Monday, December 31, 2012

Early Christmas Surprise

    Sweet little Petunia had lived here as an only Bunny for several years. At the Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival in June I bought a beautiful 7 week old female angora bunny, and named her Sweet Pea.  Around Thanksgiving I had a very sad surprise on a Sunday morning when I looked out at the bunny pen on the deck. There were four little dead bunnies. I knew this was not immaculate conception so went out and  started an investigation. I  picked up Petunia and sure enough she had just had these tiny sad  babies.  I  buried the babies in a wave of mixed feelings. The last thing I needed was four more bunnies but it was just heartbreaking. That afternoon I began investigating how to neuter a male bunny, and renamed Sweet Pea Sweet Pete. The next afternoon later I neutered Sweet Pete and never gave it another thought.  
           As Christmas approached and we planned our trip to San Francisco to be with family, I decided to  put a big flake of hay in for the bunnies so they would be warm, toasty and have sweet alfalfa to nibble on between feeding from the house sitter. The next morning I got up and looked out at the bunnies. I was  one again totally surprised,  this time  by a big pile of  white fur tucked in the corner of the hay pile.  I went out and stuck my hand in the pile and felt  a tiny warm pile of wiggeling bunnies.  I checked the calendar  over and over. Sweet Pete had been one determined boy.   The 24 hours he and Petunia spent together prior to his little altering they had one last amorus moment.
          I  moved the store bunny cage up to the deck, moved Pete in, and gave Petunia and her new family some solitude.  I called the house sitter to let her know the chore routine we had gone over had just shifted.  I went to town and got a heating pad and set it up under the wire under the nest. As I walked away for the week. I was still not sure how many there were in this new family.  Yesterday  I finally checked. Petunia and her three babies will be out at the store on saturday. They love to curl up and sleep in your hand.
 
   

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Early winter

 It has been a LONG time since I posted anything new.  I am trying to  spread my techno wings just a bit, and adding a photo to the blog. I have been busy with lots of natural dying and painting on silk scarves and bags. Here is a shot of a bag I made a week or so ago.
         The weather has warm and gray with a bit of much needed moisture. The sheep are still grazing on the  south pasture every day now. I guess to them the early winter grass tastes better than the  hay I have been putting out.