GIFTS!!!!

Sorry I've been absent for quite awhile! I've had a lot going on. Finals in 6 weeks? Really??

I'm ashamed that I waited so long to blog this one, but I recently(kind of!) won the February giveaway over at the Lavender Rabbits!!! YAY!!! I was so excited to receive my beautiful gift.

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Another super cute bunny stamp on the reverse of the package, and another giftie for Biff and Sogna!!! I've actually bought these exact cookies from Bunny Bytes before, and they're a big favorite among my buns! If you haven't shopped at the Bunny Bytes online store before, check it out. They have some great handmade toys, often creative variations on Busy Bunny products, always tested and approved by their own four bunnies before hitting the store. They have an awesome treats selection too, a variety of hay, and they are careful to only sell high-quality, safe, bunny products.

No, many thanks to YOU, Donna and Ed!

And now... here she is!!! The Lovely Luna LoveBun! Isn't she gorgeous?!

YAY!!!

Thought I would model Luna for you. Isn't she beautful?!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Donna and Ed!!! I absolutely love her and am so lucky to give her a great home.

Check out Donna's blog at http://lavenderrabbitstudio.blogspot.com/, and if you'd like some beautiful, handmade rabbit (or non-rabbit) jewelry of your own, check out here etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/lavenderrabbit?utm_source=CraftCult&utm_medium=api&utm_campaign=api.

In other relevant gift news, I asked my mom for a new pair of the Disapproving Rabbits sneakers, since Jon spilled mustard on my old ones. Apparently she perused Zazzle for all kinds of bunny gifts, and look what she found!

How cool is this?! It's like a little Yellow Sogna blogging away on her own.

One more random note:

For several reasons, none of which are important, they decided to move us to a different floor at work. Unfortunately for me, one of the offices we were given was an interior office with no windows, and since I'm the lowest man on the totem pole, I was moved to the windowless cell. I felt pretty sentimental about leaving my office, since it's the first private office I've ever had. So, on Friday night, before I left work, I decided to say goodbye to my beautiful view of the west side of Midtown Manhattan and the Hudson River.

Might it be a great picture if there wasn't the reflection of my phone and the boxes of documents in my office?

We did a nail trimming this morning. Wish me luck keeping Biffy out of stasis!

Everyone have a great week.

The Sogna Says...

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Jon sent me this while I was in class last night, not getting home until after 11 pm.

The Sogna would also like everyone to know that her new tent is her Valentine this year.

One Good Thing About Music -- When it Hits, Ya Feel No Pain

(title is a Bob Marley quote)

Well, I must confess this is a very old post. I took these pictures while studying for finals fall semester, but never managed to get them into a post.

Another disclaimer: The empty bowl in the photos below is from the previous night's dinner. Nobun is starving. Breakfast gets a different bowl.

This may not seem so novel to some of you who have rabbits with very active ears (a certain west coast earometer comes to mind ;) )

I rarely listen to music without headphones because I'm afraid it'll scare the bunnies. But I figured, if a particularly loud song came on, or somebunny seemed scared, I'd just skip that song. (I always listen to my iPod on random. Always.)

I checked on Biffy, over in his usual spot for that part of the day, and his ears were doing something I've never seen before. The openings were facing all the way forward.

Groovin' Slowly- John Butler Trio

Is this Normal? I've never seen anything like it?

All Along the Watchtower - I have versions by three different musicians (can anyone guess who?) but this one happens to be the Hendrix version

Is Biffy a rockstar?

Concrete Jungle - Bob Marley

Does he love it, or is her terrified?

On a more disconcerting note: Biff and Sogna had a scuffle the other night after Jon and I got home (late) from spending the Super Bowl with my family. While I was petting Biff (unusual for that time of night), Sogna mounted him. It's unusual for Sogna to mount these days, but Biff mounts her at least once a day. We used to interfere but the vet told me not to, because she said interfering makes it worse. So you can imagine the effrontery endured when she mounted while I scratched his head.

A "ying-yang" chase ensued, but all the while Sogna maintained her grip on the fur on his back. Afterwards, I found a big bald spot on Biff's back. As you can imagine I was upset and taking a picture wasn't the first thing on my mind. The best way I can describe the size of the bald patch? You know at touristy places they have those machines that flatten out your penny and imprint a design on it? It's about the size of the flattened out penny. So pretty big.

I didn't separate them. There was no broken skin, and they were grooming each other later that night.

