New Wheels

In my continued attempts to bond Harriet and Amelia so that I don't have so many fences to climb over, I invested in a pet stroller, it's made by Pet Gear and was discounted. Although there were cheaper ones, I felt I needed a sturdy one for two big girls. This one can stroll 30 pounds, even together they are under the legal limit; we could throw Tyler in if we wanted to live dangerously. I have taken them out twice. The first time just around the block,  the second time we parambulated for some 6 blocks. So far no one has commented, dared to comment. Although when the back seat passenger of a turning car looked into the stroller I swear she said "Those are some of the weirdest babies I've ever seen." Admittedly I am not a professional lip reader. What my exact plans are in terms of bonding, I don't know, but taking the two girl buns for a little walk is easy and requires only one piece of special equipment. So far they have been very good, no animosity at all.  It's a step by step process, and the steps can change at any time.

Changes

I am trying again to make my bunnies happier than they are. Sydney has been chasing Harriet frequently, and pulling her fur, and chasing her away from food. Harriet has been completely good natured about it, but in general she is the bun odd out, except for the occasional grooming session by Tyler; she is alone in a group of three. For months Amelia and Sydney have been the only ones boxing through the fence, Harriet has given up violence for a more spiritual path, it would seem. If Harriet and Amelia could bond there would be less lonely buns about. Three bathtub dates were uneventful and I graduated them to a 4 x 4 pen in computer/gamer den.

Amelia tries to get some attention, maybe she try the other end?

Ah, that's better, they are both requesting grooming, who will be the groomer?

In an effort to create more bonding through safe stress, I pulled both big girls into my lap. They stayed for quite a while, Amelia popping up and out first for a snack. Harriet stayed for many more minutes, a warm pool of soft agouti fur.

Parsley is an excellent dating snack.

Of Rabbit Lives and Loves

Hermes, very, very comfortable........

Humphrey and Spuds in a bonding session, did I mention that their human wanted them bonded? OK I did suggest it, it seemed like a natural thing to happen away from home and all. The session went quite well, the DS helped with supervision and petting.

Dating Updates and More

The Spots and Harriet wait in the kitchen for the maid to be done with their room, she is so slow.....

Amelia is doing just fine. It took a couple days for her to get her appetite and attitude completely back, but she seems just fine. She does need to be separated from the other rabbits until next week, though I'm considering letting Tyler visit her for moral support. Meantime The Spots and Harriet are getting along just fine. You'd think they had always shared space. Although Tyler has groomed Harriet, which means she is "dominant" I have seen him nip and chase her a bit if he thinks she's over hopping her bounds; getting too close to his piece of pumpkin or getting snippy with Amelia through the fence. My hope is once Amelia can socialize Tyler will keep Harriet in check. Right now all the gurlz want to do is fight.

Snuggling in the little box like old friends!!!

I've been taking an on-line Environmental Writing class with Crafty Green Poet.

There first assignment was to described an encounter with nature.

All the time I breathe, in and out, trading oxygen for carbon dioxide, the same as any animal: dolphin, cockroach, or wooly mammoth. Breathing too in a sort of opposite way, carbon dioxide in and oxygen out, are trees. Where I live there are a lot of trees, for an urban setting. My mother grew up in New York City and she always claimed there were no trees there and for this reason she was particularly fascinated and grateful for trees. She made sure that her children knew all the right names of trees from an early age. Podocarpus, Weeping Willow, Japanese Maple, Cyprus, California Buckeye.

As I walk around the neighborhood John rattles on and I silently say the names of the trees. Sometimes there will be a pink notice on a tree. This always means that the person who owns the property where the tree lives wants to cut it down. The City of Santa Cruz has laws that require public hearings for the removal of any tree over 15 feet. I have never attended such a hearing, but I imagine the red tape alone keeps homeowners from deforesting the city.

Along the block where John lives the entire street is lined with majestic Sycamores. Leaves buoyantly green in the spring and summer, drop brown and crunchy in front yards and on the street in the fall. Winter sees bare branches scratching calligraphy in the sky The tree protection law extends only to the actual removal of a tree; pruning is unregulated. It appears that cutting half the main branches from a tree is still pruning, since this is just what John’s neighbor did the other day. I arrived on the scene midway through the desecration and to my surprise felt quite nauseous. At the end of it a medium sized trailer was filled with branches, some a foot in diameter. The neighbor took them to the dump; they wouldn’t even be burned in fireplace or made into garden chips.

I breathe in and I breathe out, sometimes it is hard to be human.