More From Winter

Spring is here I know but I am so behind in posting photos from Winter!  I am always sad to say

goodbye to Winter because Summer brings so many more stresses with bring the buns outside.

Leisel is a difficult rabbit, always will be I think.  She went through alot before softly

landing here with us & that's okay, that's her, she's still magic to me, especially her fighting spirit.

I love bringing her outside the most I think because it's where she seems the most care-free.

Fuzzy Delights

His royal fuzzy cuteness Barnaby Fizz...

This little guy has a huge personality & is one of my best friends.

Don't forget the bunnies of our micro-sanctuary have their own Instagram stream.

(and pssst....I have someone new for you all to meet later in the week).

Barnaby's Surgery

Our little wild wookie Barnaby Fizz went through his neuter surgery yesterday.  He's healing well.

Any surgery for a rabbit is dangerous because of how fast their precious hearts pump BUT

It's SO important to get your rabbits 'fixed' because their chances of reproductive cancers are so

much higher without & their hormones rule their little bodies so so strongly & unkindly if you don't.

My Half Lop Love

All of the rabbits are special and amazing in their own very unique way, we love them all...

but my Misa, oh my sweet little half-lop love, she is a best friend to me, she's extraordinarily special.

Epic Forts

Sometimes you just have to build your rabbits epic room sized blanket/box forts...

and after your done that, you have to make time to crawl in there with them too of course.

My External Heart

No words...

Just perfection.

Filling In Lines With Misa

I have to use a chemical transfer to get my images from the paper to my linoleum

and I do have to do so because of how very detailed my designs are...

Sometimes it works really well, sometimes only parts transfer or they do but very faintly.

But I don't mind when I have to fill bits in because I grab a stack of linos in the pipeline,

I grab my Sharpie, a snack and I sit with my girl Misa downstairs and we re-line everything.

If life is about being in your happy place as much as possible, this is certainly one of them.

Tiny Or Big

Tiny Bunny?

or Extra Big Carrot?

Flynn Update

So we took Flynn back to the doctors last Friday

and we got good news and bad news.

His nasty ear infection has completely cleared up

but the infection has busted his ear drum and it's completely detached so he's deaf in that ear now.

Apparently sometimes the eardrum can repair itself if the gap/hole isn't too big but the doctor

showed me the inside of his precious little ear and the hole is pretty darn big so we'll have to see.

He goes back in a month for another check up to make sure the infection isn't reoccurring.

Otherwise he's back to his rambunctious awesome adorable self.

Heart Attack For Henrie

So on Monday night around 9pm our handsome Henrie suffered a small heart attack.

We were sitting watching t.v. and heard a ruckus in Henrie & Flynn's room so we went running

to find that Flynn was sitting off by himself perfectly normal but Henrie was all stretched out

unable to stand or get up, breathing super hard with a super rapid heart beat.

He was perfectly fine and active and hungry all the day and evening, it was super sudden.

He refused to eat, he didn't want to open his eyes

and his body language held all the signs of a bunny about to die...

We rushed him to the vet

(thank goodness our vet is always there for us no matter the time of day or night)

and suddenly at the vet's office he perked up, to the point where

all 3 of us clearly could see it was not a situation of having to help him pass.

The doctor said he didn't seem to be in distress or pain but his heart did sound full of liquid

and the most likely answer was that he did indeed suffer a heart episode/mild heart attack!

So he was given a shot of a heart medicine that helps the body pass the liquid away from the heart.

We brought him home, laid with him all night long, not sure what was going to happen...

and suddenly around 5am, he popped up without falling over and started to eat!

Now it's Thursday, 3 days later, and he looks like nothing has happened at all.

The doctor said that the attack clearly happened on the side of the heart where he can survive.

We are still holding our breath...he is 9 years old and for big bunnies that is considered quite old.

He's on the exact same heart meds now, twice a day, 12 hours apart just like our Jelly Bean Jaks.

That's thrown me for a loop I tell ya! 

(It hasn't even been 6 months since we ended that whole routine with our Jaks)

To be on that 12 hour cycle again with heart meds, well I admit I had a good cry about it.

BUT, if it means that it keeps our Henrie comfortable and with us and Flynn awhile longer, so be it.

We will adjust and adapt for him, like we've done for so many other buns

because he deserves the best and longest life that we can possibly give him.

People gave up on him before...

that's why he ended up in the shelter system at 4 years old with his sister Elsie.

We'll never ever give up on him...no matter how exhausting...no matter what...

he's too precious and too awesome and he's our boy.

So right now everything seems to be okay...

we're on eggshells but today he's with us so it's a good day.

and now our Henrie Biggins officially has joined the Tough Nut group!

