Help Promote Disapproving Rabbits

The sad thing is that when I took this photo, I was sining. I don't think she cares for my singing.


Hey blog readers, could I impose on you for a moment?

Because I'm new and unheard of, I'm going to be responsible for promoting Disapproving Rabbits. Could ask y'all a favor? I just noticed on the Ellen Degeneres site that they are looking for weird websites they haven't heard of. If you have a spare few minutes and could put in a note about Disapproving Rabbits (www.disapprovingrabbits.com), that would be awesome. Wouldn't it be fun to see Cinnamon on national tv?

Thanks!

Word On Disapproving Rabbits

Well, I just got off the phone with Harper Collins and got some great news about the Disapproving Rabbits book - both Barnes and Noble and Borders have ordered large quantities of the book! Actually, those two orders are more than half of the first printing--I think that's a good sign. Whoot!

We're now in the process of scheduling signings and appearances. If you think that your local book store or tv station would be interested in booking us (I'm going to try and take Cinnamon with me when I can) then email me at sharon at birdchick dot com. Also, if you know of any publications in your area that might appreciate a press release, please let me know.

The official date the book is ready for sale is October 15--right before Cape May Autumn Weekend/First Annual Blogger Conference.

Cinnamon potpurri

In lieu of a post today, I present a series of miscellaneous Cinnamon pictures. The insects done wore me out.


Cinnamon is a Castor Rex, bred for their fur, which is very soft. Wild rabbits have a combination of long and short hair. Cinnamon's is all short.

She's a curious rabbit, and by that, I mean she likes to explore. Sometimes I worry she gets too bored, so we try to take her out to the park when it's not too hot, or into the hallway to let her stretch her legs. Most of the other rabbits we've had were content with the apartment, but Cinnamon likes to explore.


It took us forever to find a treat that she liked. I don't know what her life was like before we got her from the shelter (we were told the previous owners had a baby, which is why they gave her up), but we couldn't get Cinnamon to take any treats at all. It was weird.

Then one day some dried cranberries spilled on the floor and she snarfed them up like a vacuum cleaner. That was when the penny dropped and she realized that HUMANS COULD BE A SOURCE OF FOOD!
Which was all well and good until she also realized that the food came from the kitchen, the one area we don't want her to go into it, since that's where the trash is.
Combined with her naturally curious nature, it's becoming sort of a game for her to see how close she can go into the kitchen before we yell, and--more importantly--get up. When we shout, she'll pause for a moment and look back to see if we're getting up. If we don't, she just keeps on doing what she's doing. But if we get up, then she knows we mean business and she scampers off. Until she thinks we're not paying attention.

She's lost a lot of weight in the last year, which has made her even more active.

When Sharon wanted to put up a section of rabbit photos on her (then) new website, I thought it was a dumb idea. This was a site about wildlife after all; why put up pictures of domestic rabbits? Who'd wanna look at that?

"Disapproving rabbits" was the last thing I put up, and grudgingly. Joke's on me! Especially when the book comes out in October.

Okay, I'm off to read some Gene Wolfe and veg. We will hopefully have a more coherent post tomorrow.

For Teageeare

Who tells me that I don't put enough Kabuki in the blog:
Here is my cranky little cockatiel, eyeing my inbox, hoping I will not notice if he pulls out and chews some paper. He and Cinnamon are about to go an a small adventure. We're going to dog sit for the next few days and we're bringing the pets with us.

I can't believe blogging escaped from me for a couple of days--it turned much busier here than I had anticipated. Next weekend should be about the same. I took Cinnamon with me to Carpenter Nature Center on Friday. I got an email a few weeks ago from some blog readers who said they might join us for banding. They asked if Cinnamon would be there and originally I had said no, but Thursday night and Friday morning, she was doing all those things that say, "Hey, mom, I need some stimulation." ie - digging in her litter box and sneaking into the kitchen. So, on went her leash and she went with me to Carpenter and found a whole slew of new things to disapprove of.

Even though we can still get her to put on the leash and harness without too much of a fuss doesn't mean she tries to chew and whip it off when she thinks I'm not looking.

We're getting in quite a few of the summer residence. Above is a male robin we have had in the nets twice this summer. You can tell he is male by the dark head and the darker rusty breast. Boy, he really looks unhappy in this photo.

