Thumper AKA fuzzy butt!

[PaGal]

I've been busy. It's time to do all the summer stuff like mowing grass and getting the garden ready but it's hard since the kids are still in school and for some reason the schools always load down the last two months with tons of extra activities. I do stop in even when busy, mostly reading anything new and just answering id I feel I might be helpful.

I had to make the time to come share this though. It's been in the 90's and humid. I stepped outside just now as a storm passed through and was enjoying a breeze and cooler temps. We have had two wild rabbits outside running around since the storm passed. I was surprised to see them out in the rain, although it wasn't very heavy. Their behavior seems a little odd as I've seen them run in a straight line and without stopping for much longer than I have ever witnessed before and without stopping to rest or nibble.

I was actually standing near the edge of the garage and one came running in my direction from across the back yard. I stood still to watch as long as possible and because I really did not want to give it a fright. That bunny actually came within ten feet of me. I held real still and it stopped and sat there looking at me, seemingly at my hair as it blew in the wind. It then hopped away for a short distance, nibbled a moment and then ran back across the back yard.

I'll not follow through with the urge to put out some pellets as treats for them!

On another animal related topic, the middle girl said this morning that she wants to help out Tia from Pit Bulls and Parolees. If you don't know the show, Tia runs a pit bull rescue and typically hires parolees. The girls and I watch it all of the time as we all like seeing the dogs be rescued and find homes and the show is safe for them to watch.

So this morning while they had some free time before school she started making these bookmarks. I took some pics and will have to post them sometime. They are simply made from paper but in the shape of a heart and slide over the corner of a book. She wrote Pit Bulls on the front and drew hearts on it. On the back she drew a paw print, more hearts and wrote "Fierce of Face Soft of Heart".

Me and the other twin helped her to color in the hearts and the writing. I didn't get to ask her but judging by the amount she made she is planning to give everyone in her class one. She also asked me to draw her a picture of a pitbull for on a poster. I did that right after she got on the bus. I had to. She is such a kind hearted and thoughtful girl and always shows her appreciation for anything you do for her. She won't get to see it till after school tomorrow as they're with their mother till then. I can hardly wait. I used some colored pencils to color it in and I think she'll be happy with it.

 

[Chrisdoc]

So pleased to see you on here Denise, I have missed you. Sounds like she is a girl on a mission but actually good one. I hope everyone appreciates it.

I would love to be able to see wild rabbits, so beautiful but heartbreaking as you never know what will happen to them. Hope they survive.

How are Thumper, Laverne and Shirley doing ???

 

[PaGal]

All the buns are fine and causing all of the usual havoc and laughs, Chris. She is on a mission. I am so proud of her as it's more than so many would do.

The one good thing about the wild buns being here is we have ravens that hang around a lot and they will chase of hawks. Hubby and I watched them do so just this past weekend. I hope they will all have long lives. I do enjoy watching them and it amazes me how different they are from domestic buns. It kind of gives you a better understanding of why domestic buns don't do well being let loose.

 

[PaGal]

Yay, last week of school and only two more days to go. I'm really looking forward to not having to get up so early and not having to work so hard to get everything done that needs done and still have the kids in bed by 8:30.

School of course has been keeping us busy, no homework but more activities. We had the final awards ceremony for the twins on Monday. Hubby had taken the day off so got to be there as well. Both received awards for perfect attendance, meeting their AR goals (reading) for the last nine weeks as well as for each nine weeks, for straight A honor roll for the last nine weeks and for each nine week period and one twin made the highest reader of the entire school and the other got second place. To get that they had to have the highest amount of points as well as the highest percentage for the testing. Needless to say we are very proud of them and since hubby made it this year I know my eyes were not the only ones leaking. Ha!

After that we had the fourth grade cook out. The kids get to watch different movies as each 4th grade classroom plays a different one. Hubby and some of the other dads grilled approximately 400 hot dogs.

We finally got Pepper and Isabelle spayed. We got lucky and managed to drop both off and on hubby's day off. Pepper was her usual self by the next day but Isabelle was still laying around and not very interested in anything. When she first came home she was very mean as well. She growled, hissed and swatted at Pepper which she never does. Poor Pepper just sat there. I had to put in a second floor in the cage we have for them to keep them separate. It's a good thing I have had so much practice with the bunny cages as it didn't take me long and I already had some materials left over ready to go from Laverne and Shirley's cage.

