Bunny Update

My friend Ferne reminded me that I haven’t posted about the bunnies lately – thanks for the reminder Ferne!

We have more bunnies.  Our neighbors called a few weeks ago and said that they were rescuing some baby bunnies that had been separated from their mother by someone who traps the rabbits and takes them far away and releases them.  This jerk (I wrote dumbshit but took it out) took a female rabbit 10 miles away and a few days later found out that there was a litter.  She just figured on letting them die.

My neighbor Jean decided otherwise.

Jena called Tom and I to ask what the baby bunnies needed to survive.  We gave her some supplies, lots of advice and offered to help.  Jean kept them for about 5 weeks and then ran out of room and time (travel away from home) so we took them in.  Tom build a pen in the back yard, away from the roof construction, gave them an old truck canopy to hide under, and they have been in bunny heaven ever since!  Bunnies LOVE dandilions and rasberry leaves and they have been pigging out on that plus pellet food, frolicking and playing, hiding and sleeping.

Jean still visits them and brings them treats    There are three white ones and one tan one.

And, such a happy ending, I recently bumped into my two favorite tan bunnies on 4th Avenue as I walked to work – it was such a treat to see them again because I had not seen them for 3 weeks and I was afraid that they’d been trapped or killed AND last night my favorite black bunny (he’s very old and not healthy) stopped by for some carrots and pellets!  What a great day.

Oh, and the roof is DONE!

Spring in Seward, Alaska

Yes, this is spring in Alaska. See the pretty flowers; the sunshine? Me neither! LOL Someone please remind me why I live here?

If you look closely you can see Tan Bunny just to the right of the feeder that Tom built. It sits across the alley from his house, on Barb’s property. She loves rabbits too, so she said it was okay to put the feeder there. Bunnies love her big trees

Snow for Martha

Compare this one to my photo of Mt. Marathon from the 4th of July! This is for Martha in Louisiana This next one is of the trees across the alley, just outside the garage door. My bunny friends hang out there, but right now there’s a black bear living there (no kidding!). Bear has been getting into the garbage cans at night. Don’t worry about bunny, she’s tough and she’s faster than this black bear. I saw her last night & she’s fine. My portable quilting table is set up by a living room window that looks out over the alley and the trees next door. I’m going to try and get a pic of bear.

Empty Nest

At what point does “whew, I am so glad I don’t have to clean up after them anymore!” turn to “Oh, how I miss the pitter patter of their little feet…”?

My answer – -’not yet’! LOL Hehehehe

The baby bunnies went back to their outside home, as healthy as I can get them, my 22 month old granddaughter is home in Anchorage after spending the weekend with me and Tom is fishing in Homer (a long way away). I am……home alone!

Let’s see if I can finally be productive. You should see my ‘to do’ list. I was remembering quilts that I need to finish in my sleep last night. Then there’s some painting I’ve been putting off, cleaning out more stash, scanning photos & backing up computers….

My little helper got me started yesterday before she left….

Baby Bunnies

On July 5th Tom brought home 2 baby bunnies that each had conjunctivitis in one eye. It just broke my heart. I didn’t post about them, or take photos, because I was sure that they were going to die. They were very, very infected, starved and barely 10 days old. The only hope I had was that they moved around and wanted to eat. So, we regularly soaked and cleaned their bad eyes, painstakingly cleaned up their fur, fed them alfalfa hay, fresh dandelion greens, ground pellets and goat’s milk (by eyedropper). They lived.

They are still under “clean up” care in my living room but they are eating, playing, grooming themselves and each other and their fur is almost totally clean. I believe that they will both be blind in their infected eyes, but I am not positive. The white rabbit’s bad eye almost looks normal now. I just can’t figure out how to give an eye test to a bunny! Lol

Almost Spring

I begin to believe that spring is almost here when the daffodils start coming up. We still have several feet of snow in the yard, but around the house it’s melting out.

The poor things have to fight their way through the masses of snow we received this winter – but up they come!

I can hardly believe that they push up through the snow pack!

There were even some dandelion shoots and I picked a few for bunny. His first spring treat He just loves dandelions!

Just across the alley outside the garage door….

Is a vacant lot (sort of, it has an abandoned cabin on it) that attracts bunnies and moose! Almost every winter we get moose there, they love the alders that grow on the property. I was feeding the bunnies that visit me and saw the moose settled down for the night.

Just outside the garage door…

Is an ugly garbage can rack that is built up off the ground to perfect bunny height. These are semi wild rabbits that come from a long line of abandoned Easter Bunnies. The scrounge for food throughout the downtown section of Seward (although almost every subdivision now has rabbits) and most of the gardeners are fit to be tied! I, you will note, am not a gardener. I grow dandelions because bunnies love dandelions.

These 2 are my pals, they know the sound of my voice and they come around just at dusk, when it’s safer for rabbits to be hopping about. They have a route that they travel, of the houses that put food out for bunnies. I believe my house is stop #1, I put out pellets and fresh carrots or apple. Every year the bunnies change…some are killed by cars, some by eagles. I still put out the food and they come keep me company.

Audrey and the bunny – Final Round!

Well, this one is a draw. After 2 days together they are getting used to each other, and seeing the benefits of friendship. Audrey realizes that if she doesn’t reach too fast, she gets to pet the bunny and bunny (not so dumb) quickly figured out who was leaving him small tokens of affection on the floor, like Corn Flakes and globs of banana. Hehehehe. He found them before I did!

So now he warily follows her around, at a safe distance, and she thinks she just added one more admirer to her posse. Happy Days for all of us!

Round Three – Audrey v. Bunny

When I picked up Audrey in Girdwood today (Sarah and I meet aprox. half way between Seward and Anchorage) I asked Sarah for her advice on fabrics for bindings for both the purple scraps quilt and the reproductions quilt. We talked for a few minutes and I agreed with her choice of a white-on-white for the reproductions, and then I commented that I would hopefully have it finished this weekend. Her laughter was loud and long, and I was slightly offended. Her thought was that if I thought that Audrey would leave me with energy or time to quilt, I was indeed, nuts. And she said so, out loud, between laughs.

I hate admitting that I am wrong, but at 10pm tonight (I drove away with Audrey at noonish) I believe that she may be right. How I managed to raise a child and her cousins being a single parent, I just can’t remember. I am exhausted. And bunny just came out of hiding.

Audrey finally fell asleep at 9:30 and the only nap she had was on the drive back to Seward. It was a gorgeous day! We had a fun drive and stopped at the property on the way home to feed the “free” bunnies – and I noticed for the second time that the eagles must have gotten one of the little ones.

At home, Audrey immediately sought out bunny, and found him in his usual spot, in our bedroom (he has his own room, which doubles as my quilting room). She stayed about 4 feet from him, and they had a staredown. She did her dance and he glared, giving me “the look”.

If you are a pet owner, you know “the look”. It’s what you get when you take them to the vet for shots or bring and infant into the home. The “why are you subjecting me to this torture?” look.

They left each other alone for about 4 hours and then had the showdown in the kitchen. Bunny came out to assert himself and he backed Audrey all the way up to the kitchen cabinets, where she squeeled and clung to my leg. Then she took action. When he got close enough (overconfident bunny!) she reached down like lightning and touched him on the back!! Whoooooooooeeeeee! He took off, halfway down the hall, and then stood his ground (they don’t call them dumb bunnies for nothing). She just toddled on over and did it again! Off he ran, to hide behind the bed, and Ding! Audrey is the winner of round three!

Gramma’s gonna collapse and re-prioritize her quilting and move a few deadlines back (don’t tell anyone!).

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