Busy Busy Busy

Heartland's newest residents.

Nina inspects the goods

Never seen this person before

Ignore my expression. I was cold, wet and exhausted.
 

Our charming home away from home.

I haven't posted in forever. It's been a crazy time around here. I changed my hours from working late nights to second shift (after many MANY years) and they gave me a whole new and very stressful job to go with it. I am also refinancing my house and trying to get the yard a bit cleaned up for spring. I needed a break so a last minute weekend away was planned.

Amy Patterson has been a facebook friend forever. We talk daily and have chatted on the phone too. She lives up Missouri way and works/runs https://www.facebook.com/pages/Colars/293981707289603?fref=ts a low cost spay/neuter program. She is a terrific lady and came down to spend the weekend with us. A wonderful time was had by all. Lots of eating and drinking and carrying on. It was a pleasure to finally meet her in person.

Our little two story cottage was so charming. That is the place I will stay again and again.

I got a fun package in the mail yesterday. My friend Annette from http://dragonhouseofyuen.blogspot.com sent me a lovely bunch of treasures. I won a magnet from her blog give-a-way but Annette never sends just one thing. The package was filled with little notes from her, sweet note cards, bunny treats and a gift for Nina. You will notice that the bunny cookies aren't in the picture. I shared them with the bunnies and they loved them. I was saving some for later but somebun raided the package and helped herself. I will let you guess who that was but she did have a partner in crime. Thank you so much Annette.

My friend Michelle from http://theraspberryrabbits.blogspot.com sent me a lovely bunny clip. It is beautiful. I don't have a pic because it's hanging on my desk at work. Shoot! I should have taken a photo. Thank you Michelle. You forever brighten my day.

I also received a bunny calender from my spunky friend Jade over at http://zenofbun.blogspot.com It features the handsome Mr. Mick of course. Thank you Jade. It hangs in my kitchen and I enjoy every morning while I have my coffee.

All the buns are doing great and Nina is just dandy. She is still completely intimidated by the bunnies. Misti was a little polite earlier this evening and allowed Nina to get close and check her out a bit. Nina just stares at them and then looks at me. They puzzle her. She is such a sweet girl that just wants to snuggle and give kisses.

My nephew Jakob did a great job taking care of the bunnies, brother and Nina while I was gone. I owe him big time for allowing me to have that weekend.

I am off to read all of your blogs! I hope everyone has a Happy Easter and just a quick reminder that baby animals are not toys. Please make yours a chocolate or stuffed bunny instead of a live one. The bunnies and chicks and ducklings will thank you for it.

Oh what the heck. Let's have a Monday Mantra too!
The remarkable position in which we find ourselves is that we don't actually know what we actually know.
Bill Bryson

Monday Mantra

"A day spent without the sight or sound of beauty, the contemplation of mystery, or the search of truth or perfection is a poverty-stricken day; and a succession of such days is fatal to human life."

 

Lewis Mumford

JoJo says

"I want Misti cuz she is beautiful".....(and she is the only bunny even remotely interested in kissing me)

After we got home and she whipped his butt a few thousand times, not so much. QUIET please! Bonding in progress.

Monday Mantra

"Passion rebuilds the world for the youth. It makes all things alive and significant"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Monday Mantra Smokin Jo Style

 

I'm ready for love, oh baby I'm ready for love

 Bad Company

The Politics Of Rabbits (and one cat)

"You gots some treats mommy?"

Mojo and Duds do not care for Jojo

"Read me a story mom"

I'm afraid of rabbits

Nina calling for somebody to come pick up the rabbits.

When I originally brought Jojo home I thought he was going to be happy being a single bunny. He is such a people oriented little guy. That is what I get for thinking. 

Jojo made it very obvious from the start that he wanted a bun friend. He tried to shove his face under every bun in bundom. He took a particular shine to Sam and Jack. I cant blame him, the other bunnies tried to kill him. Jack seemed somewhat interested. I started the bonding rituals. We stopped then started several times. We seemed to turn a corner......then Sam decided he didnt care for the status quo.

I came home from home work the other day to blood and chaos. Darla was out of her playpen and bleeding, from her feet and from her lip. Jojo had been left out to play and free roam with Sam and Jack. I immediately blamed him. I happened to see Sammi's mouth....it had blood all over it but no injury. Jack was cowered in the back of his playpen. I knew Sam Sam was the culprit and my Sambo doesnt do that.

I got Darla cleaned up and flushed her wounds. They will heal but leave scars. As I was putting her back in her playpen I noticed Whoosh was also bleeding. DAMMIT! What had they been doing while I was gone?

Jojo is making my sweet little Sammicakes aggressive and it scares Jackson to death. NO MORE BONDING. I have done a lot of bonding over the years and sometimes you just need to call it quits.   

Beautiful bunny tote that my friend Amanda made for me.

Jojo is going on some dates on Monday. I know how desperately he wants a friend and the buns here are just not going to tolerate his invasion. I have a lot of buns in mind but very little time to devote to a long bonding ritual. I am hoping for a bit of love at first sight. Wish us luck. 

Nina is terrified of the buns. She rarely makes her way downstairs and only if I am standing by. She peeks around corners and if she catches so much of a glimpse of bunny ear, she is back up those stairs lickety split. Poor girl, sometimes they scare me too. 

Oh dont ever be alarmed by a Monday Mantra. I often pick from my favorite writers and it depends on my mood too. We are all well and I hope you are too. 

My spell check didn't work so forgive any oopses.  

Monday Mantra

"Where does discontent start? You are warm enough, but you shiver. You are fed, yet hunger gnaws you. You have been loved, but your yearning wanders in new fields. And to prod all these there's time, the Bastard Time."
John Steinbeck

 

This is Nina

 

I want you all to meet Nina and find out how she came to be with us.

My brother has been making noises about getting a dog. No way. I am sorry but Darla has intense fear of dogs and I just don't have the time to care for a dog. I also cant take a risk that something could happen while I was at work. I love dogs but no. I suggested we adopt a cat. An older cat from a rescue of course.

 

I began looking online about a week and a half ago. I searched for older kitties that had been declawed. I dont believe in declawing but if we found a kitty that had already been done that would be okay. I felt it was safer for the bunnies. I zeroed in on a bunny name Porkchop.

 

I went to meet Porkchop the other day. She was the victim of a horrible trauma. Possibly a do it at home declaw. Her feet were badly crippled. She has a million problems. My heart ached for her. I knew when I met her she probably was not the one. She had big issues with having her feet touched and who could blame her. It might be a bad mix with the bunnies.

 

When I was talking to Porkchop, I kept getting a swat across the booty. I turned to look and this HUGE black cat was purring and begging for my attention. I called her by name and she immediately began to talk. I asked for her story.

 

The lady told me that Nina had been relinquished to the animal shelter at age 11 along with her sister. Her sister was adopted right away. Nina had been there 2 years. She needed some people and a home, I could tell. They told me she had been adopted out for a few days but brought back. The people decided they would rather have a kitten. Nina wasnt playful enough. I went and got her this morning.

 

She is currently hiding under the bed. She is grossly overweight and not active at all. Her main domain will be upstairs but I have seen zero interest from her in the buns and vice versa. Jojo ran up to her and did not seem impressed. He just stared at her for a bit and then went back to playing. We will take a lot of time with introductions but I don't foresee big problems.

 

She will have a quiet home here to live out her life. Welcome Miss Nina. We love you already.  We will get some nicer photos when she comes out from under the bed.