A sad day. . .

I wanted to keep this blog as a fun and hopefully uplifting account of our lives. Sometimes you've just got to accept some bad with the good and yesterday was very bad. A sudden infection claimed the life of our little Chopper. Our wonderful vet, Dr. Funk, did what he could but bunnies are fragile creatures and go downhill quickly.

Since we have no children our animals are our babies and Chopper was no exception. He was pampered and spoiled and we loved him like crazy. Like all our other pets Chopper was a throw away that no one else wanted. He lived with us for a year and a half and he always brought smiles to everyone he met. Posh and Danica are meowing and looking all over for him. It's breaking my heart. I hope he felt the love we had for him during his much too brief time with us.

March Garden Update

The garden is doing quite well thanks to a very rainy winter. Of course that also means that the weeds are doing well too and I could cut the back grass every day if I had the time. Ripping the crab grass out of the raised bed is a daily chore around here.

During the few frosty days of winter we tented the garden with heavy weight row covers from Gardens Alive and clear plastic painter's drop cloths from Ace Hardware. The combination of the two made a very effective greenhouse and we only lost two tomato plants to the cold. We are already harvesting a few cherry tomatoes and the Better Boy and Early Girl's have some small green tomatoes and tons of blossoms.

The second round of lettuce was planted about 2 weeks ago and it's thriving. I put shade barriers up if it's going to be over 80 degrees so the plants don't get burned. For whatever reason the spinach never really took off this year and the leaves are still very tiny. I pluck off the roots and toss them in the salad anyway but they're barely noticable.

The radishes are huge and going to seed. I picked a plant today (in the photo) that was 4 feet tall with a radish that was a bit smaller than a tennis ball. We've used up about half of the radish bed to feed Chopper so I'll reseed that part of the garden this weekend. Raising radish greens for him has saved us a lot of money on fresh food for him. He was eating about 5 heads of romaine a week. Rabbits are cute but not cheap to feed, that's for sure.

"All right Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up!"

Salad from the garden

We grow the most beautiful and nutritious greens in the garden. Most get fed to Chopper but about once a week we put together a big salad with low fat dressing to share over dinner.

Radishes

Here are the radishes that I picked from the garden today. Love that purple one! Most of what we harvest is given to family, friends and coworkers. Today's bunch is going to Patrice. Chopper will be eating radish tops for dinner along with some red bell peppers. It's much cheaper to grow our own greens for him and I know they are organic.

Backyard Visitors

Now that the weather is warmer, the animals like to spend time on the porch watching the birds at the feeder and bird bath. Sometimes they get a visit from a friend. Chiquita stopped by to say hello today. She's a bit camera shy. Chiquita's mom is our neighbor Stephanie.

A Chopper Runs Through It

Chopper runs through the house with his favorite toy, the wrapper from a tube of Ritz Crackers. Last night we had a 2 hour game of "keep away" between Chopper and the kittens. Somehow the wrapper managed to survive intact. I have $$$ worth of animal toys and THIS is how they entertain themselves!

Merry Christmas!

Chopper supervises as Posh decorates for the holidays.

From our home to yours, Merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday!

From The B Family - HuzBen, Leanna, Pearl, Foster, Chopper, Posh, and Danica

Buyer Beware

I took a trip to Joann's on Sunday to purchase some contrasting fabric for the pockets of an apron I'm making out of this fabric from my kitchen curtains.

On the remnants rack I can often find small amount of fabric at a big discount so that was my first stop. I didn't see anything that would work for the apron but I did spot a colorful fleece fabric, just perfect for a blanket for Chopper. This is what it looked like when it was all rolled up at the store. Cute, right?

Back in the quilting department I found a suitable fabric for the apron and I found an awesome flannel print that will be turned into a Christmas present for someone. (I'll post about that after the holidays) I took my purchases home and started to launder everything when I unwrapped the fleece for Chopper and discovered that it wasn't exactly what I thought.


OMG!!!

Even Danica had to get a look at it. I did not imagine there would be skulls all over the print. Skulls for my sweet little Chopper?! There is no way to return remnants so it looks like my bunny is going hardcore. At least he doesn't seem to mind.

Chopper's BunSpace

Yes, Chopper was a bit jealous of our MySpace and Facebook pages so we got him his own. I'm sure the cats will be complaining tomorrow that they feel left out.

Happy Birthday Chopper!

It's not exactly his birthday - we don't have any idea when he was born or how old he is. . . but this week it's one year from the day I found him in the front yard, lost and scared. Thankfully the family who mistreated him (according to the neighbors) never came looking for him and we've had him ever since. He'll always be our little Halloween bunny!

