Bunny business

Lots have been going on with the bunnies lately, it seems like everyday, I have one more thing to say about what's going on with them. Bonding is going really, really well. We haven't had anything close to a fight in about 5 days, and there has been lots of grooming and cuddling, as you can see by the following pictures. They have graduated from the small pen enclosure to the half-room enclosure with no problems. In fact, Saturday night, Bennett figured out how to pop the gate up out of the latch that it's in and was able to spend a whole night alone with Ella and the whole room. Neither of them got hurt because of it, but I'm still not convinced (even though he obviously believes that they are ready to be together forever) that keeping them together overnight on purpose is a good idea. Let's give it at least another week.

On Sunday, we put up the permanent puppy fencing that our good friends Paul and Debbie were getting rid of. It's just barely too short for the room, so we will be needing to get another panel of fence for it to go across the whole room, and after we let the bunnies into it, we discovered that Ella can slip between the bars in the gate and escape into the part of the room that isn't bunny proofed. So, needless to say, our gate arrangement has left something to be desired... I think the plan is going to be that in a few weekends, when Laurie gets the time, we'll cover the fencing with pretty fabric that will keep bunnies on one side and cords and couch and cedar chest on the other.

While Laurie was putting up the new fencing in the bunny room, I was in the corner of the room, trying to keep the bunnies out of the way and me out of the way. Bennett stayed in his carrier for a little bit while he was noshing on some pellets for breakfast and Ella and I got to have some playtime in a very small, enclosed space. She had to hop up on my lap to get across the enclosure we made with the xpen and since we were in such tight quarters, she really opened up in affection towards me. That day, she let me pet her for long periods of time when Bennett was off doing what Bennett does best (getting into trouble) and since that period of enclosure with her, she'll hop up onto my lap now, asking for pets and she is really coming out of her shell. She's initiating contact and cuddling with Bennett, now, which is great! She's really come a long way in three weeks! She makes the cutest noises when she's in bunny bliss, because of her sinus condition and I've been really excited to be around her lately, she and Bennett have stolen my heart :).

Unfortunately, we think that Bennett might have fur mites. He's had a little bit of dandruff for awhile, which Laurie's noticed, but I didn't. We found two spots on him that kind of look like flakey scabs, they are really little but need to be looked at by our vet. My sister, Andie, is going to drive me to the vet office on Friday for an appointment. We're just bringing Bennett, but it's likely that Ella will need to be treated for it, too, since they spend so much time together. It's possible that he's had them all along, Laurie's said that she has seen them (the flakes) for all the time that we've had him, so we'll see what goes on with the vet on Friday.

Ok - the pictures:

Bennett and Ella snuggling on Sunday.

On a date, sharing their litter box. Oh how romantic!

These next few were taken with my cell phone, so they're not the best quality...

Snuggling some more!

Cuddlebuddies.

This is when Ella decided she was done with us taking pictures of them being cute, trying to hop away to decide if she wanted to mount him and Bennett looking lost and forlorn at her departure. (Still a cute picture though!)

A new name

Things with the bunnies have been going really well. Bonding is moving right along, and now they are out of the close quarters, large cardboard box, and into some more space in the exercise pen for their dates. There haven't been any major fights at all, nothing like what happened with Mallory and Bennett. Most of the time, if there is some tail chasing, I say stop loudly and they stop and go back to their respective corners to cool off a bit. Mostly, the tail chasing starts when Bennett puts his head down to get groomed and she doesn't respond, so he chases her a bit and then stops and very apologetically, goes back to grooming her.

I have purposely said "her" so far because we have decided to change Mahala's name. I wanted her to have a new name because coming to her forever home is a big deal and in big, life changing circumstances, we often take a new name and put the past behind us. I want Mahala to put the abuse and hoarding behind her, even though I know it will take time for her to truly learn to trust us and know that she is in a safe place. Her new name is Eleadora, which means "gift of the sun" and is a frequent saint name. Mostly, we're calling her Ella for short, and she has been a gift to our family, so I think her new name fits very nicely. Bennett would be the first to say that she's been a gift to him, he loves her and grooms her and has patience with her even though she does relatively nothing to reciprocate, except allowing him to lick her and sharing some snuggles. I know it will take time with Ella, and I love her and she's so adorable that I'm totally happy to give her all the time she needs, even if that includes some tough love, like giving her her penicillin injections (which seem to be working) and flipping her on her back, which she really doesn't like to check her belly (and to get her used to being picked up and flipped and such). She's a really good girl and I couldn't imagine our family without her.

She really is coming around to us. It seems that our weekend away made her fonder of us, because now she'll let me pet her while she's all laid out, relaxing and follows me around and even asks her Auntie Laurie for pets when she sees that Bennett is getting them. I'm so proud of her! Only time will heal her from her past, and we're more than willing to put in that time with her, because she's a beautiful bunny inside.

