Love Bun

My husband is a softie. He doesn't want anyone to know, so lets keep this on the DL, ok? But it's true. He also likes to surprise us with things. Like last weekend; what a big one that was!

The day was a normal one. We were heading out to Chilliwack to visit my parents, but we had to stop in a pet store first. Hunny needed to look for some kind of tube for fishtanks for some reason or another. The kids and I just wanted to go in and see the pets, because really, pet stores are like zoos, but for free! *smile* This was the same petstore that we got Thumper at last summer, too, so of course we had to check out the newest bunnies! Oh goodness, they were adorable! So tiny and fluffy! And the kittens brought out a collection of "awww"s from the kids. And the birds, they were beautiful. And the snakes and tarantulas...okay, they were NOT cute or sweet or even sigh-inducing. Not even from the boys! But the bunnies...oh, they were cute and they begged to be picked up and snuggled. Really. They did. I could hear it in their tiny bunny voices. Pick me up. Buy me. Hold me. Love me. But *sigh* alas, no bunnies for us! *pout* One day, we tell the children. But they've been waiting for a whole year for that "one day".

When we got Thumper, we discussed getting another bunny and raising baby bunnies. How much fun would that be??? *squee* But we haven't had the money to put aside to buy another one, because we would need a whole new cage, plus all the supplies all over again. Hunny has been looking for a few months at bunny prices though, keeping an eye out, calculating and considering. But we aren't quite ready for another one yet. One day. Soon.

So we head on over to my parents. It's a hot hot day and we're tired and hungry and trying to keep cool. And when I say "we" I really mean myself and my mom; the kids seem just fine! Convincing them to head down to the cool basement doesn't work, phooey! But we make do and try to keep them occupied while the men go out again. Hunny is still on a search for that fish pipe or something. Or maybe it's wood as they're heading out to Home Depot? I forgot to listen! All I remember is that half an hour later there is a phone call from Dear Hunny and he wants to talk to our daughter. I hand her the phone and her side of the conversation is to tell him that it was the small colourful one she liked the best!

Excuse me? What is he asking her? Not even 2 minutes earlier, Abi had coloured a picture of the three female bunnies: a spotty one, a brown one and a tan one. She had named them all too! When she says good-bye to her Father, I grab the phone and demand, "What have you done???" but he had already hung up! Is he doing what I think he's doing? Abi is doing an excited hyper dance and I am shaking my head. So much for consulting the wife! But secretly I am giddy too!

He comes home with a brown box which contains this:

Have you not seen a cuter little thing???



Meet Ginger. She is a Mini Rex and looks to be about 6-8 weeks old. You can still see the veins in her little ears!



Abi is in LOVE. She spend all day snuggling this little bun, just loving on it. Ginger is her little "baby" and she is "Mama Abi"!





The bunny took quite well to her too, and loved to snuggle right into her neck, and on her lap, and up on her chest. Life suddenly looked so much better for Ginger than in the pet store!







How can you NOT love a little bun like this one? She is absolutely adorable and can fit into my hand just snug-ly.





Which is great and all, but we still needed to answer the all-important question of where is this bunny going to sleep? It's certainly not staying in Thumper's cage! She's way too little and we're not looking at new baby buns quite yet! It's a good thing my sneaky Hunny conveniently picked up some wire when he was out because he was making a new bunny cage!


First, he wrapped the wire around his legs. I told him that he was making the cage for the wrong animal. He did not think of me so clever. *snicker* He informed me he was cutting the length he needed from the wire. I told him that was a boring job and left to find a bunny to snuggle with again.



Then he enlisted the help from my Dad (since I was wooing said bunny) and had him bend the wire into a rudimentary shape of a square. To do this you need to stand on it while your partner hammers it around a piece of wood!



After all your sides are formed, you need to pinch the ends of the wire together. This helps it from not falling apart, and from not, uhm, well, pinching you. We want this to be a "family friendly" cage and the very idea of receiving a wire cut sends me shivers!



