The bunnies were overdue to get their nails trimmed. Usually Liz does the holding and the trimming, while I help distract the bunnies and get their feet/nails clear. This time though, I ended up holding the bunnies, giving Liz a bit more freedom to work.
Lately, the videos I do are pretty quick – a few seconds here and there, maybe 30 seconds at the most. So it felt like a fun opportunity to take a longer video, and just watch Phineas and Daisy do their thing.
Liz is closest, and has a spray bottle to deter Daisy. But if she’s in a meeting, she’s unable to get up and deal with the “Daisy situation.” And in these times, she’ll text me to deal with it (sometimes I hear it happening, sometimes I don’t).
It’s always so nice to see these two getting along so well. Daisy has chilled out a lot, over the years. And while at times there were questions of who the top bunny was, things seem to have settled into a more relaxed pace. They genuinely do seem to like one another, and it’s always delightful to see the evidence.
A week or so ago, Daisy started to hang out here on a semi-permanent basis. It’s definitely “hers,” if you go by claimed territory as Phineas hasn’t really done the same. After a long period of dormancy, this thing is now someplace you can frequently find Daisy. Just stretched out and relaxing.
It’s been a long, long time since we brought Daisy home. She’s had a rough life, and spent a long time as a classroom rabbit (and must have endured a lot of poking and proding from a lot of tiny hands).
Fun fact: we usually keep the bunnies in a pen, in a smaller area of the first floor. But ever since mid-March, we’ve stopped “putting them away” in the evenings and they have free reign over the main hall area.
For those not familiar with the “flop,” it’s a nice thing to see. Because rabbits are prey animals and typically always wary and on alert, when they’re like this it’s an indication they are relaxed and at ease.
With the cabinet interior done, we just had to cut a 10′ board and slap it up. We debated a bit, and then Liz said “Let’s just stop talking and do it.”
After work, Liz and I suited up to finish off the last remaining bits of work we needed to attend to. We’ve got some boarders coming to our house tomorrow night, and still had some things that needed to get done.
It’s been a super busy time for us, working on the house these last few weeks. And while we have more work ahead of us, we got things back to a point where we could bring the bunnies back home.
Liz and I were talking at the kitchen table (which was in the dining room, adjacent to where these two were at). I guess our voices lulled them to sleep because we looked over, and both of them were flopped to the side.
For those that aren’t bunny owners, a rabbit flopping on their side is an indicator of comfort and ease. It’s a rare thing to see, and something they typically only do when they feel contented and safe. As their caretakers, Liz and I always feel great whenever we can catch one of them flopped over on their side.
The bunnies are also set up in their own space, in the basement. While it’s a bit chilly down there, it most definitely would have been colder in their space at our house… so we’ve offset things a bit by adding a heater. And we also tried to help retain some of that heat by providing a drop cloth and some styrofoam insulation on each side.
When I got home, the bunnies were out and about. I set my bags down, and they immediately got curious. I didn’t think much of it, even when Daisy started to rip the bag a little bit. At the store, I was given double bags – so I just figured the bunnies were tearing away the outer layer. Little did I know…