Fresh, Hot Disapproval!

As promised a new page of Disapproving Rabbits is up. This one also includes the video of Cinnamon eating parsley. We've had to increase our bandwidth a couple of times in the last few months because of traffic and we may have to do again this month. As of May 3rd we've already used 30% of our bandwidth for the month. And yesterday the site made it all the way to #2 on the Fat Birder Top 500!

Thanks to everyone for visiting the site.

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.

Rainy Days = Photos Of Cinnamon!

"What are you doing down there, human? I don't think you should be doing whatever it is you are doing."

Still on day five of drizzle. Am I ever going to get out to scout for woodcocks for next weeks trip?? I'm having some non birding friends over for drinks Monday night...maybe I'll get them hammered and take them out. They'll never know they went birding.

On the upside, we did wade our way through the mountain of receipts that is our taxes and it was a great movie weekend--Vertigo, Les Parapluie de Cherbourg (takes me back to high school french class--thank you Madame Theobald, where ever you are), The Quiet Man (that red head is no lie), The Great Escape (lotta hot men in that movie--mmmmmmm), Radio Days, Singin' in the Rain (I think I'm going to talk like Lina Lamont for th rest of the marriage), The Big Lebowski (movie responsible for my continued use of the word "dude"), Amelie, and ...Midnight Madness (that was more great for Non Birding Bill than it was for me). Hmmmmm, probably would have made it through the taxes a lot quicker without all that tv. Oh well, need something to ease the pain of trying to read dates on faded thermal paper.

FYI - A reader alerted me that there are some red-tailed hawks hanging out in Greenwich, CT. They're looking for some names and thought blog readers might have suggestions. Got any good names for a buteo, send 'em here.

And for the record, Cinnamon would like everyone to know that she in no way endorses or approves the above red-tailed hawks.

Rainy days are also good for gettin' in some good old fashioned bunny lovin'. Can't have a rabbit with velvety soft fur and not rub her ears for a good ten minutes.

Disapproval Update

From my buddy Carrol Henderson...a disapproving viscacha.

Sharon-1, Easter <span class=
"I don't approve of foreigner, not the band."

Now that is one dedicated friend, he went all the way to Peru to get me a special disapproval. Love you, Carrol! I'm not sure this is an official lagomorph, but it looks close enough to a rabbit to be considered for the blog.

In honor of the campaign to prevent people giving baby rabbits as Easter gifts (Cinnamon was an unwanted Easter gift that ended up at a Humane Society) I present My House Rabbit.com, a blog dedicated to educating and providing great info to current and potential rabbit owners. This is a site that I think Cinnamon would approve of and I tried to get a photo of her approval:

approval

She didn't seem to hip to that idea. We tried bribing her with some bunny loving:

smiling

And this is as close to an approval as we're going to get. Look, she's kind of smiling...

Speaking of disapproval, Non Birding Bill just informed me that he has uploaded a new page of bunny disapproval! We're pretty jazzed at the moment, we saw some of the early pages of the Disapproving Rabbits book today--it's really going to be out this fall! Whoot!

Snow Bunny

Minnesota weather forecasters have been predicting a big snow all week long, and they were correct. It basically it snowed all weekend long, most of it coming Saturday night. I took care to load up the feeder before the sun set thinking that our flying squirrel activity at night would keep the ledge fairly snow free. I put out the Droll Yankee X-1 Seed Saver thinking that the cover would keep the seed from getting buried in snow. However, an angrily chipping cardinal at dawn alerted me that the plan did not work, the snow still managed to cover all the seed on the tray as well as the seed on the ledge.

"What the heck is all this crap anyway?"

Blog reader Nancy W. worried that my living in an apartment may not show how much snow we got in the Twin Cities so she kindly sent a photo of her back door this morning. We got about a foot in the metro area but south of us in Winona, MN they got two feet. Thanks, Nancy!

I still think you could get an idea how bad the roads were. Here was a car that got a little stuck and a little turned around below our apartment. Fortunately for the driver there were some guys with snow shovels roaming the neighborhoods looking for people to help out--seriously, they were just walking around with shovels looking for people to help out out of the snow. That's one of the many reasons I love living here, during a snow emergency it's a given that you will help people stuck in snow and ice and if you get stuck, someone will be by to help you too.

The city started plowing all the allies on Sunday, and a bulldozer was needed to move it out of the way. Yar!

Friday night we had to do our usual grocery shopping, it didn't occur to us that people would be loading up before the storm hit. Usually people are fairly low key about a snow storm in Minnesota and there isn't a run on food staples. Non Birding Bill and I always joke that where we grew up (Indiana for me, Ohio for him) that anytime there was any snow people would go out and load up on milk, bread and eggs. For some reason there was a freak out in our local grocery store and the milk and bread section was obliterated. Also, since we live in an eclectic little neighborhood other staples were missing: soy sauce, flour tortillas and soy milk. You can see photos of it at NBB's Blog.

"Okay, enough of this nonsense, let's go back inside. Bunny rights!"

We took Cinnamon out for few minutes for a hop in the snow. We had to dig out our car so we thought we would use some of our bunny's mad diggin' skills to help. She wasn't so interested in helping but did like to explore some of the larger mounds of snow.

Cinnamon the Disapproving Rabbit Streaming on the Internet!

