Vanity License Plate - DO D

Do D Happens



Ethel: Who pooped?
Lucy: I don't know, but it appears the valet just brought your car around.



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Please help win $2,000 for GHRS to help RESCUE BUNNIES!
See the 07-27-2011 post for the story. Thank you!

* Every 24 hours

No bunnies were harmed...

... in the writing of this post. Another episode without any pictures of what happened in the moment, so we must present you with a reenactment.

Mom gave us a recliner she wasn't using and we put it with the bunnies so we'd have someplace comfortable to sit when we are keeping the bunnies company.

What we didn't know was about "the gap" that materializes behind the chair when it is fully reclined in the "lay flat" position.

Exhibit A, said gap

It has been a long time since anybunny has done this (with a prior recliner), but they would occasionally go under the chair via the elevated foot rest. Bunya liked to find a piece of wood to gnaw on and I could feel him doing it on my bottom.

So this may be a bunny care point:
If you have a recliner in an area where your bunnies roam, NEVER just snap down the foot rest until you have laid eyes on your bunnies and know they are not under the chair. We live by this rule.

Sooo ... I felt something like one of the bunnies was under the chair and tried to locate them. Found Bunya and Lucy, but no Ethel. It seems that when I was fully reclined reading my book, Ethel found this "tunnel" irresistible. Can't really blame her.

When I can't find somebunny, I do not close the foot rest. I got up from the chair; it's awkward, but can be done. Then I looked around for the missing bunny, Ethel, and couldn't find her. Even carefully lifted up the chair.

Then this is what I saw...

Can you see the bulge in the back of the chair?
The "bulge", who we will call "Ethel",
was moving back and forth from side to side inside the chair back.
(Remember this is just a reenactment, and by that
I mean we didn't put her back in there.)

I was waiting for Alien to burst forth from this pacing bulge. After my initial panic, I figured out that she must have entered a space when I was fully reclined and repositioned the chair accordingly.

It took Ethel a few moments to collect herself, but then she emerged from the temporary tunnel.

Usually, it's Lucy who's the chief mischief maker.


 

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Reminder - You can VOTE for Snuggle Bunnies EVERY DAY* through August 8th.
Please help win $2,000 for GHRS to help RESCUE BUNNIES!
See the 07-27-2011 post for the story. Thank you!

* Every 24 hours

A Tale of Three Bunnies, a Human & La Cucaracha

Well, no pictures for this tale. Didn't pause to take any.

Just the bunnies and me, chilling in the basement. Across the room, I noticed a brown splotch that didn't belong on the wall ... above the window ... near the ceiling. We don't get such visitors often (as opposed to the bat, the tale which started this blog), I am happy to say.

My usual method to dispatch the little uglies is to drown them in roach spray. (When I say "little", it wasn't really small, but I grew up in Charleston, SC and anyone who did knows how BIG roaches can really get, why they will be the only survivors if the planet is decimated, and strongly suspects they have been exposing themselves to radiation as a substitute growth hormone.)

But this was in the bunnies' room and I did not want to spray that toxic pesticide in their digs. So, I am scrambling around looking for something to (Hulk) SMASH this multi-legged monstrosity with ... and couldn't find anything. Finally, I found a stray newspaper section (the tiny local business chronicle - where's the Sunday edition of the New York Times when you need it?). Oh, and I found a broom.

The culprit had disappeared. The bunnies and I ratcheted back down to DefCon 4. They went back to mutual grooming and grazing (G&G we call it around here) and I went back to catching up on DVR shows because we are perilously close to running out of available memory.

Much, much later, I notice Ethel behaving peculiarly (which is saying something for her). I discovered that somewhere in her genetic backwaters, she is part pointer. Her butt was in the air and her head to the ground, staring at something like she's peering through a monocle. Then she jumps straight up in the air, rotates 90 degrees, lands ... and resumes her perfect pointer stance.

And that's when I saw what she was staring at ... the little wall crawler had traveled down the room, across the floor and was exploring their pen.

So, we were back to DefCon 1 and grabbing our implements of destruction went much faster. Since they had been previously located, they were near at hand and I was armed faster than a Revolutionary Minuteman.

I jumped (not really ... I bent over like Quasimodo to get under the bar and through the opening) into their pen and proceeded to violently introduce Mr. Broom to Mr. Bug. Do you think the bunnies could give me a little room to work? Could they maybe leave the pen and run around in the thousand or so square feet that is their domain? But, noooo-o.

