September Chat

[jerseygirl]

Boo !

Ailís, Joey(thenethie), Smokey (spunkysmokey), Timbu’s tum, Rumbum’s tum, Potamooshy’s tum.

It was our 1st day Spring here today and it was glorious!
But I had a worrisome start to the day with Rumball not doing so well. My anxiety rose up and took good part of day to shake it.
He’s vet checked and good now tho. Just quite frail these days. I started him on 12hrly meloxicam a few weeks ago and hope it’s making things easier for him. He’s on 10kg dog dose, so I sure hope it’s doing something. He has been less wobbly at least.

So, September eh??

[Muchelle]

Here it’s finally RAINING!!!! wheeeee! And my pc got the rain and I’m without pc But hey I got a supercute vid of the rat playing with his logic toy, If I get how to share it on the forum I’ll post it

[joea64]

Here in America, it’s the formal end of summer (Labor Day weekend – we Yanks celebrate Labor Day on a different date than most of the rest of the world, and use it mainly as an excuse for cookouts and silly political campaign speeches ). Of course, summer weather in my part of the U.S. generally goes on for at least a month or so longer, even though this past week has been unseasonably cool.

I’m getting off work early today and heading for Pet Supplies Plus to use that 25% discount coupon I got on a pet carrier. Condo-cleaning time this weekend; I’m going to kill two birds with one stone by doing the job while getting Panda and Fernando properly started on getting used to their new carrier by having them cool their paws in it for a bit while I get inside to spritz the white vinegar, wield the Dust Buster and/or Shop Vac and get rid of all the scattered poops and hay. Oh yeah, and I really have got to find a longer litterbox. Moving the litterbox to the other corner hasn’t been the panacea I thought it would be; I found out last evening that one of those scamps has been peeing in the corner opposite it.

P.S. We’re expecting rain tomorrow here and clouds Sunday, as the remnants of Hurricane Harvey cross the East Coast. Then again, Hurricane Irma seems to be coming up on the Caribbean…

[Deleted User]

Yes….. keeping an eye on Hurricane Irma from here in FL. Looks to be a nasty one. I don’t know much about El Nino and La Nina, but I think I heard somewhere that El Nino was pretty non existent (at the time) and would be aiding hurricanes in rapid development (which we have clearly seen with Harvey and Irma).

I know it’s too early to tell where it’s going to go, but I am stocking up for the buns anyway. I just ordered 25lbs of day last week so I am good there. But I have ordered some more snack twists from Small Pet Select, more chew sticks, and pellets. I’ve pulled the ice chest out of the closet and if it looks like its coming this way we will be filling that with ice to keep their veggies fresh in case of power outage.

Maybe I’m taking this too seriously when it’s this early on? I don’t know though, something about a storm going to cat 3 in a day and a half is insane! FL may be in some trouble if it comes this way- we are just too flat to handle that rain! The streets flood with inches of rain if we just have some bad thunderstorms…

[joea64]

Posted By BunNoob on 9/01/2017 7:51 AM

Yes….. keeping an eye on Hurricane Irma from here in FL. Looks to be a nasty one. I don’t know much about El Nino and La Nina, but I think I heard somewhere that El Nino was pretty non existent (at the time) and would be aiding hurricanes in rapid development (which we have clearly seen with Harvey and Irma).

I know it’s too early to tell where it’s going to go, but I am stocking up for the buns anyway. I just ordered 25lbs of day last week so I am good there. But I have ordered some more snack twists from Small Pet Select, more chew sticks, and pellets. I’ve pulled the ice chest out of the closet and if it looks like its coming this way we will be filling that with ice to keep their veggies fresh in case of power outage.

Maybe I’m taking this too seriously when it’s this early on? I don’t know though, something about a storm going to cat 3 in a day and a half is insane! FL may be in some trouble if it comes this way- we are just too flat to handle that rain! The streets flood with inches of rain if we just have some bad thunderstorms…

I don’t expect anything worse than a thunderstorm in the DC area this weekend (and that’s according to the Windows 10 weather widget, which is really, REALLY inaccurate), but I’m getting a hay refill tomorrow anyway, if for no other reason than that P&F have turned out to expend hay at more rapid rates than I had anticipated (and I’ve committed some newbie wastage on my own part, I don’t doubt). As I mentioned elsewhere, there’s been a shortage of Oxbow apple/banana baked treats due to factory rearrangements, but Friends of Rabbits tells me they might be getting more in today’s shipment so I’ve ordered two bags.

[Bam]

Bindi, Sterling, Ailis. Apollo. Boo. Olaf. Chewie. Henry’s tum. Wick’s foot. Kuro’s nose.

Fall has begun here as well, although this year we didn’t really get summer, so the transition should be very smooth =) It’s not been as cold here for 155 years. Highest measured temp anywhere was 28 degrees. It wasn’t anywhere near where I live though, I think we maxed out on 23 on one day in June. Dog and bun are grateful, of course. Honestly it’s been good for Effi (dog) because she’s been poorly (osteochondritis).

[sarahthegemini]

Sorry to jump in mid-convo but I had to share this here. No one else understands my excitement, my mum looked at me like I was insane but yesterday Peanut asked me for grooming or at least I’m 90% sure that’s what he was doing. He bowed his head to me. He’s never done that before!

[Deleted User]

Posted By sarahthegemini on 9/01/2017 10:36 AM

Sorry to jump in mid-convo but I had to share this here. No one else understands my excitement, my mum looked at me like I was insane but yesterday Peanut asked me for grooming or at least I’m 90% sure that’s what he was doing. He bowed his head to me. He’s never done that before!

Awh yay!! Peanut, do you have a secret soft side?

[Bam]

Peanut ?It’s so lovely when they demand pets!

[MoxieMeadows]

It’s September already?
Long time no see! *Waves* Moxie turned 4 at the beginning of last month, And Snickers just turned 6. Time sure if flying by!

This fall I will be extremely busy, but I got a new phone, so I should hopefully be able to visit you all more frequently ?

[MoxieMeadows]

And as for weather, it is already getting cold! Bleh!

[Bam]

Hi Moxie!!!!

Love that you have a new phone, we do miss you here! Please give Moxie and Snickers belated birthday-kisses from me and Effi and Bam! How is the rest of your little “zoo”?

[pinknfwuffy]

When a bun bows for grooming, I can’t help but feel like I have my very own floofy hippogriff.

[MoxieMeadows]

The rest of our “Zoo” is doing well! how has everything been for you?

[Tony's Mum]

I love how cute they look grooming each other ?

[LBJ10]

Leopold’s tummy, Wooly’s blaze, Buttercup, Olaf, Chewie, Bindi, Sterling, Peep

OMG! Hi Moxie!!! So good to see you! You must visit us more often.

Aww, how cute Sarah. Mine don’t really present themselves for grooming, so I’d say you’re lucky. :p

[Q8bunny]

Send Irma our way. Kuwait has been a steam room for almost a month now. I ended up with a tropical fever and my joints are so painful I can barely hold a sippy cup of water. Bleh… stoopid coastal desert weather.

[Bam]

Moxie, we’re more or less fine here. Effi (dog) is doing great most days. Then she has days when she’s not doing so great. With her diagnosis, that’s to be expected.

[Dface]

How is it September already !
I have applied for an extension on my thesis project, which means I’ll be working until the end of September instead of finishing up the 15th.
On the one hand the extension is a huge help, onn the other it means Im spending 2 weeks longer away from my bunnies…

who have been getting progressively bolder in my absence I’ve noticed (Peep has decided to start eating the plaster off of the wall-apparently the treats I buy just arent good enough )

[Tony's Mum]

My niece, who is seven, is talking about this boy in her class that she likes. I just asked her why she liked him, and her response was “his family have SEVEN dogs!!!” ??

That’s pretty good reasoning if you ask me.

[Reesebun]

It’s finally September! I’ve been waiting all summer for autumn and it’s almost here!
I am also almost done with Reese’s new cage! I just need to finish the top level then it will be done. I wish I could send a picture, but I can’t change the pixels with my phone. I will send one when I get to my computer.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

September already indeed, time really flies! We’ve been having autumn weather nearly all summer, so everyone’s hoping for an Indian summer (old wives’ summer as we call it). That would come in handy, because the bi-annual outdoor LARP weekend is at the end of the month. We’re always keeping our fingers crossed for dry and hopefully not too cold weather.

We’ve finally made progress with Breintjes litter box: we’ve found one with higher edges and the spills have finally stopped. He did most of his business in the box, but sometimes his rear was over the edge and he sprayed all over the cage. This has finally stopped with the higher edges, as long as we don’t use too must hay and litter pellets in it. Definitely a lot easier to clean, and for once he didn’t make a fuss about something that was changed. He hopped into it right away, even though this model is 5 cm higher.

[Azerane]

Yes, finally September! That means spring! We really did have a lovely first two days. Today is cold, wet and windy but you can’t have everything. I’m really hoping it will warm up soon, I do miss summer. It’s also Father’s Day here today so I should definitely ring my dad before he thinks I’ve forgotten

[Azerane]

Dory is usually asleep at this time of night (7:30pm), except she’s suddenly decided to be really chatty and say “hello” every 5 seconds for about 10 minutes straight She is so cute

[ThorBunny]

Happy September! That means fall here, which I’m also super excited about I love brisk fall days, changing leaves, pie and apple cider! Wishing everyone else warm happy outdoor weather.

Reese bun – I’ll be looking for pics of the new setup, it sounds great!

The buns have been gone at bonding camp since Friday, it is so weird and quiet and CLEAN in my apartment… I miss the chaos and bunny snuggles

[Q8bunny]

Hello, Dory! ?

[LBJ10]

Silly birdie! ;p

*sigh* I’m home today because it’s a holiday (Labor Day). I had wanted to go to a state park and go hiking, etc. But those plans unfortunately went out the window. The sky is very yellow and hazy and my asthma is acting up because of the poor air quality.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Hello Dory! Hello Dory! Hello Dory!

GUESS WHO has just been weighed. And GUESS how much he has put on since last Monday eve?…

One thousand and one hundred grammies !!!!! bravoooooo Baloo !!!!

Got some metacam without official consult to tide him over till his neuter visit. Fingers crossed xxxxx

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

@Azerane: Hello Dory! How cute ^_^

@ThorBunny: Aww, I totally understand that empty-house feeling. Hoping they’ll bond well and that they’re back really soon!

@LBJ: Sorry to hear that Do you often have smog problems where you live?

@Vienna: That’s amazing! 1100 kisses and cuddles for brave Baloo.

