The Bunnies!

Back at Christmas time Hayley bought a bunny for Tristan, we then bought a bunny for Hayley and then Colin decided he NEEDED a bunny too. So Christmas was a fun time with bunnies! They were all males, there was a small chance the one unrelated bunny, was a female. Nooooo they turned out to be two females and one male. It was quite opposite to what the pet shop thought but at least the male is the unrelated bunny. These are lionhead bunnies so they are very soft and fluffy.



the trouble started soon after Christmas when first one, then the other female gave birth, they must have been pregnant when we got them. It didn't go well, both females were too immature and didn't make nests, then rejected their babies in a very upsetting way. We tried to help, it was an utter failure the first time and we did a little better the second time.Hayley and Colin especially worked very hard to raise the three babies in the second litter. One baby seemed to be a fighter and almost thrived but it was not to be.


The last little one, who we were keeping warm with a reptile heater, passed away the day before we had a long power outage. Perhaps it was just not meant to be, it would have been impossible to keep him or her warm with the power out and the mother bunny unwilling to care for it. Educational yes. Sad, very.


The bunnies were all given their own cages by this point as we didn't want more surprises. Then in early March a surprise came anyway, 5, FIVE, healthy baby bunnies were born into a nest which the mother rabbit had created. The mother, Fireball (well it was supposed to be a male bunny) cared for them perfectly and all we did was keep our distance and sneak pictures from time to time!






They got cuter and cuter as time passed and the children have great fun with them. Hayley added a very different bunny to the family too. Below is Marlaine. She is exactly the same age as our baby bunnies, about 7 weeks now. her parents are mother-a white Flemish giant and father a brown Netherland dwarf. Quite a combination!


We have given Hayley permission to breed Marlaine one time, when she is past 6 months old, to a Lionhead bunny and see what the babies are like. Should be an interesting study in genetics with that mix of genes!

Oh and see this little one below:

He's not like the other baby bunnies, his back legs don't work. We love him all the more though and plan to get him a bunny wheelchair when he's fully grown. This bunny has many obstacles but he still finds a way to join in with his siblings and eats, drinks, nurses, plays and gets around in his unique way. He/she is a lot more work as this bunny needs to be cleaned a lot and watched carefully to make sure he/she doesn't spend too long in one position. It is worth the work to see it's little spirit shine though.

So that is our bunny story. It should be longer, with detours too numerous to tell but there is lack of time as always to write things out. The children have zillions of photos and memories to chronicle this journey at least.

Animal Academy- April

I didn't get many pictures this month it seems. They kids worked in small groups for much of this class and my children were not in the same groups so I kind of wandered. The theme for April was Animal Rescue. The instructor showed the kids a flying squirrel which was their latest wild rescue. Then went on to explain that many if their rescues are surrendered pets or former pets which unthinking people have let lose even if that type of animal doesn't come from this area. For example The animal place got a call back in October from a man who thought he saw a hige snapping turtle out of the water and wanted to know what to do. Someone fromanimal adventures went to check it out and the animal in question was actually a land tortoise which comes from another country! If someone had unknowingly "helped" the tortoise into the water it might have drowned. We learned that many pets are given up due to three S's, Smell, Size and Sleep. Aferret might turn out to be too smelly for a family who didn't research them first, an Iguana or snake might grow much larger than the person thought when they impulsively brought it and as in the case or hedgehogs, sleep habits might cause a problem. hedgehogs are nocturnal and might be too noisy all night or too boring by day. Always research your pet purchase very well before even thinking about buying or adopting!

The children learned some state and federal laws about animals and about running an animal facility. They learned signs of illness or abuse to look for when examining an animal. There was much more, it was a packed day of animal rescue topics.

The kids gave some ferrets a bath, some kids were scared, my kids have to do this on a semi-regular basis with our own ferrets so they jumped right in.


The kids took the tortoises outdoors for some exercise, no animal should be stuck in a cage all the time!


They helped medicate a few resident animals which were currently undergoing treatments. This alligator had a sore which needed antibiotics.


The tortoises are heavy but Hayley wanted to carry one anyway!


We learned that many bunnies are given up soon after Easter. People buy them on impulse and aren't really prepared to care for them. How anyone can resist such a cutie I don't know but at least these bunnies have a home at animal adventures and are to be part of an educational program. Hayley just loves bunnies!

So that was animal academy for April. Two more months to go.

Boy Scout Camping

Boy Scout Camping isn't a simple thing, I can tell you that from experience (one boy scout camp-out down, too many to go...). My guys have camped with the cub scouts but that is a whole 'nother thing. Boy Scouts go without their parents and with quite a massive amount of gear. I don't even want to add up how much all this cost, I stopped counting when the amount got scary and that was only one the first shopping trip but we have told the boys if you lose it you will camp next time without it!

Here is a photo of the first (of 5) shopping trips to get ready for boy scout camping. We were all rather optimistic at that point.


here is a photo from the fourth shopping trip to get ready for camping. No we didn't need to buy Dora one of the boys knocked her down with their massive bag of camping gear and Hayley was kind enough to right the rather large, inflatable explorer. We were no longer optimistic by this point.


BJ's was the third trip I believe.


Now how to pack 6 feet of stuff onto the backs of 4 and 5 foot tall boys?



then of course once we have all the gear we need to practice camp cooking.




After shopping at Walmart, Dicks sporting goods, Kmart, another walmart, BJ's, Target, The scout shop, Sears and the grocery store. Plus cooking tofu hot dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches, potatoes in foil and s'mores over a fire, and of course making that fire, the boys were deemed ready for camping.

Off in the rain they went.



I can tell what Hayley's thinking- better you than me dear brother, I'm going home and getting out of this rain!




They had fun, they found out everything they don't know yet about camping. They learned things, made mistakes, got wet, tired and in Tristan's case hungry because he forgot to eat sometimes, but they still want to do it all again.


Tristan was very over tired, hungry and overwhelmed when we picked him up 2 days later and had a super mega tantrum but after some good food and a good warm sleep he was all recovered.


They only lost a couple things, thank goodness. They will camp again in a few weeks and the theme for that one will be Iron Chef- cooking without utensils. We figure if we don't have to pack the utensils that will take a little weight off their back packs!

random March photos

As I seem to have forgotten about my blog from mid March, I am yt again trying to catch up. Words will be brief, mainly photos in these next few posts.

Mid march brought a trip for more eyeglasses for Tristan. That child does go through glasses! The eye doctor charges a small fortune and we just didn't have the best of luck with online discount places (I think they're better for adults really). Now we decided to try BJ's club. It's a long drive but the eyeglasses prices and guarantee seem great so we are willing to do it. Tristan found two pairs of glasses he liked, both blue. Now if or should I say when he breaks a pair he has the spare while the broken pair goes in for repairs.


Tristan and Hayley wanted to live in BJ's so they could sleep in the dog beds.


Tristan took this photo below. Ice was still on the lake as of March 20. It went out about a week later, quite early as mid. April is apparently more typical.


Colin and Tristan served at their first spaghetti supper with the Boy scouts. Colin was a host and Tristan was a dessert boy. They both enjoyed the evening but found it very long. They had to work for 3.5 hours before they could eat themselves, hard with all that tempting food going by!




Eat they did at the end, as did the rest of us. It was an enjoyable evening.