Cold Snowy Winter Comin'............ Git Ready

[mommida]

Smearing on Vaseline can lock in skin moisture and keep some wind rash down.  It is brutal cold and we have to figure out how to bring a rabbit herd in.  (show bunnies can be such Divas!)  The cages are just too nasty to bring in so it looks like they will have to sleep in the carriers and have exercise time in the bathtub.  I hope it doesn't mess up the winter coats and they can go back out.  Indoor house air just doesn't keep them healthy.

[nvsmom]

LOL I have a mental picture of a bunch of bunnies in the tub!    At least bunny pellets are easy to clean.

[mommida]

What was worse was trying to use the bathroom with a rabbit staring at me.   Hearing my daughter say rabbits in the tub makes it sound like we are doing drugs / psychotic break from reality or something.

Some of the names.... Bruce Wayne (Batman), Morgan Freeman, Loki, and Don Kelly (Tigers baseball player) are in the bath tub at my house. :D

[IrishHeart]

What was worse was trying to use the bathroom with a rabbit staring at me.   Hearing my daughter say rabbits in the tub makes it sound like we are doing drugs / psychotic break from reality or something.

Some of the names.... Bruce Wayne (Batman), Morgan Freeman, Loki, and Don Kelly (Tigers baseball player) are in the bath tub at my house. :D

I am a bunny freak

I love them

I collect them (not real ones) 

I miss them 

I fed them on my property in NY and now we live in FL and I gave those new people explicit instructions...

they had better follow through or bunny wrath will fall upon their heads!!!

 

[mommida]

I do loves the bunnies!

We have 2 breeds Holland Lops and Standard Chinchillas.

[Adalaide]

I have a mini lop named Freya. She's my baby! She's not a show bunny or anything, she's just a house bunny. We built her a huge indoor condo, but while she was a baby she lived in the bathroom because it was the easiest place to litter train her.

 

Yes, it is SUPER CREEPY to try to use the bathroom with a bunny staring at you. And for the record, regular old house bunnies are divas too. I swear she thinks she's queen of the world and that the entire universe revolves around her. What a brat.

 

We're still having great weather here. Sunny and 20s, which is warm enough for a light jacket or just a sweater and scarf if you have an undershirt on. I didn't get any snow for my birthday which was sad, but I can hope for it for next year.

 

ETA: Also, I meant to also say that the person I got my bunny from didn't mention the sheer size of a mini lop! I rescued her from someone who was selling the babies as "for pets or food rabbits" just before Easter a few years ago. I was horrified and sent my husband to go get one while I was at work! Holy crap my mini bunny is monstrously huge.

[mommida]

The breed names for Lops is confusing.  It was breed evolution that lead to this.  The French Lop was very big and then the Mini Lop was developed.  The mini Lop was smaller.  Then there was manipulation of dwarf genes in that breed to develop the Holland Lop.  Holland Lops must be under 4 pounds.  Trying to breed Holland Lops is just tragic sometimes.  The "normal" size genes show up and the baby (kit) dies during birth because it is just too large to deliver quick enough (can kill the whole litter and the mother).  The other problem is when 2 dwarf genes show up and the kit is sooo tiny it never had a chance.  These double dwarf genes are called peanuts.  Bruce Wayne was a peanut and the only survivor of his litter.  (go figure?)  He was just a little spitfire from the start!  The squirmiest little thing ever.  When I say little I mean, just under 2 inches of perfect formed rabbit that blind and naked was a battle to handle fearing he would jump right out of your fingers.

 

We aren't huge show circuit peeps.  Mostly 4H involvement.  We will go to shows to learn from the pros and see what is out there. Vets really aren't trained for the medical care of rabbits.  If they do have some training they want to charge "exotic" animal fees.  i.e. $180 an appointment.   We won't have so many rabbits that we can't spend individual time with each rabbit and they are furry members of the family.

 

Rabbits are in my experience on par with having a toddler.  Too smart for their own good sometimes.  They invent games to play to interact with humans.  There is a movement to develop Rabbit agility.  There is a video of a rabbit going through to track coming to a bar and changing his/her mind.  This rabbit took the bar in it's mouth and through it to the side and continued on it's way.

[Adalaide]

Holy crap that's an expensive vet! We have a vet here that is a small animal and exotic vet. They have totally reasonable prices, we pay $100(ish) for a checkup so that isn't so bad and she knows what she's doing. The problem is getting the brat into her carrier when we want to, her condo is so large that we can't just grab her if we want to and usually end up luring her royal snobbiness with bananas. I really wish we could grab her more easily, they only charge $12 to do nails and I hate doing it myself. But it's hard to keep an appointment when you don't know if/when you're going to be able to get her out so we do it ourselves and she shuns us for a day or two and we have to bribe our way back into her good graces with fruit.

 

We used to take her outside on a harness and leash, but our neighbor bought a large and noisy dog and I don't want her to scare. I wish I could take her out to play in the snow!

[mommida]

We did find a vet that was a 4H kid.  We had a rabbit with horrible malclusion.  She only charged us $25 a month to sedate him to trim his teeth.  (so not every vet is so horrible on prices)

 

Nail trimming is done on "spa day".  The lucky bunny gets a little water in the tub near the drain for playing and soaking.  The lovely fun of the bottom check and clean up.  Then cradled like a baby, nice soft blowing on the face and then they are in the "trance".  Time for nail clipping while the nails are soft and clean.  Our rabbits love the Cheerios!  They would follow a trail of Cheerios anywhere.

