Sena's DW :: Watermelon Life

( Pan and Phoenix seem to be under the wrong impression as to what my treadmill is for. lol. )

The treadmill is unplugged, of course; it's always unplugged when the buns are out, and the cable is up hung over the handlebars. They think it's a lounge chair, and sometimes a ramp for taking running jumps off of!

Today I was in Walmart and poked about the beads for the right ones to do the tassels on Axel's coat. Yey. But I couldn't find quite the right size/shape/color. After some searching I did manage to find some brown wooden ones that were pretty close, so I figured meh, and decided to get those and just paint them.

Thus, I brought them back home, la~di~daa, and set about painting. Black. Black. WTF BRAIN I HATE U. ><; I painted them all, and was all smug about it and happy... then went "aw crap!" because they actually need to be silver. -___-;;

So I started repainting them. Right now the first coat of the first batch is drying, and Axel!pony is mocking me from where he's standing on the table, waiting for his tassles, the jerk.

I guess and-and-between painting beads for the rest of the night I'll get to work on Hikaru and Fuu from my Magic Knight Rayearth ponies. I can't start Umi until I get around to taking her downstairs and scrubbing the stupid glitter off Merriweather's symbol/forehead... >>;

Other than that, hmm... I bought spaghetti squash today while I was doing groceries. XD I'm so looking forward to making non-carb pasta with it. Haha~

The pet store had the cutest bunnies. ;.; I mibbled at them. One was chocolate brown with a white blaze down her nose and white socks on her front feet, and one was orange-blonde with a white blaze. The other two were solid colored Rexes. So cute! X3

I can't have any more rabbits. At least until I move to a bigger place. >>;;;

Speaking of rabbits... does anyone on my f-list happen to know much about them? I'm off asking questions at the rabbit comm because they often treat me like I'm stupid or irresponsible for little things. I take good care of all my babies, dammit!

Anyway, are Rex rabbits more inclined toward behavior problems? Just out of curiosity... because I have five rabbits, and four different breeds; the only breed I have two of is Rex (Phantom and Pan), and those are the two that I seem to have difficulties with.

Phantom isn't so bad really, but she's quite standoffish and will nip and grunt if you try to pick her up (she prefers to just be left to her own devices), and Pan chews everything she can get her teeth on. Pauper, Phoenix and Pagan don't give me almost any trouble at all (aside from the occasional bunny antics), so I was just wondering if it had to do with the breed.

I dunno...

EDIT: The store also had the cutest ratties~~ but I promised Kori I wouldn't bring any more babies home until he was gone, because he's old and crotchity now and it wouldn't be fair to him. XD;;

The last few days, I've been letting Pauper and Phoenix out to play at the same time as Pan and Pagan; at first it was a little iffy, they were all wary, but there was no real animosity, and they slowly got used to each other. Then I started leaving the cages open while they were playing, so that they could poke about inside each other's home base.

When that went well (and Pan and Pagan surprised me with how high they could jump, they can already hop their way up to most of the shelves inside the big cage <3), today when Pauper and Phoenix decided they'd had enough playing and headed home, Pan and Pagan were poking about inside the cage-- and instead of collecting them and putting them in their own cage, I just shut the door.

We'll see how it goes, but so far so good. If any problems crop up, I'll move them back to the smaller cage again and try again later. As it is, Pagan is going to have to go back to the other cage in a bit so that he doesn't get at any of the girls before he's neutered. >>; I still have a bit of time, though, and I want them all to bond, so...

Anyway!

( BUNNY PHOTO SPAM: NOT GOOD FOR SLOW CONNECTIONS! XD )

Pagan has the cutest helecopter ears right now because they haven't completely fallen yet. XD;

EDIT: Aw, group grooming session~ ♥

I had a doctor's appointment this morning (yay); it was just for prescription repeats when I made it, but I ended up getting a flu shot and the doctor took a look at my hand while she was at it. Now my arm aches. But my hand is feeling much better now that the antibiotics have started working. :)

It's still all bruised and the joint is swollen a bit still, but it's on it's way~

And today I picked Loki back up from the vet's after his neuter/declaw. He's a little grumpy, but fine otherwise... EXCEPT.