[LBJ10]

Ellie – We normally have problems in the spring. It isn’t smog, but smoke. In the spring, there are a lot of controlled burns and we will have health alert days. Right now, the culprit is wildfires several states over.

[Azerane]

Well done Baloo! That’s very awesome that he’s put on a good amount of weight in that time frame

That’s unfortunate about the smokey air prevented you from going out and having fun.

[Q8bunny]

Woohoo Baloo!

[Bam]

?Balou?

[Deleted User]

So lately the buns have been chewing at the rubber stoppers on the side of the baby gate. I mean REALLY chewing them and I tried a million things to get them to stop, but they are both infatuated with chewing rubber… the other night I had the idea of trying to put hot sauce on it…surely they would leave it alone then… Well Ophelia licked it off and now has an orange stained mouth… I’ve checked her poop and she doesn’t seem to have any issues there, but she’s been stained a few days lol. Do I try to help clean it off or leave her to it?

[Reesebun]

Maybe she is like Chewie… she has an iron mouth and loves her hot sauce!

[jerseygirl]

Posted By BunNoob on 9/05/2017 7:24 AM

So lately the buns have been chewing at the rubber stoppers on the side of the baby gate. I mean REALLY chewing them and I tried a million things to get them to stop, but they are both infatuated with chewing rubber… the other night I had the idea of trying to put hot sauce on it…surely they would leave it alone then… Well Ophelia licked it off and now has an orange stained mouth… I’ve checked her poop and she doesn’t seem to have any issues there, but she’s been stained a few days lol. Do I try to help clean it off or leave her to it?

I read last week about rabbits eating chillies without batting an eyelid. It was on Frances Harcourt Browns facebook page. She is the British vet that wrote textbook of rabbit medicine – so she knows rabbits!  Anyway, this was the FB post she made:

I’ve just had my grandchildren to stay and they were amazed to find that rabbits enjoy dried chillies. It started when they saw the two that live in the parrot aviary scavenging rejected chillies from the rabbit food** so they offered some to my indoor rabbits Earl and Jack (the shy one). The rabbits didn’t show any ill effects either when they ate the chillies or afterwards. This wouldn’t be the case if it was me.

** I think that is meant to say bird food, not rabbit food.

Anyway, there was a bit of a casual discussion about it was thought maybe rabbits have different taste receptors like birds do, and they perhaps don’t feel the heat of the chillies. Or they’re just tough as nuts! 

.One poster mentionend their rabbit found and ate an entire plant and all the chillies on it and didn’t suffer any ill effects!   I should note, most posters generally said they wouldn’t give their rabbits chillies as a regular thing..

As for stopping the buns getting to the rubber, are the stoppers against the wall/doorframe or on the floor?  Would there be a metal cuff type thing you could put around the stopper? Or offcut of polypipe?

[Azerane]

Parrots don’t have capsaicin receptors so don’t feel the heat in hot chilies etc. I’ve never heard of that being the case with rabbits, I’d be too scared to try

My bunny order arrived today. Lots of new toys and treats. I bought the same toy for Dory that I bought last time I ordered from there. I’d barely hung it up in her cage and she literally pounced on it to start chewing, haha. She loves it

The bunnies are very pleased with their hay carrots, they’re a good size too. And they’ll be pleased to have treats again, we ran out recently

[joea64]

Which reminds me that I need to go get Panda and Fernando some tasty herbs to offer as treats when my next paycheck comes in, to supplement the Oxbow baked treats I’ve been giving them so far. Maybe Panda will be a little less demanding/nippy about treats if she gets healthy herbs more often when she asks for a treat as opposed to a timothy cookie a couple of times a day…

[Deleted User]

Jersey, I had no idea! Like I said, I thought that they would hate it and not go near it but I was wrong! I have tried using these pieces of wood that are L shaped that I’ve cut into small pieces. Using two for each stopper, stuffed between the wall and stopper so that the rubber was covered on both sides… but the smart little buggers learned to yank the wood out….

As for Ophelia’s hot sauce face, she let me “groom” her a bunch last night! I was laying facing her and petting her and she was totally flat and relaxed so I asked my husband to get me a cup of water and she let me just scrub around her mouth for about 10 minutes so I got some of the orange tinge off! Guess we will have to keep working on that, if I get so lucky that she lets me! (I even got to check her teeth for like literally the first time. I was so freakin excited!!)

[Q8bunny]

Yeah, Choo likes Taco Bell sauce and Sriracha and salsa… never thought to have him try dried chilis though. *evil grin*

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

That’s wonderful BunNoob! Great to see that you’re building trust

[Tony's Mum]

I got accepted to do my MBA!

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Wooo! Now that’s a reason for celebration! Congratulations

[Azerane]

I’m going to say congratulations Tony’s Mum, even though I’ve no idea what MBA is!

[Tony's Mum]

It’s a master’s degree

[Deleted User]

So I have a random question. 1st off, I truly hope not to offend anyone by saying this, but down in the south hunters will go “rabbit shining” … they shine bright lights into the woods and it causes them to freeze and then they “hunt” them… I’m sorry for saying that, but it is the reason for my question…

What I want to ask is this: Is a bright flashlight in the dark something that is very scary for domestic buns? I live in Florida and there’s this ridiculous hurricane expected to impact the state this weekend/early next week. I am in central FL, so I doubt we will have anything more than some tropical storm winds and rain- but I have seen less knock out the power -.- I tried to buy candles, but all the stores are out…all out of water….all out of ice…. so I’ve got flashlights for if the power goes out, but I don’t want to totally freak the buns out by shining it around in the dark…but I also don’t want to accidently hurt one of them if I can’t see.

[jerseygirl]

I was wondering if any BB-ers would be affected by Irma. Glad to read you’re in central FL at least!
Hard to say how individual buns would react to flashlights really. Could you hang them up in the room so they are more like a regular light, or place on floor so shining upward to give whole room low level of light. Or will you need to conserve the batteries?
Maybe pen/cage the buns during an outtage so you’ll know exactly where they are? Though, that could be tricky if they’re out and about before loss of power!

When I had a break in several months back, the police checked through house with flashlights and the rabbits didn’t react badly. But if the house had some lighting and the buns had caught sight of them, I think they might have reacted to their outline more, being unfamiliar to them.

Congratulations BM!!

@Q8, good luck with the chillies, lol. I couldn’t do it. I’d still convince myself they’d get the same sensation as us and not deal with it.

No juicy chillies either, in case a bun got squirted in eye. 

[Deleted User]

Good suggestions Jersey! I’ve lived here in FL since I was 8 years old so I have been through plenty of hurricanes, just not with buns to look out for! The only thing is, Ophelia doesn’t have a cage at all. She would never go in it, so when we got Quincy I just cleaned her cage and made it his (tiny apartment so I couldn’t justify a second cage if I didn’t need it)! So she would be out and about and I’m just worried about accidentally harming them from the dark. At least it is finally cooling down here! We have finally got temperatures below the 90s. My other concern would have been the heat without any A/C.

I’ll check the stores again to see if I can scrounge up some more batteries. It’s pretty hectic here though, even though we are center state. Gas stations out of gas, shelves at the store are just bare. Everyone is going nuts!

[jerseygirl]

Seeing the flooding that happened from Harvey probably has people on edge..

[LBJ10]

Mine don’t give a poop about flashlights. They like having a light on. So in the rare case the power goes out, I usually put a flashlight or camping lantern in their room.

BTW, I would think spotlighting of any kind would be illegal. I mean, I thought it was. But it could be different in different states. It isn’t considered very sportsmen-like.

[joea64]

Panda and Fernando are used by now to having some light on in a dark environment, since I’m the sort of guy who gets up in the middle of the night to use their computer and go to the bathroom and so the desktop monitor is generally always on when I’m at home (I turn it off when I’m away though, which happens to coincide with the daytime when they do most of their sleeping anyway). They’ve got their hidey boxes and the litterbox corner under the ramp (which can get quite adequately dim at night and in cloudy weather) to retreat to. I’ve used a small flashlight several times when adjusting the thermostat because it’s sometimes difficult to read that small gauge, and they don’t seem much bothered by it either.

[Deleted User]

Thanks guys! I’ll hope it’s not something they mind!

LBJ – yes, it is illegal. But when you live miles into the woods in a town so small it’s not represented on a map of FL, they really get away with a lot.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

How horrible BunNoob, and so kind of you to worry about your buns. I think there’s a huge difference between wild and domesticated buns here, domesticated ones may be more used to artificial light. Breintje has never reacted fearfully to sudden changes in lighting. Sometimes I use a bright spotlight when I’m working on fine crafts in the evening, and he just blinks a bit and goes about his normal business.

Yay, I also have a reason to celebrate: after some prodding things finally came into motion at the rehabilitation centre. As my grandma used to say: “The meek may inherit the earth, but the ones with cheek get things done.”

The doctor referred me to a pain clinic at the local rehabilitation centre in May, and I’ve been waiting for months to get a confirmation of an intake appointment. I knew that I would be referred to a certain sub-department within the pain clinic, but not when I would get the appointment for the intake. The pain clinic insists on making these appointments by phonecall, and my e-mails were pretty much ignored, even though I explained that I have a lot of trouble with phonecalls because of a disability. Totally tired of waiting I “put on my naughty shoes” as we say here, and hunted down the mail address of the sub-department. I got a reply from the secretary the next day, and I now have a series of 5 appointments, one with each different specialist. After these appointments they’ll discuss whether they can treat me, and how they can treat me. The appointments are all within a month ^_^

[Q8bunny]

It is if you put the spotlight on and then shoot at the people

[joea64]

Posted By Ellie from The Netherlands on 9/07/2017 7:26 AM

How horrible BunNoob, and so kind of you to worry about your buns. I think there’s a huge difference between wild and domesticated buns here, domesticated ones may be more used to artificial light. Breintje has never reacted fearfully to sudden changes in lighting. Sometimes I use a bright spotlight when I’m working on fine crafts in the evening, and he just blinks a bit and goes about his normal business.

Yay, I also have a reason to celebrate: after some prodding things finally came into motion at the rehabilitation centre. As my grandma used to say: “The meek may inherit the earth, but the ones with cheek get things done.”