Winter Vegetable Garden

To try and curb our rising food budget we decided to have a garden again this winter. We haven't had anything in the raised bed in 2 years and honestly, I miss it. There's nothing like going out to your own backyard to gather a salad for dinner. Not only is cost a factor, but with our own garden I know we're getting organic produce, and Chopper is getting the freshest food available, not something that's been trucked in from Mexico.

The first round of planting went well. HuzBen mixed a few bags of composted mulch and manure into the raised bed. I've been watering as needed for a desert garden, daily or every other day.

The first tomatoes are turning red but the plants aren't doing as well as I'd hoped due to the heat. They are not getting bigger and the leaf tips are showing signs of sunburn. I orders some shade/frost cloths from Gardens Alive. (Sign up for their mailing list and you get periodic coupons for $20.00 off a $40.00 purchase!) It looks like I'll be needed to use them sooner than I hoped. On the other hand, most of the lettuce is thriving which is odd since it should be more sensitive to the hot days than the tomatoes. Go figure.

This weekend I hope to plant the radish and lettuce seeds. I am really looking forward to the radishes, mostly for Chopper. They are very inexpensive to grow and radish tops are much cheaper than his usual staple food of romaine lettuce.

Planting Veggies and Tales of Bunnies

Last weekend we started planting the winter garden. I scaled back on the tomatoes this year to grow more things to feed Chopper. In the raised bed Ben planted two Romas, three Sweet 100, and four or five Early Girl tomato plants along with a variety of letttuce. He left plenty of room for next week's seed planting when I'll put in more salad greens, some spinach and and several varieties of radishes.

A & P Nursery at 6129 E. Brown Road in Mesa (480) 396-8800 - stocks a nice supply of herbs. I put chives, parsley, lemon balm and basil in pots and I picked up some spearmint and peppermint for the front garden. I'm hoping it will do well in the front - it gets some late afternoon sun but it will mostly be shaded by the Lantana.

I picked up two lavender plants as an impulse purchase. Gardeners complain about lavender growing everywhere like a weed but I've never had any luck with it. Maybe this is my year.

Working in the yard this weekend brought back memories of a vistor we had back in 2003. Foster brought home a little friend (or a little dinner, depending on how you look at it). I blogged about the incident at East Valley Life and I thought I'd share the story here.




May 2003

This is what the cat dragged in last night ... or more accurately, what I was finally able get away from him!

Most of you have heard my tales of Foster, the cross-eyed cat who came with our house when we bought it back in 2000. Well, spring is here and our own four legged Hanibal Lecter is once again bringing home friends for dinner. Thankfully, this bunny will live to tell the story.

As if my neighbors didn't think I was nuts already - picture this if you will - I was running around my yard in shorts, a tank top and black dress shoes (fastest things I could slip on) for an hour yelling, "Foster, put the bunny down. You've got to drop the bunny. Mommy will trade you cat treats for the little bunny!" And finally - "&%*$#, drop that damn rabbit! " Foster continued sprinting from the front yard to the backyard all while carrying his little buddy by the scruff of the neck. I ran thru the house and yard over and over, chasing them.

In the end I was able to grab the baby rabbit who was amazingly good spirited about his/her adventure. It spent the night in the guest room with a hot water bottle and some kitten milk and will be relocated to the neighborhood church bushes this morning while Foster is locked in the house.

I hope your day had a happy ending too!

Whodunnit?

I couldn't figure out why there was such a mess around Chopper's cage everyday - he's really pretty neat and orderly with his toys and things. He likes to eat his hay - not toss it around.

The real culprit was caught red handed today!

Meet The Girls

DH and I were heartbroken when we lost two of our fur babies in the last year. Our friend Barb has been trapping and neutering feral stray cats in her neighborhood in east Mesa. She works with the kittens to socialize them so they will be able to be adopted into good homes. We were thrilled when she invited us to choose a kitty from her latest bunch. We actually took two - a pair of tabby sisters. Posh is the shy one with the white paws and Danica likes to race up and down the hallway and get into trouble. They're adorable and fit right in with Chopper the bunny.

We Love Our Dyson

There's a lot of chatting in my Yahoo Groups about vacuums lately. I always chime in and let eveyone know how much we love our Dyson Animal. With several furry creatures under foot everyday, we need something that can really tackle the pet hair and cat litter. Dyson does it all. DH and I still laugh about how stunned we were the first time we used it. We thought our other vacuum was good, but the Dyson picked up so much we were just blown away. As you can see from the awful cell phone picture - Chopper loves the Dyson too!

What's For Dinner?

Got Veggies?

Chopper gets very territorial about his broccoli. Seriously.