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Last week, some people hired by the owner of the apartment complex commenced trying to refurbish the roof on our building. It was pretty obvious to me that they were inept just from appearances, but I didn’t say anything to anyone except my girlfriend, who agreed.

They worked for two days, then disappeared for four, leaving materials, ladders, and litter lying around the building. Because of some personal problems, I didn’t leave the building for a few days.

The “workmen” returned Monday, and finished shingling the back portion of the building, over the bedrooms, by Wednesday night. They hung a plastic tarp over some portions of the remainder and went away. I found out about the tarp later…

Thursday night began a period of torrential rains. To make a long story much shorter, at 6:15 pm on Friday an ominous discolored bulge appeared in the ceiling over where my girl and I sit to watch tv.

Shortly afterward, that bulge resolved into a collapse of a 4×8 section of overhead drywall. It happened so quickly that my girlfriend was conked by a big piece of the stuff. I just managed to get the electrical appliances and lamps out of that area before the water came pouring out of the hole.

Now we’re in a hotel,, in a room paid for by the owner of the apartment complex. The animals are still in the building, which has been condemned, and I have to bypass the posting to feed them. We don’t have anywhere else for them to go.

I dunno what the resolution of all this will be. I have pictures of the damage, of the mess left behind by the workmen, and of the scene once the fire department get to our building. We have a bill for my girl’s treatment. Tomorrow morning we begin hunting down a lawyer to take the negligence case, and trying to find somewhere a little more permanent to stay.

Might be offline for a bit as I dunno how soon everything can get connected once we leave here, if we do leave here.

Getcher insulin shots ready:

After many trials and errors, we’ve finally managed to get the two buns to play nice and cuddle up to one another. Or they reached some sort of agreement overnight, which amounts to the same thing.
After noticing this afternoon that Dammit was virtually ignoring Nipit when she was let out of her cage, instead of dammiting her or initiating any kind of bunny games, I took a chance and chased him around for a little while, in order to get him onto the bed. Pulled the sheet back and then went back to scoop up the little one.
They spent almost four hours after dinner hanging out, cuddling, engaging in mutual grooming, and generally exhibiting that they were ready to take the next steps toward bff-status. He’s neutered, so even if they go further than that, there will be no issue. She’s still way young to breed anyway, though she definitely seems to understand why he keeps trying to peek and/or sniff under her “cottonball”.
Below is the photographic evidence:
Continue reading Success!

Friday was Dammit’s 2nd birthday. As has been reported at some length elsewhere, he is a fan of the work of Led Zeppelin. Since we didn’t have the materials at hand or the inclination to forage, we didn’t make him a birthday cake. We also felt that making him wear a funny hat would be beneath his dignity as an English Spot.
Instead we let Nipit out of her cage for a good portion of the day, and treated the two of them to a Zep dvd. Nipit seemed to enjoy her experience, and Dammit definitely did, taking up residence at the head of the bed next to Mama’s pillows. This has become his new spot of choice, where he spends most of his time when not eating.
The pics below attest to this-they were taken just after the laundry was done, and the sheets weren’t yet on the bed. Mama was, though, mostly conked out, but enjoying the video with the bunnies:

Happy Birthday, Dammit!
Continue reading Birthday Boy

Here’s my just read and to be read pile as of this morning:

A lot of these are re-reads…but not all.

The hell with the text. Here’s a bunch of pics from the bunny excursion today:


and the little one:

He’s fine once you get the jacket on him-that’s the challenge. There are two sets of fasteners on each side, one velcro and one tongue and groove. You have to get him on his back and then fasten each set while he tries to kick his way out of the position. He’s as strong as a small dog, and that’s a tall order sometimes. His kick, if it hits you, feels like a punch. I have a little knot under my jaw from him kicking me a few months ago when we had to catch him to go to the vet. I had been trying to stuff him into the carrier box, and he objected to that procedure, ran up my arm and chest, and launched himself off into space via my jaw and chin. I caught him in midair, and that was that. In the box he went:)
Nipit loves the jacket, and loves going out and chewing up the clover. Here are some pics of her and of the duo this afternoon, just before they decided to start fighting:







She is presenting her head to be groomed. In this case, he did groom her, by rubbing the underside of his jaw and his chin, where the scent glands are, on the top of her head, but she did not reciprocate, and he grabbed her by the coat and spun her around a couple of times before we were able to yank them away from each other. The problem was that his teeth were fastened in the material of her jacket-which was pretty white of him considering his relative size and strength.
After they were separated, none the worse for wear, they continued contentedly wandering around on the grass-Nipit cropping the grass and clover, Dammit sampling the scents on the wind and occasionally hopping around in small arcs.
They get along so well when she is in her cage…that’s the odd part. Once in a while she punches him in the nose, but she isn’t an attention ho like he is and gets tired of being petted or of being paid attention to. Still hopeful that one day she can get the run of the place, but that isn’t going to happen if things stay the same.
Should have new about another bunny fairly soon.

The Dammit and Nipit have indeed been fitted with harnesses and have been taken out for walks. That amuses us, them, and the neighbors, who have never seen bunnies on leashes before.

Nipit frolics as if she were born to the pasture, while Dammit more or less sits in place sniffing the fresh air. He did run around some the second time we took them downstairs and out, but the third time, he just sat, until it was time to come back in. At that point he decided to carouse.

Nipit also eats whatever seems tasty…clover and some grass, which we allow because there are no fertilizers or weedkillers in that sward. The walks don’t do much for their socializing as Nipit still nips, but everyone enjoys these excursions nonetheless. Next post will have some Nipit pics-for now here are some pics of Dammit in his new jacket, taken this afternoon:

Recently we’ve been attempting to socialize our two rabbits-the Dammit, who will be two years old in a few weeks, and Nipit, who is ten weeks old.
It is and isn’t working. The Dammit, who used to be Mr. Antisocial Bunneh, is now such an attention ho that he jumps up on the bed to be petted after a short chase. For a very long time he was uncatchable…he’d hide under things and fight, and we were afraid of either hurting him or him hurting one of us, so we desisted, since there was no real reason to capture him.
He doesn’t chew the carpet anymore, and is in fact extremely well-behaved at almost all times, which is more than we can say for the devilish little baby bunny Nipit.
Dammit is even the somewhat unamused recipient of a harness, which looks like a small life-vest, and which will be attached to a leash, which I propose to use to take him outside for walks. First I plan to make damn sure it’ll hold him, cuz we don’t want him getting away.
Continue reading The Great Rabbit Social Experiment

Well now. My listener account has finally gotten to level 10, which will allow me to “revive” a song if I so wish. I dunno why I would, but I can. I’m getting less points than most folks because of my focus on the “little guys”, artists or bands who don’t get as much notice or exposure as some others on the site. It makes for some very interesting musical adventures.
I’m also trying to “discover” artists as often as possible. Have had good luck with finding people who are new to the site and who can grow along with me. Discovering is being the first to heart a song as it appears on-site. I don’t discover my own songs, as that is considered bad form, though I do max heart them. They’re my songs, after all.
Here’s my latest upload and some of my discoveries: