GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR .....

Here is Goldie practicing Fierce. She is so INTO it that everything shakes!

We had a nice day! One in a row ... wow!

THE BUNNY INFRASTRUCTURE STIMULUS ...

Apparently Savannah was awarded some of the Bunny Stimulus moneys because she was awfully busy creating some new infrastructure ... here she is applying the mandatory art-work.

(yes ..Elvis's eye from Eye of the Needle)

HOT OFF THE PRESS ...

OK .. first the results of the HoneyCrisp test (sorry to be late, had a long day Wednesday doing other things .. I know, I know .. shush ..)

It's unanimous .. the bunns don't really care what kind of apple ... just make it fresh and crunchy. Guess the HoneyCrisp people will need to find a different mascot.

Now .. this eye ... it just reminds me of something and I don't know quite what ..

1. What does it remind you of????

2. Who's eye is it???

ABOUT THAT HONEYCRISP APPLE .....

Did you see that bunny on DR this morning? ONLY a HoneyCrisp would do.

Well ... in as much as yes, the HoneyCrisp WAS developed in Minnesota (where Cinnamon lives) BUT Washington is, in fact, the Apple Capital of the World, this begged for further investigation here at The House of Rabbits.

To top it off, a certain young granddaughter living in Wenatchee, the Heart of the Apple Capital, was part of the 2008 Apple Festival Junior Royalty, and she happens to be quite partial to Galas, as are we.

Now, typically the HoneyCrisp is a VERY pricey apple here in our parts, even though they are grown here. Designer brand I guess! But today I happened to be in a store where they were $1.48/lb so I bought one to test the DR hypothesis.

First let me say that I have looked, now, at many HoneyCrisp apples in person and in pictures and I must report that the apple on DR could have fooled me into thinking it was, in fact, a HoneyCrisp.

Anyway, I sliced off a bit of my apple and tasted it .. nothing special for me. Then I put it in the condo of Lucky and Winston - results below. Lucky liked it and chewed and chewed, Winston tried to push it down the hole.

Later tonight we will give each bun a slice and watch the results, for further investigation. Stay tuned for more on this top breaking story.

AN AWARD! WE GOT AN AWARD!!!

Woo Hoo ... The Crafty Green Poet gave us an award .. the Hugs Award! We NEVER EVER got our own award! We are in seventh heaven, tall cotton so to speak!!! Thank You!

Think these nails look too long? They are Savannah's, taken before we all got a trim today ... almost 200 little nail tips ALL over the carpet!!!! That's why BL has TWO shop-vacs!!!

ALL IS FORGIVEN .....

After a good long tuck-in under the Bunny Lady's chin, The Princess has come to realize that it is her regal duty to forgive you all for any transgressions against her, real or imagined. You may begin your work week with a light heart!

A Princess has far more important things to tend to than petty grudges or disapprovals.

Indeed, she has BIG DISAPPROVING to be ready for ...

(My, but she does look happy here ....)

THERE IS BIG TROUBLE ....

Oh boy oh boy oh boy .... I hope you bloggers take note of how many comments were on the post of The Princess as of about 7:44pm Saturday (That was a good 24 hours since the post first appeared.) 3, THREE, TRES, that is FOUR minus ONE, FEW, .... you get it ... ???? She is not happy. No, not happy at all. You remember that big robot GORT in the original The Day The Earth Stood Still movie???? If GORT started to open that visor, well, something or somebody was TOAST. The Princess has The Look .... do not let her cast it upon you! Fortunately Racer here has the old faithful "White Toes Cleansing Antidote" for many ills and bad spells. Treat Racer well. Treat Racer VERY well ....

SOMEBODY IS THERE ....

I hear Somebody ..... Whoever that Somebody is had better have a salad !!!! with some craisins ....

HAY !!!

Boy, I have this big box of hay here in the corner ... a great place for spending some down time!

Yur Buddy, Savannah the mini-Rex ...........

ps... we are thinking on the book ... thanks for all the comments of support and encouragement and ideas! That one in the picture is printed space and a half and one side only. That is why it is large .. it is about 70,000 words!

WELL, ACTUALLY .....

We did write the book ...... it happened like this .... Many of you know of (some participate in) National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) which happens every year in November. One of those wild-hare! ideas that started in San Francisco some years ago and is now a world-wide phenomenon. The idea is to start from scratch on Nov. 1, try to write every day, and knock out 50,000 words by the end of the month .. that is sort of the lower bound for pages in a novel.

In 2006 a bunch of us got together and agreed to give it a go. BL and I decided each to write about our time with rabbits and then maybe piece it together into a book. (This was at the Peak of Marley and Me and Disapproving Rabbits was on the way.) We spent about 2 hours almost every morning at it, and each finished our 50,000 words by end of November!

Then was spent a long time condensing and combining and we sent a draft (like the picture) to several friends and acquaintances who could give us critiques. A good friend and talented artist drew black and white renderings of all our bunns for the book chapters - that is Zoey on the cover! While waiting for feedback, we crafted many query letters to about 20 or so literary agents and publishing houses .. scoured up from the I-net and from a friend who attended a San Francisco Writer's Conference.