I was pretty worried about Isabelle last night but am happy to say she seems back to herself today. Last night I tried tempting her with tuna and she didn't seem interested but at some point she did eat it. She is much more alert this morning and ate as soon as I gave her some food and she has been in the litter box.

The buns are all fine. I have had to switch Thumper's litter box set up. I was using large cat litter boxes for him but he started peeing outside of them. The problem was that hay falls from his hay basket to underneath it. Well he'll eat the hay that falls and will eventually pee if he's there that long. He's a big bunny so when he pees he leaves a large puddle. I now have a storage box that's big enough for him and his hay basket. I only bought one to see if it would work first so now that I know it does I'll buy another.

I had to do something as we were gone from Friday till Sunday and I didn't want the critter sitter to have to clean that up. I think Thumper might have missed me because he binkied when I let him out after we got home. He usually only does that when I let him out of the bun room. Once I'm done needing the cage for the cats I was thinking of joining it to the end of Thumper's cage so when he does have to be in it he'll have some additional room. If for some reason we would need to use it for something else then we still could.

 

[PaGal]

What a morning! I need to mow the grass and had planned to do it yesterday but wound up spending most of the day weeding in the garden. I planned to do housework and then later mow. As usual I am low on gas for the mower but should have enough to do the front half of the property around the house. I can't skip the cleaning as it always needs it after the weekend especially when everyone is here. I usually like to wait and mow after noon that way any dew will have dried up so the grass is cut better. That leaves me time to get the housework done but I do have to be fast, no lollygagging.

Things didn't go as planned though. I usually wait till the afternoon to do the bun cages except when I started vacuuming the buns room I saw that Thumper had peed outside of his litter box. I figured it could wait for the amount of time it would take to finish vacuuming that room until I saw him hop out of his litter box and sit right in his very large puddle of pee. What is wrong with you? I thought you'd have the sense not to sit in your pee? I stopped vacuuming and got prepared to clean his cage. So when I let Thumper out he kicks up his feet because they are wet and you know it just had to splatter me! Grrrr!

After dealing with that and getting Thumps cage cleaned and giving him his breakfast I decided I might as well do the girls cage now when I'm at it already. Usually before I pull their litter box out of the cage I look for puddles. When they do pee outside of their litter box it's typically right next to it and tends to run partly under their litter box. If I see this then I clean off the bottom of the litter box before I pull it out and put it on the floor. Being frustrated though I didn't. That was a mistake! Yep, you guessed it. Someone did pee and I got a nice wet surprise when I pulled the litter box out. Bunnies 2, Human 0.

On top of all this the girls have been arguing all morning. I can't stand hearing arguing especially for that long. Now I know siblings will argue. My son and daughter did their share of it. But the girls are worse and I'm sure it is due to the one girl being favored by her mother and other family members .Everything is about her. She gets her way all of the time and the others don't. She doesn't get in trouble but the others do. The kids are all aware this goes on, they've basically said so. Being kids though they don't really know how to deal with it but do the best they can. I think that at times the two of them show their anger and resentment over the favoritism by arguing with the other girl.

Then they start to get to messing around with each other, kind of wrestling around and I start to hear high pitched squealing. So I told them to go outside and if they wanted to act like they were outside then that where they need to be. In a few minutes though I noticed they were carrying their books with them. Oh heck No! They are not going to sit outside reading so when they come in and cool off they go right back to it all from having too much built up energy. The whole point of going outside is to get rid of that energy.

But all in all it's not that bad of a day.

Oh yah, yesterday we let Pepper and Isabelle out of the cage. For my own peace of mind I would have liked to have kept them somewhat confined for another week to make sure they are healed up but the poor kitties aren't very happy with it all. We are trying to keep Cloud apart from the two of them as he's bigger and gets to wresting with Pepper. You always know when they are playing because sooner or later you hear her start to holler. Clouds a good boy and will stop after she hollers once or twice but we figure she shouldn't be wrestling just yet.

 

[PaGal]

Right at this moment in time I so need someone to talk to. Yes, there is hubby but he's on the phone yet again for the umpteenth time today yakking about racing. There is no one else.

