Eulogy for Hazel, a Disapproving Rabbit

Warning, this is a bummer of a post and not bird related. If you don't want to be bummed out, wait for the next post.

Today, we lost Hazel, our oldest disapproving rabbit. Apparently, El-ahrairah needed her to join his owsla. We got Hazel in 1996 when we first moved to Minnesota as a companion for our little male rabbit at the time, Latte. They were fast friends after some bullying on Hazel's part. Once both had established their boundaries, they were inseparable.

Hazel tended to be on the shy side, and never went anywhere without Latte leading the way. Once he had established that an area was safe she would follow. I remember early on when we had Hazel, we would let both rabbits run around the apartment twenty-four hours a day. Hazel looked somewhat like a ghost or negative space in the shape of a rabbit with her black velvety fur running around when all the lights were out. That all came to an end one night when I woke to a strange sound. Hazel was on the bed, sitting near my face. I didn't think much of it and closed my eyes. I heard the sound again and opened my eyes to discover Hazel eating my hair. Non Birding Bill said that it was the result of my using all those pricey, cruelty-free, all-natural fruity shampoos. I just thought that she disapproved of that particular hairstyle--perhaps a "Rachel" wasn't the best cut for me.

One day Hazel took her disapproval to NBB's writing, she opened his bag and started whipping out pages of his notebook and chewing them. NBB was horrified and amused all at the same time. There was also the time NBB almost got electrocuted by Hazel, which he re-enacted with her last week.

When I used to work at the Minnetonka Wild Bird Store, I would take both Latte and Hazel and they had a great time eating birdseed and parsley from the customers. I remember we discovered Hazel's favorite toy in the form of patina copper wall hooks. One had fallen on the floor, and Hazel grabbed it and flipped over and over. I bought a few and kept them on hand at home for her. Hazel suffered from chronic respiratory problems and we always knew when she was feeling bad because she wouldn't play with her hooks. We learned of her respiratory problems not long after we brought her home and she started making a wheezing/snuffling sound. We took her to the vet and got some antibiotics. She would wheeze worse when we picked her up so we avoided doing that. After that infection subsided, she would still make the wheezing sound anytime we picked her up. She had learned that we would leave her alone if she made that noise--clever bunny.

Though Hazel was shy, when she felt comfortable and in her own territory, she would fight like a tiger. As fast of friends that Latte and Hazel were, Cinnamon and Hazel were just as fast of enemies. I have never seen anything as violent as two female rabbits. They fight dirty! They rolled around the apartment, knocking into chair and table legs with little tufts of fur flying up in the air, as they would bite, kick, thump and grunt (yes, that's right, grunt). We tried everything, but those two just would not get along. We had to keep them separated and both would try everything they could to irritate each other. Hazel would skip the litter box and go to the bathroom right in front of Cinnamon's hutch. Cinnamon would sneak up on a snoozing Hazel as she was leaning on a partition and nibble her fur.

Hazel was quite the bruiser. In her hey day, she reminded us of that black bull in the Bugs Bunny cartoons that annihilated anything in its path and snorted. We used to let Latte and Hazel play in our building's hallway with our neighbor's cat Milo. Milo would playfully bat their ears or cuddle up to them. I guess Hazel had enough and once when Milo went to bat her ears, she lunged towards him in a single hop, pinned him and then chased him down the hall. The neighbors moved not long after that...I wonder if it was because of Hazel?

When Latte died in 2003, I wasn't sure how long Hazel would last. She didn't like Cinnamon, and she never went anywhere without him. I retired her from going to the bird store and she seemed content to stay at home. Her respiratory condition has been getting a little worse in the last year and recently our vet found an inexplicable mass in her abdomen. Tests couldn't determine for sure what it was, only surgery would do that. Since she was ten and in touchy health we decided against it, to just make her remaining time as comfortable as possible. This morning after a hearty breakfast of her favorite foods she had what appeared to a seizure. We took her to our vet and after discussing options made the choice that every pet owner dreads having to make.

I hate the whole process. Rabbits take longer to put down than dogs or cats. Our vet has explained the reason why and I can never remember why, but it bites. It takes forever. I hate the whole process: the decision, the vet seeing me bawl like a baby, waiting for the last breath, having to walk out in the waiting area when you are finished with an empty carrying case or leash while everyone else knowingly looks at you and feels grateful that they are not you that day, the nice and sincere card we will get from the vet with the "Rainbow Bridge" poem. The worst is still yet to come. Tomorrow when we wake up we will temporarily forget and then be reminded when the morning routine starts and discover that it is disrupted because our household is one member short.

There's also the bummed mood that will last for a two or three days and if someone asks, I have to gauge if they will understand if I say, "I just lost one of my rabbits." Sometimes I worry that I am someone who is too involved with her pets.