The doctor referred me to a pain clinic at the local rehabilitation centre in May, and I’ve been waiting for months to get a confirmation of an intake appointment. I knew that I would be referred to a certain sub-department within the pain clinic, but not when I would get the appointment for the intake. The pain clinic insists on making these appointments by phonecall, and my e-mails were pretty much ignored, even though I explained that I have a lot of trouble with phonecalls because of a disability. Totally tired of waiting I “put on my naughty shoes” as we say here, and hunted down the mail address of the sub-department. I got a reply from the secretary the next day, and I now have a series of 5 appointments, one with each different specialist. After these appointments they’ll discuss whether they can treat me, and how they can treat me. The appointments are all within a month ^_^

I don’t know if the Dutch have the saying “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”, but it definitely applies here! Good going on finally getting the bureaucracy into motion, and good luck with those appointments. Being hearing-impaired, using the telephone is difficult for me too unless I use a TDD relay or a captioned telephone, both of which are rather cumbersome options; therefore I much prefer email as my primary method of long-distance communications and have for many years now. It’s hard to convince some agencies (such as doctor’s offices) of that, though…

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

We do have a saying that “The rude one owns half the world.”, which is quite at odds with our alternative national anthem “Act normally, that’s is odd enough already.”. It’s really frustrating to ask for a different mode of communication, especially with agencies who haven’t moved with the times. I mean, there are so many reasons people could have problems with phonecalls. Hearing problems, speech impediments, social anxiety, autism, you name it. Luckily I have few problems anymore with calling people, but being called is a big issue. Especially if I wasn’t expecting the call and the person is a stranger. I can be upset and out of my routine for the rest of the day. Since agencies and companies show no respect for it, I just stopped giving out my phone number to anyone except family and friends. No more agressive marketeers or bureaucrats trying to overwhelm you over the phone, it’s a huge relief.

You mentioned it already, but most doctor’s offices I encountered are ages behind. If you want an appointment, most doctor’s offices here will only answer the phone between 8 and 10 in the morning. Otherwise you’ll get a very grumpy assistant telling you to call back tomorrow. A doctor having e-mail? Different opening hours for people who work night shifts? Impossible! Absolutely archaic…

One afternoon I came back from shopping and I had a lot of stomach problems, so on the way home I dropped in at the doctor’s to ask for an appointment. The assistant was at her desk behind a glass window and pointedly ignored me, but when I won the staring contest she finally opened the window and made the appointment with the most disdain humanly possible. She even growled something at me in terms of “Usually it’s just something to do with sloppy diet, the doctor is busy enough.” My response: “Thank you, but I think I prefer diet advice from someone who doesn’t occupy two chairs.” I changed doctors that week.
May have to change doctors again soon, because this office isn’t wheelchair-accessible

[Azerane]

Posted By LBJ10 on 9/06/2017 11:07 PM

BTW, I would think spotlighting of any kind would be illegal. I mean, I thought it was. But it could be different in different states. It isn’t considered very sportsmen-like.

That’s interesting. Spotlighting is a very common form of hunting here. Probably because what people are trying to get (foxes, cats, rabbits) are commonly active at night and people don’t have a problem with it because they are considered pest animals.  I don’t know if there’s different rules for roos or deer.

I’ve been spotlighting, but it was with cameras, to see nocturnal birds  

[Tony's Mum]

Ellie, you are hilarious. You’re dead right to power through the red tape like that, my little sister has MS and she takes no sh1t from anyone, so she always gets what she wants before anyone else.

[LBJ10]

Azerane – Yeah, I thought it was pretty much illegal everywhere in the US, but I could be wrong. People will cheat during hunting season by spotlighting deer, etc

[LBJ10]

BunNoob – That’s horrible.

Alright… guess who got a new set of baby stacking cups today!

[Azerane]

Woohoo! Let the fun begin!

I just kicked Apollo in the face Not on purpose obviously, lol. And not very hard, otherwise I wouldn’t be laughing. I didn’t realise he was loafing under the desk. And I think he thought he was getting head rubs, haha!

[Vienna Blue in France]

Az I’m doing that all that the time with my new 5 furries… especially at feeding time.

[Deleted User]

hmmm. Please keep my bunnies in your thoughts! Thought we were fine here in central FL, but the latest tracks show that Irma may be hitting central Florida directly as a category 2 or 3. Still not as dangerous since we don’t have to worry about storm surge. But I’m worried about my apartment as I have had several leaks in the ceiling and they were “quick fixed” (just patched) and not fully repaired. I’m just worried that in the event this thing hits with cat 3 winds, I’m not sure what to do with the bunnies in case of an emergency (i.e fallen tree). Evacuating is not necessarily possible at this point- most gas stations are out of gas and the highways are a MESS of backed up traffic and accidents. They also want me to go to work still. But I am absolutely not leaving my bunnies in my apartment with a storm of 90 mile an hour winds passing… so that should be an interesting talk with my job. But they know that I ride the bus for transportation, and the busses won’t be running. So honestly they can kiss it, I’m not coming to work!!!!

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Posted By Tony’s Mum on 9/07/2017 3:16 PM

Ellie, you are hilarious. You’re dead right to power through the red tape like that, my little sister has MS and she takes no sh1t from anyone, so she always gets what she wants before anyone else.

Sorry to hear about your sister’s condition
I know I can be extremely rude at times, but alas it’s necessary to confront and re-educate people at times. By “at times” I mean “every time I leave the house”. One of the most common complaints uttered by handicapped people. Especially now that I use a mobility scooter I see that a lot of people seem to think “handicapped=mentally deficient”. They act upon that by ignoring your opinion, forcing their “help” upon you, and literally pulling things out of your hands. Not to mention deeply personal questions from total strangers in a busy shop. You’ll have to be pretty straightforward to be treated like a normal human being. It usually leaves a shocked crowd who are rapidly re-evaluating their opinion about handicapped people. I used to be ashamed of it in the beginning, but I see that you’ll need to speak up or be swept under the rug.

[Deleted User]

Since I only have one cage, I am thinking that it may be a good idea to figure something out while the worst of the storm passes. What do you guys think of putting one in the carrier and then the carrier inside the cage and closing it? They can’t fight through the door of the carrier because the grid is small squares. I think it would be best to know where they are and that they have protection over them in case of anything unexpected (we have trees around the apartment, windows aren’t that sturdy and they rattle in a regular thunderstorm).

Or I could put one in the cage and one in the bathtub…but the bathtub was supposed to be my neutral bonding territory…

I don’t know what would be best, I just want to make sure that they are safe and that I know where they are and can get to them easily.

[joea64]

@BunNoob: How are Ophelia and Quincy fixed for food when Irma comes through? Do they have plenty of hay/greens/pellets? I like the carrier idea, I just wish there were two of them available so you could secure both of them. Maybe if you put some kind of liner in the bathtub that absorbs the buns’ scents so that they don’t smell anything later on once it’s time to start bonding sessions, that might work for this emergency? I wouldn’t really sweat that part anyway – if you have to put them in a “neutral” territory to keep them safe, then that’s just how it is.

Up here in Northern VA I doubt we’ll feel much impact from Irma; by the time the outlying winds get close enough to have any effect, the main part of the storm will be over Atlanta and is forecast to have declined to tropical-storm strength or even “normal” storm level by then. That being said, though, I do worry what happens the next time a bad storm hits because their condo is normally placed next to a window. As they’re already well-bonded, though, placing them temporarily in the bathtub won’t be a problem.

[Deleted User]

They are good on food, plenty of hay and pellets. And I have a 1lb container of spring mix but I am going to get another one after work today. We are filling an ice chest with ice to keep the lettuce and other veggies fresh and cold for them in case of power outage.

I have an old quilt that I can use to cover the tub. I would probably put Quincy in the tub since he is FAR less territorial than Ophelia. She will hate to be in the cage. But I feel like I don’t have another option I just want to make sure she is safe.

Maybe a better solution is to put him in the tub, and take the baby gates from the bedroom door and block off the kitchen and put her in there. At least its a smaller area and I can get to her easier if I need to. And she won’t feel so cooped up. I’m sure the storm raging will be enough stress, I just don’t want to add additional stress by confining them to a cage, and I REALLY don’t want to have to coop up one of them in a carrier. My neighbor has the other carrier for her cat in case of an emergency.

[Q8bunny]

I vote for space that’s easiest for you to grab them out of in case of an emergency evac. And I’m with you on work sucking your toes if they insist on your coming in.

In all seriousness though, do take care. Vibes coming your way from the sandpit. ((((((BunNoob & furries… hubby included?))))))

[joea64]

On a different subject, I recommend that all U.S.A. BB members pay very close attention to their credit reports and their credit-card accounts for at least the next while. I’m sure at least some of you have already heard of the massive data breach at Equifax, where personal information relating to up to a whopping 143-145 million people may have been leaked. This is a gigantic mess, so check your accounts very carefully going forward.

[Q8bunny]

I saw that when I was reading The Guardian this morning. The price we pay for living in the Matrix.

[Deleted User]

So I told my job not to count on me coming in. They expected that they said. Working on just staffing the ER radiology reading room and the other rooms will just have to call that clerk if they need something. I still haven’t been able to find batteries or candles, going out after work again today to check around and see what I can get.

I think I am going with tub and kitchen. There’s nothing that can fall on them in those rooms and they are both very small (tiny apartment) so I think that is best so that they still have more space than they would in a cage. Hopefully this isn’t as bad as they’re anticipating.

[joea64]

@Q8: A lot of people on the credit-card-users/credit-rebuilding forum I belong to are almost literally up in arms about this fiasco with Equifax. There’s already a class-action suit in the offing.

@BunNoob: Wouldn’t it be funny if Ophelia and Quincy ended up getting bonded by the experience of having to go through Irma together?

[Q8bunny]

Extreme stress bonding: skip the washer/dryer, and just go through a hurricane together.

I’ve never been a fan of Equifax – a decade after I left the states, having closed every account with a zero balance, they still had some bogus credit card on my report, despite my being able to prove that it’s an error. I’d sue them if I could just out of spite now. They were probably too cheap to hire whitehat havkers to test their cyber security.

[Vienna Blue in France]

((( vibes to Irma victims, past or future )))

[Bam]

Yes, lots and lots of vibes to everyone affected by Irma. Be safe, please.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Very frightening situation, I hope you and your fur families will all be safe!

[Tony's Mum]

Really hope everything is ok for all you US guys during these storms. ?

[Dface]

BunNoob-I’d offer advice on keeping them as confined as possible during a big storm like you are expecting – so if you need to move them you can do so immediately, and so they have less risk of hurting themseleves in case they panic. Youve mntioned Ophelia is a particularly nervous type. Another thing is to try and pad the areas they are going (kitchens and bathrooms tend to have slippy floors) but I remember a really sad case where a members rabbit panicked in a thunder storm (i think ) and ended up breaking his hip after panicking and slipping. So if you had an old blanket/duvet and pillows and lots of safe bolt holes for the two of them. Not trying to scare you. More just I thought of it and would feel so guilty if I said nothing and something did happen !