Happy 1st Year Homecoming Higgy

Last week, February 11th.  marked the day one year ago

that we adopted our Higgins

otherwise known as Higgy-Buttons

(or at the shelter as Buttons).

The Toronto Humane Society reached out to us asking if we were able to take him

and at first we said no, we were full up at the moment but I asked about his story anyhow...

I firmly believe that every single animal has a story and that it's important to tell & hear those stories.

Apparently he was a surrendered as a stray, but the shelter questioned that & wondered if he was just a bunny bought as an Easter gift that the people ended up not being able to handle.

He was somehow also missing a part of his cute little button nose.

He hated the shelter and everyone in it...

he was there awhile and the shelter was out of options for him in regards to foster families to give him a shelter break etc and they were worried he was going to be there for a really long time.

Because of his behavioral issues, they were not able to adopt him out to a family that had children because in that case he very most likely would have been returned or possibly worse.

He was ferociously territorial over his shelter pen, he was biting all of the volunteers

and even some of the potential adopters who stuck their fingers in his area

(that's on the people not him however in my opinion!).

Every time this little guy bite someone,

it had to be reported & a city official had to go all the way to the shelter to put a 'bite quaratine'

on the animal, which meant a big orange sticker was placed on their pen doors

and for 5 days straight no one was allowed to go near him...

(He was not potty trained either & made big messes in his pen)..

Higgins was put on FIVE bite quarantines!!!

We ended up calling him 'The Terror Of The THS"!

BUT thankfully someone there at the shelter believed in Higgins

& saw he had a sweetness under those teeth

and he reached out far and wide when their usual crew in/close to the city wasn't able to take him on

and that's when we were contacted.

The shelter knows we have a lot of experience with behavioral issue bunnies...

After I heard Higgins story, I asked to see his little face...and once I saw the pictures I knew in my heart, looking at his sweet little face that he was meant to join our motley damaged crew.

I talked to my honey, we looked around the house, considering his sex and age etc to see

where and how we could indeed fit him in comfortably with agreement that he had to spend

so many hours upstairs every day and once we had that figured out we said 'Well adopt him".

A week later, with arrangements made, we made the 8+ hour drive to go get our little guy.

Nowadays he's doing soooo much better.

He's sectioned off in his own big area in Misa's big room

and after a year they have finally started to bond and

now almost every night they spend 3-4 hours together.

It's going to be awhile before Misa allows him to be in her set of rooms but we think it'll happen

and than we'll be able to happily converge his area with hers but already they play outside together

and cuddle and play during their time upstairs and it's so so amazing to witness and watch.

I managed to get him potty-trained in less than two weeks too.

I just realized that he wanted to pee on blankets, not on hay or litter,

so I spread hand towels where he was peeing the most and every day moved them a bit closer to potty, than I started putting the hand towels into the potty letting him pee on them in there,

than I slowly started adding just a bit of hay and wood pellets at a time and

eventually I started pulling the towels out and voila he was trained to use the potty...

I admit I was pretty proud of him and myself for getting that done ha ha

because one of this things we were dreading, even in a way more than the biting teeth!

was the mess in a room that we and Misa usually keep very very clean

(but we weren't about to not bring a needy little soul into our home just because he was messy).

We are so so so glad that we took the plunge

& trusted that we could handle him & make him feel loved.
I'll never forget it, when we were leaving the shelter with him,
it spread quickly that it was Buttons who was being adopted
and suddnely a big wave of cheering & applause broke out, everyone was so happy for him, ha ha.

He can still be a little bit naughty when we are in his area cleaning

but you can tell as soon as he nips, he knows he's done a mean thing,

and he doesn't nip as hard as when he first came & even then he wasn't too too bad to handle.

Out of his area, he's a golden nugget, he never bites out of his area

and he loves to be picked up during the day for cuddles,

he closes his eyes and leans into my body, and it's than, every time

I see that comfy dreamy look in his blue eyes and feel the pressure of his precious body

press against mine that I am flooded with pride at how far he's come...

and at us for this life we live with these amazing precious strong animals.

So yes, that was a long story! ha ha,

a very very Happy 1st year homecoming to our Higgins...

we love you baby XO.

Brrrrr, Cozy & Lucky

Brrrrrrr....it sure is nasty out there today.  We're expecting over a foot of snow

and that's just after a week of very slippery and icy conditions....YUCK.

But it makes the house and home so so much cozier & delightful & embracing, don't you think?

Those of us who are so very lucky enough to be able to get and stay inside that is!

Suffering With Sweetness

Leisel, otherwise known as our marshmallow wrapped in a razor blade! seems to be my sentient.