They started pinging around the pen like payday in a pinball machine. It reminded me of when I was a kid and the wrestlers would bounce around the ropes of the ring, or maybe a Three Stooges movie where the Stooges and the bad guys were opening and closing doors in a long hallway chasing each other. I have experienced the literal definition of the term "underfoot".

Finally, the occupancy of the basement is down to the usual four and I went to grab something to remove the remains of temporary inhabitant #5. I turn around back to the pen and Lucy is giving it the sniff test. She is so skittish anyway, I didn't want to yell or anything and I was hoping her vegetarian instincts would remain intact when I gave a firm "No!". I hurried back across the room, did the Quasimodo and removed all temptation from her.

Life with bunnies is never dull.

I could really use some dull.

Is it gone yet?

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Please help win $2,000 for GHRS to help RESCUE BUNNIES!
See the 07-27-2011 post for the story. Thank you!

* Every 24 hours

Disapproving Lucy

So much to disapprove of ...

No, that was not MY poop.
No, don't come any closer.
No means no.
Don't make me thump.
You want to pick me up? You are delusional.
You've come close enough, buster.
Don't make me repeat myself.
Groom me? Try that scratchy thing on your back!
You talkin' to me!?! (a strong possibility she has seen Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver)
You know, it is waaaay past dinner time ... dish is still empty.
Think you can get that hair out of my water dish?
The service around this place is really on the decline.
Oh, yes please - think you could you make a louder noise?
Mmm, mmm ... don't even go there.
No sudden movements or I am gone.
You are in big trouble, mister.
Yes, that thump was for YOU.

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Reminder - You can VOTE for Snuggle Bunnies EVERY DAY* through August 8th.
Please help win $2,000 for GHRS to help RESCUE BUNNIES!
See the 07-27-2011 post for the story. Thank you!

* Every 24 hours

FOR CHARITY, VOTE FOR THE ONLY BUNNIES - 1 of 10 FINALISTS!!!

They coulda' been a contender. Wait - they are!

Please HELP win $2,000 for the Georgia House Rabbit Society!!!
The bunnies are 1 of 10 finalists and the ONLY bunnies.
Go now and VOTE for "Snuggle Bunnies"

VOTE HERE: http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/135360/voteable_entries/26551063
VOTE OFTEN - you can vote again after 24 hours, thru August 8.
(The site will ask you to verify your vote by entering some letters or numbers in a box. You must do this for your vote to count. If you did not see it, try again.)

THANK YOU!!!

(Sadly, this vote could be more meaningful than for a member of Congress, but that's another story.)

Vanity License Plate - SNISTR1

Sinister 1?
The head bad guy? (As opposed to SNISTR2 ... or maybe that is Mrs. Sinister)
Ernst Stavro Blofeld? (Spectre's "#1") Hiding in plain sight?
("Give him his cigarettes. It won't be the nicotine that kills you, Mr. Bond.")
Darth Vader's black truck?
Or, more current, Voldemort's vehicle?
Or, much less current, Snidely Whiplash's wheels?

Bunny Care - A New Rabbit Ramblings Page

Check out the Bunny Care page. There is a tab for it under the banner at the top of the page or you can click here. This page brings together in one place the Rabbit Ramblings posts that relate to bunny care. Many of the tips I learned courtesy of my local HRS chapter volunteers - thank you all!

Take good care of your bunnies!

SuperBunya!

The many powers of SuperBunya!

Here, Bunya uses his super camouflage powers
to blend into the fireplace bricks.
You may not be able to see him in this picture.

Bunya is a competitive Xtreme napper

Here, Bunya combines skills:
Camouflage and power napping.

Notice how he cleverly blends his white back foot with the grout

to maximize stealth. No ordinary bunny!

Can remain motionless for 30-40 minutes,
even with someone skritching his head



Like Mr. Fantastic, he can compress himself
into the shape of a square bottomed treat jar
(explained here)

Bunya shops only for the freshest greens
(using coupons whenever he can)

Bunya stands for treats, fruits and the American way!

He can also body slam anybunny who gets between him and a treat.

Fear his skills! Do not mess with this bunny.

How is your pet a "super" pet?

Bunnies, quick - look at your visitor!