We also got in this hairy woodpecker. Notice anything strange about him? Check out his red patch--it's on the front of his head and not the back--a way you can tell if the bird just hatched this year when it is at your feeder.

Cinnamon was not as impressed with all the banding going on and was way more interested in exploring all the prairie grasses. Just by hopping in a few feet, she would completely disappear.

Apart from the leash, the only other way you could tell she was in there was by watching a tall piece of grass waver for a moment and then fall over as she had chewed its stalk. She was almost on sensory overload with the abundance of chewables at her feet.

To a blade of grass, she's kind of a scary looking monster. Afterwards, she kept me company as i scouted for a field trip that I was leading on Saturday. Which I will blog about later tonight. Right now, I have to go out and check on the bee situation...have I prevented a swarm...will the Olga hive be ready for a queen excluder...what wonderful bee adventures will I encounter this week?

Disapproving Rabbits Band Aid

Okay, Disapproving Rabbit fans, I know the disapproval entries have been slow this spring--but hey, that's how the bird readers of the blog feel in winter when the birding is slow and I load up on Cinnamon entries. So, here's a little Cinnamon report:

I took Cinnamon with us this weekend--she did not go with us out to the bee hives but did get some quality time with Non Birding Bill and myself--whether she wanted it or not. We brought along her leash and did a good job of keeping her away from Cabal the Wonder Dog. I was sitting outside with her and had her on her extra long leash. We attached her leash to the legs of a trampoline and I sat with her, just in case she got tangled. Someone who had never met Cinnamon came down to experience the disapproval and when Cinnamon had had enough of people stroking her velvety soft fur, she hopped away.

As she hopped away, I noticed the leash was loosely wrapped around her back paw. Not wanting her to get tangled, I crawled over to move the leash. Cinnamon must have thought I was going to grab her and take her in, because she ran the other direction and sure enough, the loop acted as a noose on her back paw. When a rabbit is scared, they panic and try to get away in any way possible--this can help save them by making a last minute jump away from a golden eagle, or in the case of Cinnamon--tangle her up further.

Cinnamon then tried to jump in every direction and squirm out of her harness, which somehow wedged the whole front section of her body into the harness, binding her front paws...that's when I heard the sound no rabbit owner ever wants to hear--the rabbit scream. I tried to twist around and grab Cinnamon but she kept going around behind me and hopping up my back--she was slippery and I couldn't grab her. The screaming and the idea that Cinnamon could be breaking bones tangled in the leash boiled panic in my mind. I forced myself to try to keep calm and just take time to do it right. I finally grabbed hold of Cinnamon (still screaming) and asked for a knife to cut her out of the harness. But before anyone could move, I found the quick release and she was out and the screaming ceased. It felt like it took ten minutes to get her out, but Non Birding Bill assured me that it was barely a minute and was surprised at how fast I moved and got her out of the leash.

I sat with her for several minutes snuggled in close next to my chest--her breathing was raspy from all the screaming. NBB forced me into the house so we could look her over and see where she was hurt--I kind of didn't want to, imagining the worst possible damage. We set her on some carpet and she hopped normally, no limping, no favoring of any paws. She flopped onto the floor and I laid down next to her to pet and stroke her ears and apologize for not getting her out of the leash sooner. After a few minutes, she got up, shook her ears and nudged me hard as if to say, "Hey, I'm over it, now you get over it. It was far more embarrassing for me."

That night when I finally went to bed in the guest room, Cinnamon was sleeping on my side of the bed with NBB (that big pile of sheet behind Cinnamon is NBB). She seems to be saying in this photo, "Want to make it up to me? Then YOU sleep on the towel on the floor."

I don't think she hurt herself too badly. I think she just got bound up and couldn't get free and that freaked her out, causing her to panic and scream. It's so strange, I've heard the rabbit scream many times before in the wild--I've even mimicked it to call in hawks, owls, coyotes, and foxes. But, man o man, is it different when it's your very own disapproving rabbit.

But all is well and she's snoozing in her little Fortress of Solitude at home.

Belated Bee Report: Unregulated Comb Construction

QUICK NOTE: As of the posting of this entry, no one has correctly guessed the id of the bird in this entry...although the guesses are getting VERY close.

