Anticipation

So Mom's starting to get nervous. School starts in one week. It's a huge campus. Mom tends to be a worry wart in the best of times, so this is putting her right over the edge. She's scared that she won't be able to find the correct building, or a place to park. She's afraid she'll be the oldest person in her class. She's convinced her brain has atrophied over the years and she won't be able to keep up with the other students. And on, and on...

Kenzie and I have done our best to console her, but it's an uphill battle. Why, just yesterday Mom was having a conniption fit about the new graphing calculator she had to buy. "This instruction manual might as well be written in CHINESE," she lamented, her hands shaking. "It's no use! I can't even figure out how to put the BATTERIES in!" and then she took to her bed with a cold compress and we weren't allowed to make any noise.

The one upside to all this is that her hours at the McDungeon were cut down to one shift a week, so she'll have plenty of time to study. She's counting on Kenzie and me to keep her focused. I've warmed up my favorite hunkering-down spot by the desk, so I can be right there whenever she needs me to step in and add my special "finishing touches" to her homework. I've already decorated her notebooks with my own distinctive scalloped edging.

False alarm

I really did a number on Mom last night! It was time to go up to bed, and I was nowhere to be found. Normally I am right there at Mom's feet begging for my night-night goodie, but not last night. She found me huddled behind the sofa, looking miserable. She tried to tempt me with a grape, and then a cherry. I LOVE cherries. But I wouldn't touch any of it. Then Mom knew we were in trouble.

She made a valiant attempt to syringe feed me simethicone, but I wasn't cooperating. I ended up wearing most of it. Kenzie knew something was afoot, and started thumping up a storm. I kept huddling. Mom kept fretting. I'm a senior bun now, and Mom tends to be a little overprotective. It's not like I'm FRAIL or anything, but try to tell HER that. So she hadn't seen me eat or drink anything all evening. That's no reason to PANIC.

And of course it's the middle of the night, and it's raining cats and dogs, and procrastinating Mom's gas tank's just about on E. She called the emergency vet here in town, but they didn't have a rabbit doctor on staff. Mom had to call the ER in Novi, a half hour's drive away, and tell them she was bringing me in, and she had to get directions, because she didn't know where she was going, and she was terrified about driving all that way in the dark, with a sick bunny, and the freeway was under construction, and who likes to drive through construction, especially in the middle of the night with a sick bunny? and so Mom was in quite a mental state.

But there was nothing to be done except take me in, so she got dressed and found her Visa card, and grabbed our carrier and dragged it into the bedroom to pack me and Kenzie up, and what do you think she saw? Me, sitting in my pen, scarfing down lettuce and looking for all the world like a peaceful, happy little bun. 

Mom will tell you she was relieved. That it was the most beautiful sight she'd ever witnessed. That she wanted to scoop me up and give me all kinds of hugs and kisses. But what she SAID was something along the lines of "FREDDIE, I'm going to THROTTLE you! How could you put me through that!" and so on. She got back into her PJs, and put the carrier away, and thanked God that she didn't have to go out into the storm. And I munched away happily, cuddled up with my Kenzie, trying hard not to laugh at the sight of Mom tearing her hair out. She does tend to get worked up about things.

Counting down

Mom is eagerly counting down the hours until it is officially July 18th, and I will be officially 8 years old!

Mom says that means I will officially be a senior citizen. She's making all sorts of jokes about Medicare and AARP and false teeth, to which I say, HA. HA. HA. Very funny. She should be thanking her lucky stars that I decided to stick around this long. We've been together for four years now! It's been the best four years of Mom's life, and she'd do well to remember that!

Really I can't complain. Sure, there were some hairy situations in the past, like when I decided to snack on the electric lamp cord and nearly set fire to my jaw. Or the time that I ate half of Mom's house plant, and she had to call Poison Control. But mostly it has been four years of sunshine and happiness. What else would you expect from Frederic the Great?

Tomorrow will mark another milestone too. My faithful mate Kenzie will turn five. She doesn't look a day over three. She's come a long way since she first arrived here, overweight and covered with unsightly stains. Now she's sleek and svelte and glowing white, a real beauty. Mom can't remember a time when it wasn't the three of us, the three amigos (or the three Stooges, whichever you prefer).

Mom has to go to that horrible dungeon place she calls "work" tomorrow, but she's promised us a huge birthday salad when she gets home, and she saved us the biggest, fattest, juiciest cherry of the bunch! We love cherries. I like to gobble mine down and then groom Kenzie, leaving big red lip marks all over her snowy white fur. Mom thinks that is adorable. Mom thinks most things we do are adorable, which, really, they are.

A couple of gimps

That's what Mom says she has. Just because the vet told her I have arthritis, and Kenzie has possible nerve damage. So heartless.