This afternoon, I was in the basement with the bunnies. We looked out the window and about 10 feet away from us saw this...

Like the bunnies, the deer nibbled some greens, although the deer seems to reach a little higher than the bunnies.

What's amazing is that we do not live in a cabin in the woods. We live in the Sandy Springs/Dunwoody burbs of Atlanta.
It's nice to see that we are not totally citified here.

Funny fluffy photo caption contest - to win prize for HRS

Here are some of the captions people have entered so far at the contest site.

Please, help me ... I know I lost my contact lens somewhere around here!

Make room for bunny!

Room for one more!

"One of these things is not like the others..."

Mmph - Who took the blanket?

Pssst ... Who's the new kid?

And in response to the caption offered with the photo:

Snuggle bunnies. Wait ... Intruder alert! Intruder alert!

One wit responded: Wait, which one is the intruder?

The contest is still in stage 1 - all you have to do is post a comment or clever caption (here). Any post is appreciated, but especially funny captions which could actually help the picture become a finalist and GHRS win some prize money to rescue and care for bunnies.

Captions and comments can be added at least through through July 27th, 2011. Then the judges pick the finalists to vote on. Go comment - now!
> : )

Ethel in time-out?

Ethel was sitting in the little space behind the open door to their pen, butt backed up to the wall. Still as a statue for some time. We don't really know why Ethel was doing that.

Self-imposed time-out?
Poor hide-and-seek player?

When she finally decided to move, she closed the door, staying on the outside.
We have resigned ourselves to just not ever being sure what goes on in her little brain cell.

Does your bunny or pet have any strange, inexplicable behaviors?

Your clever caption is needed for this picture! Please help!

This photo has been entered in a contest to try to win some money for the Georgia House Rabbit Society.

Snuggle bunnies. Wait ... Intruder alert! Intruder alert!

There are 2 stages to the contest.
Stage 1: Go to Snuggle bunnies entry and enter a comment (wait - finish reading this post first). The best comment is a funny one (rules say the captions must be appropriate ... you know, clean).
Stage 2: Finalists will be selected by the contest sponsor judges by July 27th, 2011 at 12:00 a.m. (PT) and voting for the winner begins, through August 8th, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. (PT).

The finalists will combine the picture submitted and what the "stage 1" judges deem the funniest or cleverest caption from among the comments. Tickle your funny bone and enter captions as often as you want. I know someone out there can come up with a better caption than mine. Even if you don't come up with something funny, make a comment anyway; maybe lots of comments will help get this entry for GHRS considered.

I love animals and have had cats, dogs and more; now I have bunnies. It's going to be hard for bunnies to get ranked ahead of all of the ever popular cats & dogs entered in the contest, so your help is definitely needed.

Please help the hard working volunteers at GHRS win some money to help rescue more bunnies.
Thank you!

P.S. This is another part of the contest posted in Please vote for bunnies daily, where you should vote for "House Rabbit Society - International Headquarters".

Please Vote for Bunnies! Daily!

Help give bunnies some needed recognition.
Here's what you do:
1. Go to The Animal Rescue Site $300,000 Shelter Challenge of 2011
2. Where it says "Search And Vote For A Shelter", enter "House Rabbit Society" and choose CA from the pulldown menu of states. Then click "Search".
3. From the choices, click:
House Rabbit Society - International Headquarters, Richmond, CA
4. Repeat daily.

Is this the voting booth?

It's easy! It's free!
Voting ends at midnight Pacific Time on Sunday, September 18, 2011.
Winners announced Wednesday, September 21, 2011.

Bunny Care - A Hutch is Not Enough

This video is from the Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund in the UK. HRS is for "house" bunnies, which is what Bunya, Lucy & Ethel are. RWAF is not, but the video addresses that rabbit owners should not neglect bunnies' needs and it makes lots of great points.



Here's a poster on their site: Will you love-honor-obey?

After seeing this, I checked to see if HRS has something similar. It turns out that HRS has a new PSA that's worth a look, too.



If you know someone who's not treating their bunnies right because they may just not know any better, maybe you can send them these videos and the link to HRS. There are other good links under "Rabbit Resources" in the right-hand column.

Lucy - Life imitating art

They all love this little silver bunny (it's a bank).

It is outside their pen, and when they are running around, they all stop by it at some point and "chin" it, claiming ownership.  