While they were doing the pre-op exam, they found three whole fleas on him. No eggs, no flea dirt, just three adult fleas. So they treated him for them. SOUND FAMILIAR? And I had a nice long chat with the vet about it, where she insisted that the chances of him picking up fleas from their office twice were very slim.

So I went out and bought a flea comb to check the rest of my animals.

Neko is FLEA FREE. Tri is FLEA FREE. Pauper is FLEA FREE. Phoenix is FLEA FREE. Phantom is FLEA FREE. The rats are FLEA FREE.

Loki is also flea free now, as are Sarah's cats.

The vet is trying to tell me that the fleas must have come from here, and must have come into the house back in May when I first got Loki. And he's the only one with them, after that many months? PLEASE.

THOSE FLEAS CAME FROM YOUR OFFICE. AND I DON'T APPRECIATE BEING CHARGED FOR A FLEA TREATMENT WHEN THAT'S THE CASE.

Earlier the buns were out to play, as they are most days! All was well! They romped, they chased the kitties, they snacked on carrots and granola. They were generally cute. Then when it was time for them to go back to their cage, I herded them in that direction and put them to bed.

All was still well.

Until about a half an hour later, when I happened to glance over at the rabbit pen and ( saw this. )

I am a bad, bad kitty Mommy. XDD;;

( Also, a random pic of the snow from last week. Nuuuuuu~~ )

Lee took Mom and I to Kempenfest (or however you spell it) today, to try to cheer us up. Possum came with us. Kempenfest is like this bige festival, with tons of music, and miles of stalls with things to shop for. Crafts, pottery, art, and stuff like that. Usually it happens at the same time as the Barrie summer fair, too, so down by one end the festival kind of trails into the fair, and there are rides.

It's normally fun stuff, and I did enjoy it today, but at the same time it was kind of dampened. Nothing feels right at the moment... you know? Anyway, Mom ended up buying a necklace, and I got a really nice glass photo frame, which is for a photo of Grandpa, once I find a really good one that I want to put in.

I think I'm going to take mavan's advice, and put together a little spot in my apartment in his memory, with a photo and a candle, and maybe some flowers. And I think I'm going to do a pony in his memory (her name is going to be "Candle In The Dark")... does that seem stupid? I dunno...

Well... photos now, I guess!

( Pics of cats, whilst at Mom's place. )

( Pics of rabbits. )

( Pics of Possum. )

( Pics of... stuff. )

So Mom and Lee have these two baby gates (you know, the things that you put into doorways) from a year-and-a-bit ago when they first got Possum-- he wasn't 100% housetrained yet, so when they went to work in the morning, they put the gates up and left him in the kitchen (which has tiles) for the day, to avoid huge messes on the carpets.

They haven't used them in a long time, but last night I dug them out from the basement and put them up so that I could bring Phoenix and Pauper downstairs and let them run around for a bit.

For about two hours last night, the girlies were puttering around the kitchen; I had put the cats in the room upstairs while they were out, because Loki likes to play with the buns. This is normally fine, but with Phoenix still sporting sutures, I don't want to take any chances-- Loki tends to get rather exhuberant with his playing sometimes, and I didn't want him to hurt her by accident. :)

But Possum was out, and spent the whole time meandering around the other side of the gates going O_o; at the bunnies on the other side, lol. After a while I brought Pauper out and crouched down so he could have a sniff at her... and he decided that rabbits are scary not-dogs, the same as the cats, and that he'd rather look at them through the gates, thank you very much! >^-^;; Such a wussy puppy...

In general, though, Phoenix seems pretty good. She's eating/drinking/pooping/peeing fine now (yay no G.I. Statis!), and her limp seems to be going away, which just confirms in my mind the idea that she was just limping because her belly hurt.

I think she's going to be fine. ^_~

I'm still hesitant to put her back in with Pauper just yet, though, for fear that Pauper might pick on her or something and open up the stitches...

Anyway, having taken care of Phoenix (who was so pushy she got bumped up two spaces on the Pets Who Are Due To Be Spayed/Neutered List), the next one who'll be up to bat is Loki, who needs to go in for shots some time soon, and then be neutered in a month or two, before he starts spraying.

After that is Phantom, finally, even though she was supposed to be first, originally... ^_^;

Also, I'm depressed, and that always makes me sleepy. MORE sleepy. And coming from someone with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, that's saying a lot. =.=;

So, Phoenix is home and doing well. They called me pretty early in the day to come and pick her up (which kind of surprised me), but whatever.