Hopefully you and everyone else stays safe during this

[jerseygirl]

Also hopping on to say Im thinking of all you that possibly are affected by Irma. BunNoob, RabbitPam, Bladesmith, Starla, and Hazel (I think). Any chance you can check in, Hazel? Im not sure if you are in Florida or one of the other States on the lower East of the country.

[Deleted User]

Thanks you guys! Not much we can do now besides just wait it out. The more this thing has shifted the worse it is looking for us. It is CRAZY how big this storm is! Some people here don’t understand…they think that if we don’t get a direct hit we won’t get anything…but this storm is over 400 miles wide! It can cover the whole peninsula of FL!! I have also been wondering about RabbitPam in particular because I think she is in south Florida, and depending where she is that could be a very dangerous situation!

Yes, I was trying to figure out a way that I can keep an eye one them both in a small space….this was not in my plan at all but I’VE STARTED BONDING!!! Eeep!! So we will be spending Sunday-Monday all together in the bathroom!! I was going to wait another 2 weeks until Quincy is 1 month post neuter. But he is honestly the chilliest little guy ever, so I wasn’t worried about him. I’ve been worried about Ophelia so I thought “I have the next three days off, I’m going to be stuck inside, my school deadlines have been postponed….what better time to do this than now if they are ready?

[Hazel]

Yup, Irma is getting closer. It doesn’t look like we will get a direct hit, but it’s hard to tell how bad it will be. The hubby managed to scavenge some food yesterday, like granola bars, chips, bread and a few overpriced cans of soup. There wasn’t much left, I wanted some bananas but they were out. They were threatening to turn the water off before the storm hits, but luckily they decided to keep it on for now.

I hope everyone affected by Irma will be safe. BunNoob, I hope it shifts away from you!

[Q8bunny]

For those of you on the eastern coast: it might sound nuts, but after the storms subside, you might want to go beachcombing. It’s amazing how much sunken Spanish treasure is uncovered after each big hurricane down there.

[joea64]

I don’t know about Spanish treasure, and I’m a couple hours’ drive away from the coastline anyway (more if you’re trying to fight your way through typical Washington/Baltimore traffic), but I do know this much; I’m buying my litter/bedding at Walmart from now on. I was browsing through the pet care section there today and the rabbit on their house-brand package looked awfully familiar, so I went to look at the package of Carefresh bedding I had bought an hour or so previous at Pet Supplies Plus (I had a $7 off coupon so I actually got a good price), and wouldn’t you know it…the rabbit is the same. In fact, it’s exactly the same company (Healthy Pet) based in the same place. Furthermore, you can get Kaytee stuff in Walmart (not that any really savvy rabbit owner would want to ) under the brand Forti-Diet. Something to keep in mind next time you go shopping…

[jerseygirl]

Hi Hazel ! Glad to read you won’t be in direct line. Still, this is a BIG storm. I hope you aren;t badly affected.

Anyone that’s been through a hurricane or two with their rabbits, there is a member (Nikki) asking for advice in Q&A currently. Unfortunately in Saint Peterburg.  

 I would have thought the whole area would be under mandatory evacuation by now.

Ive been reading about how that’s not an option for many though. And Im betting the roads out are clogged up pretty bad. 

[Q8bunny]

It all looks pretty gnarly there… I don’t remember there ever being two hurricanes quite this big back to back before.

I’m hoping that everybun will get through it safely.

[Tony's Mum]

Random question, but does anyone know what bunny blood looks like when it dries? I got a new rug yesterday and it’s really light colour, and today I saw some extremely bright red patches in a bunny shaped line across the rug. I’ve checked them both for cuts and I can see nothing, so I’m wondering is it blood, or maybe have they eaten a lipstick or dribbled orangey pee or something? I’m a bit worried.

[LBJ10]

When it dries, it has a deep red/brownish red color. I only know because Wooly ripped a nail off and got blood splatter all over the white wall (presumably from shaking his paw). This happened in the middle of the night. I woke up and found the “murder scene”. LOL

[Tony's Mum]

Thanks, I kind of figured it would be similar to human blood in that sense. The patches on the rug are really bright, almost orangey, and definitely dry, so looks like they aren’t blood. I have no idea what they’re doing or what the stain is, but I’m slightly relieved ?

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

It may be that somebunny was carrying around a couple of drops of pee in their fur. Sometimes it gets very dark orange, almost red.

[Azerane]

Didn’t think I’d be this worried but I am kinda freaking out about Hurricane Irma. Many of hubby’s friends are in Tampa and the surrounding areas. The exact location where Irma is now tracked to make landfall. Some of them left, some of them didn’t. I really hope she’s not as bad as she looks, it makes me feel sick.

[Deleted User]

I think we turned out pretty fine with Irma. At least here in central FL. Some trees down and some streets flooded, but nothing too crazy. I guess a good bit of people lost power, we didn’t though. All back to normal now and back at work…. boo!! lol

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Glad to hear you’re safe! I hope the rest of the people here are well too.

[Deleted User]

Azerane- if it’s any consolation, I have some friends and family down in Tampa and everyone on my end is fine!

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Bad situation here..man I hate it when people won’t take a “no” and get pushy. I used to bunnysit a lot for one of my neighbours, but her bun is really energetic and too large to handle safely for me now. He has the tendency to jump out of his cage and give me a merry chase. This happened last time when I was already having back problems, and I had to crawl after him on hands and feet. I also couldn’t pick him up safely because I had to use one hand to drag myself up again. He made a weird kicking move and I was worried that he’d hurt his back. Luckily he turned out fine, but I spent most of the remainder of the day flat in bed Of course I immediately told her what had happened and that he was doing okay.

This morning I got a text from her that she’s leaving tomorrow, and will be gone for 5 days. She doesn’t seem to be taking the “No, I cannot handle him safely. Since this is the case I cannot and I will not be responsible for him now.”. I’m not about to take on such a responsibility when I know that there’s a high chance that something will go wrong. Now she’s started bargaining with arguments like “That’s just an incident.” and “What if you’ll only feed him on saturday?”.
That won’t change my back issue. And I’m pretty sure he’s going to jump again, and plainly told her so: “You know that he gets really hyped up even after 1,5 days in his cage becuase he can’t get rid of his energy.”.

The poor bun is in a cage which is way too small and without company. He’s young, strong and bored out of his wits: another “incident” waiting to happen. I actually think it’s cruel to leave him in there for 5 days, but I don’t know if I should say that. We’re not very well-acquainted and she only contacts me once every few weeks if she wants a bunnysitter.

[jerseygirl]

She’s leaving tomorrow for 5 days and hasn’t secured a bunny sitter?  Makes one think she just assumed you’d do it.
Her argument of last time being just one incident doesn’t hold up. She has to prepare for the “what if’s” in her absence. Anyway, I don’t need to say that to you! You get it.

Could you suggest she ask one of your other neighbours but that they can contact you if they have concerns about how he is acting? As another bunny person to verify if vet is needed or not? 

[joea64]

I have to say that that other person is acting really irresponsibly, especially if they’re aware of your own health problems and that you have a bun of your own that needs your care. I have knee problems myself (broken cartilage and developing arthritis), so it can be quite the task sometimes to get down properly on the floor with Panda and Fernando; in fact I bought a stool just before they came home for this purpose. Have you tried to get her to contact local rabbit/Humane Society organizations to see if they can recommend bunnysitters who can physically manage the task better?

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

I explained it all again to her in very clear terms, using terms like “I feel that” and repeating that I will not take on a responsibility if I can’t handle that responsibility right now. She has read my messages but is not responding, which is totally fine by me. I guess the message got across that I’m not going to be pushed into things I don’t stand behind.
Let’s hope that she found another bunnysitter and her bun is well-cared for. It’s hard to see that people are so irresponsible and that their buns aren’t cared for properly. I don’t know if she regrets the decision of getting a bun, but I do think that she didn’t do her homework before making the choice. Whenever people see Breintje and tell me: “I want to get one too!”, I always reply with: “If you don’t have time for a dog, you won’t have time for a bunny.” After the shocked silence I explain that buns have to be supervised during playtime, and that they need at least 3 hours out-of-cage time. That always comes as a surprise, people never seem to expect the kind of work that goes into buns.

[Q8bunny]

LOL In which case, I am a CRAP parent because Chewie’s usually the one who’s supervising ME. ???

[MoxieMeadows]

Posted By Tony’s Mum on 9/02/2017 6:32 AM

My niece, who is seven, is talking about this boy in her class that she likes. I just asked her why she liked him, and her response was “his family have SEVEN dogs!!!” ??

That’s pretty good reasoning if you ask me.

LOL, It appears that your niece has her priorities straight

[MoxieMeadows]

I hope that all members (and everyone for that matter) who are being affected by Irma will stay safe!

The weather has been bipolar here (but when is it not? lol). Last Wednesday was freezing, and I was sure that it had finally turned the corner to Autumn. But the last couple days, it has been 80 degrees!

[Azerane]

Ellie, I hope your neighbour found a bunsitter. It’s terrible she just assumed you would do it and doesn’t care about your health in this situation.

I have a very random and sudden desire to learn needle felting to make cute animals. The only trouble is, if I want to try something like that, I’d probably have to lay down about $100 just to give it a go and see how I like it, and then I may not ever do it again. That’s the trouble with trying new hobbies. I think it’s something I could enjoy though since it’s very hands on and I like creating things with my hands. I’m going to have to think about it and watch more youtube videos before I get too carried away I think

[jerseygirl]

Heh. I picked up needles and wool rovings about 6 years ago… possibly longer. Not much was made with them. I did felt some of Goosemans shedded fur recently though! If that counts.
Getting the glass eyes makes all the difference for the felted animals, I think. They look great.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

@Q8: LOL, I’m sure you’re a great parent but that Chewie is just the master of the house

@Azerane: Yes, being taken for granted really hurts. But I’m more worried about her bun. I can fend for myself, but he can’t However, talking to her seems useless. I’ve tried to give her some information about boredom busters and proper food, because I noticed that things weren’t optimal, but she insists she’s doing the right thing.

Needle felting sounds like an amazing hobby I totally get your point about picking up new hobbies, making an investment and then finding out that it’s not your thing. There’s half a monthly salary worth of aquarel materials here which are gathering dust.

[Dface]

Ellie- I cant understand how someone would leave it so last minute to even discuss you minding her rabbit!!

Az- I taught myself needle felting a while ago, but I never kept it up, I kept stabbing myself and got cross with it. Having said that it’s a very engrossing hobby.