Here are some pictures of today's bonding. I must admit to posing them together for the picture, although right now they are cuddling side by side by themselves, but of course whipping out the camera right now would probably result in both of them fleeing to the far side of the pen and I really want them to cuddle, so no pictures right now. :)

Bennett saying, "Oh mama, let me out! I'm a good bunny, you should feed me again, not lock me in this little pen, even with my girlfriend!"

Mama posing them together, and neither of them really having it.

Just after I squished them together, Bennett either kissing her or looking for kisses (looks like the latter to me).

Both bunnies in the dating arena.

Ella, just chillin', a little indignant that she was being forced into a photo shoot without proper grooming...

A weekend at Santa Rita Abbey

This past weekend, Laurie and I attended our yearly Benedictine Oblate retreat. We normally attend the fall retreat but we had such a busy fall this year that it didn't happen. So, we were really happy to find out that there were still spaces on the retreat and that it was happening on a weekend that we didn't have any plans. The retreats that we have happen at Santa Rita Abbey, a Cistercian monastery south of Tucson, in Sonoita, AZ. We hold silence for most of the retreat, with the exceptions of dinnertime and one on one time with an advisor. There is also a closing activity Saturday night where we do not hold silence. We pray the Liturgy of the Hours with the sisters in the monastery's chapel but stay a little ways off from the monastery in guest quarters, which are beautiful and also hold a chapel, which remains open to us for prayer. Coming on retreat at this particular monastery is like coming home. It's so familiar and intimate and I always look forward to retreats. It was a lovely weekend, a much needed break from the "real world", which we really all decided as retreat members, that being on retreat, in spiritual communion was actually the real world, and not our homes and business that awaited us down the hill, into the city. Silence is a challenge that is well worth practicing and I came away from this weekend refreshed and it really added to my lenten experience.

Following are some picture of Santa Rita Abbey, taken by Laurie when we went on retreat three years ago, I believe.

This is the actual monastery, seen from down the road leading to the guest quarters.

The Santa Rita mountains, although while we were there this weekend, there was snow on them and they were covered in clouds.

I used this picture as my ravatar for awhile, it's the sun rising seen from the entrance into the guest quarter's building.

This last picture is the chapel in the guest building, where we met and prayed between Liturgy with the sisters.

Big Ben(nett)

So, after posting last, I realized that I forgot a bunch of things that I had been meaning to say about the rabbits. The first is that Bennett is doing really, really well on his new diet. Laurie and I both swear that he's grown another four inches in the last week and he's gaining weight on top of just growing lengthwise. We couldn't be happier for him! He's well on his way to being a very well fed, spoiled bunny :). Mahala has been picking up on the eating too lately, until recently she never finished her bowl of pellets that I give them in the morning, even if they were left out all day and night. She's definitely eating all the pellets and she rivals Bennett for enthusiasm when the salads get put down! She's getting braver about approaching me and asking for pets, but she's still pretty wary of Laurie. She really doesn't like to be picked up, but she usually tolerates it. Last night, pretty late (Laurie got home really late) we were putting the bunny room back together and Laurie went to get her from her enclosure by the front door because we needed to set up the gate system before bunnies went into the room and Laurie ended up chasing her around the house. She's faster than Bennett when it comes to fleeing, and she's so little that it's really hard to catch her. Bennett does really well being picked up, so I guess we're going to have to work on her a bit. But really, that's the way it is with a lot of things with her, it's so sad that she was so neglected the first two years of her life, and we definitely want to give her all the love that she deserves, which means being very patient with her as she learns the ropes in her new, forever home. She always seems very happy though, and she loves to frolic around the room, which is adorable to watch, and then there's the snoring noise she makes when she's asleep - what can I say? She is a very sweet, cute little girl and we're so glad she's come to live with us.

Anyways, speaking of frolicking, when we put Bennett back into his side of the bunny room last night at about 12:45 am, he went wild. I have never seen him binky so high before! He spent a least 15 minutes binkying around the room, just bouncing off of the walls, he was so happy to be back in the bunny room! It was hilarious to watch, and we think that he was showing off a little bit for Mahala's sake. :) What can you say, the crazy things people, er, animals, do when they're in love! One time, he binky-ed over the small carrier and another he landed perfectly with his mouth right on the water bottle. The amusing thing was that his half of the bunny room really isn't that much bigger than the exercise pen that he was staying in, so go figure.

On Tuesday, I psyched myself up all day to give Mahala her penicillin shot. It went a lot better than I thought it was going to go. She didn't jump nearly as much as she did when I gave it to her in the vet's office. It was probably better because we were at home and not somewhere scary. I think we were both shaking, but I did it and it's all over until next Tuesday! The shots really are working, she is sneezing less and there's less green snot coming out of her nose, so that's really good.

