Thumper AKA fuzzy butt!

[whitelop]

Are you guys really careful people? You seem like really careful people. Maybe not careful, but cautious?
With the eggs, you really don't need anything other than warm water to wash the eggs. Your water should be warmer than the temp of the shell, so it doesn't push the bacteria any further into the pours of the eggs. There is a "bloom" on the shell of the egg that keeps the bacteria out, so I usually don't wash the eggs until its time for me to cook them.

That is A LOT of eggs! But with the three girls, they should all be able to find a good amount of them. Its so nice that you guys are so close! I did not grow up like that, I hope that my son can grow up close my husband and I. Well, probably more me than him because I'm the one thats here all the time.

 

[PaGal]

ILoveMyRabbit...I may try that, knowing Thumper though he would probably rather just munch on the basket.Ha

Morgan...I don't think we are extremely cautious. The neighbor just picks up the eggs and places them in an egg carton some of which we bought for him since he is nice enough to share his eggs, we wash the eggs off with warm water as you said right before we use them. Our home is not completely spotless and we get plenty dirty doing what we do for work and fun. We do wash our hands often when preparing a meal but we are not anal about it.

Well every year I buy some more so over the years it has added up. We will also ask the neighbors son to come over and join in as well. I did not grow up that way either nor did my husband. We try our best. I have a good relationship with my grown kids and we are trying to continue with the girls. I think what really makes the difference is just talking with them no matter what you are doing. Of course there are times you have to be a hard ass and set the rules but kids like to be talked with just like you do with another adult. It makes a big difference because I see it every time any of the girls come to help us work just so they can spend time near and talking. Whether it's raking and hauling leaves or working in the garden. We do make them help so they learn sometimes you have to work whether you feel like it or not but most of the time they join us on their own. We do want them to enjoy being kids also while they can. Kids grow up way too fast now.

 

[Katielovesleo3]

I just tried catching up on your blog, but 13 pages is so long so I am going to start here. But I was looking at like page 3 and it was Thumpers birthday and he is sooo cute I love the one where he's playin dead and I love his bunny town, its so much better than mine, I am a teensy bit jealous ")

Kids do grow up too fast nowadays, I can't stand it. I have facebook and my little cousins all want to add me but I get SOOO tired of seeing their dumb posts, trying to be all grown up and then taking skanky pictures. ugh. I hate to un-friend family but gee! Maybe they wont notice?! HAHA!

 

[PaGal]

Katie...Thank you. Bringing him home was one of the best decisions we have ever made. He is a complete joy. I'm so glad I thought to make his town because he enjoys it so and even has stopped him chewing on our door frames. It helps that he has the room to himself .

That is one of the biggest problems I see is that parents don't parent and just let them grow up too fast. It is all a bad influence.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Katie, yes kids do grow up fast, too fast sometimes and they don´t live that period a kids where you don´t have a care in the world.. Enough time when you get older for worries. And I don´t think you´re bad to un-friend them, sometimes, facebook is a real pain with the things people comment and write....get a life lol.

I´m sorry but I hate it when parents say that their kids are their best friends....parents are parents and you can´t be friend with your kids or you´ll not be able to parent. Parents are there to set boundaries and sometimes be the buy guy but that´s what you sign up for. I think nowadays some parents are just scared of their kids cos they´ve let them do what they want since they were toddlers. A sad reflection of today´s society. That´s why I take my hat off to all of you, Morgan, Lisa, Denise who´ve raised kids you´d be happy to spend time with cos they are well mannered, know that they have to work to obtain things and know how to behave with other adults. Those are the type of kids I love to spend time with.

 

[PaGal]

Chris...it infuriates me when I see how some kids behave. It is a complete shock and I don't know how the parents don't just die from embarrassment. No, you can't be their best friend but you can have a very close relationship while still setting boundaries and raising well behaved children. Mostly it is just being consistent. This is the rule. You break it, you get punished...each and every time not just when it makes me mad and not just when I get the energy to get up and deal with it.

