very cute picture.. :)

[Bunny Fiction] Take me out to the hockey game! (Part Two)(

She couldn't do worse than the 2012 Canucks.. :P

"SHOOOOOOOT!!!" Mr Mick yelled, thumping his hindfoot in frustration.

They'd divied up who would support which team, and unfortunately the red team was getting slaughtered 10 - 2.  The blue team could just outskate them.

Three on three hockey, it turned out, was a much faster paced game than regular hockey. The only play stops were for penalties and injuries. When a goal was scored the goalie just shot the puck to one of his own players, the opposing team having to retreat to their own blue line. Six bodies skating the ice instead of ten meant much more room, which was an advantage to the quick and nimble skaters, a huge disadvantage to those who relied on size and strength.

Speedy, Cookies and Twinkle had appeared with two pizzas, a case of grape soda and some peanuts. The other buns had all been very impressed with the vegetarian taco pizza, it was just full of rabbit yummy things like lettuce and tomatoes and cheese.

With scooching and reordering and careful debate (Maddy ordered everyone but Hannah about), they'd gotten comfortable, shared food and divided up cheering.

"You have cheese in your mane, dear." Hannah said to Maddy with no little amount of superiority.

"Oh dear, Harrington, sweetie, can you get that out for me?" Maddy asked, batting eyelashes at the buck.

"I, er.. uhm.." He looked between the two does and decided now would be a very good time to clean between his toes.

"Tsk. Guess you'll just have to groom yourself." Hannah said with the fake sweetness only women can achieve.

Weasley head-nudged Mr Mick, "I thought we'd brought all bunnies, not a couple of cats."

Mr Mick sniggered in that male thinks he's superior way. He then turned to find two females, ears back, glaring at him. "He said it!" He yelped in defense.

"I know." Hannah said, leaning towards Mick, "But Weasley doesn't have a chance of avoiding me if I try to shove him off this beam.." She let the threat hang.

"Er, sorry?" he offered, backpeddling verbally and physically. He then stopped. "WOO! WE SCORED!" He bounced up and down in spot. "We scored! We scored!"

Speedy added his own foot thumps to the cheering and happiness of Mick, Weasley and Cookies. "Er.. but aren't we still losing 12-3?"

"SHush! We can make a come back!" Mr Mick boxed the air in excitement. "We can do it! C'mon Red!!"

Weasley rolled his eyes, "Even I can see they haven't a hop in hell."

The buzzer sounded the end of the second period and the two teams switched sides and the clock indicated the five minute break.

"We should have brought a litterbox." Twinkle said quietly, feeling a bit out of place with all these new chatty rabbits.

"Oh! I have one in the bunny portal.. The hay might be old tho, I don't think its been changed in a couple days." Weasley snapped a paw and the portal opened for him and he dug around inside before dragging out a decent sized litter pan.

The rabbits took their turns and were ready for the last period with Weasley deciding it was probably a good time for a nap. Hockey food was nice enough, but it wasn't much of a fun game to listen to. It was probably better on TV when you had a commentator to tell you what was going on. Mick and Speedy were enthusiastic, but they weren't very helpful.

"Is there any pizza left?" Harrington asked politely.

"There's some still in Maddy's mane," Hannah said smugly.

"HAY! Just because your fur is bland and easy to care for doesn't mean mine is!" Maddy thumped.

Hannah gave the young thing a quick growl at the insult, "At least I can eat without wearing my food!"

"Sometimes." Harrington muttered.

Hannah turned on him.

"Er, I'll just be over here.." He hopped over peedy to investigate the possibility of pizza remains in the boxes.

Speedy looked from one lady to the other, he leaned over and grabbed the cheese out of Maddy's mane. "I think you're both really pretty," he said to his toes. He was pretty sure that his fur had turned pink with his embarassment.

"Aww." Hannah gave him a lick upside the ear.

Maddy snuggled up beside him. "Aren't you the sweetest?" She rubbed her chin against his nose, "That's a lovely accent, by the way, where did you say you were from?"

"Merp." Speedy managed to the snickers of Mick and Weasley.

He was saved from having to respond by the third period starting.