"I disapprove of being any part of your mad pollination schemes!"

I can't believe it! I got Non Birding Bill out to the hives! There he is standing next to the Olga hive, right before he opened up her entrance reducer. I have to say, he looks mighty cute in the bee suit. The suits were built for men and the guys look kinda sexy in them. Lorraine and I tend to look more like Oompa Loompas with the suits on. Sigh. But, I'd rather risk looking like a chocolate factory worker than getting stung.

Here's a big pile of Kitty bees. Saturday, was about checking comb construction and adding another brood box. The Olga bees had filled 80% of the frames with drawn out comb, which meant it was time to add another box for them to build even more comb. I would say that Olga is a full frame ahead of Kitty, but Kitty has some of her own weirdness going on that may in fact put her ahead of Olga.

Olga continues her odd comb construction. This particular frame appeared to have waves of comb built across it as opposed to a flat layer of comb across the frame. I didn't want to kill any more brood than I needed to, so left this odd construction. I'm sure this is going to bite me on the butt later this summer, but the girls are working on hatching the first brood and I think that's more important to let the odd comb go as opposed to killing off brood. Besides, this is a learning summer for me.

We found Queen Olga with very little effort this time. She was on one of the outer frames with fresh honey in it, looking for cells to lay her eggs.

Kitty has gone from being a textbook hive, to making some funky comb like Olga. As soon as we opened the top, we could see the workers placing comb on the tops of the frames. I hate to discourage creativity, but we scarped it off since there weren't any eggs or larvae inside it.

The Kitty bees weren't doing the waves of comb like Olga, but have made their comb in layers. Instead of drawing up the comb from the frame's wax base, they appear to have made a layer on top of the frame and are tunneling between the frame and newly made comb. We weren't able to find the queen, but I'm sure she was running around between the layers and we couldn't see her. We did see several eggs which implied that she was alive and healthy. Even though Olga has filled out more frames, I wonder if Kitty is actually ahead, since she appears to be doubling up each frame?

If anyone has experience with this or advice, I sure would love to hear it.

As we were checking the Kitty hive, the oddest thing happened--a plane crashed. Seriously! We heard a crashing in the trees right overhead, we all looked up and saw what at first looked like a large branch falling to the ground.

It turned out to be a radio controlled plane falling to the ground. We didn't hear it fly overhead, but heard it landing in the trees. At first we weren't sure if it had been in the tree for a few days and finally fell or if it flew over and crashed in the tops of the trees while we were working. After about 10 minutes, the plane's owners arrived. I chuckled at the idea of them coming to look for the plane if we had not been there, only to find it behind two beehives.

As if the plane crash weren't weird enough, check out the name on the plane: Yellow Bee. Ooooooo. We're getting an exorcist and this time I mean it (NBB at least will get that reference).

As we were adding another brood box to Kitty, we couldn't help but notice all the foragers coming back loaded up with pollen. It's interesting to see the distinct colors based on the type of flower they were gathering from. Some have orange colored pollen baskets, some bright yellow.

Here is a worker that I affectionately refer to as thunder thighs--she's an over achiever when it comes to gathering pollen. How did she fly back with that much weight? I don't know, but I sure am proud of this little Kitty bee.

So, now we leave our bees alone to create more worker bees, fill in the frames of the second brood box and to gather nectar and pollen. It will be at least another week until I check on them again. I hope they do well.

Per Request–Disapproval

Some people are begging for disapproval--you people are sick. We're working on another page of disapproval and should be up within the next 48 hours.

There's been nonstop disapproval since returning from Ohio. It's my own fault, I scheduled a nail trim and a yearly exam for Cinnamon the morning we left town. Above is a photo of some massive disapproval while waiting in the vet's office. You can see that realization has just kicked in--that this time the leash didn't mean a fun romp in the park, but poking, prodding, and clipping. The good news: she's very healty for a six year old rabbit.

We're trying to bond to with Cinnamon again, but she is having nothing to do with us. Five days with a pet sitter after a vet visit is just too much. She has holed up in her little bunny fortress of solitude.

Whew, that's bordering on most intense disapproval territory...I backed away from the box slowly and let her stew in peace.