 

[PaGal]

I just had to say, I really love my husband. Not that I just realized that. I called him this morning after he was at work. While we were talking he told me he is really upset with the people with the goats. Well he knows from me telling him, that two buns were killed on the road right there and they are not wild buns. Well he's been seeing one play in the yard in the evenings and it was dead on the road this morning.

He's not a crazy animal person like me but he does like them and care about them. If it weren't for me he wouldn't have so many animals living with him. He doesn't typically go out and actively look for one but he does take them in when they show up abandoned. It is wonderful to be married to someone that likes and cares about animals.

Also, I need sleep before I give myself a heart attack. Earlier I had to check on some bank stuff and read something wrong. Mu hubby made a quick stop at the store the other day and my sleep deprived mind read the info as him having spent over $400. Now I know that is not right so jumped to the conclusion that someone ripped us off. It actually happened before to us but luckily the bank caught it and reimbursed our stolen money.

Then just ten minutes ago while walking through the house I saw our bedroom door open and panicked thinking Thumper would have chewed all the computer wires, alarm clock wires, lamp wire and might have been shocked. I was think how stupid could I be and called myself some not so nice names only to look right in front of me across the room and there is Thump sitting in his cage, calmly looking at me. Nope, I hadn't let him out yet. Idiot!

I have been hand feeding Thumper some pellets in the morning for about four days now. I want to get him used to being in my lap again so I can work on picking him up. I think I will be more comfortable first picking him up while sitting, he's a lot of bun to control if he panics and this way there will be no worry of a fall. Well already he comes running and plants his front feets on my lap when he hears the pellets. Now to just get him into my lap. He stopped crawling into it once he got big enough not to need to and still be able to reach what I have in my hand.

I'm also working on him to come out into the kitchen. He will come out into the dining room but doesn't like to come into the kitchen. I got him to come out last night. I moved a rug closer to the doorway so he would know he had a safe spot with good traction. Once he gets comfortable I will stop moving the rug. I know it's just a matter of time.

 

[DixieDoodle]

:happyrabbit::heartbeat:

 

[Chrisdoc]

Denise, I do agree, you can be have a good close relationship with your kids but you´ll always be the parent first. So sad about the bunnies getting killed on the road but so irresponsible of the owners, I´m not surprised he´s really mad and upset.

That is so sweet that he´s got used to hearing the sound of the pellets and now comes running. Mine go mad when they hear the bag of food and start running in circles until I put it in their bowls. But, it´s a good way of building trust and I´m sure that he´ll get used to or put up with you picking him up. Some just never really like it but tolerate it for a while. I have one who loves it and two who let me but are really glad to get their feet back on the ground.

 

[PaGal]

Chris...I messed up when we first brought him home and could just kick myself. I was doing a lot of research including here although I wasn't posting much, mainly reading, well all I kept reading about picking up a bun kept warning about possible broken backs. It made me worry too much. When we brought him home he was a lot smaller and although he struggled when you first went to pick him up he would calm once you had him against you. Well because of my worry we didn't stick with it and now I have to start all over.

at this point if he was a smaller bunny I would just go for it, now it's more his size.

 

[Chrisdoc]

I can understand what you mean. Bandy is a wriggler, he barely stays still for 30 seconds and I am terrified of him hurting himself sometimes but I have to pick him up to groom him so I don´t have a choice. A bigger bun is so much harder but I´m sure with patience, he´ll get used to it.

 

[PaGal]

Maybe I can use clover as his special treat. He can eat plenty of it without the worries that come with fruit and he really, really likes it. I picked him some a little while ago, like ten and he gobbles one up before I can get another in my hand. He also did the same over the weekend although I let those ones thaw slightly. I was sick of being in the house so I went outside. Well it was sleeting out and everything had just the thinnest layer of ice on it. I wasn't sure if something thawed after being frozen should be given to a bun but it was only a few pieces and it had just started to sleet.