It seemed to zip by, with blue taking the win with a 27-6 final score. They all agreed that poor Red's goalie really didn't have much of a chance with zero defense.

The bunnies parted, leaving Weasley, Mr Mick and Speedy to clean up and make sure they left nothing but tumbleweed fur behind.

Speedy was stifling yawns as he headed home. It had been a very long day already, and his Mum thought he was out in the yard hiding under a rose bush. He had to be extra sneaky to get back to it without his Mum seeing him coming out of the linen closet.

Weasley let Mick drop him off and guide him back to his bed, too tired to navigate himself. "That was fun." Weasley mumbled.

"Even if our team lost." Mr Mick muttered. He didn't like losing, even by proxy!

"Next time pick the other team." Weasley offered.

Mr Mick tilted his head sideways trying to grasp that logic. He finally gave it up as a lost cause and said his goodbyes before heading to his own home.

He managed to arrive in time to nom on The Boy's sneakers and dash back to the safety of "his area" that he, of course, couldn't get out of under any circumstances so The Boy must have left them somewhere he shouldn't.

Pizza, friends, and being mean to The Boy with no possibility of punishment. It had been a good day.

Bunny Video + Quick Update!

Still alive in my corner of south-wet BC, just life decided to happen and my creativity went flush.
I will hopefully get our bunny hockey game finished over the weekend!
P.S. .. I think the song sooo perfect for that video..

A goose story for Miss 'Shelle.

Chilliwack, BC is seperated by the Trans-Canada Highway. (aka "The Number One", "The Highway", "Trans-Can" etc) On the north side is "Old Chilliwack" and on the south side is "Sardis." I live on the south side. The main street in Sardis is "Vedder Road" and the two busiest intersections in the entire Chilliwack area are on this road. One, by the highway and the malls, and the other at the crossroads of shopping and residential. 

Along the road, a few blocks long, between a Tim Hortons and an Indian Buffet restaurant, is green space. On the other side of Vedder is older housing with their own creeks, some with ponds. The ponds and creeks are a favourite place for ducks and geese to nest. However, there's not a lot of space for take offs and landings in the residential waters. The green space across the way has much wider waters if more downtrodden grass and reeds. So, once the babies are waddling, ducks and geesies take their babies across the road.

To tangent a bit, I exercise by "urban hiking." Which, really, is just going for a 2 - 3 mile power hike through the town. Which route I go depends on how enthusiastic I feel and if I have any grocery shopping to do. It just sounds way cooler called "urban hiking."  (I do the old fashioned climb up and down hills and mountains hiking in the woods when my leg/back is cooperating, but that's less frequent every year.)  In my urban hiking, I often have to cross the road. I either use a crosswalk or a four way stop. One of my most commonly used crosswalk is in front of a school. I typically have to wait for fifteen or twenty cars to go by before someone remembers if there's someone at the crosswalk you're supposed to stop. (Teenagers and seniors seem to be better about this than us middle aged peeps. Guess who walks the most often..)

So, tangenting back to the Canadian Geese, every spring, we have water fowl who need to get their babies across the road. You'd think this would be a hazard. Nope. Everyone knows this happens in the spring, just like in the fall the squirrels are running back and forth the road like maniacs to move nuts about.  So its not unusual to come to a grinding halt at any given time because a couple of geese and their brood want to cross the road. 

Wednesday afternoon is a perfect example. I was driving south along Vedder, heading home, when the car in the left lane; which was a couple car lengths ahead of me, slowed to a stop. I spotted the goose standing on the curb and followed suit. He'd been quietly standing there while his mate tried to keep goslings in order.  Once we stopped he start to honk, LOUDLY, over and over before he started across the road, mate and babies following. They didn't honk, just him. And it wasn't any sort of call, it was just a rhythmic "I'm here" announcement. He stopped at the middle where an oncoming car had halted, seeming to check if the right lane north bound was safe before continuing.  As soon as he got to the curb he hopped up, continuing to honk though he was starting to lose volume. Babies hobbled up with beak bumps from momma goose, and Dad seemed to do a count before turning and ceasing his honkings. The babies and parents made for the wide water space happily and traffic started up again.

We western Canadians have our priorities. Humans can wait, animals are important. :)