The other day, Lucy decided they would hang out together, and chose to flop next to it, just like any other member of the family.

"Thump" caught on video

As recapped in the right-hand column definitions:
Thump – The noise a bunny makes by cocking its back leg and letting it pound the floor. It might be scared or angry (you sneezed too loud – bunnies do not like loud). Or it might be happy (Oh boy, our human is going towards the treat jar!).

As amusing as I find my bunnies, I try to keep a camera on hand to catch when they are behaving in their funny bunny manner (I know, this really surprises you). Sometimes, I catch something I was not expecting and this was one of those times.

The bunnies were exploring a new newspaper box. After Ethel hops out, Lucy will come back to the box and face left. Watch her back foot; her little white sock makes it easier to see. (Turn your sound on.)

We have had a sneezing "fit", you know ... 3-4-5 sneezes in a row ... and Lucy used to thump loudly after each one. (She is more used to them now and will wait until we finish before giving one loud thump; we choose to believe she is saying "bless you" ... better than what she is probably really thinking.) We even knew to expect the "post-sneeze thump" syndrome, but we've never really seen a thump before. We are always amazed at how loud any of them can thump; how loud it is to you depends on how high you have your speaker volume, but trust me, they thump LOUD.

I don't know the reason for this thump: fear/warning or excited/pleasure. But it was fun to watch the video later and realize it was "caught on tape".

Bunya family thump trivia - frequency of thumping, most to least:
Lucy, Ethel, Bunya

If Lucy had been a boy, a good name for "him" would have been Donald Thump.

Bunya imitating Ethel

Bunya settled into the crook of the elbow,
fading fast ... zzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Bunya has finally tuned in to the good snuggle thing Ethel has had going on. He quickly settled himself on my wife's arm and allowed her to rub his head and pet him, but for no more than a half hour or so.

Bunny "sighting"? Bunny cereal - but for humans

A few months back, we submitted for your approval (not a Rod Serling reference, unless you want it to be) bunny graham crackers. After personally taste-testing them, we approved (Bunny crackers). I guess other bunny fans approved, too, because now there's more "bunny food" for humans.

A Rabbit Ramblings Roving Reporter (my sister, the shopper hopper) has discovered Bunny Cereal (same brand name as the crackers). I have not tried this one yet, but look forward to finding it locally and running it by the taste buds for a vote.

May consider it a treat instead of replacing my breakfast cereal, though.
The bunnies can relate.

Viva Las Vegas - Airport Bunny Sighting

From the Rabbit Ramblings Roving Reporters (the kids are traveling on the road again), a big bunny sighting in the Las Vegas airport:



Bunny patiently waiting for breakfast or a treat in Las Vegas airport



As much as the kids mock my bunny slave status, from wherever they may be, they all now send me pictures of bunny sightings, vanity license plates and other rabbit-related material for the RR blog.

They call it HOT-lanta for a reason

Summertime ... and the living is - HOT!

(not a Porgy and Bess reference, unless you want it to be)

It's "only" 95 degrees in Atlanta. There are places in the country much hotter.

My friend in Texas has been suffering through 105 degree heat.

And sometimes, he has to leave that shade.

Lucy has her favorite spots to cool down -
the fireplace bricks ... a frequent rest stop.
Bunya and Ethel agree.

Lucy doing her hen imitation on the fireplace

The "fireplace bunny" -
Lucy's favorite place to stretch out and cool down



Sometimes, it's so hot, the air conditioning just needs a little help keeping you cool.

How do your pets stay cool?

Back yard "bunny gone wild" sighting - hot off the presses

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog for a special post.
[Insert obnoxious TV-radio interruption alert noise here.]
Just sighted by Bunya, Lucy & Ethel's kitten cousins (see kitties here) in their backyard...

Wild bunny sighted just minutes ago...
appears it could be related to Bunya,
although this has not been confirmed.

Rabbit Ramblings ... bringing you all the up-to-the-minute bunny news fit to print.
Stay tuned for further lagomorph stories...
This is the end of this alert ... we now return to your regularly scheduled blog.

Ethel - Maximum Snuggle Bunny

Ethel: Have Bun - Will Snuggle
(not a Paladin reference, unless you want it to be)

Looking down on the donut face (aka, the glazed look)...
being cradled in the same position as in the picture above.