The nurses at the front desk when I went in to get her and pay (ACK, $240.78 poorer, I might add!) were really enthusiastic because they'd gotten to see a rabbit spay... I guess it doesn't happen very often around here? ^^; They asked out of curiosity why I'd decided to get her spayed, since all my buns are girls, and I explained about the phantom pregnancy thing...

The one nurse didn't even know that rabbits could have phantom pregnancies. O_o;

In any case, she doesn't have any medications, which is good, since I was fretting about having NO IDEA how to give pills to a rabbit, lol. The stitches are the disolving kind, so I don't have to bring her in again unless something goes wrong. I'm sure Phoenix is happy about that, since she's feeling pretty sorry for herself right now.

My poor baby... ;-; *weeps and cuddles her gently*

AHA, when I dropped her off at Ark yesterday, I mentioned to the nurses there about the bald patches on her hips, and explained that there's nothing wrong with her, she just pulled it all out whilst nesting for nonexistent baby bunnies. They were like "oh, okay, thanks for letting us know!"

But then she ended up being transferred to Pine Grove, and so the vet/nurses there didn't know about it. So when I picked her up, there was a note on my discharge instructions about "abnormal alopecia (hair loss)", but that there were no recommendations about it, since they couldn't see anything else wrong. They thought it might just be barberism.

I was like "AHAHA, actually..."

Her hair is growing back really well, by the way. ^^ She'll have a nice full coat again in no time... of course, now her belly is all bald from them shaving her to do the spaying, but you know... >^-^;;

EDIT: Oh also, Phoenix has to be kept sepparate from Pauper for a couple of days. I was like "...great." So for the next two days, Phoenix is living in the kitty carrier, for lack of somewhere else to put her. She doesn't seem to mind. Though tomorrow I need to go to the pet store at the corner and get her a water bottle, since I don't have one right now... she drinks fine out of a dish, but I prefer bottles because the water stays cleaner. Anyway!

Well, last night I did dishes and stuffed some of my many stray pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals into garbage bags. Then I was up all night (yay insomnia!) and got to sleep around 7 or so... then got back up around 10, and set about cleaning critter homes, transferring bunnies around into different cages, and then moving everyone downstairs to the back room, with the exception of the cats, and Phoenix and Pauper.

Then I cleaned up the apartment; all the usual cleaning, plus in the places that I can't normally get to because of cages and terrariums being in the way. I also covered the big rabbit cage with some sheets, since I can't actually move it without taking it apart-- Phoenix and Pauper are now in the cage that Phantom usually inhabits, and Phantom went back into her old cage, just for the time being.

This is all in preparation for tomorrow, when I'll be spraying Raid all over the damn place in an attempt to lessen the number of freaking insects that are crawling around right now. :P

There's still some small things I have to do before I can actually spray, like pack up any foodstuffs, and seal off the cabinet with my dishes, and cover the couch/chairs, but that's going to wait. The food and dishes I might do tonight, but the couch/chairs shall happen tomorrow, so that I can still use them until then...

Tomorrow morning, Mom and I have an appointment with the Chiropractor, then when we get back into town we have some errands to run, since tomorrow is the last day before she and Lee head off on their vacation out west. After that, we're coming back here and loading all my stuff-- and the cats' stuff, and the rabbits' stuff, and the cats, and the rabbits-- into the van, and I'm going over to her place to stay for about a week and a half. ^^

I'm looking after Possum (which I've mentioned before, I'm sure several times) while they're gone, and I don't mind staying there. Neko, Tri and Loki are coming with me, as was always the plan... Phoenix and Pauper got added to the list of "coming with" a couple of days ago, because Phoenix is going in to be spayed on Wednesday, and I want to be able to keep an eye on her afterward. And because she and Pauper are bonded (and practically attached at the hip, I might add), I didn't want to sepparate them for that much time...

Have I talked about Phoenix and the spaying?

I planned to have all my buns spayed as soon as I could, starting with Phantom, since she's the oldest of them, and was saving up the money to get her done, with general plans to have Phoenix and Pauper spayed probably some time around December or so.

BUT.