At about the time that the last, reasonably nice, and very helpful, critique responses came in, so did the last of the 20 or so rejection notices! This whole process took about a year.

We decided to stop, take a break, regroup, and consider how to re craft the book and maybe sometime try again. It sits in the big box, awaiting that new muse!

In the meantime, we did do NaNoWriMo again in 2007, but this time for fun with no expectations. BL did a nice book about her immigrant father and I did an OK rendition of my early life. Both received extremely limited distribution to interested family members with expected results!

We bagged 2008, but several of us are sort of thinking ahead to 2009 and by gosh fame may strike yet!

Our experience and situation is what prompted me to ask Bunny Girl to elaborate more on her writing and publishing method and her response is intriguing. We'll see where we go next!

Thanks .... in the meantime, back to slavery ...

THAT FIRST BUNNY ...

This little kid is just two in this picture ... 2001. She is a granddaughter who lives in California. In the summer she and family were visiting The Farm .. the Summer Kid place, with lots of animals, that some of our family were just starting to operate down near Seattle.

For the previous three years, we had been "gypsying" about - trying life in various other parts of the West. But by this time we had decided to buy our place back in the Pacific NW and "settle down" for a change!

We went down to the Farm to visit too, and this kid and the Bunny Lady .. who was then a pretty serious cat lady .. spent quite a lot of time in the Farm barn each holding a nice dutch bunny ... Thelma and Louise the dutchies were. Those two chatted a lot, mostly about how nice it would be to have a bunny like one of these. Well, one day, not much later, Thelma or Louise got out of the pen and found Cocoa, who looks a lot like our The Princess. But Thelma or Louise was, rather, The Big Bad Boy - and Cocoa had a litter about New Years of 2002 ... one of which was The Princess.

The Farm owners, seeing the connection, made us a somewhat surprise gift of the little Princess Bunny once she was eight weeks old ... that's how we got started!

Why we have so many? ... that is quite a different story. You might have to read the book.

LEMONADE .......

This is one of the very first pictures of The Princess ... almost seven years ago .. she is eight weeks old here. Big ears! Somehow, after those seven years and many more bunnies, we still enjoy them and do quite well! Sort of a "Lemonade" story...Speaking of which, we got a "Lemonade" award from Silver! (Actually you have to go to Silver's blog and then to Ankle's blog, but we got it!!!) Very honored.
We are passing it along to the Crafty Green Poet who can make Lemonade from just about anything and D. Moll for making Lemonade by training two shy bunnies to get four paws up!
I know ... lots more also deserving, but I need to save some for later "passing it on"!

So now .... what, in these troubled economic times of 2009, will be (or become) a Lemonade success for you? Don't need to comment here. Just maybe sometime tell about it on your own blog!

LETTERBOXING .....

NOTICE - CAUTION - ATTENTION:

The following has NOTHING to do with rabbits and I disapprove ....

Well, we had some family company this weekend and the talk turned to Letterboxing.

We are casual letterboxers and needed to make some better

and more unique stamps for ourselves!Letterboxing is the search for hidden boxes (or maybe sandwich bags!) that have a journal and stamp in them. You find the clues for letterboxes from sites like letterboxing.org or atlasquest.com. You carry your own journal and stamp. When you find a box, you "stamp-in" to the box journal with your stamp and a note, and record the box stamp, and maybe a note or two also, in your journal!

Anyway, we got some good stamp carving material .. that white stuff ... a bit like erasers ... and some carving tools. There are several different shapes of gouges that come with the tool. You take off what you don't want to show up when you "stamp" ... you can see a bit of our first attempts ... FUN! ... need more practice!

Below is an example of a Letterboxer's Journal ... some boxes and boxers have very nice stamps!!! There are some SERIOUS letterboxers out there.

Do any of you Letterbox too???

GOOGLE EARTH ???

Hey there Baxter and Zoey ... you might THINK you are hiding down in there ...

But there is an eye in the sky!!! Behave yourselves now....

We've had snow, floods, and now several days of cold, gray fog and air-stagnation ...

Even so, can you see the little daffodil shoots? Amazing!

I'M BAAAACK !

Yes indeed .. here I am - RG - back, bright eyed, and bushy tailed .. ready to blog on!

So what does Chico think of this? (I had no idea a Rabbit could contort himself so.) I guess it is good to know the bunns did not go soft during their turn on the keyboards!!!

THERE'S ONE IN EVERY CROWD ....

Winston ... the exception that proves the rule, the Black Rabbit of the family, Mr. Contrary.

Yes ... Winston is the one bunny here who does not particularly care to be held ... he wiggles and nips and chews after just a very few minutes. He is bonded with Lucky, who is quite the opposite, and they are fast friends. He is a cutey ....

Good you threw that last part in Bubba ... I can nip HARD and FAST if need be!

YOU BETTER HAVE A TREAT .....

If you are going to point that thing at me, you better make it worth my while. I've lots to do ...

Yes - well Savannah, you see, it is this way. You are BL's bunny and I am just sort of the recorder of your activity. Giving snacks and treats are not in my job description.

BUTT OUT

LOOK MA! NO HANDS ......

