purple_stardust

Baxter died. He started acting sort of un-bunny-like Wednesday night, but no real emergency signs. Thursday morning he had terrible diarrea (which is always a bad sign in rabbits), so I took him to the vet on Thursday afternoon (as soon as I could get him in). The vet did a fecal and found that Baxter had Coccidia, as well as just about every worm and internal parasite known to man. It was bad enough that Erick was going to take the sample to his other practice and use it as an example. Anyway, he wormed Baxter and started antibiotics, plus gave him a sub-Q for fluids, since he was dehydrated from the diarrea. I took him back Friday for more fluids, but there was just too much damage already done, and he died Friday night (Saturday morning) at about 4:30 am. I only had him for a week, but I really loved that little guy, and I miss having him here. We buried him Sunday in a little patch of clover under the lilac tree.

In better bunny news, I took Beatrix in to be spayed today. She came through the surgery well, and is now alert but resting. I had them do pre-op bloodwork as well as a fecal float, and both came back negative, which means at least she didn't catch anything from Baxter. I didn't think she would, since they were never together, but I wanted to make sure.

purple_stardust

I really don't have much to say, but felt like I should update anyway.

Thanks to everyone who offered condolances about Baxter; I appreciate it. I talked to the owner of the petstore, who promised to address the issue with his breeder, as well as take smaple fecals into his vet and get his remaining buns wormed and start them on antibiotics. We're going to look for another friend for Beatrix, though after the snuggly perfection of Baxter, it's going to be a tough job to fill. Speaking of the Queen Bea, she is doing just great after her spay, eating well and terrorising the cats. We made her a "rabbit hole" - a long box with a bunny-sized hole cute out at one end, and she has been having a blast with that.

We went to the local youth fair on Friday. It was kind of depressing when I realised what was going to happen to the animals that they were auctioning off, but there were some nice bunnies there, too. I hope nobody plans to eat them. Anyway, the line for the ride tickets was way too long, but we ate and played a couple of games; Sarah won a pink sparkley baton and we got a plastic slinkey toy for Bea. Oh, and I paid a dollar to see the "world's biggest rat", which was NOT George Bush, but actually a cute little capybara. I wanted to return the next night with Brutoo and show the guy what a REAL giant rat looked like, but I refrained.

Anything else? Oh yeah, I am up to my arse in tomatoes. I planted eight different varieties, and all of them are prolific bastards. I've been freezing them for winter-time spaghetti sauce, so it's all good. I need to go and work on some more now, come to think of it...

purple_stardust

I posted in this journal every day for years, and now suddenly I can't manage to update even once per week. I guess once my every-day record was broken, it just didn't matter any more. Story of my life - if it can't be perfect and consistant, why bother with it at all. Anyway...

I bought a pico reef last week, still need to set that up. The 65 gallon tank is okay, but I liked the Nano-Cube better. Water parameters are harder to control in the smaller tanks, but I think they look nicer. I may move my corals back to the nano and use the 65 as a fish-only.

We've rented a lot of movies lately:

* Secret Window - I really liked this movie; I never saw the ending coming, which is pretty unusal for me. Also, it stars a scruffy Johnny Depp, and really, that never hurts in a movie.

* Monster - Wow. The story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos was interesting. That they made Charlize Theron look so homely, was fascinating. And I'm a sucker for serial killer stories.

* Road to Perdition - The beginning was okay, the ending was alright, but I'm guessing that the middle was pretty boring, because I slept through the whole thing. It was okay, I suppose, just not my kind of movie. Rusty seemed to think it was pretty decent. Yawwwn.

* The Human Stain - This movie looked really good, and I really wanted to like it. However, I had such difficulty trying to follow it, it's kind of hard to tell if I did. Also, Sir Anthony is a superb actor, capable of many great things, but not so believable as a black guy. Really.

* Cold Mountain - We rented this one but haven't watched it yet. I can tell you though, I won't like it. For starters, Rusty's parents loved it; that doesn't bode well. I'm not into that genre, either, plus all I can think of is Renée Zellweger's "if you need hep, here ahh am" in that awful southern drawl, over and over and over again, courtesy of David Letterman.

Anyway. It's hotter than hell here, so I think I will go snuggle up with a bag of frozen peas and watch Arthur with my beautiful daughter. I wish summer would be done with already!

purple_stardust

Okay, we watched Cold Mountain; it wasn't as bad as I thought that it would be. I was still annoyed by Renée Zellweger's dreadful southern accent and the way she scrunches up her lips like a bad Mick Jagger impersonator, and I don't see the fascination with Jude Law, but there were some funny lines in the movie, and I liked the ending. I'd give it 3.5 stars, I guess.

We went to the petstore yesterday and got another little boy bunny. At least, we hope he's a boy; I really don't have the utmost confidence in the petstore employees' gender determination skills after Beatrix (originally Mr Bunny) was found to have a uterus. At any rate, he's a sweet little thing, he goes to see Erick tomorrow to get his poop checked and a possible worming.

Speaking of bunnies, we're now proud members of the House Rabbit Society! We've also been speaking to a local group called the Blue Ridge something-or-other rabbit club - I doubt we'll join that one, but we do plan to go to their show in September, and possibly look for a female holland lop to round out a trio of lops. I'd kinda like a little brown spotty-faced holland.

And that's about all the update I have. We went to Walmart this morning and bought a blender, that was exciting (not). Oh, and I have a holographic clownfish jigsaw puzzle to work on. I really should be doing that now, actually, or sorting beads, but I'm too trifling at the moment.

Coming up this evening: shrimp, crab cakes, and Mike's Hard Lemonade! And maybe a movie, if I can tear Rusty away from the Playstation long enough. Such excitement, I know.

purple_stardust

I took the new bunny to Erick today for a fecal. He doesn't have worms, but he does have coccidia. The vet said that his chances are excellent since he has no other parasites, is eating and drinking, no diarrhea or dehydration, etcetera. He prescribed Albon, .7ml twice per day - the bunny weighs 2.5 pounds - for seven days, and then he'll be re-checked next Wednesday.

Also, Beatrix seems rather disgusted with our decision to bring another bunny into the house, alternately sulking and throwing temper tantrums. Poor Bea, she liked being an Only Rabbit.

New Bunny, on the other hand, doesn't seem to give a rabbit's ass about Bea's plight. He is blissfully unconcerned with her irate stomping and growling, and doesn't even seem to care about the nosey felines. He seems quite relaxed in his new surroundings; he's even licked us (awww!) and done the bunny flop a few times. He's such a sweet little bugger...