First February weekend

Those baby rabbits are deeply, profoundly cute. We sat with them for a while today, feeding them broccoli (mom came and snatched it away and ate it herself) and cabbage. They're just at the best age. Little Plum was practicing hopping over the bricks that separate the big box (just outside their nest box) from the room. She'd sit casually for a minute, then zip off, leap the bricks and land nonchalantly on the other side. Then turn around and bop over the bricks again, and loop the room, putting an extra kick in some of her hops. Then back over the bricks. The formerly black bunny, Martin, got into a tug-of-war over a piece of cabbage with the little white one (Rue).

The weather has turned snowy then cold (down to 16 tonight, and -3 forecast for Tuesday night). C. cut some stove wood from the pile outside and I hauled it inside and put the fan on to dry it out. I drove to Deer Park yesterday for five dozen eggs from Charlene (my egg connection), and today for four sacks of organic chicken feed from an Amish family farm.

Moved a little furniture around in Badeaux's old area (we've kept her separated from the little guys after she bit Jack and he lost his eye a couple of years ago). Not feeling like doing much. C. is making mushroom pizza again tonight. Mmmm.

Snow day

There must be seven or eight inches of snow out there, and the sky has patches of vivid blue.

Bunnies on the loose

C. went to feed the rabbits today, and found the little guys bopping around the room. They've left the nest box for adventure and solid food. Left, the little grey/fawn one (working name Plum) meets her dad. He was quite interested.

Domesticated mushrooms, and wood

The Fungi Perfecti mushroom kit is fruiting again. The first shot is from Thursday, the second, Friday. They grow a  lot in a day! We had one last night on open-faced sandwiches, broiled with cheese and sweet onions on homemade wheat bread. Mmmm.

Em and KC came up and we got another month of wood from our favorite DNR spot. We broke in the new Jonsered saw. Em says it goes through wood like buttah. Our old one (bought used on Ebay) turned out to be seriously dead.

 


KC cleaned the creosote out of the chimney topper, below. Em spent some time with the baby bunnies, and with Badeaux, our big red dog who doesn't have much time left. It was a good day.

Bunny trouble

We found two little guys cold and apparently dead in the new rabbit room this morning. They're in a drawer in the bathroom now, on a heating pad and covered with a cashmere sweater. No signs of life yet. They're probably dead, but we have to try.

We just moved everybody yesterday, when the melting snow and a roof leak made Lake Elk in the middle of the kindergarden room where the rabbits live. They're in Dracula's Bathroom (my sprout laboratory) now, a smaller, dry space that we can easily heat. Chrystal was upset by the move, and must have been taking the little ones to a new nest she'd started in the wall. She'd ripped a particle-board patch off a hole in the wall and pulled out the insulation. She's resourceful.

Shit happens, and we screw up. That's pretty much what I've learned over the years. Below, the surviving four. We'll be checking them every hour or so until Chrys seems to settle in.

I'm staying away from the rabbits for a while – Chrys growled at me when I went into check on the babies. She likes C. better.

I hung the central vacuum unit up in the old girl's locker room. Next, will extend the power from a nearby outlet. Then drilling and piping and drilling and piping. It's a big, involved job (at least when done by the slow-mo amateur carpenter). I've decided to run the lines through the attic rather than the unpleasant crawl space.

Went up on the roof to see the cause of all the leaking in the rabbit room. The rest of the roof is bare, thanks to the warm temperatures this weekend, but the area over the bun room is on the north and in the shade of the taller gym roof. It's covered with a couple of inches of ice and some wet snow. I cleared what I could – weird to be shoveling the roof – and half-exposed a fragile-looking area of old patches. I think the ice blocked the runoff from the upper area, and left the patched place puddled. I'll need to do some repairs when the rest of the area thaws and clears. Below, the January garden and the old hoop shelter for the big animals.

We'll need to bury the two little white bunnies (who did not come back to life).

A wood day

Em and Richard came up, and we took advantage of a chinook wind melting the snow away to hit the usual spot and get some firewood. Em ran the saw, C. and I hauled and loaded six-foot lengths, and Richard carried whole trees out of the woods.

The saw crapped out on us, though, and C. (our chainsaw mechanic) said it was going to take some serious time to get it running. So we tied the long logs to the roof of the car and took our two nearly full loads home. Besides, the warm winds had gone cold and dismal.

And the bunnies turned four days old. Em and I dragged them briefly from their warm nest to get some better photos.

 

The guineas took to the roof and buckWHEATed furiously into the wind. I don't know why.

Friday

Warm and snowy. Took the day off. Vet appointment for Badeaux. Dug the berm out at the gate, found a tire flat on the Subie, tried Fix-a-Flat but it was old. Changed the tire (spare is a donut, jack stuck in the holder, lugs stuck, cussed a lot. Feh.) Got to the vet 15 minutes late. Dr. Cassandra was really nice, as always. Badeaux has an aggressive mouth cancer, fibrosarcoma, no effective treatment. So she has steroids and antibiotics, and will have a few months before it interferes with breathing and swallowing. She's 12 and pretty spry, but it was starting to swell and hurt and irritate her eye. I'm grateful the vet didn't want to do surgery and try to get a few more months. Not worth it. Poor old Doober. We'll try to have some fun with her before she goes.

Haven't seen the bunders yet today. There's a leak in the roof drain over my studio door that I've been meaning to fix. The melting snow has made a mess there. Now I'll fix it AND clean up the mess. Procrastination, you are my master.

Making brownies. Wish Badeaux could have some.