My two gremlins are being awful this week. My poor mom. They’ve started eating/chewing the wall, they’ve dug out the litter box three times this week. They’ve decided they do not care for the litter box anymore… The poor woman is at her wits end. I feel so guilty not being there.
Little hooligans

[ThorBunny]

Dface, I faced this exact frustration! I don’t think it’s really boredom related, once they figure out they can dig the litter box they will continue… Litter screen from BB was the fix for us! Or a DIY litter screen if you are feeling handy

Ellie, sorry for your bun-sitting dilemma! I do hope his owner takes better care of him in the future!

Az – my mom loves to needle felt! She also knits and felts stuffed animals for fun. She seems to really like it but it does take quite a bit of practice and up front costs. Thor’s stuffie hedgehog (Fred) was knit and felt my my mom

[Azerane]

Hehe, Dface, I can imagine if I give it a go I will be stabbing myself plenty of times before I really get the hang of it. I just like the thought of crafting something like that and making all sorts of different animals. After years of practice I could make Apollo and Luna lookalikes I found someone who sells kits and has youtube videos of her making the animals from those kits so if I get something I think that will be the way to try it out. Plus it would only be a little bit of money, not a half a month’s worth of pay

Ellie, I understand the worry for your neighbour’s bun. You can only do what you can though and you have passed on information and helped her as much as you can.

[Tony's Mum]

Dface, mine are acting up too, I feel your frustration. Tony is being a really bad example to Carmela and now they’ve learned to work as a team. It’s cute but between being busy and being injured, my house is a disaster. They’ve escaped every barrier I had up repeatedly, and there is hay EVERYWHERE. Plus they’ve found a new interest in my laundry basket. I woke up the other day to find the two of them had climbed inside it and were happily chomping away on my favourite bra.

It’s adorable, but I can see why your Mam is at her wits end ?

Ellie your neighbour needs to cop on. That is a disgraceful way to treat both you and her bun. You’re right to warn people about buns being work; so many people see my ball of fur and think he’s hilarious and adorable (which he is) but I always warn them how expensive and exhausting he can be too. All that sass is cute to watch in small doses but at 5am when you’re exhausted it’s really not so cute ? and it’s only a matter of time before Mellie gets even more confident and I have two demon bunnies running around!

[Vienna Blue in France]

I’ve been off grid for a week.
Olaf that picture!!! . My heart melted, but you’ll have to commission 3 more, one for each season, as his booplesnoot and boots change so much. Haha.

Az. Could you check out ebay or the oz equivalent of Craigslist to get someones secondhand ‘used once’ kit. Someone who thought it would be a good idea to do it too, but did it once. LOL. Or put an advert yourself looking for it. Thats what i do. If its not a big item (like gym equipment or golf clubs) that get in the way, people usually have this stuff hidden away in a long forgotten drawer.

[Q8bunny]

My eyes are so grainy and blurry and itchy and achy today. Bleh… allergies or yet another fun aspect of my head cold?

[Bam]

Maybe you need glasses Q8? Or new glasses if you already have glasses? I got new glasses in February or so, they’ve revolutionized my life. No more of that achy blurry. I’m just afraid I’ll mislay them though, I often think I have even while I’m wearing them on my nose.

Effi had her first physiotherapy session last Friday. She did 6 minutes on the water treadmill and got cold laser along her lower spine. They said she’d probably be exhausted after, but she wasn’t.

[Reesebun]

Posted By MoxieMeadows on 9/14/2017 4:41 PM

I hope that all members (and everyone for that matter) who are being affected by Irma will stay safe!

The weather has been bipolar here (but when is it not? lol). Last Wednesday was freezing, and I was sure that it had finally turned the corner to Autumn. But the last couple days, it has been 80 degrees!

It’s the same here! It’s weird how in the fall when it starts getting colder everyone has jackets on at 50 degrees F, but in the spring when it gets up to 40 F everyone is like: “Yeaaa its so warm out! Shirts off lets go ride our bikes!” (Mainly talking about me and my neighbor ha ha) 

I also took Reese out on the colder days and then when I took her out today I think I way have accidentally started another molt… 

[Q8bunny]

I have a thorough checkup annually in August. Eyes are fine. But allergies and/or head cold are real gremlins, I suspect… just can’t decide which one to blame.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Get well soon Q8! There are of course a million things you can pick up at a school. Kids should come with a biohazard label.

I’d say it sounds like a cold, there’s a massive cold wave going around here anyway. Had good hopes of skipping it, because my friends have been sniffling for two weeks. Alas, it’s caught up with me. Got a throat so thick that looks like one of those old Dutch paintings. I found a lone ice lolly in the back of the freezer, that made the best breakfast ever.

[Q8bunny]

I’ve been sucking on ice cubes too!
I sound like a frog (and I don’t mean French).

[Q8bunny]

PS And get well soon.

[MoxieMeadows]

I hope everyone who isn’t feeling well, will feel better soon!

Okay guys, random cute(ish) thing that happened.
Well my friend’s brothers came to visit (she moved up here from another state, so they live a ways away. I had met them once before in July when I went to their house with my friend for a few days)
Well they are like, the nicest people ever lol. But anyways, the point of this story is that we were all waiting at a restaurant to pick up our order and the people got the order wrong and were stressing out, so I was like “I feel bad for them, they get the order wrong every time I have come ”
And one of her brothers’ was SO SMOOTH, he goes “It’s all your fault —-, (I was getting ready for a rude comment like any of the guys I know would have said) they are just so dazzled by your stunning beauty that they can’t get your orders right.”
And at this point me and my friend (their sister) were DYING, I was so embarassed lol and the other brother goes to fist bump him for being smooth, but the 1 who complimented me goes “No, or then it will make it seem like I wasn’t being genuine.”

I got so flustered and turned bright pink lol

[Bam]

Moxie, that really was cute ?And smooth ?

Q8, you’re probably getting the yearly start-of-school-plague aren’t you? I think I remember you had to get a whole battery of meds last fall. All the students coming back with vile microbes from all parts of the world.

[Azerane]

Moxie, that is really cute I probably would have blushed too.

Vienna, that’s a great idea to check secondhand, although so far haven’t had much luck in finding anything. I think it might not be the sort of thing people think to sell on? Will keep looking

[LBJ10]

Aww… sounds like someone likes you Moxie.

[Azerane]

Hubby was gloating to me the other day about the pedometer on his phone and how many steps he’d taken at work that day. I turned the pedometer on my phone on at work today and yesterday. Yesterday, 10,000+ steps, today 13,000+ steps, and that’s just at work. After catching the bus and walking home today I’m over 15,000 He said my step count made him feel lazy, lol. My step count just makes me feel more tired than I already am, haha.

In other news we finally received our lease renewal today. Lease ended at the end of July and she said she was going to send a new one out but we never received it. I assumed she’d forgotten. When I received it today it said 2nd copy issued on it so I guess she sent one out we just never got it last time. At least that’s sorted out now.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Az. Golly that could have been nasty if you hadn’t got the 2nd one…. she may have thought you weren’t replying on purpose !!!! Phewie.

Moxieeeee : . Now its your turn to make him a compliment in return..
But first, the all important, eliminatory question : does he like animals???

[Q8bunny]

Bam: Yep.

I want to cry. Chewie started to moult again this week. He JUST finished an all-summer moult. WTF??!!! I honestly don’t know what to do anymore.

[Bam]

Q8, that’s exactly what Bam did too

[MoxieMeadows]

Vienna– He actually does like animals ????

I feel you guys on the fur thing…I constantly have CLUMPS stuck to me. I have legit been at dance before and raised my arms to reveal a clump of Moxie’s wool in my armpits ???

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Same here Q8 and Bam, I feel your annoyance (and itchy noses)…

@Moxie: how cute ^_^ He sounds very nice!
That’s also a must for me btw: if someone doesn’t like animals I won’t even consider going on a date. It was very cute that Bas shares the same opinion and invited me to meet Breintje first chance he got.

Totally recognise the fur thing too: it gets everywhere! Fresh cup of tea, straight from the kettle, and there’s fur floating in it. Opening a fresh packet of chocolates or biscuits to give to a guest, and the first they take has fur on it. (???)

I’d like to propose the fur uncertainty principle: you can either know how fast it’s flying off your bun, or its location in your bun’s living space, but you can’t know wherever the heck it’s flying around right now…

[Q8bunny]

Ellie: You are a wunderkind of bunny theoretical physics.

[MoxieMeadows]

Ellie- Same about not liking animals being a deal breaker! I don’t really trust people who don’t like animals, LOL

[Dface]

I don’t even live with my rabbits ATM and I’m finding fur everywhere-its awful!! I have to deal with the floof minus the cute!
Moxie+Ellie- I dated a guy who wasn’t in to animals. The relationship basically ended when he accused me of loving my 14 day old baby hedgehogs more than him.. apparently the answer “well duh” wasn’t the one he wanted to hear !

Being with people who don’t get it isn’t worth it
,They always view it as a competition between them and the pet (which they’re always going to lose!)

[Vienna Blue in France]

Zou is currently impersonating a black mop who has stuck her bum in an electrical socket.
Henry is on I think, his fourth of the year….
Baloo is dropping hairs like a Christmas tree drops its needles in january (he sneezes and the floor is covered)

And my parents arrive in 4 weeks…. oh boy…

[Reesebun]

Ellie, Bam, and Q8, Same thing is happening to Reese. I think I already said that in my last post though…

[Azerane]

Vienna, 4 weeks is plenty of time to procrastinate on cleaning!

We have a rental inspection coming up soon, probably in the next 2-3 weeks. I’ve been pretty good with housework lately but the spare room and the backyard are somewhat of a disaster zone. I just hate cutting the lawn because I use and all the weeds in bunny salad. Fortunately dandelion is low-lying so the mower shouldn’t catch those anyway.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

A cat just tried to murder Breintje! Luckily he seems to be fine and un-injured, but I’m keeping a close watch on him in case he gets a shock later. At the moment he seems to be eating, grooming himself and exploring, and he’s obviously not as startled as I am. I’m still crying and shaking.

I don’t have a hood in my kitchen, so I often open a door or window when I’m cooking. But I always put a piece of a metal gate before the entrance for safety reasons. Suddenly I heard a loud banging and I saw the gate moving into the living room. Then it fell over. I hobbled to the other side of the room as fast as I could, and saw something white outside around the doorpost. I thought that Breintje had tried to escape and made a jump over the gate, but instead I saw an orange and white cat strutting in front of my door. Only when I yelled at it, it ran away.