I look like a seal with my signature nosey and toseys! Flippersys actually!

I know my floor looks cold and sparse, but I just push away everything they put here. I like it like this. This is the bottom floor. Upstairs I have my box and fleecy and stuff ... I am pretty much a Simplicity Bunn ...

Yur Buddy Racer the Magnificent ...

I'M BENJI AND I LOVE MY GOLDIE ......

..... and That's the Truth .... pfffbbbbrrrttttttt ...

(everybunn remember Edith Ann?)

THAT IS LAGAMORPH FOR 18 POINTS ....

I could be good at this ...... I wonder what "Goldie" is worth ...

maybe I should try my FULL name - GoldalinaHey Goldie .. gimme the mouse and keyboard a minute ... PLEASE? PRETTY PLEASE? TREAT? TREATS??? WHAT -- NO NO ... NOT the car keys Goldie ... Uhhhhnnhhh ... Whew, there, got 'em ...

OK .. there are a few serious birders that read this blog, and lots of us casual bird-watchers/feeders! SO here is my BIG bird story.

These are Great Blue Heron Nests ... some are three feet across

Near us is a many acre stand of fir, alder and maple trees and it is totally infested with Heron Nests .... it is a heronry and probably the largest in all the Western US of A. Every winter the local Land Trust - which owns much of the heronry land - takes a small team into the heronry to count the nests and record conditions and flag the trees. I have gone for three years now, an amazing experience. Today was the day for this year!

First of all, you can't go into a heronry like this except in the winter -- too much underbrush, berries, and nettles. Second, it is not at all a marked route, so few, if any, other people know about it or how to get in there. Thirdly you need permission since it is on private land!

Also, in the spring-summer-fall there is so much foliage that the nests are hard to see, and so a sight like the picture above is pretty rarely seen.

Last year we counted over 500 nests and there were many more this year. Of the 150 or so tagged trees, maybe 10 were no longer being used for nesting at all anymore, but 15 or more new ones had nests in them this year. It must have been a good year for the birds. There is a LOT of open water, shorelines, ponds, ditches, and fields for them to feed.

Can you imagine being in there when all the babies are hatched and squawking for food ???

OUCH .. GOLDIE - you stinker .. here, take your stupid old mouse and keyboard back ...

bite me will you .. hmpfff ...

ZOEY! - MY ZOEY!!

As you know, I am Baxter's Lady and, even though he is a bit of a scamp whereas I am rather hoighty-toighty, that is quite fine with me!

In another life though, I probably would have been a shopper!!!

WHAT, ME WORRY ?????

I am just not worried about any flooding. BL will see that I am number 1 on the rescue copter!

Gee, just noticed ... that might be a bit of an "overhang" there ... Hey BL, better cut back on my treats - or - pose me more flatteringly!!! (Anybody got an airbrush?)

At any rate, I am your friend, Baxter-"No Worries"-Bunny

COME ON EVERY BUNNY - IT'S POTLUCK !!!!

HA HA HA ... OK ... are you all happy to see the silly bunny?

Well let me tell you a secret - it has rained here for many days since the big snow and now all the rivers and streams are flooding. This little black beauty here just so happens to float AND it does not leak. --- Your clever Lucky!!!!

(ed. comment - yes there is serious flooding all over Western WA. But we are up a bit out of the flood zone and have a safe route for supplies and emergencies. We see a lot of it right out our windows though, down in the flats.)

LIKE MY TATTOO ???

Looks like a big flying Goose ... a WA WA as they say in Canada.

Actually it just seems to be some black hair and why, how, or when is unknown.

I'm a loooooong, leeeeeeen bunny!

Ole' ... CHICO su amigo....

I AM SEVEN YEARS OLD ----

My birthday was just a few days ago and I don't think Polka-dots are particularly ME! I don't see presents either .... Oh well, I don't remember any last year either, or the year before or the year before that ....

That's OK. I'm a HAPPY HOPPY PRINCESS BUNNY!

LIFE IS GOOOOOOOOD ........

Too pooped to Post ... and, I'm staying put.

Yur Buddy Benji ......

ON THE OTHER PAW ......

If I'lda known I was going to have my abode on the I-net I would have done some rearranging .... I kind of like it like this for awhile I think .... Now, if they just bring a few more oats and pellets, and scoop out the litter box, I am all set! ...

Savannah the Mini-Rex Great One

I LIKE IT JUST LIKE IT IS .....

See all those little cardboard fitzels around?? It took a LOT of effort to get them just so. Don't nobody go cleaning up now ......

Savannah the Great!!!!!!!!!!

TAKE A BREAK, RG .....

RG has had a long run blogging. He is starting to wear thin and some times put his foot in places it should not be. He needs a break. We're taking over the blog for a bit ... THE BUNNS

Look at Lucky here ... gee Luckster, you did not have THAT big of a night .... did you???? Here is Bunny Lady finally getting her car out and down the lane and off to town! Although it does not look it, the lane is all clear of snow, just not along the edges.

The Princess got out today as well! Just enough snow left on the deck to keep things chilly and damp. But ... she loved it and did a lot of evening snoozing and heavy eating as a result!