[Adalaide]

We did find a vet that was a 4H kid.  We had a rabbit with horrible malclusion.  She only charged us $25 a month to sedate him to trim his teeth.  (so not every vet is so horrible on prices)

 

Nail trimming is done on "spa day".  The lucky bunny gets a little water in the tub near the drain for playing and soaking.  The lovely fun of the bottom check and clean up.  Then cradled like a baby, nice soft blowing on the face and then they are in the "trance".  Time for nail clipping while the nails are soft and clean.  Our rabbits love the Cheerios!  They would follow a trail of Cheerios anywhere.

 

We once had a surprise "spa day" when my husband went in to use the bathroom while she was in there and he forgot to put the lid down. Guess who went for a swim? We both bolted for the bathroom when we heard a splash and were horrified to find her in the toilet! Hubs left the lid up, he got to bathe her. (I still can't even think about it without cracking up.) We don't talk about bottoms because it's traumatic for everyone involved. ...everyone Did I mention how much I wish the brat would cooperate getting in a carrier on schedule so I could pay $12 for someone else to do my dirty work?

 

It's been dreary here. No sun means even with temps the same I have to wear a coat because I have no sun to keep me warm.

[mommida]

We have finally got to above 0 degrees!   The sun is shining, and we might get warm enough weather by the weekend it can rain on the "polar vortex" snow dump. 

 

Well now you can refer to that as "the spa day incident"  I really hope you are to the point you can laugh about it, because I laughed so hard I am drying the tears in my eyes.

 

One of the guys has decided that just needed to have a pissing contest.  (It must be where the term really, literally came from.) Sorry if it sounds vulgar, but you would realize it was stated as a politely as possible.  Well it is odoriffic and thank God it has been contained to the shower stall.

[IrishHeart]

 

BEWARE the POLAR VORTEX!!!   arrghh!

 

Seriously, all my life I lived in the Great Northeast and I never once heard this phrase before.

But it does make it sound all the more frightening, I suppose.

 

And so you all can rejoice...I have on a hoodie today because it's (gasp!) chilly. But I still have no pants.

[Adalaide]

It is hilarious now. Not so hilarious at the time.

 

It's snowing! I wanted snow for my birthday and it's three days late.

[IrishHeart]

It is hilarious now. Not so hilarious at the time.

 

It's snowing! I wanted snow for my birthday and it's three days late.

 It's still Birthday week...and that counts. Enjoy!

[GFinDC]

Polar vortex attacks lakeshore residents!

 

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

Open Original Shared Link

[nvsmom]

Whoa! I've never seen something like that before! 

[IrishHeart]

Those creeping ice walls remind me of lava. I have seen them on the news in previous years, but it is

always pretty amazing to see them again. BRRR and holy crap...can you imagine a wall of ice coming at your house?

me neither.   

 

It's been pouring rain for 2 days here in south Florida. 
Massive flooding and a possible tornado touched down about 15 miles south.
Roads are washed out in 2 counties and school is cancelled.  Crazy stuff.
At least it has stopped now. My friend says she has never seen so much rain in January in her whole life.

December was the warmest on record.

Hurricane season was quiet.

Nary a peep. Thank heavens.

[GF Lover]

The Polar Vortex = Hell Has Frozen Over.  I guess I'm glad it has thawed now?  

[GFinDC]

2nd time that one fellas house was destroyed by ice tsunamis.  Maybe next time he'll build a wall or move.  The sound it made was weird.  Like shattering crystals over and over.

 

They say polar vortex 2 is coming in another 10 days tho.  So not over yet!

[GF Lover]

Someone needs to make a Sci-Fi thriller about the Polar Vortex destroying the world and teenage mutant ninja turtul people save the world.  I would buy that ticket.

[nvsmom]

LOL It does sound quite dramatic!    

What is it with this polar vortex term?  Isn't it just a cold front? Arctic air coming down from the north... Anyway, it works for me - the cold air spun to the east so we are unseasonably warm right now; I think its 5C outside. It's a slushy mess. January is usually our coldest month but so far it's been much nicer than December or even November.

[Aquadan005]

60 freakin degrees today? I don't get it......

[mommida]

What do you mean there is another polar vortex coming?  I Just got the rabbits back out to the barn! 

 

I did read a headline that said We are turning into weather "whimps".  The "author" of the article was from Texas.  (Texas did not have over a foot of snow and wind chills of 40 below)

[JNBunnie1]

Most of Texas has a panic attack if it rains for more than thirty minutes

[Adalaide]

What do you mean there is another polar vortex coming?  I Just got the rabbits back out to the barn! 

 

I did read a headline that said We are turning into weather "whimps".  The "author" of the article was from Texas.  (Texas did not have over a foot of snow and wind chills of 40 below)

 

I saw that headline and didn't bother reading it, but I think it's hilarious coming from someone in Texas. Land of "lets shut down our state for more than a week over some ice" state. HAH!

 

Admittedly though, back in PA where I grew up my brother was complaining recently about school closures. They actually closed school over a dusting. As in less than an inch, without icy conditions. We talked about how the schools are encouraging our kids to be weather weanies (our family word instead of wimps) by teaching them that at the first flake they should panic. Sure, there is a point at which it simply is too cold or too snowy, but overall I think people are just too scared of a little weather. I know they are here. I swear, the day we got a foot of snow people acted like it was the apocalypse and about 1% of people know how to drive if it rains.