Once again proving, she's the snuggliest bunny in the bunch.

One day at the dentist office...

Added to the "Bunny Things" page,
of course!

My dentist always has interesting and fun stuff at her checkout desk. This time, you could buy a little animal head that holds your toothbrush (in its mouth) when you travel. It has a suction cup and so sticks on the mirror of the hotel bathroom, or wherever you are staying, so you don't have to lay it down on whatever yucky countertop germs happen to be there.

Well, I had to dump the box to find it, but found the one bunny head. It is stuck to the inside of my car windshield and serves as a random smile generator when it reminds me of my bunnies.

Vanity Plate - LATE4WRK

I don't think major interpretive skills are required for this one.
Maybe the driver doesn't get pulled over - the excuse for speeding is preprinted on the car.
I wonder if LATE2WRK is still available?

Ethel: Do I have to hurry breakfast so we won't be late for work?
Bunya: No! We work from home -
and we are doing our jobs right now.
But Lucy's late.

Ethel's binky revisited

Well, seems that Ethel's binky was a popular post. Repeated Regular Rabbit Ramblings Readers Requested a Revision - to see it in slow motion. So, with my primitive tools and even more primitive skills, I gave it a shot using the binky repeated three times at the end of the clip:

To me, it is still startlingly fast, so I tried to slow it down again.

The "film speed" (or digital equivalent thereof) was not sufficient, so it appears as a blur, which is pretty much what she really looks like when she is zooming around her basement domain.

Lucy - Up close & personal

Lucy decided to venture outside the pen ... for a few seconds.

I guess everyone is biased when it comes to his or her own bunnies, but I think she is soooo cute.
As are Bunya and Ethel (and I am not just saying that in case they read this post).

Ethel's Binky

Ethel was being her usual cute, cuckoo self. So I decided to video her Speedy Gonzales type action in the new hay box and caught a binky right in the middle of it (about 12 seconds in). It looks like she's jumping in place and kicking her heels together ... the bunny version of River Dance.

I thought it was so cute, I spliced the binky again at the end of the clip. Three times.

HEY, YOU OUT THERE - LISTEN UP -- AGAIN!

You remember the holiday message right?
Don't drink and drive.
Don't text and drive.
Don't drink and text.
When boating, wear a big orange life vest (you humans look so funny in those).
Play with your bunnies and give them lots of treats!

Be grateful to be in the land of the free and the home of the buns.

Well, here's another one: Bunnies don't like fireworks.
It stresses them just like other sudden and/or loud noises.

If your bunny's neighborhood is firecracker noisy, keep the buns cool and quiet.
Close the windows and doors.

Play music - peaceful, easy listening (not loud). Think elevator music.
(No hair bands or hare bands. Stay away from 1812 Overture.)
Your TV service might even have a suitable channel in its lineup - you just never tune to those channels.

If you do not already have boxes for them to play on and in, get some plain cardboard boxes (not slick or a lot of ink/color, no staples, labels or tape) that they can hide in, further mute the noise and feel a little safer.

Keep them company and reassure them that everything's okay. Pet them if they are the petting kind of bunnies. Have a couple of healthy treats handy (Bunya told me to say that).

Have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July holiday!

Field of Greens

If you build it, they will nom...
(Not a movie reference, unless you want it to be.)

Come on in - the hay is fine!

One idea to help meet the bunnies need to dig was suggested: a big container of just hay. I looked for a small hard plastic child's wading pool (harder to find than you'd think, especially during summer and as hot as it is here); most seem to be blow up pools. Couldn't find any sandboxes I was especially excited about either.

So the picture above is what the bunnies now have as their "hay pool". No floaties needed.

It is the bottom part of an "under-the-bed" storage container. The side is see-through and not too high, so they have no problem jumping in and out. There's room for everyone, if I don't try to climb in. It has an assortment of fresh hay in it. They seem happy to have someplace else to explore, dig and eat.

For more on this bunny care topic of chewing and digging, see:
Bunny care - Chew-Chew (not a train)
Bunny care - The Cardboard Jungle
Bunny care - The Cardboard Jungle, Part 2
Cardboard Playground - The Skylight Project
Bunny care - The Litter Box

Can you share any suggestions for things that will occupy bunny recreation time ... things that they like to chew, dig in or play with? (That they are allowed to - no comments suggesting electric cords; we all know they love those.)