So, now I think I will lay low and avoid the listservs. There's some debate going on about duck stamps on the Minnesota bird listservs and I worry with my mood, I may forgo eloquence or what I hope is my easy going email demeanor and just start calling people buttheads.

Goodbye, Hazelrah, Disapproving Rabbit & Chief of Owsla at the Stiteler Warren. You will be deeply missed.

In House Birding

Well, we had a minor cockatiel meltdown yesterday. After a long night's sleep, I woke Thursday morning to get started on a massive to do list. Non Birding Bill mentioned in passing that our cockatiel was out of muffin. I thought he meant that Kabuki was eating the last piece, oh no, Kabuki had completely run out and I am the keeper of the recipe. And, when our darling little cockatiel is unhappy, he has a very particular screech to let us know. So, I had to make muffin right away to restore calm to our little home.

Our cockatiel is a home body, doesn't like to get too adventurous and really doesn't like anything new. The first time I ever heard of cockatiel muffins was from a bird store customer who brought in some she had made for me when she heard I had a bird. I thought the gesture was sweet, but that our cockatiel would avoid them. It was unlike any food we had given him before and usually when something new is introduced to his environment he stares at it for a good two days, intermittantly bobbing his head up and down as if to get a clearer focus on the potential danger. The first time I put muffin in Kabuki's treat dish, he looked, bobbed his head up and down and made a bee line for it and has been eating muffins ever since. I can't help but wonder if the breeder who sold him to the pet store we got him from fed him muffin. There are various incarnations of the recipe on the internet, and I have made up my own recipe based on Kabuki's likes and dislikes. Here's break down:

1 box Jiffy Cornbread
6 eggs, shells included
1/3 cup milk
1 cup bird pellets
1 jar of Gerber Baby Food in the form of carrots, sweet potatoes or squash
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables, cooked
1 cup sunflower hearts

Sometimes I'll mix it up a little and put in some canned pumpkin or peanuts or raisins. The best part of this muffin recipe is that it gets our cockatiel to eat his pellets. Before the muffin, Kabuki would only eat the pellets if he was really desperate. Now, muffin is the first thing he eats in the morning, so I know he's getting his nutrition.

I've tried crumbling up this muffin concoction and putting it in a tray feeder for the wild birds, but even the starlings and house sparrows won't touch it. That's okay, it's one thing to bake periodically for Kabuki, I couldn't imagine doing it for all the birds outside. Well, Kabuki is now singing the Andy Griffith song, so all must be right in his world.

A friend from The Raptor Center sent me this link. I've never before seen an interpretive juggler capture my frame of mind when working on several projects at once so completely and eloquently as Chris Bliss. It's about four minutes long and well worth it. Thank you, Jake, for sending this along...you know me so well.

Loss of a Dedicated Ornithologist

I just learned that Dave Stemple has died. Wish Non Birding Bill and I live a few blocks from his son Adam, and I'll never forget the first time we met at Mr. Neil's and Adam came up to me and told me that since I was into birds that I should meet his father who was an expert in the songs of ring ouzels--boy did he have me pegged or what?

There is a touching note at Jane Yolen's site, Dave's wife. They are such a warm, funny and talented family, Dave an ornithologist, Adam, a singer/songwriter and now author and many are familiar with Jane's writing. I remember last fall when we were all at World Fantasy Convention and Jane saying how excited Dave was to be able to do the Christmas Bird Count even with his illness, that it really kept him going.

I'm so sorry for their loss and sorry that I never got the chance to help Dave further in his work.

I’m Back At Chez Stiteler

If you are still having problems using the blogger photo upload button, I feel for ya'. Sometimes I can use it, and sometimes I have to use Cyber Duck. One thing I have noticed: if your issue is after you have selected your photo and hit the download button, it starts to load and then shows a blank box with a little "done" a the bottom. Try again, sometimes by doing it four or five times, it will finally show the right box. Also, if you keep numbers out of the name of your photo, that seems to make a difference too. That's how I got photos in this entry. It's a pain, but it's an option. Spell check is still not working. Whoa is me (har har).

I'm Home! No thanks to Cinna-bunny-butthead. Apparently, she disapproved of leaving the carpeted hotel room with a king sized bed to hop on and hide under. I got a late start anyway, and then on top of that it took me a half hour to corral Cinnamon and get her in the car. It was the first time the whole trip that she was really naughty. Rabbits are a lot like cats, they have their moods when they want to be cuddled and moods when they want to be left alone, moods when they want to explore and play and moods when they want to hide. This was Cinnamon's mood to not travel in the car. Once we were in the car, she wedged herself between her litter blox and the insulation on the floor of the passenger seat and pouted all the way home--the whole 600 miles. When I pulled up out in front of our home, I couldn't get her out of the car, she somehow managed to thump and splash hay all over me. She must have enjoyed the cranes more than I realized...or the ladies at Red Lobster who spoiled her rotton with veggies and parsley.