I am so bored and so tired of doing the same thing over and over. Life feels like nothing more than work and responsibility. If I died today I would have so many regrets mostly that the most fitting thing to put on my tombstone is that I have worked my butt off. Hubby would ask me what I want to do and for that I really have no answer. I have been a wife and mother since age 17 and so far most of life has just been work and responsibility. I have so few things I do know I like to do but how do you choose what to do for fun when you have so few opportunities for fun. It might be different if I could say let's spend a week in Hawaii but I can't. Instead I have to choose something to be done in a day and that may be the one thing that needs to get me through the rest of the year.

It's not his fault, it's not my fault. It just is the way life must be for now. Most times I deal with it all fine but now and then you have your weak moments.

Animals. Well they are something else this week. All of the cats are now fixed, uncaged and running around like they are on crack or pestering us for affection. Earlier today I had to plant our corn in the garden. I start our seed indoors. Long story short I save at least five days of waiting for them to grow outside , know that my seed is good and when I go to plant them the root at least has sprouted. The downfall is that you do have to take some care when planting them so you do not break the root.

I was out in the damp, freshly tilled soil with Pepper and Cloud zooming through the garden. Isabelle just followed me either rubbing against me, getting between me and the container my corn was in or laying in the dirt. Basically making something fairly simple more complicated. Also, covering me in loose cat hair as all of the animals are in shed mode. I told hubby we need to put the fence up this year because of the cats which we both wound up laughing about because at least Cloud and Pepper would turn getting over the fence and into the garden into a game. I predict there will be no field mice in our garden this year.

The dog needs a psychiatrist! Really he does. He spends most of his time in our carpeted den. To get to the back door you go from the den through the dining room, through the kitchen and to a little entry way area. In the kitchen we have a rug in front of the sink and the entryway has a runner rug. The floors are laminate. If someone knocks or rings the bell the dog goes running across the floors with no problems. If someone comes in and stays in the dining room or kitchen he will go over to them. He will prance and walk around , lean on whomever and sit with no problems. When you take him outside or bring him in from outside he walks across the floors with no problems.

When he does have a problem with the floors is when he stops and thinks about it. Then for some reason he feels he must get prepared to take off as fast as he can and will slightly crouch down prepared to really push off with his back legs. He then slips and slides and then he freaks out which causes him to slip and slide even more.

I don't know why other than because he's insane the dog has decided this past week that every time he is in the kitchen he just cannot get back to the den without going through the whole slip and slide routine. It used to just be an occasional thing but now it is several times a day.

The buns are as they always are although Thump is shedding the most I have ever seen him shed at once but still not as bad as I have seen from other peoples buns. He does have some weird low spots all over his face and his fuzzy butt is looking lighter in color. He did bite me for the first time ever the other night. He didn't break skin. It felt more like being bruised. When the girls have bit me even if it was just a slight nip it always gave you a sense of just how sharp a buns teeth are. With Thumps bite it just brought to mind how much pressure there is in the bite. I don't think he meant to bite me. I was actually getting his pellets out of the storage container I keep them in when he bit so I think he was just trying to get a pellet and got my pinky instead.

I buried a wild bunny this week. It broke my heart. Only the fur and the back thumping feet gave it away as a bun which I think made it all the worse for me. It wasn't a little baby bun but also not an adult more of a teenager I would say. I buried him near a Leland cypress tree in our yard. There are some bushes near the tree as well. Not that the poor bun needs it now but it would be a nice shade spot for munching during the warmer summer weather and somewhere quick to zip and hide in. I made a bed of hay inside the hole I dug.

I was worried he was the victim of Cloud but after thinking back to the night before we had Cloud in before dark and the bun was not there. I would have noticed. Our other cat Funny Face was near it in the morning and she had been out all night but I have never seen her hunt anything and have never even seen her with anything. She is a pretty lazy cat. I really think another predator got it, maybe an eagle or an owl even. It may be that when hubby started moving around in the morning getting ready for work that it spooked off the predator. I think Funny Face just happened to come across it coming to the garage in the morning to be fed.

Time to get back to the grind...