Along with your wire, you're going to need a sturdy base, so my Father is hammering the wood together for that. (I loves my Dad.)


We need a trap door! How else are we going to get the bunneh out of it's cage or bring it treats and food? To do that, Hunny uses the wire cutter and cuts out a top, then fashions it back on with wire flaps. It's quite the complicated step that it can't be explained in my language!



Then you need a pesky, I mean, helpful child to come in and add the various wire cutters to your creation. He will apply this technique when you aren't paying attention, causing you to panic when you do realize, fearing that he has hacked your almost-formed cage. You see that he is not that strong, much to your relief, but you take away his tools anyways, much to his great displeasure.




The cage is almost done! Hunny just needs to nail the wire bit to a piece of plywood.


And then we need a test bunneh subject. Ginger will do just fine.



Yay! A new home for a new bunny!

Tibbar

Months ago, maybe even years ago, we always talked about getting a Bunny. (I've always one. okay, maybe not always, but often or lately or for a long time, at least!) When Abi finished grade two in June, we made a deal with her. If she could keep her room clean for Two Whole Weeks (which I swear--except that I don't--was only for One Week, but her Daddy insists it was Two!!!) that we would Consider getting her a bunny of her own. (Daddys make it so tough, don't they?)

Two weeks pass and she fulfilled her end of the deal. Except by then we couldn't b/c we didn't have enough money for a bunny and all the things needed to have one. It wasn't until midway through July that Hunny surprised us all!

We were driving to go visit my parents and my brother and his family and go to a big extended-family BBQ (I'll blog about that real soon!) when Hunny decided to stop at a pet store that was closing out. He wanted to see the prices of bunny cages, and we left the store with a whole bunny kit for 50% Off! Then we made our way across the street to a small pet store to pick out a bunny. The one we chose was also cheaper than the others b/c he was a month older and "less cute". Yay! (he was 3 months old)



At first, the kids wanted to name him Fluffy. They LOVE him!!! (yes, the bunny is a "he")
We set up the large cage in my parent's front yard (it was such a nice warm day) so that he could have some nice breeze and that it wouldn't take up my parent's house (after all, this wasn't a planned thing, so none of us were expecting to need extra space! Hunny had to juggle around the double-stroller so the cage would fit in to the van!) I kept coming out to see Bryn leaning in to pet the bunny! It looked like he was going to fall in!







We ended up having to take Fluffy with us to our friend's house for a BBQ that evening, but thankfully that was okay. We sat outside in the backyard and there was plenty of space for the cage. The kids even took him out a few times, to nibble on the grass and bounce around a bit. Fluffy actually even walked! I didn't know they could move in ways other than just hopping! It was neat to watch him get up on his hind feet and then take a quick small step!





By the next morning, the kids couldn't remember the name they chose, so they began to call him Thumper. I suggested Tibbar (backwards for Rabbit) but they didn't like it! Oh well! I call him both!

Bunnies are social animals and need to exercise and be with other bunnies, so we're thinking we need to get another one! However, another male with just fight with him (they're territorial) so the only option is a female. But we all know what happens when boy bunnies and girl bunnies get together.... *wink* Hunny has a good cook book which has a Bunny Stew recipe so it's all good! Plus, bunnies make great birthday gifts...don't they? Hunny has already told Kai that if he can keep his room clean for two weeks.... LOL...but he hasn't yet, so who knows when that'll happen.

It hasn't even been a full month yet, and I can already see how Thumper has grown. He's used to his cage and seems okay in our house, even getting used to us. Every day, Abi lets him out onto her bed for "exercise", and the thing hops and explores and looks to the floor, wondering if it wants to attempt the drop to the floor! He's too little for that now (thankfully) but we'll have to make an actual area for it to get out and 'stretch it's legs' a bit soon.

He's a cutie and I love snuggling with it nightly...even though I can't tell if he enjoys it as much!