Just a Show has just put up Episode 30 with the big Cinnamon interview. You can watch it from their site or go to iTunes and download it under podcasts. Look for Just A Show Episode 30. We're about 13 - 14 minutes into the show and you do need to watch the Virgin Islands sketch to understand the question that I ask a the end of the segment.

You can't see it, but there is a big billowy cloud of bunny fur around the host Keith King and myself while we are talking. Poor Cinnamon was too nervous to eat parsley but she did well for her first interview.

Thanks, so much, Keith, for having us on. We had a great time and totally enjoyed the popcorn you gave us. Keith sent us a DVD, so Non Birding Bill and I are going to see if we can get just the Cinnamon part on the website.

Woke Up This Mornin’, Got Myself A Bun…

Cinnamon and her posse. This reminds me of the print ads for the Sopranos. I'm so excited, I just got a proof of the cover for the Disapproving Rabbits book. I don't know how, but the designer managed to make her look even more frightening than I thought possible. I'll see if I can get permission to put it in the blog. I might have to wait on that. It's so cool, Cinnamon has a book cover!

One of the great things about this blog is all the reader support. I truly do appreciate all the notes warning against Cinnamon meeting the neighbor's ferrets (although the sending of the graphic video of ermine and rabbits was a bit much and not as appreciated). I have learned lots about rabbits with meeting other rabbit folks and gotten some great tips.

The fake bunny thing is totally working with Cinnamon, she's not digging in her box at the moment. Above is a photo of her snuggling with her posse.

Cinnamon certainly isn't aware of any danger with the ferrets. She doesn't show any signs of fear when in the hallway after they have been out and doesn't freak out when I pet her after petting the ferrets. But after all the words of warning, why risk it? So thanks for the heads up and being such a great resource.

New Pet In The Building And Bunny Mind Games

Our apartment is all hardwood floors and tile. Cinnamon loves to run and just can't get the necessary speed without doing a Scooby Doo run. Our building's hallways are carpeted so in winter we have a habit of letting her run out in the hall for her laps. The lighting is poor so we don't get any great photos of it. It's fun to do and it's how we get to know our neighbors. Let's face it--we get to be the people with the cool pet. Yesterday, Cinnamon got some competition:

Our next door neighbors were outside exercising Andy and Sawyer. I'm sad to say that I remember the pet names but not the people names. But Andy and Sawyer were running laps in the hall. What is the new cool pet?

Ferrets! Our neighbors adopted them from the local humane society and they are so funny to watch run--boy can they gain speed, I think the owners of the ferrets were running just as much as the ferrets themselves. The best part is that the ferrets would suddenly stop running and then flop--practicaly deflate. The remind me of a cross between a wiener dog and raccoon. Very cute. We're going to give them some time to get used to the hallway and then one day have a leash date with the ferrets and bunny. Hey, Cinnamon, you want to meet some ferrets?

"I don't think I approve of that."

Cinnamon has met other animals and apart from dogs has gotten along fairly well. She doesn't get along with other rabbits at all--and believe you me we have tried every trick in the book. I'll be curious to see how does with these two.

Recently, she has started this nasty, eye-watering stinky habit of digging in her litter box. As I've been out taking bunny photos, I've been getting advice from rabbit people on what to do. One recommended that since Cinnamon is a single bunny, she might benefit from having a fake bunny friend. Her litter box digging may just be her acting out for even more attention. The key to the whole situation is to treat the fake bunny just like Cinnamon.

Hmmmm.

I already had one fake bunny courtesy of WildBird on the Fly and then I purchased another bunny that looks an awful lot like Cinnamon. And so began the mind games with my pet rabbit. I set both the bunnies on the floor while she was hiding under the bed, gave them each a carrot and started petting them and talking to them like I do to Cinnamon. "Aw, sweety bunny, aren't you a good bunny. Want some tasty carrot, Fake Bunny?"

Cinnamon poked her head from out of the bedroom. She heard the sound of treats, she heard me talking to other pets. What was I up to? She came out and sniffed one of the fake rabbits, then grunted and lunged back. Fake Bunny didn't take the bait and just sat there. I made the treat sound and offered Cinnamon her own carrot. She ate it, but eyed me warily. I could tell she was wondering wasn't sure of my motives.

After Cinnamon finished her carrot, she went over to one of the fake bunnies again and began sniffing it and then grooming one of the ears. I stepped into the kitchen to grab some parsley. Here's what I found when I came back:

"I didn't do it."

Apparently, Fake Bunny generously shared her carrot with Cinnamon. How sweet. I pet the Fake Bunnies on the nose just like I do on Cinnamon--her favorite spot and cooed to them. I pet Cinnamon too. I left the room to give her some alone time and when I returned she was sitting between the two fake bunnies. She laid there, stretched out her back paws but didn't have that relaxed look in her eyes, they were wide open as if she were thinking, "I know I should be relaxed right now, but something about this is not right."

I reached to get the camera but she hopped away--is she ashamed to be filmed with her fake friends? NBB and I have been taking the fake bunnies in and out of the bunny room just like real bunnies. The litter box digging has stopped for the time being, but when we come in to the bunny room in the morning, they are both tipped on their sides and covered with hay. Is she taking her aggression on them out at night?

We'll have to see where this litte psychological experiment goes...