Mystery Solved

Just a little less than a year ago we adopted Thumper, a two-year old Florida White rabbit. He is litter trained, he doesn't eat much, he makes no noise. Pretty much the perfect pet, except for the chewing. Speaker wires, phone chargers, backpack handles, paper, chair skirt, chair lining, anything he can get his teeth on, he chews. Luckily none of this has been a bunny frying experience to date. When he is out and about and the children are afoot he likes to hide. Under the kitchen table or behind the chair (with the chewed up skirt) are his usual haunts. Today I didn't see him for hours. He wasn't in any of his usual places. I sent the girls to check out their room (he used to like to go up and leave pellets in front of the dressers in their room). No bun. I noticed the garage door open a crack. Had he ventured in there? I couldn't imagine spoiled, warm bun hiding in the cement floored garage but who knew. Nope, no bun. The basement? Nope, no bun.

Finally, I moved the usual chair and he wasn't there. I cleaned up some bun debris from a chew-fest and noticed that after I moved the chair back it seemed to move some more. When I looked under the chair I noticed a definite droop, that when pushed, MOVED. Aha! The inside of the chair. He'd gnawed his way into the lining of the chair and was hiding out inside. Thankfully bun has been located. Now, how to keep him OUT of the chair.

Our new addition

Meet Thumper, the newly adopted rabbit member of our family. He's not nearly the giant he appears in the picture. The girls have been after us for almost two years about getting a pet. We were saved by the goldfish in the pond out back for awhile--then I killed them. At Boobah's preschool they have a rabbit, Graham Cracker, and it got me thinking.

I am allergic to cats and a dog is so much work. Hmmm, maybe a bunny. Gman's response was if YOU are going to be responsible for it, knock yourself out. So I started looking this fall. Contacted local rabbit adoption places as well as the humane society. The local rabbit rescue wanted a lot of information, home visits and only hosts adoption day once a month. Around the holidays Abby came home with a note from a teacher at her school--her brother had a bunny he needed to get rid of. I managed to put her off through the holidays.

Last night we finally agreed that things were as normal as they are going to get and went to meet Thumper. He's very sweet and soft. It'll be a good chore for the girls and a good incentive to get other things done so they can hang with him. So we loaded up the bunny, food, cage, extra bedding and litter and brought Thumper home.

Somehow, I imagine that you'll be hearing more about Thumper in the future.

Bad Bus Karma--Revenge of the Fish?

I. Am. Impatient. Not news to anyone who knows me. Traffic is the worst. I got annoyed with it at times when my commute was only 3 minutes long, now the 25 minutes, with stops, just about drives me nuts. Every day someone bonehead does something that makes me want to smack them upside the head. Apparently my pay back is bad bus karma. Two mornings in a row now I’ve been stuck behind a school bus on my way to drop off Boobah. Not just one bus but many buses, with many stops including a bus that has to use a lift to take on a boy in a wheelchair in about a quarter mile. This morning the middle school kids took the cake. The bus stopped at the BUS STOP, novel idea I know. The kids got on the bus after pushing and shoving each other. Then the bus stopped for a kid coming out of a house. I could see the babysitter’s house at this point, I think I was twitching just a little. Out came another kid, sauntering as slowly as humanly possible. Then the third, now she had the decency to run for the bus. Only to discover halfway there that she forgot something. She ran back into the house and I was beginning to wonder if she was ever coming back out. Now don’t get me wrong, I would want the bus driver to wait for my kid if they needed to run back in the house. I am glad there is a bus for the boy in the wheel chair but I swear it is payback for my impatience. See, I have been driving this route at about the same time, ALL YEAR LONG. And in the last two days I’ve waited at bus stops more than all the other days added together. Must be the fish coming back to haunt me.

Speaking of the fish—the body count is now up to three. Yes, I killed them all. I feel awful. I sent Gman out last night to get the last two from their watery grave. He, being always the innovator, used a lacrosse stick to get them out of the pond and fling them over the fence. Of course he did it from the middle of the yard. One made a stop in the middle when it hit the swing set. We are horrible people. The kids don’t know yet. They must sense it though. Both of them asked me for a puppy this morning independently. Should a 3 & 6 year old really be coordinated enough to gang up on me?! We can't keep 3 fish alive in the backyard (actually that would be the fourth that we've lost but the other just disappeared), what makes them think we can handle a puppy!

A fish in a tree? Yes, it was me!

In the middle of the night I could hear the trickle of water in the pond outside and thought it was so peaceful. When I went downstairs at 5:15AM on my way out to cycling class I realized that the soft trickle was much louder than it should have been. Crap. I instantly knew I had a problem. Instead of turning the hose completely OFF last night from its light trickle, I turned it ON and was flooding the pond. Sure enough I got outside and the patio was wet, the yard was soggy and we had a floater. Not sure if it was Princess, Dorothy or Elizabeth but may she rest in peace.

Of course, nothing goes particularly well at that hour of the morning. I went out after cycling class with a plastic kids shovel and rescued the dead fish. I wasn’t taking her inside to flush so I had to find an alternative disposal method. Perfect, over the fence and into the wooded area beyond our fence—perhaps breakfast for one of our friends back there. Maybe it would keep George the snake occupied. So I flung the fish and the fish, in a very Dr. Seuss-like move she got stuck in a tree. Her little orange tail sticking out through some leaves waiting to be picked off by a bird---I hope. The last think I need is for the drama queen and her right hand observer to notice the fish in the tree.

Fishy, fishy in the tree.
Why up there, for all to see.

Fishy, fishy in the tree.
Please don't tell the kids on me!