In the meantime I panicked because Breintje was nowhere to be found, I feared that he was outside too, in the dark with that awful cat… I found him several minutes later, appearantly he jumped and hid in the little slit between the couch and the radiator. Luckily he got out on his own, but he was thumping and running around in a panic. It was really difficult to catch him and to check him for injuries.

I asked around on the neighbourhood Whatsapp group, but nobody seems to know who the owner is. I’ve never seen the cat before either. When I do find the owner, there’s going to be a firm talk. A cat who’s so agressive should be kept indoors. It’s crazy: he chased Breintje with the gate and all…

[Deleted User]

Oh no!! I’m glad that he seems to be ok physically, and hoping there is no delayed response! My neighbor has a cat and wanted to “make it friends” with Ophelia. Uh uh, I don’t think so!! May I ask, how you pronounce Breinjte? I love it, but I think I am probably butchering it XD

I don’t think we have ever gone through an actual moult? There’s definitely been shedding. I honestly can’t imagine what my nose and eyes will feel like from a moult…..I already use a ton of eye drops now because they’re so dry and itchy.Oh, random question! Do buns stress-shed? They weren’t shedding and then we went on a car ride and as I was petting them, a ton of fur starts coming out of them. Then, back at home I am petting and nothing?

I am so full of joy with Ophelia you guys! We definitely have a good bond. She is totally fine with me laying on the floor, wrapping one arm around her and snuggling, AND last night while chilling, she let me check her teeth and gums without even flinching! I did not expect her to ever be that comfortable. Plus, her teeth and mouth look great!!!

[Reesebun]

I asked this same question, and I am pretty sure I remember it being pronounced “Brine-tee”

I’m glad Ophelia has bonded well with you!

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Hahaha, Dutch is meant to be butchered. I once spoke Dutch to an English friend of mine, and he said that he could never imagine an orc vomiting until he heard this language 

It can be very harsh like German, especially consonants on the end of a word can be sharp (like d’s which are pronouced as t’s). Unlike fluent and melodic French, we have hard distinctions between each word.
Even Dutch people have the need to make words sound cuter or friendlier at times, which is why we use the diminutive case quite often ( expats will learn to hate this within a couple of days). The diminutive case is made by adding “-je” or “-tje” to a word, in which the “e” is a schwa and sounds like “uh”.

Let’s say you want to talk about a dog which you saw, but it was so cute that you’d rather call it a doggie. You wouldn’t use the rather sharp sounding word “hond” (pronounce as “hont”), but rather the softer “hondje”, (pronounce as “hond-juh”). With Breintje it’s also the diminutive case: the main word is “Brein” (brain), and the diminutive becomes “Breintje”. The “ei” sound is a diphthong unique to the Dutch language, even the Germans pronounce it differently. You can hear its use on Wikipedia here in the word “zeis” (scythe): https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zeis#Dutch

Yup, we think that Breintje is definitely the brains of the outfit here, and so the name “little brainy” was only fitting I’m sorry I can’t record it for you at the moment because of my throat infection (Dutch pronunciation AND a throat infection combined is forbidden by the Geneva convention). But as a substitute I found this website http://www.fluency.nl which has a nice demo on its front page. I’ve included a picture which explains how to get the best pronunciation.

[Q8bunny]

Ellie, that’s awful! I hope the little one recovers from the nasty shock. This incident brings to mind the discussion we all had a while ago about how pet cats should not be let outside unless on a leash.

BN: Floor cuddles are so awesome, aren’t they? So glad your darling girl enjoys them too.

[Bam]

Ellie, that is so scary and so awful! Thank goodness little Brainy had the sense to run into hiding! Poor sweetheart! I have been afraid of this happening at my mum’s because there are cats that occasionally gets into the garden and potentially could go into the house when a door is open. I’m never leaving the door open there again after reading your story. Some cats are terrible. Not all have owners.

Moxie, yay for this guy liking animals! It really is important. Well, you know that, thank goodness.

BunNoob, rabbits do stress shed.

[joea64]

I worry about cats a lot too. The lady who lives in the apartment next to mine has several cats that are free-range around the yard, and I often see them lounging against the building wall. If I spot one when I’m coming up the sidewalk, I keep a very close eye on them while I’m unlocking my door. Fortunately, when I’m out of the house Panda and Fernando are always in their condo with the doors secured and latched, and notwithstanding that I’m not enthusiastic about taking them outside anyway even when I’ll have to eventually (in their carrier), I certainly won’t take them out even on a leash if there are cats anywhere in visual range (fortunately there aren’t many places for them to hide).

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Breintje seems to be doing fine, although he’s more cuddly than usual. Bas reported that Breintje was testing all his escape routes this morning, but that seems normal too after such a shock.

I have no other option than to have the door open and fenced off during cooking, and I refuse to turn my house into a fortress because some owner doesn’t take responsibility for their pet. If the cat comes in here again, I’ll chase it off with water.

[Dface]

Thought I was going to get so much work done for my thesis at home…caught a vomiting bug off of one of the children my mam minds!
ick.
Typing with a basin next to my laptop really completes the pathetic student vibe I was going for !

But yay for small victories-Yumi did her first proper bunny 500 since leaving our home in Belfast! Peep still doesnt know where she goes when she gets on the couches.He gets the OH MA GOD SHE’S VANISHED look on his face. Poor eejit

[Q8bunny]

@ Peep. Too cute. Narf!
But sorry for you. Apparently I have pneumonia. Caught a bug my first week back at school. So I get the patheticness factor Hope you feel better soon. The nice thing is, stomach bugs are often short-lived.

[Reesebun]

Ellie, I’m typing a lot of random words in that fluency thing, including my name, and it is funny to hear how it is pronounced!

Reese is pronounced “Pdrey-sa”

[Dface]

Q8-Yeah Im looking forward to getting this one out of my system-its been pretty gross. Hope you start feeling better yourself! Children are just germ incubators..

[Bam]

Goodness Q8. I hope you’re on antibiotics now. Pneumonia. They should pay you extra for the bio hazard aspect of your work ?

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Get well soon DFace and Q8!

@Reese: lol, the audio can be very unnatural, which is why I tested all the voices first. Some of them really made a mess of “Breintje”, even though that’s an existing Dutch word.
I guess you’d pronounce Reese as “Ray-suh” according to our language rules. Our “r” is a very strong rolling sound, which is why us cloggies have difficulty with the nearly silent English “r”.

[LongEaredLions]

This beginning-of-winter bug I’ve caught never seems to go away. No fun, LOL.

[LongEaredLions]

Ellie, that is so interesting. I’ve had very minimal Dutch experience, but I’m having fun having the computer speak various words.

[Azerane]

Lame day, but even though it’s early I’m excited because Christmas lights and things are out in stores! Though it’s not terribly early, let’s face it it’s pretty much October, and once it’s October there’s only 2 months till Christmas (plus 24 days ) but you get the idea.

I bought some solar powered reindeer for the front yard (Exciting! it’s the first time I’ve been able to afford to buy some Christmas lights, lol) and then I also bought some Halloween decorations, haha. Just a few small things to put up in the front windows so that the local kids know we’ll have chocolate, haha. Plus hubby being American I figured it would be nice to have some decorations up for him

ETA: I didn’t think it was possible but I’m sure that Apollo is getting cuter by the day. Don’t tell Luna, but he’s my favourite child 

[joea64]

Posted By LongEaredLions on 9/24/2017 9:42 PM

This beginning-of-winter bug I’ve caught never seems to go away. No fun, LOL.

I wonder if I have the same thing you do. It started coming up last week, and at first I thought it was the dust in the “emergency” hay bags that I bought to tide my buns over until their regular hay resupply, but I ended up feeling pretty lousy from Saturday on (diarrhea first, then sore throat and constant sniffly nose). I came in to work today but probably shouldn’t have, so I’m leaving early today (had to wait for the first afternoon train &nbsp. Well, at least I’ll be spending some extra time with my buns today, if they don’t get alarmed by constant sneezing and sniffling.

[MoxieMeadows]

I hope you feel better Q8!

I got CPR certified today! (I however, never want to use this new skill, but it is important to have)

[joea64]

Still feeling pretty darn lousy – feeling chilled (though that might be because I keep the thermostat low to keep my home cool for my buns). We’ll have to see if I improve enough by tomorrow to go in to work; but I managed to do my duty by my fluffballs (hay, water, salad, treats, X-pen, even a short floor session though I probably won’t be able to manage more than that this evening) and Fernando was Bunny 500’ing and binkying like anything (Panda, as usual, was more sedate and ladylike).

[LBJ10]

Azerane – Is Halloween catching on in your area? I remember Andi saying something about Halloween and that is wasn’t catching on so much where she was. But I think it has become more popular in Australia. Halloween was such a big deal when I was a kid. LOL Free candy is always a good thing though. Now it seems I just buy candy so I can eat it myself… so then I have to buy more right before Halloween so there’s something for the trick or treaters.

Moxie – I always hated CPR certification classes. =\

Ugh, my allergies are still bothering me. I keep feeling dizzy though, I guess from fluid in my ears. *sigh*

[Tony's Mum]

I was blaming emergency hay too! My sinuses are all stuffed up and and I’ve a very bad headache and chills. Nothing else yet, but it’s been getting worse all week. I thought it was dust from the emergency hay but I did a big clean at the weekend and replaced it with normal hay, and I feel even worse now ?

[Bladesmith]

Is it winter yet? It’s too darn hot here.

[Reesebun]

It is unseasonably hot where I am too. School starts when it is normally turning fall so there is no air conditioning in most of the schools in the district. It has been in the 90s lately and It gets so hot inside the schools that this week has been all “Heat days” Where we only go to school for half of the day.

[LBJ10]

OMG, that’s it! Never eating at the mall food court again! There was a lady there with her baby. He had apparently blown through his diaper and there was poop everywhere, soaking through his clothes. She was sitting AT A TABLE, changing his diaper. And she sat the dirty diaper and dirty clothes ON THE TABLE!!! Eww, eww, eww! People eat there! I can just imagine an unsuspecting person sitting there after she left, completely unaware of what was sitting right where their food is now sitting. We said something to the guy who was cleaning the tables, but he seemed to think it wasn’t a big deal. Isn’t that some sort of health code violation?

[jerseygirl]

 That’s just… 

Not great for the baby either.  

Why on earth not take them to facilites designed for that? Didn’t want to leave her food? smh…

[LBJ10]

Jersey – The odd thing was she didn’t have any food with her. Ok, that wasn’t the odd thing. LOL I was just shocked. How could someone even think that’s OK?