Teela, my beloved departed used to be my ever trusty watcher,

before her it was our lovely Ella-Luna who took on the job

....always seems to be a female bun that's my watcher.

When I am laying in the bed Leisel comes and checks on me almost hourly,

sometimes she waits and watches me from the end of the bed...

If I don't move for awhile she keeps nudging me until I do move and say "I am okay baby".

It's really really very very touching and sweet, especially coming from our broken Leisel,

even when my head is feeling like it's going to split open, the utter sweetness of it isn't lost on me.

On these days another sweet lovely thing are lovely large sweet soy lattes with a big hit of

coconut whipping cream! (I know I know 'the sugar' but my sugar intake is otherwise low).

Sometimes the hit of strong caffeine with a dose of codeine helps me out a bit pain wise so I see it

as medicinal in a way ha ha! But they do truly feel needed, well deserved & certainly appreciated too!

Some Kind Of Wonderful

We've done something wonderful and beautiful

(well Misa isn't thinking that it's wonderful whatsoever!)...

I hate my superstitious side but it's strong & present

so I'll just say for now that I hope I can tell you soon!!!!

San Diego House Rabbit Society

We were so happy to be able to help out the awesome San Diego House Rabbit Society

again this year when they requested more of my art prints for their annual fundraiser Bunnyfest.

If your in the area on September 23rd, hop by to support the rabbits & all those who help them.

My art prints will be part of their silent auction.  We hope they help out this great bunny cause XO

Korra's 3rd year

This month on August 10th we celebrated Korra-Soleil's 3rd year homecoming anniversary.

Our beautiful dutch girl is 6.5 now

and she's doing great though she does have a bit of arthritis in her hind-legs,

which seems to be a common problem with big buns.

We have so far been able to keep on top of that with no medicine &

just making sure she gets out in the yard for a lot of exercise.

Korra had a sad beginning.

She was apparently at a badly run shelter in Quebec that was shut down

and on the transfer day to a better shelter her bonded mate died

so she had to face another lengthy shelter stay with a broken heart

(to this day she sometimes still looks melancholy & sad).

She has the sweetest face though and she's often uncoordinated which makes us laugh all of the time.

She was one of the buns that we just had a connection with immediately upon meeting her.

We were at the shelter adopting another bunny and we met her and fell in love

but at the time we couldn't adopt her, we didn't have proper space for her at home.

So she sat there waiting for a home, we kept tabs on her but she was finally adopted out

only to be returned to the shelter to absolutely no fault of her own,

after a year the people who took her decided they were too allergic to her!

So as soon as we saw she was back,

we zoomed to the city to adopt her and we're so glad we did.

She has since then bonded with our Emmett, who passed away from a stroke last year

so sadly she's lost a 2nd mate & now doesn't seem interested whatsoever in bonding with anyone else

which is okay, we won't force her to do anything she doesn't want to do.

She's content having her Daddy in his office all day long & she enjoys laying at the gates with

Henrie, Leisel & Yuuji (but she seems to hate little Misa and Flynn!).

We love you our big redheaded girl.  You've been a blessing to us XO.

My Girl Back In Spring

I am so behind getting my photos ready for the blog because I am just not on my computer much...

I think I'll be posting summer photos in the middle of winter!

BUT I LOOVVEEE editing my photos when I do get to it, I think it's why I love blogging so much,

I get to share and show you guys all of my favorite photos from this enchanting life.

So here's a few new ones from this past Spring, I don't think you guys will care when they are from...

it was the first time this season Misa was a big brave girl

and went outside for only her 3rd or 4th time.  She's loving it more and more

& I never get bored of watching her be brave and explore further & further...my girl XO

This Is Us

Is there anything much better than this...

Watching your hon & bun snuggle on the bed!

Dental Surgery

We don't like today...Betty-Loo is getting dental surgery this morning...

Please send her healing mojo pretty please & calming vibes for us...we're going to need it!

Tenacious Times

I don't think we have much more time with our Jelly-Bean Jaks...

But he's still eating and pooping and moving around so we're still going to help him keep going.

I am spending alot of time at home and in my upper studio which I share with him.
He's happiest when I am in the studio with him working away with our music playing
(and lavender and peppermint oil misting away from our diffuser...he likes essential oil diffusers)

I've been kinda feeling like my heart is going to burst...
ugh...this part is hard...
What is harder?  Saying goodbye slowly or not having a chance to say goodbye??
I don't know but I do know one thing, this little soul is as tenacious and tough as they come

and I am just grateful that he's seeing his 3rd Spring now since being diagnosed

with congestive heart failure...his tenacity in spirit & body inspires me to better deal with my illness.