 

[PaGal]

Round Two. We have had very hot and humid weather so the grass has grown like crazy. I planned to cut it today but the other day we had a storm that dumped a lot of rain, another one last night and this morning a veritable monsoon hit waking us both up. So too wet for mowing. It's cloudy and looks like more rain so the sun won't help dry it and although we have our normal 25mph breeze blowing the air is just to wet for it to help dry the grass.

Thumper peed outside of his litter box again. The only good thing is it's always in the cage though. I bought two storage boxes big enough for him and his hay rack yet small enough to still leave him room in his cage but alas he can reach the hay rack without getting in the litter box. I don't know why he has had to start this up recently after doing so well for so long.

I'm thinking of using the cage we had the cats in now that they are out of it. If it can work I plan to leave a door open on his current cage and then place the old cage open doorway against that. His current cage is bigger so I will have to use something to block the gap that will be there. I then plan on getting two more storage boxes but bigger. Ones he'll have to get into to reach the hay rack.

I am going to have the largest collection of litter boxes in the world!

I almost forgot...the dog. He has now taken up due to his panic over sliding and slipping, running from the kitchen rug into the bun room, through the bun room and out the other doorway and cutting through the corner of the dining room and into the den. That only works though as long as the X pen is not completely set up for either of the buns to be out so only when all of the buns are caged.

On a good note someone came and bought our old expedition today so one trailer to sell right now and then we won't look like we are opening a used car lot. Ha!

 

[PaGal]

Hubby's birthday is tomorrow. He told me last night that he had planned to take the day off and take me fishing. That there was not reason it shouldn't work out but he was waiting to tell me so I wouldn't be disappointed if it fell through. He told me because it did fall through. A guy that works for the same company has had to take off due to personal issues. The problem is the job he was working on has to be finished in the next few days and they put hubby on it now so he can't miss work.

99.999% of the time there is something for me to look forward to no matter how little or dumb, it falls through. Oh well.

The dog is still being ridiculous. Yesterday after bringing him in he went into the buns room. Well he can't go through and out the other door because the X pen was up. He freaked out Laverne and Shirley which then freaked out Thumper. The girls dashed to their litter box while Thump ran into a box. Everyone was fine after a moment though. The girls are just not used to him being on that side of the X pen or quite that close .

I don't know what to do with Redd. I know with him some things just get stuck in his head and you cannot change it. I don't need this to be one of those things and if you do the wrong thing then you can just add another crazy thing for him to remember. I don't know.

I went out yesterday morning to see if any corn had broke the surface, nope. Went out again last night before dark to find the ravens pulled half the seeds and ate them. Hubby was threatening to get out the .22 but we are just going to put our fence up just around the corn until the plants are about 4 inches. The ravens don't bother with them once they are that big and we didn't have a problem when we did put up the fence years ago. I just have to replant but I'll wait till hubby is home so we can get the fence up right away because I already chased the ravens from the garden this morning.

Our routine is usually for hubby to take the dog out at night for the last time while I feed all of the cats for the last time. Last night I heard hubby yelling at the dog so actually went outside to find out what was up. When we came in I was shutting the door only to realize their was a toad with his butt in the garage and the rest of him out of the garage and the door was squishing him as he frantically kicked. I opened the door to free him at which point he hopped off. Cloud caught the movement though and took off. Hubby rushed over almost knocking me down to get a hold of Cloud.

I hope the toad is fine. I wish the dang toads and frogs would not hang out at our doors. I like them so don't want to see things like this happen.

I dyed my hair black yesterday. It has been years since I have had it black although I do like it the best. The dye looked like dark, blue ink though. That was different.

 

[PaGal]

...and it continues. I believe I squished a toady frog mowing yesterday. It's a shame because any time I see one while mowing I will stop until they hop out of my way or I will even shut it down and pick it up and move it out of the way. I never saw it though.

Then a dog showed up. My first instinct is to always try to get a hold of it and then either contact the owner or what not. For some reason almost every dog I ever see running loose around here takes off running when they notice you by calling them. This guy didn't. He looked to be a beagle with maybe a little basset hound in him. He didn't run but he wasn't coming near at first. he went under our one lelaynd cypress tree and laid down. I brought him a bowl of water and some food. Eventually he came out and took some food. He did come near but was very skittish when near so I couldn't get anything around his neck. He had no collar. I don't believe he is a hunting dog because he looked very clean and his nails were well trimmed.