I have just about made up my mind to start building Thump a bigger cage this weekend. I have some wood the frame. I will need wood for the floor and think I will tile the floor. I'll use a tile that has some traction to it. I refuse to use linoleum as I am a linoleum snob. I have never, ever liked it. We have remodeled three bathrooms so far so I know how to work with it. I even have some tile in the garage but not sure if I have enough, I'll have to check. I have fencing I was planning on using. It has gaps that I believe are 2"X4". I like it because you get a good view through it, better than nic panels. I'll have to see how much I have. We replaced some of the plastic in Thump's gates with it as he was chewing the plastic. Hubby will be home in case I need a hand. Will just have to work it in around the Easter goings on.

 

[Chrisdoc]

I so admire all you handy people who can build things and this sounds great. I´m sure he´ll love it. I don´t like linoleum either, always sounds like something we used to use back in the 70´s and I don´t think I´ve ever seen it here in Spain. They use marble or ceramic tiles. You can so many different tiles, you have a really good choice.

Mine do love banana as a treat and they´re now hooked on craisins but they also love basil and sage so I sometimes use that as they can eat as many herbs as they want.

 

[agnesthelion]

.....

 

[Ilovemyrabbit]

I read somewhere that red Clovers would cause gas in a bunny. I don't know if its true or not.

And that is so cool that you are building Thumper a new cage! I bet he'll be happy to have a larger cage. Post pics when its done. Or you could even take a few pictures while its being setup.

 

[whitelop]

When I became a nanny, it became more aware to me about the way people raise their kids. I noticed that people try to negotiate with their kids a lot and I think thats crap. I noticed that parents give their kids too many choices and I also think thats crap. When we go to a restaurant I offer my kid, chicken or grilled cheese. He eats both of those and he normally says chicken because thats his favorite word. But I watched this woman go through the whole menu at a diner with her kid and let him decide what he wanted. It took her 20 minutes to order because he was 5 and bouncing around. I just wanted to be like GIVE HIM THE NUGGETS AND END IT! But no, she would say something, he wouldn't respond and she would get louder and then move on the next thing. Kids shouldn't get options like that.
But when I became a parent I saw things TOTALLY different than when I was a nanny. I saw people being friends with their kids. Kids whose parents hung out with them. Moms wearing their daughters jeans. Then it made me think about to being a teen, and some of my friends parents were like that the "cool parents" who would party with us. WTF? Thats not okay, but as a teen it was. Now as a parent I'm like "OMG you're insane! Thats not how you do it!" When you're friends with your kids you can't be a parent to them and you can't tell them no because they don't respect it because its coming from a friend not a parent. Its BS.
But when I became a parent, and saw things and realized different things about myself and my friends parents and my parents. I called my mom and thanked her for NOT being my friend when I was growing up. I thanked her for always being my MOM and telling me no and being there to catch me as I fell. I thanked her to all her years of thankless service and hoped that my son will thank me for the same things later in his life.

This post has been random and a little odd.

 

[Chrisdoc]

thanks Lisa, it´s one of my regrets but can´t change the past and that´s that. But I remember my brother and my niece who used to spend their summers here after he got divorced and it used to drive me nuts when he used to ask her what she wanted to eat and then i used to make it and then she wouldn´t eat it but he´d let her have ice cream or dessert when she hadn´t eaten her dinner...it used to drive me nuts. After the first few days,i told him that she´d eat what we ate and she did and I told her that if she didn´t finish a good amount of dinner then she´s get no afters. I also made sure she didn´t own the remote control for the TV, adults get to choose and if you´re very good, you may get to choose too. I did however, let her watch the first Harry Potter film, her mom had said that she couldn´t, can´t remember the reason but it was really dumb and she sat and watched it with me and loved it. I told her it was our secret, never found out if she told her mom lol. I was firm with her but she respected me. When you´ve got a 4 or 5 year old, you have to make the choices, they´re not adults, they´re kids and you´re the parent. Rant over.