The drive home was GORGEOUS! The sky was a vivid blue, enhancing the snowy landscape. Roads were very clear so I could still notice all the raptors on the way home. During a mile stretch I saw an adult red-tail soaring, then a dark morph adult red-tail sitting on a fence post (it looked like a life sized chocolate hawk), then a perched red-tail so light, at first glance its head looked like a ferruginous hawk (unlikley for central Iowa) and a couple of kestrels.

During a four mile stretch in southern Minnesota we counted 9 red-tailed hawks, one harrier, one rough-legged hawk and five kestrels.

So, now I must tackle my massive to do list. Thanks for all the well wishes for a safe journey, they worked, we arrived home without incident.

Did I Stay Or Did I Go?

I'm staying another night! They finally opened east bound I 80 after 4pm and I took a quick drive to test the roads. However, they still were quite slick and as I was driving I started hearing a list of accidents being reported on the newly opened I 80. So, I'm in Kearney for another night. I have to say, the folks in Kearney are all being very kind and patient with their stranded travelers. The staff at the Fairfield Inn extended our checkout time so we could listen to road conditions and see if and when I 80 would open. After this trip, the Fairfield will be my number one choice when staying here. I used to stay in a different hotel, but they lost points when two years in a row either I didn't get a wake up call or participants in my tour group didn't get them and that's not good when you have to be at a prairie chicken blind at 4:30am. All the restaurants I've been to have graciously given me extra vegetables for Cinnamon--she's like a celebrity. The girls at Red Lobster pictured above really spoiled her by sending me back to my hotel room with a healthy serving of parsley, carrots and spinach. They really wanted to meet her but I didn't want the restaurant to get in trouble for having an animal running about so I brought her over and met them in the door way. In the photo the girls look so cute and Cinnamon looks so focused on the parsley.

While I was out testing the roads I managed to see a couple of cranes. This flock pictured above had a few snow geese and greater white fronted geese mixed in. It just seems to stretch for miles. In the distance, the dark lines are more cranes.

It was fun to watch them move against the snow, especially when the danced. It made me wish that I hadn't already packed up all my digiscoping equipment and do the cranes and the landscape justice.

Horned larks and western meadowlarks were all over the sides of the road (pictured above). The snow really made the horned larks easy to pick out in the fields. All sorts of birds were hanging out right on the roads. At first I thought they may have been after the salt, but I saw more than one meadowlark flying away with some kind of worm hanging from their bills. Other highlights included seeing a kestrel fly off with a horned lark and a female bobwhite sitting on top of a snow bank.

So, cranes, trumpet away. Tomorrow morning, Cinnamon and I head bravely back to the Twin Cities. I just realized that I have been blogging about snow for the last week: first in Minnesota, then in Wisconsin and now in Nebraska. Hopefully, this will be the end of it.

Oh, one quick word of warning: avoid the Lobster Bites at Long John Silvers. I love the LJS, their chicken and fish makes me salivate. However, the Lobster Bites are the worst thing I've tasted since that one time in college I tried to make tuna helper (yeah, I know, but it's okay, I didn't inhale).

Start Placing Your Bets

Will I leave Nebraska today or will I have to stay another day? "Mom, I'm so booooooooooored!"

I-80 is still closed. Rumor has it that might open within the next four hours. Many of us at the hotel are playing a waiting game to see if we get to check out today or have to stay another night. That's my window on the left in the above photo. I was half tempted to tell you that I'm on the second floor of the hotel, but I won't, I am on the first floor. Apparently we got 17 inches after the snow stopped.

The hotel staff has been joking with us that even though the interstate may open, we may not be able to get out of the parking lot. I'm lucky, my car isn't as wedged in as the one above, but will require some shoveling. I'm really kicking myself because I didn't bring my snow boots. Since I do more traveling, I've been trying to cut back on my packing--especially if I take a car and not a plane. I remember last week as I was loading the rental car and I looked at my Saturn and realized my snow boots were in the back. I started to grab them and then reminded myself that when I go to Nebraska, I bird almost entirely by car--I told myself that I didn't need them. So, I left them behind. DOH!

Non Birding Bill

In the previous post I showed how I was spending my time, but some are curious about Non Birding Bill. Here is what he's been dealing with. It's only about two minutes long, but highly worth it.