[Azerane]

Posted By LBJ10 on 9/25/2017 9:00 PM

Azerane – Is Halloween catching on in your area? I remember Andi saying something about Halloween and that is wasn’t catching on so much where she was. But I think it has become more popular in Australia. Halloween was such a big deal when I was a kid. LOL Free candy is always a good thing though. Now it seems I just buy candy so I can eat it myself… so then I have to buy more right before Halloween so there’s something for the trick or treaters. 

Yes, and no It all depends on which suburb you live in I think. Previously where we lived (only about 1km from where we are now) we never had trick or treaters, yet at this house we had few kids last year and the year before. Probably because we’re a little closer to a school, but then again it’s not like the other house is far away from it. I’m told that halloween is actually quite big in Alice Springs. There is of course plenty of halloween stuff in stores such as Big W and cheap shops etc. Right next to the Christmas decorations of course 

I’m so exhausted today. I spent over an hour yesterday weeding giant patches of clover out of the lawn, I needed to mow it and I didn’t want to just mow the clover down. Then today I mowed 3/4 of the very well (over)grown lawn  I left the top section because there’s a bunch more clover in there. I think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and spray that section though because the lawn is much more dense there and I had trouble trying to get at the clover. At least it’s away from my dandelion patch I think I may also have to get one of those awful once a year path/gravel weed sprays too. Our gravel area is a nightmare to maintain (read: we don’t maintain it, lol) at this time of year, and I don’t know that the landlord is going to appreciate it full of weeds.  Horrible pollutant vs unhappy landlord… tough one.

Also, that’s gross about changing the baby on the food court table. That’s just not cool.

[jerseygirl]

That sounds like me with my back “lawn” (aka weed patch). I don’t mow one square metre where the ribwort plantain grows.
There is a trick you could try with weeds in the gravel but I think it would grow old quick. Pour hot water from the kettle on them. Okay when there are only a few but a pain if it’s overtaken with weeds. I think I read spraying with straight vinegar could work too. It wouldn’t surprise me – vinegar seems to be used for everything!

[joea64]

Posted By ReeseBun on 9/26/2017 11:26 AM
It is unseasonably hot where I am too. School starts when it is normally turning fall so there is no air conditioning in most of the schools in the district. It has been in the 90s lately and It gets so hot inside the schools that this week has been all “Heat days” Where we only go to school for half of the day.

It’s going to hit close to 90 in the Washington region today, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a thunderstorm; it was already humid in the pre-dawn hours. Fortunately, the temperatures are going to cool down significantly by the end of the week/month.

[joea64]

Posted By LBJ10 on 9/26/2017 11:26 PM
Jersey – The odd thing was she didn’t have any food with her. Ok, that wasn’t the odd thing. LOL I was just shocked. How could someone even think that’s OK?

I would have escalated it to the food court manager, or the mall/shopping center management. That is definitely a potential public health hazard. Unfortunately, a lot of people’s standards of manners appear to have undergone significant corrosion in recent decades.

[joea64]

Panda and Fernando finally worked out how to jailbreak from the X-pen while the door is latched last evening. I hold the pen secured to their condo with these removable latch things, I disremember what they’re called, but I only put one on each side last night and one of the buns – probably Fernando – was able to push the pen open far enough at where it abuts the condo so that they could make good their escape. I had no notion anything had happened until I saw an odd flash of white out of the corner of my eye and noticed Fernando giving me a simultaneously mischievious and abashed look; he was sitting just outside the X-pen. I was able to chivvy him back in easily enough by picking up the pen physically and shooing him through the opening, but Panda had also gone missing and I scouted around fruitlessly for several minutes until she emerged from behind the spinning DVD tower where she’d been foraging for loose hay strands. I had to break out an Oxbow treat bag to coax her back into the X-pen…

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Woops, intelligence is fun in a pet but not when they apply it to get out of their hutches. I hope they didn’t damage anything wile being unsupervised.

To any fellow ND owners: are ND’s especially sensitive to digestive issues? *Don’t read further if you still want to eat*

I walked into the living room this morning and found Breintje in his cage in a puddle of mushy poop. It was everywhere on him, on the sides of the cage, and there even were splatters on the cabinet and the wall next to the cage!
What in the blazes happened there? He didn’t eat anything out of the ordinary as far as I know, although he’s known to “vacuum” the floor for crumbs etc. He has just started his S->W moult, so I hope it’s just some hair which irritated his digestive tract.

What a fine morning wake-up, he surely was thankful for my help: *thump, thump, scratch, kick*. He hates getting wet, so even a damp washcloth treatment always leads to a struggle. I managed to get everything cleaned up despite a very grumpy bunny interfering with everything. “No, you’re not allowed to sweep the floor” *attacks broom* At least you can say he’s active…
I’m happy that he’s eating normally and just had some dry poops in his litter box. Keeping a close eye on him, and if it returns we’ll call the V-E-T.

[Q8bunny]

Bummer. It might be the moult. Too soon! After one that was too long! Bah humbug…

[joea64]

Posted By Ellie from The Netherlands on 9/27/2017 6:27 AM

Woops, intelligence is fun in a pet but not when they apply it to get out of their hutches. I hope they didn’t damage anything wile being unsupervised.

To any fellow ND owners: are ND’s especially sensitive to digestive issues? *Don’t read further if you still want to eat*

I walked into the living room this morning and found Breintje in his cage in a puddle of mushy poop. It was everywhere on him, on the sides of the cage, and there even were splatters on the cabinet and the wall next to the cage!
What in the blazes happened there? He didn’t eat anything out of the ordinary as far as I know, although he’s known to “vacuum” the floor for crumbs etc. He has just started his S->W moult, so I hope it’s just some hair which irritated his digestive tract.

What a fine morning wake-up, he surely was thankful for my help: *thump, thump, scratch, kick*. He hates getting wet, so even a damp washcloth treatment always leads to a struggle. I managed to get everything cleaned up despite a very grumpy bunny interfering with everything. “No, you’re not allowed to sweep the floor” *attacks broom* At least you can say he’s active…
I’m happy that he’s eating normally and just had some dry poops in his litter box. Keeping a close eye on him, and if it returns we’ll call the V-E-T.

Blech. No fun, and I hope Breintje will get back to dry pooping the way sensible, healthy bunnies should quickly!

I checked – particularly the DVD tower, in case Panda had decided that any of my movies were better off being chewed up than being watched (which is a valid, if somewhat drastic, method of film criticism) – and my buns appear to have left things alone. Fernando, however, developed an unseemly fascination with a bag of hay that he had knocked over during his little expedition (happily without spilling any) and was trying to chew the plastic open until I diverted him with a treat. I will have to put all four of those latch thingies that came with the X-pen on tonight and from now on, I see.

[Blue Moon]

hi every one i feel like I haven’t been here in forever. I have been doing my cattle shows and also home school during the week so I haven’t had much time to come on.

!WARNING! rant ahead well kind of.

so i will start at the beginning a kid was sitting my4-h groups’ tack area for the cattle petting my cow with no permission and of corse being in the tack area (witch no public is allowed into). and he stuck around for over two hours left for like ten minutes then came back. me and a friend were getting really creeped out by him, there were cops patrolling so we told one of them about him and the cop talked to him to tell him to leave us alone. he left then came back. and then this past weekend he followed us to another fair in the county and had this grand notion that he was going to buy my cow (who is not for sale) and a small patch of land. also he stuck around after we told him my cow was not for sale and started taking endless pictures of her and I have literally been having nightmares about him coming to the farm where my cow is because there was a sign that said the farm name and the town we are in (plus they have a web site) so if he did want to find the farm he could.

sorry for the rant

[joea64]

Sorry to hear about that, Blue Moon. It seems to me that this behavior is at the point, or will be soon, as being legally actionable as harassment or even stalking, particularly given that you’ve already had the police talk to him to get him to stop. If he hasn’t, then I think you’re entirely justified in contacting the police again.

[jerseygirl]

Crazy cow stalker boy. What age do you think he is?

[Reesebun]

Posted By Azerane on 9/27/2017 2:55 AM

I’m so exhausted today. I spent over an hour yesterday weeding giant patches of clover out of the lawn, I needed to mow it and I didn’t want to just mow the clover down. Then today I mowed 3/4 of the very well (over)grown lawn  I left the top section because there’s a bunch more clover in there. I think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and spray that section though because the lawn is much more dense there and I had trouble trying to get at the clover. At least it’s away from my dandelion patch  

My whole 2.8 acre yard is a dandelion patch! ha ha

Is something wrong with clover patches in the lawn? I don’t think it would be worth the trouble of getting all tired and having to spray your lawn, just buy a goat to eat it for you. Or you can always get on your knees and stick your face in the ground and eat it yourself 

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

@BlueMoon: it sounds very scary and I can understand why you and your friends are creeped out. I totally understand wanting to protect your cow, we’d all go a long way to protect our beloved animals.
He sounds like one of the many people I met who have developmental problems: trouble understanding rules and privacy, being fixated on ideas and obsessed with animals, not understanding that their behaviour is inappropriate, etc. Most of these people are quite harmless but they’ll definitely appear creepy.
I’d talk to the 4h group leaders if you haven’t done so, and talking to the police again may not be a bad idea either. Does anyone know who he is or where he lives? I don’t know his age, but a good chat with his parents or caretakers may help too.

[Blue Moon]

he is 18 and we think he has some form of autism but he is extremely highly functioning. he lives near the fist fair and the leaders have already talked to him we weren’t at the fair any more so he cant bother us for now unless he does find the farm. we haven’t seen his parents and/or care takers because he has been by himself the whole time. i heard him call his guardian right before we left with the cows. the only things we know are the general area of where he lives, his age, and his first name. I just needed to vent because while me and my friends at the first fair were creeped out we didn’t really talk to him and my mom ended up feeling really bad for not talking to him. she is too nice. luckily for us the fair season is almost over this is the last weekend is the last fair for us but not cows, this time goats
then i can sleep forever. fairs are really fun but tiring.

[joea64]

Posted By Blue Moon on 9/27/2017 2:23 PM

he is 18 and we think he has some form of autism but he is extremely highly functioning. he lives near the fist fair and the leaders have already talked to him we weren’t at the fair any more so he cant bother us for now unless he does find the farm. we haven’t seen his parents and/or care takers because he has been by himself the whole time. i heard him call his guardian right before we left with the cows. the only things we know are the general area of where he lives, his age, and his first name. I just needed to vent because while me and my friends at the first fair were creeped out we didn’t really talk to him and my mom ended up feeling really bad for not talking to him. she is too nice. luckily for us the fair season is almost over this is the last weekend is the last fair for us but not cows, this time goats
then i can sleep forever. fairs are really fun but tiring.

