Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Text books

I guess we will be seeing more of each other because they are in too bad of shape to be returned according to the rental agreement. The bookstore ladies got a kick out of Umbra's little munchy marks though.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Keyboards

I always though Umbra liked keyboards, mostly the click of the keys when she hops on them while I am trying to write an essay. Last night she took it to a new level.

Luckily she only managed to pull off the page up and down keys which I never use. I was able to reattach them too, but they aren't quite the same.... Umbra is lucky she is too cute to punish.

P.S. I saw a squirrel binky today. I tried to get a video but of course it didn't do it again. You should know that I really like squirrels too, but not as much as bunnies.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Odd Couples on Nature

This episode of Nature aired last fall (on my birthday in fact), but I just happened to not watch it until last night... instead of reading for class, but that is besides the point. The episode featured various animal "odd couples" who shared tight bonds despite being different species.

One peculiar friendship was between a dog and a rabbit, although it wasn't one of the featured relationships. Still a good watch nonetheless. Explores the longstanding belief in science that animals don't have emotions or relationships like humans do. True, animal emotions and bonds differ than humans, but it doesn't make them any less real or strong. I thought it was a little silly that scientists are spending all this time researching, trying to prove something that much of society has experienced. I think the closeness we have with our pets is testament enough to animal friendship; I consider Umbra my friend, and I think she feels the same (although there is some debate over who wears the pants so to speak.. obviously rabbits don't actually wear pants) There is a great quote in the episode: "the plural of anecdote is data". How many of us know of amazing animal friendships whether inter-species or not. I once had a cat and a parakeet that were best of friends. When the bird became suddenly ill and died, my cat sat on top of her cage all night and cried. They used to share bird seed (the cat was a pig and would eat anything but that is another story).

I feel that this is really relevant to rabbits as well. A lot of people think that they can just through two rabbits together and everything will be dandy. But like people, not all animals get along with everyone of the same species; they all have distinct personalities and not all of them are compatible. This goes for other pets as well. Since I have had Umbra I and during my time volunteering at Indy Humane, why people only have to have meet-and-greets with their dogs, but not cats and certainly not rabbits. I give IHS the credit for assessing the personality of the animals. For example and cat might be labeled as needing a single cat home or being good with both cats and dogs, but people didn't need to introduce their current cats to a potential adoptee. When I went to Elkhart Humane, they thought I was crazy that I would want to introduce Umbra to her suitors before adopting (which fell through anyway).

If people didn't underestimate animals so much maybe we would care more about how we treat them and our environment. They have a lot to teach us too.


Joy of Rabbit Parenting 6

Rabbit tries to dig through you like you are just a pile of dirt in her way. Thank you bunny, that helps my self-esteem tremendously.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Bringing in spring

Nothing says spring like a fresh start. It's been over a year that I've had this blog and I think it is about due for a make over.

I may redo the layout/graphics as well as my domain name (I guess I'm copying you Speedy's mum). If I do I might take the name of Umbra's instagram account: Miss_Umbra.

Any suggestions/advice?

Thank you too all of my readers and friends, I have enjoyed your input and your stories this year (and hopefully I will be posting more regularly again once summer rolls around).

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Construction Update

So Umbra has still been driving me crazy and the living room is no where close to being completed. She got out a few days after the last post late at night and I had to chase her around the the living room in the dark.

Since then I've given up and let her have play time a couple times. The first time she was such a trouble maker: getting into the TV cables, tearing up the edges of the remaining carpet, chewing on the edges of the new bamboo flooring.

Shes being a little better today. She has been hesitant to run her laps like she usually does because of the slick surface, but man is it funny when she does.

Shes laying down right now on the exposed plywood (it doesn't look to comfortable to me), so hopefully that is a sign that she has burned off some of that extra energy and will stop waking me up at 3 a.m.

Thank you Umbra

Usually you wake me up way too early, but thanks for waking me up at 7:02 when my alarm didn't go off.... even though I decided to sleep in another 20 minutes anyway.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Under Construction

My mom is renovating our living room. Mainly we are tearing up the old carpet and replacing some areas with bamboo flooring, the rest will get new carpet. In the mean time the plywood is all exposed and there are edges of the carpet that have been cut away and are perfect for a bunny to shred. So until the new flooring goes down, Umbra will be cooped up in my bed room and its only been a few day but she is already really antsy. She is always boxing the door or trying to dig under it and just the other day she decided that I should now feed her at 4 A.M. instead of 5, as per usual. Even after she is fed she has taken to bothering me anyway just for spite. I don't know who will be crazier when this is over, me or the rabbit.

Anyway, a family friend is supposed to start working on our project today and hopefully it will be quick work. I want my living room back and Umbra desperately needs her play time.

In unrelated news, I may have to drop the Marine Biology class I was planning to take in Florida in May due to schedule conflicts for my senior year. I will be unable to get my minor in environmental science if I want to graduate next spring anyway, plus I will have to take a summer class next year as well so technically I won't be graduating on time anyway. This means I will have to push my wedding back as well. My mom isn't too concerned about that though.

On the bright side, if I miss out on this once in a life time opportunity to go snorkeling everyday for two weeks in the Keys, I won't have to find a sitter for Umbra and therefore not be disapproved of by her royal highness to the utmost degree. My fiance will probably be glad if I stick around as well.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Worried

Umbra gave me a bit of a scare the other day. I was away a couple of nights over the weekend, and when I returned yesterday, Umbra was acting a odd. She didn't want to eat and was being aggressive. I let her out to go play and she just sat under a chair. She wouldn't come out for lettuce or treats.

I was starting to worry that maybe she was having some GI problems, maybe caused by her moult, but then I remembered that last time I was away for a weekend she had acted the same way.

I was really relieved when she started to eat again after a little while, but she was still standoffish. At the same time I remembered another worry that I had about my plans to go to Florida for a month. The trip is fast approaching and I still haven't found a suitable sitter. I debating whether or not I should go: there are other classes I could take at home, but they certainly won't be as fun a snorkeling for three weeks in the keys. If I decide to go, I hope that whoever cares for Umbra in my absence will give her lots of attention; I think that is part of the problem. When I have gone away in the past, my mom or my fiance took care of Umbra, and neither did more than give her food and water. Maybe separation wouldn't be so hard on her if someone spent a lot of time with her.

Either way, it is nice to know that she likes me enough to miss me, although I will have to do a lot (more) sucking up to her this week.