December was hard for us. I lost a dear friend and volunteer to stomach cancer and we lost our little bunny. The scheduled memorial for Scott will be today at 2pm, LB’s will be here.

LB was so fascinating to us, mysteriously hopping into our lives. She quickly blended in our household and daily lives. She taught us patience and quiet. I think she actually lowered our blood pressure just being with her. So soft and so different than what we were used to. She was fun to hang out with and just to be around her was enlightening. All of her twitches and subtle communications were fun to decode. We miss her.

She also taught us how precious and vulnerable she was. We gave her freedom and independence- she skipped and jumped around the backyard like the happiest bunny on the planet. I cherish those moments and know that we gave LB the best life we knew. One of our friends mentioned that Lb’s time with us was actually bonus time because she would’nt have made it much longer after I found her in our neighborhood.

Ultimately, we misjudged her strength when she had a run in with another animal and didnt make it through.

She will be remembered. We continue to have a little soft spot in our hearts for the joy the bunny brought us. I am thankful for the time we had with LB. Nothing can replace her.

This will be the last post.

She is proving to be easily trained (when she feels like it) and lets us know when she needs something. She runs for the back door when she wants to go outside and play. She comes up to the deck when she’s thirsty-during these 102 degree days we leave out plenty of water for the animals. We dont mean to leave it out for the critters at night, but they enjoy it too!

I have received several accidental (on my part) haircuts from LB. One of which is extremely annoying. I have a lock of hair that used to go behind my ears, and now it sits directly in front of my eyes due to a teeth trimming via the Little one.

She helps Alan tie (bite) his shoelaces in the morning and feverishly goes after whatever cord we have left within her reach. Did I mention we dont have an alarm clock anymore? Yeah, LB probably got a little shock on that one. So now we wake up to the sound of Alan’s cell phone-you know the ring.

What else? The neighbors had a good time with the animals when we left for our out West trip. All of the animals seemed very well fed and appreciated when we got home. We do have to figure out how to avoid the meowing and 5 am feeding though. Seems to be earlier and earlier every morning. –But this is LB’s blog, enough of that.

Like I said, all is well. Having a good time with our extended, furry family.

What used to be my favorite part of the day (now a close second) was the short two minutes when I would slip into the bed, the sheets smelling clean and I could shrug off all of the rolling questions, rude incidents or crummy thoughts that happened during the day. I could take a load off, literally. I still like that, but “fun time” is better!

What is it about “fun time” that is so different than it used to be? Alan and I have shared many drinks in the backyard, after work, watching the animals. It’s practically a ritual. But now it has a name. Now that time slot brings with it all of the joys of owning a home, being married, enjoying life and watching our animals (its not a coincidence that the word animals could be replaced with the word children!)

Now we have Little B! Little Bunny has sky rocketed the two hours after work from good to the best part of the day! Who would have thought that a cute, little furry thing could do that. But he (I just cant do she) has.

We are all in familiar territory. The cats know LB’s antics-and give a little back, LB knows he’s going to get popped in the face when he gets too close. And it’s okay. We arent petrified that LB will get out of the backyard or get eaten by a hawk (maybe still a little with the hawks nest so close). But really, fun time is fun and no stress.

Was doing a little research on rabbits and why they are good pets. This pretty much sums up why LB has been such a relaxing addition to our family.

“Getting in a hurry. Bunnies take time. Perhaps that’s one of their special gifts to us in this hectic world. They require that we take time out to sit and watch and do nothing else. Besides getting a well-trained bunny for your efforts, you also get a short period of time each day to watch one of the most charming little creatures on earth explore, skip for joy, and in general entertain you with her bunny-ness.”-House Rabbit Society

So what do we do? Let him run around the house and terrorize the cats. Really, he chases them around while they are hissing and getting completely annoyed. I used to think it was cute, now I wonder if they will ever be able to live in harmony.

When the biting begins around 7am, we feed the cats and let the bunny out. We soon find ourselves with 3 animals on to of the bed, with pawing and hissing until we let the cats outside. Then its just LB up and down, climbing on top of us, hopping around the bed, licking our pillows. Our pillows must taste great!

On a side note, Alan just found a rabbit hair in his oatmeal!

I ran around to the front of the house and our little Lemmy is hopping in the front yard. I scooped him up and took him back to his hutch. Bad bunny, but Alan thought Bad Kitty.

Good to know that he stays close, but I wouldnt want to try it again. Maybe he can smell our dirty clothes through the walls?

Well, he escaped the next day too! So we got a giant rock to close up the hole in the fence. Now, the terrier from next door will have to find another hole to watch the bunny hop.

His other favorite spot is behind the TV where there are cords galore.

He’s been lots of fun though. He sticks his head out of his hutch so we will scratch his head-and he loves it behind the ears. Reminds me of a dog.

I am preparing a bunny kickout montage that will be hilarious. Im laughing just thinking about it so stay tuned…

We also decided a name on the bunny tonight.  Get ready…..Lemmy. Inspired by Obama’s speech…just kidding. I dont know -from a rock band. kids these days. So his name is Lemmy Bunny. A little bit country and a little bit rock -n- roll.

Infact, for the first 2 weeks, Rudy thought he was going to the vet whenever we brought out the bunny. You see, bunny’s first home was the cat carrier, the offical transport to the cat doctor!

Bunny now has a genuine bunny hutch and gourmet bunny food, plus some good hay for chewing. He is living the life-and training us too. I’ve tried to downgrade the bunny food. It was a no go. So, I sucked it up and shelled out for the good stuff.

I ‘ve been back to the pet store to ask questions too. “What kind of bunny do I have?” He is so different looking than any rabbit I’ve researched. All I had to say was that he looked like a lion. “Oh! You must have a lionhead rabbit.” And there you have it!

Here’s the official site of the lionhead rabbit.

I’ve named him Mr. Bunny, I think he will always be a he to me.

Since our initial experiements, we received some information which might lead to determining the true sex of the rabbit. Honestly, we just aren’t ready right now!