That is not usual for the hunting dogs. I wasn't able to get him and eventually he left, hopefully finding his way safely home.

We had another issue with a toad in the doorway last night. I'm sure this one was fine though as hubby didn't completely shut the door. I think in the near future I am going to lay some pavers outside that door. I thought of it before since right outside the door holds water which makes it muddy and maybe the toads will stop hanging out right at the door.

That's if I can go a short period without needing to buy anything extra for the girls, hubby or critters.

 

[kmaben]

Denise you need a good ol fashoined vacation. Everyone will still be alive when you get home. Maybe not to the Denise mommy standard but alive! When I drop Gabriel I'll come up and babysit kids and animals. You could go to a B&B or go fishing or something! My invite for the ARBA convention still stands. They'll call if any major disasters occur.

I hear you on the animals. A lot of times they wont come to me either. We always carry dog snacks in the car for when we see strays. You cant save them all sadly but not for lack of trying. Then they just end up living in your house, eating through your grocery bill, keeping you up till 4 in the morning.

I still love ya though and you're an awesome person. You should have sticky note on your mirror that says that.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Denise, wish I could come over there and give you a hug and make everything better and easier. Kaley´s right, you need a good relaxing holiday on your own with nothing to think about and loads of time on your hands. Wish I was closer and I´d take turns with Kaley. Sometimes everything gets us down. I feel right now that life is nothing but work and even if I worked 24 hours a day, I´d never be rich. I just work now to pay the bills. And even when I have more time in the winter, I won´t have enough to go on holiday and just feel that I´m not getting much out of life anymore. Plus, I´ve been diagnosed as having coeliac disease so although I´m adapting quite well, it´s still hard to have to read absolutely everything on labels and when I eat out, there´s nothing on the menu...I am sick of eating eggs the last few weeks, very safe lol.

Anyway, when I win the lottery, a bird pooped on me the other day, all over my face and on the table, luckily I´d just finished breakfast so I´m convinced that this week is my week...hope is the last thing we lose.

Don´t worry, you will know if I´m that lucky :spintongue

 

[PaGal]

Kaley... Thank you so much. I know I need a vacation. Maybe some day it will happen. Ha! Worse comes to worse, only eight more years till the kids are legally adults so over half way there. I really do appreciate the invite and would love to come and get to meet you but since I don't fly I don't see how it would be possible especially during school and all.

The only way we would ever have another dog, found or not would be if it was just right. Redd is such a knucklehead that never runs out of energy playing with other dogs that sooner or later they always seem to attack him to get him to stop pestering them. We've only come across two dogs that had it mentally to put him in his place without attacking him.

 

[PaGal]

Chris...I hope it gets easier for you soon. I'm sure the vet bills that continue on are making it so much harder for you. I'm sorry to hear about the diagnoses. I would hate to have to deal with something like that. I already struggle enough trying to come up with ideas for meals so we don't eat the same thing too often and makes everyone happy without any dietary restrictions.

I can only imagine how difficult it must be to find safe foods and ones you enjoy.

I would so love to win the lottery and definately have some in mind to help out as well.

 

[PaGal]

Hubby just texted that someone might be coming to buy the trailer. That would be nice although I'd rather hubby deal with it, just not feeling social lately. Certainly not with strangers.

Putting fence up around the corn hasn't deterred the ravens. After hubby gets home I'll replant and then we will use more fencing to cover the top so the corn will basically be in a cage of fencing. Hubby yesterday asked a guy how he deals with it that he knows has been gardening for many years. The guy said he doesn't grow corn and hasn't for years. He gave up.

I opened the top floor of Laverne and Shirley's cage again. I put two pieces of coroplast in the corner they would pee as a urine guard and will place a cat litter box in that corner if they start peeing there again.

I've got the cat cage all cleaned and soon will be seeing if I can attach it to the end of Thumps cage to give him some added room.

I have to treat the cats for ear mites. Isabelle has them and since they can spread I'll treat them all.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Yes, the bills for him keep coming, just glad it has happened coming up to summer as I have lots of work, if it had happened in winter a different story.