I'm distraught. They haven't fought since late May or Early June of 2009, several weeks after we first adopted the Sogna. Should I be so upset? I know it could be so much worse, but it's sad because I know they really do love each other. Should I separate them if it happens again? I feel terrible even thinking about it.

Does this look like the face of a killer to you??

(Apologies for the blurriness. Sometimes she just doesn't like to sit still, although blurriness aside these tend to be the best pics of her!)

Watch out, she's dangerous!!!

Another Birthday Already?!?! And a call for help.

Guess what everybun? It's our BIRTHDAY today!!!

(Actually, it's a close estimate of Biffy's birthday. Sogna's birthday is unknown. So Biffy agreed to share).

We are THREE years old today! Can you believe it?! Three years already??

Mommy gave us a bunch of oats in our breakfast, a real special treat. Jon is giving us some fruits in our dinner, and all of our favorite greens. And Mom ordered us a bunch of new toys and chews (which we of course will turn our noses up at). And then we will demand that as soon as she gets home from class, she begin petting us immediately and not stop until bedtime.

Well, we have some bad news to share with you.

Our Mom's best friend fosters kitties for a rescue in the Washington, D.C. area. They got a plea for help from the Howard County Animal Shelter, who was innundated with rabbits after the authorities caught a family with 78 rabbits in a townhouse. The people cooperated and surrendered the rabbits, but now they're filling up the shelter and LOTS of foster homes.

If you know anyone in the Maryland or D.C. areas why might want a rabbit, or another rabbit, or maybe can foster, please send them this link:

http://www.animal-advocates.org/

I really wish these bunnies the very best. My heart hurts for them. And for their overwhelmed rescuers.

My last Weekend of Freedom Before the Madness Resumes

After the blizzard two days after Christmas, which was a complete disaster because the city didn't seem to want to shovel or plow, we got hit again on Friday and Saturday. Here's the view from our apartment in Queens:

Even though I was off from work to study and do some housekeeping, I spent a good amount of time with the bunnies on Friday, too :-x

One of my favorite things to do is to lay on the floor and let the bunnies sniff me and jump on me. I especially love when Biff climbs on my back and sits there for a minute. Here's a pic I took with my phone over my shoulder the other day. That grey mass is my body in sweats. Lol.

Luckily, not much of the snow stuck, so the roads were relatively clear and we were able to get to our annual vet visit on Saturday.

The vet was very amused by Biffy's "personality" and "high-testosterone" (her euphemisms, not mine). Sogna had her physical exam, tooth check and nail trimming first. Because of Sogna's rough start to life, I decided to ask the vet whether there was anything in Sogna's records from the time prior to when I adopted her that I should be aware of, such as latent medical issues of any kind. She said she didn't see anything that indicated an ongoing condition, but that Sogna had never had bloodwork done, so we decided to do it. And because of Biffy's peeing-on-stuff and the fact that he drinks more water than Sogna, we decided to do a blood test to check his kidney function, too.

Biffy went first, and when they brought him back in the exam room after having not only a NAIL TRIM but also prodding his mouth and getting alcohol on his fur and pricking him with something sharp, they then immediately took away his GIRLFRIEND. Well that was too much for Biffington Toughguy. He was pissed off and he made sure Jon and I knew it! He was flicking his feet, thumping, and circling around in the carrier for almost as long as Sogna was in the back.

It will be a few days before we get the fecal (required at an annual visit with my vet) and blood tests back, and my bank account is quite sore, but I think having the tests done will give me some piece of mind, finally knowing as full a story about the Sogna girl as we ever will.

"Someone call the ASPCA. She tortured us!!!"

I'm glad we got to the vet before I go back to school tomorrow. The school posted grades for two of my three classes from last semester, and so far, so good. I'm going to spend the rest of the night snuggling these sweet monkeys while I still have some time to.

Man, I'm going to miss these rascals.

Hope everyone is well. Have a great week.

Happy New Year - Year of the RABBIT!!!

Happy New Year!!! We wish you a very peaceful and happy Year of the Rabbit.


Now to the story of the day. Biffy is somewhat in love with the bathroom. Here's an old pic of him just hanging out in the bathroom. Sometimes he lays across the door way, sometimes he stands guard just outside the door in the hallway. We frequently get our feet boxed for daring to use the toilet or brush our teeth in Biffy's bathroom. How dare we?