 I have to start taking glucosamine, and I say good luck to Mom with that. She has no idea how she's going to sweet talk me into ingesting anything medicinal.

As for Kenzie, the vet says she probably has residual spinal damage from when she was heartlessly thrown over a fence before she was rescued, and she may continue to have periods of lameness like last night. 

So Mom is worried about us both, although she cracks silly jokes about getting us each matching miniature Hoverrounds. She is relieved that we are both now safely at home, in one piece. 

I was a good boy today and endured the very invasive physical exam like a champ. Kenzie showed her displeasure by peeing all over the floor. We each got a cherry half for our bravery. 

Mysterious malady

Here's the scary story about last night. Kenzie was snoozing away in the bedroom as usual. She woke up and headed for our pen where I was eating dinner, when suddenly her legs seemed to give out on her. She writhed around for a few minutes trying to get her balance, to no avail. Finally she dragged herself by her front paws into the hidey box where she huddled miserablyl, chattering her teeth.

Mom was having fits, panicking, thinking her baby was having a seizure and dying before her eyes! She threw us both into the carrier and drove like a mad woman to the emergency vet, which is a place we've never had to visit before, so she had no idea if the vet was even competent to take care of rabbits. 

By the time we got to the clinic, maybe a half hour after the "attack", Kenzie was hopping around like normal, none the worse for wear. She didn't even seem unduly stressed out. She gobbled down the treat Mom gave her. The vet basically said, she's fine now, might as well take her home. Didn't take any X-rays or run any tests. 

Mom was of course relieved that Kenzie was back to normal, but terrified it will happen again. We have an appointment this afternoon with our regular, wonderful and competent vet, so maybe she'll be able to shed some light on what happened. Have any of you got any ideas what might have happened? 

Home sweet home

What an exciting vacation we had! It started off slowly, with lots of lounging beneath the Pickup Truck Cabana and foraging for dandelions. Mom parked herself by the pond with a good book (at least the part I tasted was good!) and watched the birds and butterflies float by. It was blissful.

Kenzie and I enjoyed having the garage all to ourselves. Grandpa's allergic, you see, so we couldn't go in the house. We didn't mind. The garage is huge, with all sorts of interesting cubbyholes to explore, and a cool cement floor to keep us feeling refreshed in the stifling summer heat. We even had a visit from a pair of curious chipmunks, who slithered inside through the tiny crack on the side of the garage door! They weren't too happy to see us, or Mom, and promptly fled. Mom barricaded the crack so they couldn't come back. She was afraid they would expose us to rabies, or fleas, or exotic chipmunk diseases. Mom tends to be a worry wart.

Did I mention the stifling summer heat? On Wednesday it was 96 in the shade. Grandpa's allergies notwithstanding, Mom couldn't leave us outside to bake. She brought us into the back bedroom and turned on the AC for us. She set us up with litter boxes and burrow boxes and our favorite fleece pad, and we lounged the day away in climate-controlled comfort. We even got to spend the night in there! We pretended we were stranded on a desert island adrift in a sea of molten lava. It was great fun.

The back bedroom has all manner of intriguing cabinets and lots of exposed wood, but wouldn't you know, Mom watched us like a hawk and we didn't get so much as a tiny nibble. Even so, I had a grand time exploring and sliding back and forth on the shiny parquet floor. Kenzie did not care for that floor. She preferred to stay on the area rug where there was traction.

Well, now we are back in our own home, with all of our favorite belongings right where we left them. Mom is already planning our next getaway. She starts school this fall and wants to get another vacation in before classes begin. She misses the pond and the big old swing. I miss the fresh clover and mini roses. Kenzie misses hiding under the truck, just out of Mom's reach at bedtime!

Counting down...

...the days until vacation! Once again, we will be setting out for the wonderland that is Granny and Grandpa's house, for a fun-filled yet relaxing week of blissful inactivity. Kenzie and I will lounge in the Garage beneath the Pickup Truck Cabana, while Mom whiles away the afternoon on the swing by the pond, sipping lemonade and swatting at bees.  Delicious salads of fresh dandelion and clover await us, with a strawberry garnish and maybe even a carrot top or two!

Mom has already started a packing list. She says it would be easier to travel with triplet toddlers than it is to haul all of our bunny stuff back and forth. She says the term "high maintenance" comes to mind. I think that's grossly unfair. Just because I refuse to travel without my burrow box, two kinds of hay, special water crock, hay ball, litterboxes and cuddle blankie...

Mom herself packs light. A pair of old sweat pants and a couple tee shirts, a ratty nightgown and a pair of socks in case it gets chilly at night, and she's set for the week. The most strenuous activity she has planned for herself is scooping out ice cream. Mom is by nature a slothful creature, never more so than when she is camped out in the sunshine fanning herself with a Birds and Blooms magazine. She claims that Kenzie and I are lazy...well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, let me tell you!