ONE LITTLE, TWO LITTLE, THREE LITTLE...BUNNIES!!

Bluebell had 11 babies two weeks ago today. Nine of them survived and are growing fat & sleek. This is her first litter and she has been such a good momma bunny!
You'll find the 1-week pictures at the bottom of the post. They are just starting to get fur. Their eyes started opening at about 1 1/2 weeks old. At two weeks, they are beginning to crawl around inside their nest box, suck on the hay, and even a couple of times catch a piggy back ride on momma when she leaves the nest box. They enjoy the opportunity to crawl around in the cage, until they begin to get cold & tired...and then they're very happy to be reunited with their littermates!

TWO WEEKS OLD

ONE WEEK OLD

LAST WEEKEND- OUR LIFE

I don't have time to write a story, so I'm going to let the pictures tell the story...more later. :)

And this, below, was 4:30am this morning. Very, very proud Mama, 10 babies (10, I think, I discovered that I can't count very well in the dark @ 4:30am...)

NEW EXPERIENCES

My sisters came for the night this weekend. S & I made falafels for dinner. She was excited & a little nervous to get her hands that close to hot oil for the frying- but we discussed how to put them into the oil so that it didn't splash, and how you can use pure vanilla extract to ease the sting of an oil burn...we probably should have also discussed that if the oil should catch on fire, you throw baking soda on it...next time.

While S & I were making dinner, M & Daniel were splitting wood and getting the wood stove going. S took one look out the kitchen window & ran for the door. The picture below is her first look at how the splitter works- the air was electric with the sheer awe of both of them.

And, immediately after S had her turn working the thing- the camera battery died...so though M did most of the splitting, you don't get to see that!

CADBURY BUNNY

This is our newest guest. He is a young New Zealand white- about 10lbs of rabbit...his 10lbs of self is currently living in our bathroom, as we weren't expecting him and didn't/don't have a cage ready. He's a very good house rabbit, hasn't ventured more than 2 feet his "bed box" (seen in the last picture).

" What's this? WATER!??"

" Hey, maybe a bath isn't so bad after all"

"Ooo! Feels so nice & clean!"

This would be Polaris.

Remember, she "Rules with an iron paw"?

Yah, this is her checking out the digs before anyone else is allowed to inhabit. Typical.


Rabbit came to us dirty & apparently a bit underfed. He is convelescing very well in his plush new habitat and seems to be happy (unless the ferrets are loose, then problems potentially arise!).

So here's the kicker...he has no name. Daniel keeps calling him "Frank the Crank" (perhaps the red eyes? not sure what the motivation is for that moniker), but I would prefer a more appealing name.
The current options are: "Charley" or "Bugs" (as in Bugs Bunny). What do you think?

INTRODUCTIONS, PART 2

So, now you've met the ferrets, cats & dog, but there's more, and they haven't shown their furry/feathery faces yet. Let me continue the conversation from my first post, and introduce you to more of the critters on our little oasis...

PAISLEY & babies of '08

Paisley is just a mutt of a little duck...someone rescued her & her sister from a culvert as small ducklings & I ended up with them. Ping (her beloved sister) died for no apparent reason last spring, and Paisley flew away... Several weeks later she returned with 8 little fluff balls...was she EVER a proud mama! First time any of my ducks have provided ducklings! That was fun.

This is RAT.

She is gentle, smart & loves attention (and food). She has dispelled all inhibitions that I have formerly had against [pet] rats. They're pretty cool!

TUCKER
Tucker was my sidekick and main pal for 3 years. She was an East Indian Runner duck, and characteristic of that breed & the chocolate variety, she turned a white-with-brown-splashes as she grew older. Tucker died at the teeth of oppossum last spring. It was a very sad day at our house, but she had lived a long and happy life. I'll post more on her later.

CLYDE

Clyde is a Buff Orpington duck, and so named because as a duckling he was very small, and was thought to be a runner duck like Tucker. And then he began eating, and eating, and eating, and eating...which resulted in ALOT of growing. I think we had another name for him when he was a duckling, but as he grew & grew my husband began questioning if he was really a duck or not, and started calling him "The Clydesdale Duck". Which is where he got his name. I have actually heard people walking by exclaim over the fine goose we have, he is so huge! Clyde adores Paisley, and they are inseperable. Those rare occassions when Paisley gets a wild feather & flys away for a few days, Clyde goes into deep mourning. And that's about the extent of Clyde's brains... But he makes us laugh, and he makes Paisley happy, so he sticks around.

GOLDIE

A Buff Orpington hen who believes that it is NOT her duty in life to supply us with eggs. She's not very bright, even for a chicken, but I keep hoping that this spring she'll wake up to her true calling & begin providing us with eggs... And she is gorgeous, and pretty nice, even for a chicken, and lets people pet her...which I guess is her redemption.

MUFFY

An Americana or "Easter Egg Chicken". She lays green eggs, and is (for a chicken) brilliant. Actually, I should say she did lay green eggs, but then she apparently realized that we're thieves and she hasn't layed eggs since. I hope it was a coincidence and she begins again when the weather is nicer!
RED

A Rhode Island Red, and an exceptional layer! She has layed an egg every single day since sometime last July or August...even in the nasty cold, dark weather we've been having. I think we'll stick w/ Rhode Islands in the future!

And that's all for now...I have to figure out what I did with the rest of the pictures!

BOO-BOO

And finally, the last bit of big news from this weekend, our other rascal- Bongo- somehow managed to slice his hind leg wide open (fence? piece of glass? bit by the other dog?) on Saturday night...only I didn't notice him limping & the blood everywhere (how on earth did I miss it!??) until Sunday morning so of course I felt terrible & neglectful and all that... We've had twice-daily bandaging session w/ him pinned down under my knee on the bathroom floor so I can clean & rebandage the wound. I'm very glad that though it's deep, it's clean & it stopped short of the muscle (which means that having to run in to the vets is probably not necessary).

(Oh, if any of you medically-type people who "do nursing" are reading this- email me with suggestions on what I should do/do differently... I'm not exactly in my field of profession here, but I can give you more of the gorey details and you can tell me what to do. :o)

DOUBLE TROUBLE

Baxter has been renamed "Rascal"- it seems to fit much better, and helps in not hopelessly mixing up the two "B" names. And then last night someone mentioned that we should have named one "Double" and one "Trouble". They never cease to make us laugh with their antics, and torment of the cats (who pretty much hate the ferrets across the board).

RASCAL

BANDIT