For those curious, that is Hazel of Disapproving Rabbits fame in the video. She is ten years old, half blind and incredibly set in her ways which is why she isn't featured in the blog too much. We put her in retirement a little while ago. She's a rough, tough cream puff. We used to have a neighbor in our apartment building that would let their cat Milo run around in the hall. Occasionally, the rabbits would play with him, until one fateful day when Hazel attacked him, knocked him over and chased him down the hall. The neighbors moved not too long after that incident.

An Entry To Pass The Time

I'm excited to learn that my blog is on the Blogs of Note list on the blogger start page--I'm so excited, I feel like I'm sitting at the big kid table. It's certainly a silver lining to my snowed in, stranded day in Nebraska. The local weather man is saying that we are getting an average of an inch an hour. Check out one of the hotel snow drifts:

So, how am I passing my time?

By fighting over a bag of almond salad garnish with my bunny while watching reruns of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and Walker Texas Ranger. I just discovered that Little House on the Prairie will be on later this afternoon--my life is complete. Actually, I am getting quite a bit of work accomplished since the hotel has internet access and I can work on processing some of the booth receipts from the Rivers and Wildlife Show. Plus, I have a couple of articles due (okay, make that a tad overdue) and I will for sure finish those today.

I have to hand it to the Fairfield Inn in Kearney, they are taking good care of their stranded guests. The restaurant next door, Carlos O'Kelly's (potato tacos anyone?) decided to closed for the day, but worked with the hotel to provide lunch and dinner for us. I asked at the front desk if it would be possible to get some fresh veggies for Cinnamon and extra lettuce was provided.

I wonder how all the cranes are doing? I would imagine that they are sticking pretty close to Rowe Sanctuary. The crane cam is running, but I'm not getting any sounds from it. It'll be interesting to check at dusk to see what they are doing on the camera. Today is the first time since I've been here that I can't hear them when I am outside. The wind is just too strong and again, I don't think they are straying to far from Rowe. I know birds have nictitating membranes over their eyes to protect them, but it still must be a pain to fly in this weather.

Speaking of birds, I got a response from Bud Anderson about the long-billed red-wing blackbirds we say yesterday. Here's what he had to say:

"Incidentally, Pat Redig says there is another long-billed peregrine currently breeding in downtown Minneapolis.

As you can see, I have forwarded your message on to the people most involved in the long-bill work, Colleen in AK, Julie in MI and Chuck in OR. Colleen is collecting records of all LB birds in AK and now further afield, Julie has been working with LB passerines for over 10 years (and wrote the first comprehensive article on the problem) and Chuck is currently trying for funding from USGS to study it here on the west coast. I am getting about a record a week now. Although I have not counted them up in 6 weeks or so, I think I am around 115-120 raptors, mostly here in WA where I live."

Incredibly interesting and disturbing all at the same time. Again, if you notice any long-billed birds at your feeders or anywhere, let Bud know at bud@frg.org or let me know and I will forward it along.

I forgot a couple of highlights of the Rivers and Wildlife Celebration. I met Gary Lingle, (pictured above) who helps surveys the cranes in the area. If you ever plan on birding this area on your own, I highly recommend his book, Birding Crane River: Nebraska Platte. I learned from him that a whooping crane has already been spotted in the area this year (which is very early) and another group found a common crane (also known as Eurasian crane)--highly unusual to get this Asian species here on the Platte River any time of year. Gary is tough on binoculars, he accidentally melted a pair (and I thought I was tough on binoculars). Apparently, he was working a controlled burn and accidentally burned his truck. He ended up buying two pair of binoculars, an Audubon HP 8 x 42 and a Vortex DLS 10 x 42. These at least have a good replacement warranty.

Of course, a festival, just isn't a festival unless I buy some souvenirs. Cinnamon helped me realize that I wanted one of Mark Urwiller's photos by nibbling the frame. I didn't know it, but I really wanted this snow goose image. I really do like it, it reminds me of the massive bird traffic you see during migration here. He also had a really cool western meadowlark photo too. There she is in the above photo, lurking under his table. Poor Mark, he thought she was being friendly, but she had sinister intentions. Perhaps she was getting even with him for picking her up the day--her disapproval knows no bounds. Anyway, I'm very happy with my snow goose photo. Thank you, my naughty bunny.

Yeah, I'm Not Going Anywhere Today

I don't think I'll be driving from Kearney, NE to Minneapolis today. Word at the hotel front desk is that the roads will be officially closed within the next two hours. The radio station I'm listening to is reading the list of all that is closed (schools, malls, clinics, weightwatchers, etc). He's been going nonstop for the last twelve minutes, I think it would have been faster to read what is open. Many restaurants are closed or will be closing soon, but the hotel is making food arrangements for us.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love the hip exciting lifestyle of an optics rep.