Phoenix started having phantom pregnancies-- I know I mentioned that before, since lipstickcat commented about her Ghost having phantom pregnancies, too. I wasn't too worried about it, since I planned to have her spayed anyway, and figured it wouldn't hurt her to wait for a couple of months. A fake pregnancy or two wouldn't be a big deal...

...until a few days ago, when I looked into the cage, and realized that, while nesting for nonexistent babies, Phoenix had ripped so much hair out of her hindquarters that she's now got two rather large bald spots, one on either hip. -_-;; Sigh. Having some bald spots won't kill her, but it's obvious she's not going to be able to wait until the fall/winter. (Also, she was building her nest in the litterbox, so both of them had started peeing in the back corners of the cage instead...)

Anyway, yeah. I talked to Mom, and she agreed to spot me the rest of the money to get her spayed now (since I don't have quite enough saved up yet). I called on Friday and made an appointment for this Wednesday coming up. Phantom was supposed to be first, but I guess these things happen. *shrug*

In any case, the only thing I'm sort of fretting about with going to Mom's is that their Internet connection is wonky sometimes. About half the time you try to use it, it won't connect, even though there's nothing wrong with the modem, and it says their LAN is working fine.

I need Internet... ;-; *wibbles* lol.

Mom's supposed to call Rogers and talk to them about it, but keeps making excuses "because she gets off work so late, when is she supposed to call??", even though the Rogers tech line is open 24/7. I called at 5 in the morning once, and got them to help me out. Mom just doesn't like calling about stuff like that. :P

So I'm bringing an actual journal (yes, I have one, even though it hasn't been used in YEARS), just in case, and I guess if I have too many problems, I'll just call and deal with the problem myself or something...

I feel stupid, following the last post with one like this... but yeah. Here it is.

tsukizu (who is originally from Canada, but doesn't live here anymore) really liked Patriot Love when I posted pics of her, and wanted one mostly like her, but with a few little differences. So I made her, and named her "Homeland". :)

( Homeland )

Homeland was made pretty much the same way as Patriot was, and with pretty much the same materials (she was even made of a G3 Bowtie, too.) Her hair is in stripes of Caddy Red and Platinum White katsilk, from restoredoll.com (as usual). Her symbol is done with a red sharpie marker, and her hoof heart was replaced with a red gem. I gave her a white bow in her tail, and a red one around her neck.

I also decided not to recolor her eyes, and left them the original blue and purple (okay, I colored the little pink hearts red, but whatever), because with the white added in her hair, the blue/purple looks really pretty. =3 But I'll change it if tsukizu wants me to, of course.

Anyhoo.

Mom, Lee and I went out and picked strawberries this morning. Yeah, yesterday I found out my Grandpa is dying, and today I'm picking freaking berries. I hate myself. -_-;;

But we did that, and then went back to their place and cleaned/washed/packaged them for the freezer. I did laundry. We went to Walmart and picked up the shelves I put on layaway a week-ish ago.

When I got home, I found a problem with the rabbits... Phoenix seems to be in a false pregnancy. WTF, world? Screw you, too. She and Pauper are at the age where they need to be spayed, and I'd planned on getting it done soon, but this is pushing me to get it done ASAP, and I can't afford it right at this very moment.

I need to sell some stuff.

Anybody want to commission a pony or something?

I'm almost done the new rabbit cage! ^_^ I just have two shelves and half the roof to finish (but I'm out of zip ties), but it's done enough that I moved Phoenix and Pauper in anyway. ^^ They really like it... but the first thing Phoenix did was dig in the litter box and throw the clean litter all over the place... >^-^;; Oh well...

Eventually, I plan to move Phantom in with them, but because she's so territory-conscious, I'm going to leave the other two in the big cage for a while before I put Phantom in, too. ^^; To help avoid big fights and stuff...

Ack! Picture! X3



EDIT: Aren't those mats ugly? They were the only grass mats I could find that were affordable and didn't have snowmen on them. WTF, snowmen? It's almost July! XD

So yeah, Dad thought that Yoda!pony was hilarious, and I pretty much do too. Now I want to do more Star Wars ponies. I already have plans to do a Darth Maul one eventually, but I don't know when I'll get around to doing it... >^-^;;

Aaah, we're having a huge rainstorm right now, which would be good, except that it isn't doing anything to help alleviate the heat, and is, in fact, just making it a lot more humid. :P Eeegh... oh well... not much anyone can do about that. If it continues to rain like hell for the rest of the night, maybe the heat will break, though.