So yes Morgan, i agree, kids of that age don´t get to choose, they are presented with dinner and they eat it. And I agree once again a parent is a parent, they have to be unpopular sometimes but that comes with the territory. If you don´t parent kids, they will never learn boundaries and that what a parent is there to do, teach them right from wrong.

I also thanked my parents for always being there. I look at my mom now and as she gets older, it´s like me being the parent and her being the child, now making decisions for her and looking after her. Maybe that what it is, our parents sometimes become our kids as they get to the end of their life. But, I love having her over here and taking of her and doing everything for her. I´ll take a couple of pics so you can see her when she´s over next month.

 

[PaGal]

I have a terrible headache.I hate headaches! I went grocery shopping this morning which is never a good thing when you are not in a good frame of mind. I always go early so it's less crowded but today was an exception. Even early it was more crowded than usual because of the up coming holiday. I got Thumper some cilantro to start eating. I also broke down and bought some pomengranat infused craisins. Ignore any spelling mistakes, I can't type well with a head ache like this and I don't really care right now.

I let Thumper out after I put the groceries away because I didn't feel like stepping over his gate several times. I tried giving him a craisin but he just sniffed it. It's typical for him to not eat something from my hand until he has ate it from his bowl once. He's silly! I then laid down on the floor for a little while being careful to pull my shirt past my belt since he always wants to chew it. He was feeling pretty frisky so he was doing a lot of binkies. Then he decided to use me as an obstacle course.

He doesn't do that too often. He pulled my hair once running across it. He also ran across my arm and scratched me through my sweat shirt. Now that I have been a race track for him I have some sence of just how powerful those back legs are. I know I wouldn't want to tangle with him

One of the girls was amazed last week when I went to give Thump his pellets. I couldn't let him out because I was going to the school. His feeder hangs at the back of his cage and it's impossible to open the door without him getting loose. He is too good at squeezing his was past when I am half in and half out of his cage sice he does that when I clean it. I use one of his paper towel rolls and slide it through his bars so one end is in his feeder and the other is outside his cage and I just pour his pellets into the paper towel tube.

Looks like my weekend plans have changed. We will have the egg hunt on Saturday because it's going to rain Sunday and the way it has been raining here all winter all of our eggs would wind up bobbing around in puddles. A buddy and his daughter will be coming over, also my hubbies cousin and his family. We will be grilling burgers and dogs and the fixins. Sunday will be our Easter dinner and everyone will get their baskets. It's not looking like I will get to start on the cage. I was excited about it to. But we'll see.

 

[whitelop]

I woke up with a headache this morning and I swear that is one of the worst things to wake up with.

Thumper sounds like such a character! Escaping every time you open the door. Ellie does the same thing. Its pretty smart to put the paper towel roll in there as a funnel though! Pretty crafty!
I bet he's so funny to watch because he's so big with the ears and big feets. He's so cute!

I hope you guys have a good time this weekend, hunting eggs and eating! It sounds like its going to be a blast. I think its only supposed to be like 64 here so not very warm. Ugh, I guess Mother Nature didn't get the memo, that its supposed to be spring time!

 

[Chrisdoc]

Headache´s are awful, I used to get terrible migraines but grew out of them. I hate grocery shopping when it´s crowded, I love the supermarket when there´s hardly anybody in there.

You have to be inventive sometimes with these bunnies so good on you for using a paper towel roll as a funnel.

Houdini also likes to use me to jump over and climb on but he´s a lot smaller than Thumper so doesn´t do much damage.

Weather here is a bit changeable at the moment. Had a BBQ at my friend´s house today cos we were going to do it Saturday but they´ve forecast rain. Hope everything goes well for you and you´ll get the cage done, sometimes things just don´t work out as planned ullhair: