Monday Bunday

As anyone can see there are no bunnies photos in this post and such a sad thing that is. Don't worry all the bunnies are just fine and as photogenic as ever, but my laptop is down and I don't know when I'll be back blogging again :(

Movie Night!

Blogger can be so slow and frustrating when loading movies that this will have to be link experience so I can keep my sanity. Welcome to the BunnyFilm Short Fest! First a word from our sponsor CLICK HERE. Amelia has been doing work with the outdoor tunnel you can see her skills HERE and HERE. Harriet likes to get on the bed and arrange the covers, THIS is a poor example of that fun filled activity, but the best that could be captured at this time. And lastly we send THIS FLOP out to all our readers and viewers, thanks for visiting The Qi Papers.

Enjoy your weekend

and be sure to give your rabbits extra treats.

Bunday Not Monday

There is much to tell.

On Saturday I got all the rabbits in the back room on pretense of giving them greens and then I shut the door. I informed them "No bun gets out of here unless they are in a carrier". Amelia and Harriet are pieces of proverbial cake when it comes to carriers and depositing said bunny in the instrument of torture, the Spots are a hard case. Although during greens they both freely hopped in and out of their nice large, two bun, luxury traveling device, when it was clear that they HAD to go in, there was a shift in attitude. With an extra X pen I made a corral that lead into the carrier and gradually made this smaller and smaller until they really had no choice but to go in. It reminded me of the torture chamber of a castle I had the good fortune to visit in my youth. The cell had a grate in it that was moved on a track, forcing the occupant into the corner and in the end crushing them to death. Fairly tame, in the big picture, but it made quite an impression on a 7 year old. Back to present day, once loaded in their humane carriers I brought all the rabbits to the Rabbit Haven Adoption Show and Bunny Spa to have their nails done and to use the boding room. It was our first full family outing in months and frankly I found it quite exciting. While the Professional did their nails and glands I brushed everybun, then we waited for a bonding room. We had a new Bonding Expert assigned to our case, Darrel. Once again I learned a lot, everyone has their own style and understanding of boding; Darrel was a real hands on sort of guy, he was down in the pen petting and smooshing the girls and constantly checking their body tension. His was the bunny massage therapist mind/body approach. Although both girls were pretty good he felt like they were both a bit tense and wondered aloud what would happen if we added a third rabbit. So we popped in Tyler. Instantly everything changed, every bun relaxed! Tyler is such a love bomb. Darrell got them all snuggled together like a sideways layer cake and petted and massaged and proclaimed that they were all very relaxed and certainly somebun was audibly tooth purring. After ten minutes of this still no bun was groomed, but they were having a better time, we thought a ride in a cart for the threesome would be a good way to end up. I went to get the cart and when I got back AMELIA WAS GROOMING HARRIET. Needless to say we let that go on and canceled the cart ride. Tyler certainly seems to be the key in the Harriet and Amelia equation, now I'll work with him too.

Polka Spots....

Always at these rabbit shows there are stories of rabbits, basically we talk about nothing but rabbits, you'd think they were the center of our lives....and you'd be correct. The Haven had recently received a new rescue, a breeder Angora rabbit from a horrific situation. All the rabbits were being kept in bird cages hung in a tree, every time a rabbit moved the whole tree swung. The rabbit at the show, not for adoption, just there it could have special care, could hardly hop because her muscles had atrophied and her balance was confused, like a sailor landing on terra firma after years at sea. Humans can be so inhumane...

Lastly, you all know about the kittens who lost their mittens? those mittens weren't lost, those mittens were stolen and I have pretty good idea who did it.......

The end.......for now.

If It's Tuesday.......

Tuesday is the day before Wednesday and Wednesday is the Farmer's Market so often just before a Wednesday we may run out of the sort of greens that are bought at the aforementioned market.

Running out does not mean deprivation by any means, but rather a foray into the garden, which is at last yielding a decent amount of fresh lagomorphic friendly provender. For this morning's second breakfast I picked the following roses, nasturtiums, honeysuckle flowers, borage flowers, escarole, mint, yarrow, dandelion, bolting chicory, lavender and a bit of rosemary. Needless to say no bun complained save to ask for more.......

It is hard to get too much of Amelia's ear tricks....

Action shot.......

Random Offerings

Friday night was date night here at the Rabboratory, Amelia and Harriet had some greens together. You can see a little movie of them HERE. Amelia seems to have forgotten that she ever groomed Harriet and this date, as with all their recent dates, ended in a Me, Me, Me stand off, at the end of which Harriet lunged at Amelia for not grooming her. I was ready for this and uttered a stern "eh!" or something like that and Harriet stopped short.

Neither black queen or white queen will concede.....

such self esteem!

Amongst the Spots, it is a furry white and action filled place.

They know so much that I don't.

Tyler believes, and rightly so, that he has

the quintessential bunny tail.

I'm working on a new Moku Hanga print, Amelia in Her Dream. This is a pencil rubbing of the blue, green and black blocks. I colored on it a bit to get an idea of what else I needed to do. I still need to cut at least one more block for the back ground and adjust part of her back just behind the ears to the beginning of the line, it's just not right. I think I'll put the eye in by hand......Finished image size will be 10 by 8 inches (big for me!).

Buns At Work

The multiple doots show that territorial behavior is still on alert, but I think we've dropped down from a red to, is it amber? is that what we call orange? what is between red and yellow? And what color or not on alert at all?

As you can see our own version of the Berlin wall has yet to come down. With the new divided room arrangement it is easier to get Amelia and Harriet out for their deck time. I had thought that the bonding might be enhanced as well, but a few nights ago the girls really mixed it up under the chair, Amelia got her teeth into Harriet's neck and were on the floor kicking each other. Needless to say I got a little spooked and didn't do any bonding until this evening.

Tyler would like to be Harriet's boyfriend.

This time instead of putting Harriet into the space where Amelia was I had put Harriet into Amelia's usual area earlier in the day and popped Amelia in after dinner for a dessert of roses. It went pretty well. At a couple points I felt like maybe they getting close in an aggressive way, so I made disapproving noises and they back off. They are friendly with each other with the fence between them, though can be some boxing.....

Sometimes a fence can be cozy......

Since I have removed the chair, which has time and again proven a prime fight zone. I'd been wanting to move my work desk out of a dark and mostly inaccessible room into the smaller more crowded but lighter bunny filled back room, so I have done that and started carving on for a new print too. This one is off Amelia, working title "Amelia In Her Dream". I'll show more of that as it emerges.

Hope Everybunny is Well and Happy, or at least close to it.

Monday Bunday

Amelia and Harriet in a "groom me, groom me" stand off during a bonding session. A second before they were nose to nose and had been that way for a good minute.

Fishing for Sydney using Dandelion bait. Both she and Tyler prefer "dandies" over other offered greens and and will turn their respective noses up at Romaine and Escarole.

Tyler finds that eating a nice "dandie" from the middle doubles the satisfaction.

Not the happiest bun in the world, please, don't call PETA she was on the chair for 2 seconds...

I took Harriet and Amelia to my Tai Chi class*. I wanted my students to experience soft alertness and animal energy close-up and personal. Both buns were will behaved and consented to being held different people. I didn't get any pictures of that, just this one of Amelia being not very happy on one of the chairs in the office. After everyone left I did a short bonding in the pen with the girls. Harriet nipped at Amelia early on. I'm getting the idea she will nip at her if feeling at all ill at ease, unsure, or overly excited. She seems very confident and relaxed, but really she is still settling into the warren here.

*No.1 Ladies' Tai Chi Health Club meets every Sunday at 9 a.m.

Just the Facts

Mirror, mirror on the wall....

Before developments get out of hand and I am accused of withholding BunBond information, here's what has happened since our Girl Road Trip. I decided that instead of being disadvantaged by the lack of neutral place I should use that to further the bonding by switching Amelia and Harriet around from area to area so that, in essence, they each "owned" everything. To create more or less equal territories a radical remodel took place: instead of a large pen, the fencing now divides the room in half.

Harriet asks "Does orange bring out the color in my eyes?"

OK, so the Spots don't have access to the back of the room and Bunnex; you can't please all the bunnies all the time. With the new set up it's easy and casual to pop one or the other rabbit into the other's space and have a session. Now for the really big news that has only been posted on Facebook, see what you miss not following me on Facebook? AMELIA HAS GROOMED HARRIET. Yes, you read that right, Amelia, "I never groom anybody because I am such a precious beautiful talented pink eyed girl bun" groomed Harriet; not just one time, but twice in a session and then again in another session. After the first grooming Harriet, who seems to have forgotten social graces, up and nipped at Amelia, perhaps to say "why did you stop, you white fool!" In subsequent sessions there has been a little chasing on both parts and a some nipping. Amelia has requested grooming from Harriet, but been denied.

Amelia, fashion enhanced.

So far Harriet has only groomed me. Since the Road Trip and our extensive lap session Sydney has been, possibly slightly less skittish with me and petting. Tyler is definitely a factor, he seems to have her pretty cowed, when I see that he is occupied in the girl's room I go and have visit with Sydney. Rabbit relationships can be a bit tricky, but rabbit fashion is not, everything looks good! Nasturtiums are in season and the make charming, colorful hats for rabbits of all shapes, sizes and hues. One size glorifies all and they are %100 organic and edible.

Tyler loves hats.