After my initial (and in retrospect possibly somewhat uncharitable) reaction, it dawned on me that he might possibly have some autism-spectrum disorder. If so, it’s quite possible that he wasn’t aware at all that he was acting inappropriately; one of the frequent hallmarks of people on the autism spectrum (and some of my family members have in the past speculated as to whether I have Asperger’s Syndrome or some such thing) is that they have a lot of trouble monitoring their social behavior, or catching and correctly interpreting others’ social cues. I sometimes wonder if learning to recognize and understand my rabbits’ social behaviors and cues may end up helping me better socially interact with other humans.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

I thought so immediately because there were some clear signs. However, being on the spectrum doesn’t have to excuse certain near-criminal behaviours. Despite people’s condition you should certainly call the police if they really break the law. Sometimes the police can even direct them to better professional care. People with autism can certainly learn some things about social rules and laws, but the extent of that depends on their level of functioning. I think it’d certainly help if people explained to him why his behaviours are upsetting others.

There’s a lot of variation in level of functioning on the spectrum, and it’s really weird to see all these people. I was diagnosed with a mild form of autism a while ago, and my counselor told me about little get-togethers for people on the spectrum. These evenings were held in a local café, and it was an informal meet-up (not a therapy session). I went there to meet some like-minded people, maybe expand my social circle a bit. It was shocking to see how much variety there was in severity of autism.

There were people who were polite yet a bit quiet, but would totally fit in with my friends. But there also were people who made me think: “Did the intern leave a door open after her smoke break? Can’t imagine you being free to roam.”. A bit crude, but there was this huge bear of a guy throwing a gigantic screaming fit after a waiter made a mistake with his order. That was the bravest waiter I’ve ever seen, I totally would have understood if he would have needed to “go in the back for a quick change” after that incident. I hope that these “worst cases” don’t colour peoples’ idea of people with autism too badly.

With some people you’d hardly notice that they have autism, especially if they’re using it as their forté. There’s a high demand for people on the spectrum in the IT sector, because some of us excel at keeping focussed while doing repetitive tasks. People with autism are very common in high-tech circles, and it’s always nice to see how well-adjusted they can be. Most of my friends have autism too and nearly all of them excel in their field of work and have a normal life with friends, family, many fun hobbies and sometimes a relationship.

[Tony's Mum]

Carmela peed on my TV today. I’m starting to think she was brought up by that food court woman ?

Ready and willing to take any and all advice about buns who pee and poop wherever despite happily using a litter box most of the time. Like she definitely seems to understand the idea of the litter box but sometimes forgets? Maybe gets over excited? I don’t know but there’s individual poops all over the floor and the peeing on random stuff is really getting irritating

[joea64]

Posted By Tony’s Mum on 9/27/2017 4:05 PM

Carmela peed on my TV today. I’m starting to think she was brought up by that food court woman ?

Ready and willing to take any and all advice about buns who pee and poop wherever despite happily using a litter box most of the time. Like she definitely seems to understand the idea of the litter box but sometimes forgets? Maybe gets over excited? I don’t know but there’s individual poops all over the floor and the peeing on random stuff is really getting irritating

How do you in fact know that Carmela wasn’t actually expressing her opinion of whatever happened to be on TV at the time?

[LBJ10]

LOL Tony’s Mum, maybe they were taking inspiration from each other. :p

Seriously though, I just cannot understand what is wrong with people. Are they really that ignorant? Or do they just not care? People are so disgusting and then take it as a personal attack against them or their kid. If I would have thrown a fit, I would have been the horrible person. The person who hates kids. *sigh*

Azerane – That’s interesting. So does a whole neighborhood just get together and decide to participate?

Huh, all of our dandelions and clover is dead. They managed to kill those, but not the weeds I wanted them to kill: violets and nimblewill.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

@LBJ: blegh, disgusting indeed. Sadly, common sense seems to be one of the rarest superpowers ever.
I won’t go so far as to say I hate kids, but I definitely hate noise and parents who let their kids rampage on the train etc. Breintje always gets super nervous too when they’re screeching and running around all the time. And heaven forbid you ask a parent to control their kids… Oh dear, you shouldn’t make too many rules for your kids… you’ll ruin their development!

Maybe I should buy a couple of those cheap whistles and put them in my bag. To give the kiddies a goodbye present when they leave. You know, to help them in their musical development…

[Azerane]

Posted By LBJ10 on 9/27/2017 9:03 PM

LOL Tony’s Mum, maybe they were taking inspiration from each other. :p

Seriously though, I just cannot understand what is wrong with people. Are they really that ignorant? Or do they just not care? People are so disgusting and then take it as a personal attack against them or their kid. If I would have thrown a fit, I would have been the horrible person. The person who hates kids. *sigh*

Azerane – That’s interesting. So does a whole neighborhood just get together and decide to participate?

Huh, all of our dandelions and clover is dead. They managed to kill those, but not the weeds I wanted them to kill: violets and nimblewill.

No, not that I’m aware of. I think if people want to go out and door knock they just do it. Though last year we usually had a few kids with several parents together so I’m sure that families get together, but not neighbourhoods (at least not where we are). I think I put out a pumpkin picture on the door or something last year to at least try and let people know we were participating. This year will be more obvious with some decorations. It must be tough for the kids going around and hardly getting any positive responses. But you can’t really blame people for that since it’s not an Australian thing.

@Reesebun, there’s technically nothing wrong with having clover in the lawn, but it’s starting to block out the lawn in those sections, and as the clover serves no advantage to me (or the buns since I don’t feed it to them) I’d rather it wasn’t there. We’re renting so we’re supposed to try and keep on top of weeds anyway, and the burrs that the seeds grow in are spiky and get stuck to everything so I’d just rather avoid it and at least try and prevent it from spreading any further.

[joea64]

A number of you have no doubt heard by now that Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy, passed away last night.

Oddly enough, Fernando, when you look at him side-on from a bit of a distance, looks astoundingly like the magazine’s famous mascot (especially when one ear is up and the other down, as is frequently the case)!

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Yay, all the costumes were finished just in time for this weekend’s LARP! Since some of you wanted to see the finished pics, I’ve posted them in the arts&crafts topic. Seemed more appropriate to me than fouling up this thread. Here it is: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/ta…fault.aspx

[Bladesmith]

If I can blow my own horn a little….Despite the oppressive heat, bugs and hurricanes coming to call, I actually managed to get a little knife work done after setting up and improvised workshop.  Here’s proof.  Fancy filework done on a modified Kiridashi knife, and what I’m calling the Native American Fighter. I had to take down my workbench in advance of Hurricane Irma, and I’m not going to set it up again the hurricane seasons ends and the weather is cooler.

[Q8bunny]

Niiice!

[Bam]

Bladesmith, that’s beautiful! I didn’t know you were literally a bladesmith. How cool!

[Azerane]

I didn’t know that either, very cool Bladesmith!

Today is AFL (Australian Football League) Grand Final day. I don’t really follow the footy, but at the very least it’s a good excuse for a BBQ at my mum’s house. The local team is playing so there’ll be parties etc everywhere tonight if there’s a win. And probably “feeling sorry for ourselves” parties if there’s not

My close friend gave birth two days ago as well, we got to go over for a catch up etc yesterday. I got lots of baby and doggy cuddles I think the poor puppy feels a little neglected, lol.

Walked away from my comp for about 4 hours to find I was still writing this post, lol. Just groomed Apollo and Luna and clipped their nails. Hocks had a small bare red patch on both, wondering if it’s because I left nails too long. Didn’t seem sore or unhealthy, just more irritated. I put some sudocrem on them though as a precaution. Who knows if it stayed on longer than 2 minutes. I’m hoping trimming the nails helps, might add some extra fleece to the cage this week.

[Bladesmith]

Posted By bam on 9/29/2017 2:02 PM

Bladesmith, that’s beautiful! I didn’t know you were literally a bladesmith. How cool!

Yep, afraid so.  I make longbows and recurve longbows as well.  That knife is finished, just working on a sheath for it now (I hates sheathmaking), if anyone wants it.

Hopefully I’ll get to the point where I can set up a big forge, and start making spears, axes, and swords.

Oh, I draw superheros too.

[Q8bunny]

Ooo! Cool beans!

[Tony's Mum]

Oh holy crap Bladesmith, that’s cool

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Nice hobbies, and great craftsmanship on the knife!

Aw bugger, it’s been raining heavily and non-stop since the start of the LARP. Tomorrow will be the only dry day this week. We’re having the kind of weather where the game masters will have to decide whether to cut off the event and send people home. That would mean 4 months of prep down the drain, for the organisation, the costume makers and the players themselves. Some players have been working on their attire and their props since May. Hoping for clear skies soon

[Deleted User]

Well great, I’m pretty certain that yesterday I broke my big toe. I was setting up for the buns bonding session and I use the glass table top from the patio table to block the entry to the kitchen and keep the buns in. As I turned to grab a chair to prop up against the glass so it didn’t fall, it slammed down right on top of my big toe. It really hurt but I didn’t think it was broken. Today, I can’t move it or walk on that foot… just what I needed I think I’m going to just go to the drug store and get one of those medical shoes. That’s all the doctor will do, plus charge me for the visit, X-ray, and probably a prescription for pain meds which is totally unnecessary.

[Riya]

Busted up toe?  The pain meds might be worth it .  Seriously though, I hope you feel better soon!

[Hazel]

We made it through Irma just fine, didn’t even lose power. It took a while to get our internet back though. I hope everyone else got through it okay, too!

Azerane: How did the game go? Did you win?

Bladesmith: Very cool!

BunNoob: Broken toes suck, been there done that. I hope it heals up soon!

Otis gave me a scare the other day. I put him in his wire crate and after a few minutes he started screaming at the top of his lungs. He somehow got his teeth stuck on the top of the crate. I tried getting him loose while yelling for the hubby who was still asleep. I finally managed to pop his top yaw off and free him. Poor thing piddled himself. Other than that he was okay though, he’s not afraid to go back in. Can’t believe he almost broke his shiny new teeth off, he just got those! We’re busy getting the backyard back into shape so he can play out there. He’s got way too much energy right now. I’m tired of getting puppy shanked, I got bruises all over.

[Azerane]

Hazel that’s wonderful to hear that you made it through Irma ok Sorry to hear about Otis’ teeth getting stuck, that would have been very scary!

The local team did not win. In fact they were thoroughly crushed. But nevermind, I don’t support the local team anyway, haha.

Today is parrot food making day. Just what I want to do, spend ages cutting up food that I don’t even get to eat…

[Author]

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