Right now Phoenix and Pauper are out playing, and Loki is sleeping in his crate, since that's what he does after I feed him every morning and night. Usually I try to time it so that the buns are out playing then, so that he doesn't bother them too much. lol.

Phantom isn't out right now, though... I haven't been able to let her out to play with the others lately. She gets along fine with all the cats, and gets along fine with Pauper, but lately has decided that maybe she doesn't love Phoenix as much as she thought she did after all; when they're out together, they get into big fights that end up with countless tufts of bunny hair ripped out and flung all over the floor. I think it's because Phantom thinks she's the boss, and Phoenix doesn't like to take orders from anyone. A pecking-order type thing.

Still, I guess this means that I really do have to get Phantom spayed... which really, I already knew. This is just another poke about it.

Le sigh.

To keep an active, nosy kitten out from underfoot, simply open the rabbit cages to let them out. Your kitten will be kept occupied for hours. (Paper bookbags also make good entertainment, too.)



BWAHA. Loki has no idea what to do with them at all. ^_^; He's just been following Phoenix around for the last however-long...

So... Phoenix seems to have passed her case of The Sneezies on to Pauper, too. Though Pauper doesn't have a drippy nose. Yet. So I called and made an appointment to get them in to the vet later today.

I'm relatively sure it'll be no big deal, but I'd rather get them in and be told I'm being silly, than not and have them end up with pneumonia or something. Right? Still. This is money I can't afford. -_-;; I really hope the vet just tells me that they're fine, so I don't have to worry about meds and return visits... :P

On the plus side, I'll get him/her to sex them both, just in case my gender differentiation skills are lacking. (What? I did my best, but Netherland Dwarf buns are hard to sex! ;-; lol)

HUGE-ASS EDIT: When I called to make the appointment for my girls, Pine Grove (the practice I normally go to) had no free spots, so they told me to call Ark and make an appointment there; we have four or five vet practices in town, which are all owned by the same vet, and which have a half dozen vets that rotate around between them. All their computers are linked, so if there's no room at one, you can just take your pet to another one, and they simply call up your file there. SO CONVENIENT.

Anyway, so I took Phoenix and Pauper to Ark, and saw a vet that I'd never dealt with before. I didn't know what to expect, since all vets are different, but she was really nice. She cuddled with my bunnies to calm them down, since they were really nervous. =3

Basically, she checked them both out, and said that Pauper looks pretty much fine... and while Phoenix does have a bit of a cold/runny nose, it's not really bad, and she'd rather not prescribe antibiotics unless she has to, since rabbits sometimes have bad reactions to them. She says to keep an eye on her, increase the humidity a bit for her (if possible), and keep their cage extra clean to reduce amonia build up. If she gets worse, or if her noise gunk is cloudy, then I'm supposed to bring her back in.

She also recommended flea combs as a good comb for rabbits, as I was mentioning that I can't find a decent brush to deal with their shedding. :)

AND! To top off all the nicities, she only charged me for one office visit, even though I brought both of them in-- normally, if I bring in more than one animal at once (which is the convenient way of doing things), Pine Grove charges me for an office visit for each animal. I <3 Ark Animal Hospital! lol.

So the short form: my buns are fine. And both female. (Hell yeah I got her to check that! :P)

The people called about the computer today, and told me they adjusted the fans a bit, but need to put a new CD burner in before they can finish the diagnostic/tuning, as my CD burner is completely POOCHED. I knew that already, but I was hoping they could do the diagnostic and etc. without it. But then, DUH, they need to run discs to do it, so yeah. :P

Even with them putting in a new CD burner, it's still only going to cost about $100 (okay, more like $150, counting the pre-pay $40 and taxes)... which is a good thing because I think I'm going to have to take Phoenix and Pauper in to the vet.

Pauper doesn't have anything wrong, but Phoenix has been sneezing and/or coughing the last two days. I really can't tell which. ^_^; Her nose is the teensiest bit runny as well. I'm going to keep an eye on her, but if it doesn't go away, or if Pauper starts sneezing, too, I'll have to take them in just to be sure. *sigh*

Poor bun. I really hope she's not really sick or anything...

( A WTF Sarah moment. Again. )