Can do loads of food at home but sometimes just too difficult eating out.

Buns sound fine, they just seem to get on with it. I have to give my a super clean this Sunday, I've worked the last 2 so have not done it thoroughly. Sweep every day but sometimes they are just so messy.

 

[PaGal]

It feels like it has been forever. Of course, I have been busy and for some reason for a while there my 'puter would just drag when I came here although it was fine on all other sites. I just don't have the time or patience for that but I have missed seeing everything everyone writes and seeing all of my fav buns.

Everyone is fine. The cat cage did work out attaching it to Thumps cage. So now I can put in a bigger litter box and he still has room. The bigger litter box I can clean every other day instead of every day and he never pees outside of it. I also got him an automatic water dish. It lasts him two days as well so it saves me a little time and if we're gone for the day racing I have no worries.

I also got the girls another bowl so when we're gone I just put two bowls in their cage just to be safe. I always worry what would happen if we wouldn't make it back on time for some reason. I could always call one of the two people that have taken care of them before for me although the one guy is usually with us when we are racing.

I got to see Laverne DBF for the very first time on Thursday. It was amazing. I still haven't seen Shirley but maybe one day.

Cloud the male cat has turned out to be quite the hunter which worries me especially with the wild rabbits. This year we have a lot of them around. They seem to live down the hill but we have watched them quite often run all the way up to our yard. They actually let us get very close and both hubby and I have gotten within ten feet of them while riding four wheelers. The rabbits always seem to show up either early in the morning or early evening. The cats usually don't get out of the garage until early afternoon and we bring them back in early evening as neither of us wants them to catch a bun.

I finally got to race! It was one of the girls small four wheelers and I think the fastest it ran was 32 mph which is slow, at least for the adults. The fastest run about 80mph which is insane if you ask me. It was very hot the day I raced and I started off feeling pretty bad from being too hot for too long plus had a bad headache but once the sun got a little lower so we were in some shade I started to feel better and I really enjoyed it. I lost against a man that races along with his wife and three daughters. They are really nice people so no one better to lose to. There were a lot of racers there that day and I made it through pretty far. Maybe one day I'll actually get to race the faster bike that hubby built for me.

Laverne and Shirley seem to be night owls. I decided I am going to try to get the most out of the last two weeks before school starts as the summer wasn't anything liked I hoped it would be. So I have been staying up later than usual since I am a night owl. Time though really got away from me one night while I was reading and I didn't go to bed till 2:30am. Those two girls were still up bouncing around.

 

[PaGal]

It has been a very long time since I have been on RO. All of the animals are still with us but we do have some added pets. We now have 5 buns, the two new ones are Stuart (Little) who is a white new Zealand/ red new Zealand so he is mostly orange with white spots including four white paws. We also have Hazel who is a Siamese Satin. She is sweet but skittish. It took her a while to open up but she now nose bonks me for attention. Biggest thrill of all is each of them will let you pick them up although not for long although Stuart has gotten a lot better as he has been being treated for a tooth root abscess for over the past month which included 2 trips a week to the vets.

We have also added 5 pekin ducks although my favorite Sinatra passed away quickly and unexpectedly about a week before Stuart started having issues. Since all of our buns (unplanned) are named after tv/movie characters I named the ducks after singers. Our male is Kenny (Rogers) and the three girls are Dolly (Parton), Janice (Joplin) and Cindy (Lauper). Pekin ducks have dark blue eyes so Sinatra fir since he was known as Ole Blue Eyes, plus my boy was tall and handsome and he really tried hard to croon. Female ducks quack while male ducks make a soft hissy, raspy noise. He always looked like he was using all of his energy to talk but it always came out so quiet. Cyndi is small and cute and a bit crazy so she reminds me of Cindy Lauper, she does things none of the other ducks do and waddles to the beat of her own drum. Janice is loud, she really screams especially when she sees me outside since they are little piggies and expect food/treats always.

We also have two chickens Dingle and Berry. I believe both are hens. My neighbor hatched them and gave them to us. They were so small and looked bad when we got them at a week old. I wasn't sure they would make it and Berry even looked like she might be deformed, it looked like she had a wing growing out of her chest.

funny and I have always been afraid of birds.