Another favorite perch of his is behind the toilet. When he got sick, he went behind the toilet and wouldn't come out. I eventually fished him out of there to get him into the carrier and take him to the vet. He also likes to explore the space under the cabinet under the sink, and dig in any clothes or towels left on the floor.



On Thursday morning, I was getting ready for work and the bathroom door was open. He went in, which of course is not unusual. He often likes to dig in the towel on the floor outside the shower. Suddenly, I saw him jump. My little explorer bun probably didn't know where he was jumping to. And I definitely don't think he knew it would be all wet in there, when I had just gotten out of the shower.


He tried to escape by jumping back out, the same way he got in, but he didn't realize that it was not only wet, but also slippery in there, and he flailed pathetically.

Biffy looks for an escape route.

Eventually, he realized he couldn't get out on his own, and stared at me beseechingly to get him out of there. I took pity and lifted him up and over the side of the tub, and gently placed him on the towel right outside the door of the tub.

Biff was so indignant at having gotten wet, being trapped, and then being picked up all in such a short time, he wouldn't even say goodbye to me when I had to leave for work. He sat outside the bathroom, grooming himself and licking his wounded pride.

Biff is still in love with the bathroom, and just this morning he boxed Jon's feet so hard he left distinct scratch marks because Jon dared to use the toilet.

Anyway, everyone have a wonderful New Year!!!

Christmakkueidiwali!!!

I hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmakkueidiwali!!!! (Christmas + Hanukkah + Eid + Diwali!) Sorry I've been lost in law school land and recovering there after. So said I pretty much missed the holidays in Blogland!! But I'm trying to catch up on reading all of your blogs and sharing your holidays retrospectively.

Well, this post may take a bit longer than most considering the current state of my computer. The bunnies were bad last night. Check out the latest fruits of bunstruction:



But I'm ashamed of how long it's been since my last post. Especially when I've been dying to show off these most special Christmas gifts I got this year! The first couple of gifts I'm about to show you I received during finals and shortly after, when I've been trying to catch up on day-to-day existence and haven't had time for the cyber world :(

First, I received these little beauties from Annette Tait over at the Dragon House of Yuen blog! Some of you may remember Annette made me a beautiful purse last year in a perfect image of my two beloved bunnies. I finally got around to sending out a thank-you gift this fall, and I got this beautiful Christmas gift in return! A very beautiful and unexpected surprise!!


For some reason I couldn't get a great picture of the first mini baby hare up there, but I like the second picture because it shows the beautiful fabric Annette used to make these little guys. It's also nice and soft and flannely. We were considering not getting a Christmas tree this year, but when I received these, I knew I had to get one!!


These lovely cards were also part of the gift, both made by Annette herself. The one on the right was a card for me, and the one on the left will be sent to some friend somewhere soon!!

Annette is so creative and makes beautiful things, so check out her Dragon House of Yuen etsy shop if you haven't already!

Then I received another beautiful, unexpected and undeserved gift! The picture really doesn't do it justice, but I received this beautiful, hand quilted jingle tree from Shell over at the Raspberry Rabbits!! And it looks absolutely beautiful next to my small table-top Christmas tree.


(The other decorative white tree on here is also very special to me. It's an ornament that my mom got us that says "2010 First Christmas in our New Home - Jon and Lisa.")
Shell also sent this lovely handmade Christmas card, all clean and white of course, and a set of fusion tea and chocolates!! Delicious!!!!




And the buns certainly enjoyed destroying the beautiful tissue paper Shell wrapped our gift in. The paper was so beautiful that I didn't mind leaving it on the floor for them ;)


One more gift I wanted to show you guys. You may hear me complain fairly often that I don't have enough decorative bunnies adorning my home. Well, Jon's parents were nice enough to help me change that!

This is one of two beautiful bunny bookends that I got for Christmas from Jon's parents. These little buns work arduously to keep my books on the shelf!

On one last unrelated note, thank you all so much for your well wishes for finals. Law school is kind of unique in the world of higher education in that I don't think the professors are given any deadline as to when they must submit grades. I know my professors weren't ALLOWED to submit any grades to the registrar until Dec. 22nd, when the final exam period technically ended. Then, since I attend a Catholic institution, the entire administrative staff left for vacation the next day and won't be back until Jan. 3rd. So the very earliest I can get any grades back is Jan. 3rd. One of my professors actually told us not to expect grades until at least a week or two into Spring semester, which doesn't even start until Jan. 10th! So for now I'm just trying to put these exams out of sight, out of mind.

Hope everyone had a happy, healthy holiday.