Well, Laurie and I are off tonight for our Oblate retreat. My sister Andie is taking care of the bunnies for us this weekend, which I am really grateful for. So, bonding is halting for the weekend and will resume on Monday or maybe Sunday afternoon, who knows. Interestingly enough, Mahala, while I've been typing this, has been sniffing my feet (I'm wearing my ladybug socks) and decided a few minutes ago to mount and hump them. Very odd. Not sure what that was about... Asserting dominance over me? She really likes me that much - or the socks? Hmmmm. Weird.

Bunny bonding

Bennett's cut is all healed, thank goodness, no abscess, so we started the bonding process with Mahala and Bennett. So far, it's going really well. Since we've been switching their sides of the pen to get the territorial issues lessened a little bit, I think the head start has been a good thing. On Tuesday, I put the two bunnies into a large cardboard box with the sides taped up, so that Bennett can't escape and they seem to be doing really well as long as they are on neutral territory. In the box, they cuddle, Bennett takes naps and they both try to escape. This evening, I tried to put Mahala in with Bennett in his pen, by the bed (which is one of the places we're keeping the bunnies while their room is full of closet items, hopefully the closet items will be going back to their places and we can resume having the bunnies in their room), and he wasn't very happy with that. He would ignore her and then he'd go over to her like he was going to lick her head and then instead of licking, he'd snap at her. No one got hurt, Mahala was really scared but ok. Right after that, I put them back into the neutral territory cardboard box, and all was well again, cuddling and grooming just like nothing happened. Weird. I guess I learned my neutral territory lesson, because until they are totally ok with each other on neutral territory, we're not going near the already staked out territory. Though, I'm not sure what I'm going to use for a bigger neutral territory. The exercise pen is in use blocking off the couch, but friends are giving us a new gate for that, so hopefully I'll be able to use the pen in a neutral spot pretty soon here. We're going on retreat this weekend with our Oblate group, so that won't be set up until next week tops. So here are some pictures of bonding, as you can see, Bennett misses no opportunity to take a nap, even on top of Mahala.

These other pictures are of Mahala being cute. I love the one where she's passed out in her salad plate. One of these days, hopefully, we're going to go to As You Wish, a pottery painting store, and make them salad plates that aren't our usual eating plates.

A big project

This past weekend, two of Laurie's cousins and their spouses came down from Nebraska to visit and work on a new homeowner house project. There were oh so many projects to choose from, but we decided on putting shelving in the three main, walk-in closets. It was a big undertaking, but we got it done! The shelving is fantastic! We haven't had time to put the house back together yet, but finally, all the linens and clothing will all have a place! Yay, no more piles of laundry in strategic places around the house! So here are the pictures of the new shelves:

The shelves in the right hand side of the master bedroom closets.

The shelves in the left hand side of the master closet, with room for our plastic drawers on the floor. We took out the original shelf and hanging pole and Laurie repainted before the new shelves went in.

This is the second bedroom closet, the right hand side, it is a sewing/craft desk for Laurie. There will be a fold down arm for the table in the future.

Here's the left side of the same closet. Made perfectly to fit the bunny trash can, even allowing it to open and be used while in the closet. This closet was the biggest challenge in the whole closet project. It's great to have the bunny stuff so organized.

This last picture is of all of us on our porch swing. It was rainy most of the weekend, but on Monday, the sun came out and we were able to eat two meals out on the patio. It was great to see Rachel and Andy and Sara and Scott. We had a lot of fun in between all the work we did. We made a trip to Ikea, took them to our favorite mexican food place and even made a trip to my mom's house to borrow her power drills. Oh- and we went to Trader Joe's, whose food was much admired. We always have so much fun with them! Unfortunately or not for some (I think the boys had fun building things), we spent most of the weekend working on the house project, so the only visitor/tourist-y thing that we did was take a hike on South Mountain. It was a very fun weekend, it's always a comfort when the cousins leave that we have plans to see them soon. We're planning on staying a week in Nebraska in June for the family reunion, but after that, we'll have to make more plans to get our cousin fix.

Prayers for Chile

I just wanted to ask for prayers for Laurie's family that live in Chillan, Chile. CNN is reporting that Chillan, 60 miles from the epicenter, is one of the hardest hit areas from this earthquake. Right now, Laurie's sister-in-law and brother have not been able to contact her family. So, if you could include prayers for everyone involved, but a special prayer for Monica's family's safety, it would be greatly appreciated.

ETA: I know that Laurie commented, but as an update, all of her sister-in-law's (Monica's) family are safe and all of their houses are still standing. From talking to them, we know that despite the media skew, things are getting back to normal, in fact, they had newspaper delivery on Saturday morning (the earthquake was in the wee hours of that same morning). Thank you for the prayers, we are very relieved that the family is safe, but as there are so many people in need, extra prayers for the people of Chile and Haiti are always needed.