The Long and Slow Bunny Introduction Plan Continues

 

 

This morning was spent at church, for Parent and Toddlers as usual.

I got to have a hug with a wee'un which was lovely, he was just at that age when you can make him smile and chuckle, I was sad to have to hand him back!

 

 

The afternoon was spent in the kitchen, making carrot and ginger soup for tomorrow's lunch, plum flapjack for tonight's dessert...

 

 

 

...a fatless fruit tea loaf for Sunday's tea  (it improves with age so best made a few days ahead)

I also made Thai green chicken for tonight's dinner...but forgot to get the limes, so Teen One went out to get them for me...so handy having someone to pop out and run errands for me!

She also filled her car up for the first time, and only needed to send one text checking which fuel she needed.

 

 

The bunny loving continues and Benji is loving the extra cuddles indoors and crashing out on the sofa when given the opportunity!

Baby Flora is still playing hard to get, but did allow me to get fairly close to her without running away today, but its going to be a long haul to be able to get her within picking up distance I think.

She and Benji have been interested in each other through the safety of the hutch wire, and I really hope the long slow introduction is going to pay off, as we are so eager to see them snuggling up to each other.

 

Tonight another friend came round for dinner, a mutual friend of our visitor, so dinner was a lengthy process, with much chatting of course, and now the menfolk are enjoying their coffee over a discussion on the Scriptures.

 

 

 

 

 

Good Friends Warm The Heart

 

Going back to yesterday, when my late neighbour's son left Hubby a pile of car magazines, he also asked if I would like the christening gown he and his mother were christened in.

That makes the gown almost 100 years old!

To be honest I didn't know what to say, but was getting the vibes that whilst he didn't want it, he couldn't bear to part with it....so I said I would be happy to be custodian of if it for him.

He thought maybe someone at our church might want it, but we don't baptise infants, only those who are old enough to acknowledge the Lord Jesus as their Saviour and ask for baptism.

So, I don't really know what to do with it, but as its so small, it can sit in my wardrobe.

 

 

I appreciate its heritage and also the beautifully delicate flowered lace.

 

 

The bunny separation has gone well....they have shown interest in each other through the safety of the wire, and so Benji can access his own "penthouse suite" we have made a little bridge for him.

Flora has proved just as difficult to catch and it needs two people so we can head her off!

It must look really funny if anyone is watching us!

 

 

I have been home all day, partly because the builder was supposed to come and see if he can sort out the leak in the conservatory, and partly because a retired friend of ours from Hull was driving down to spend a few days with us.

I spent the day generally tidying up, making soup ( he LOVES home made soup) getting dinner ready and also a dessert ( the family love visitors as we always have dessert when they are here!)

Teen Two gets on really well with our friend, largely I guess because he is one of these people who has a real interest in others and spends ages talking to Teen Two, listening and encouraging him.

They also love to play wii sports games together and here they are having a game of billiards together.

It will be a busy few days for me, with later nights than I am used to, but the laughter and happiness that fills the house will be worth it all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not Exactly Love At First Sight!

 

First thing this morning Teen Two was out in the garden checking Flora had had a good night....little bundle of fun that she is!

Just look at those feet!

Way too big for her little body!

Well she had a good night, but ran circles round me all day!

She is impossible to catch, unlike Benji who from day one came running to us, and continues to do that....Flora however is like her wild counterparts and scoots for cover the minute we go anywhere near her!

 

 

She enjoyed her first day of foraging and was brave enough to come out from her hiding and graze on the grass, rummage through the bushes etc, but whenever I set foot outside she was gone!

Which meant poor Benji was confined to barracks all day.

I had intended to switch them around every few hours, giving each other time to get each others scent in the garden etc  (we already switched litter trays for the same reason)

When Teen Two came home, we foolishly ( and my suggestion) decided to abandon the neutral ground first meet up and just let Benji out to see what happened...with us close at hand of course.

We did this when Benji first came home with us, after giving him some hours  alone in the garden to find safe places to run to, and when he met with the older rabbit, there was little reaction at all, so we hoped for more of the same....

....but no...

...it was full scale war!!

With us being on hand the unpleasant ball of scrapping lasted only a couple of seconds, but it was unpleasant to watch, especially for poor Teen Two.

It did mean however that Flora was shell shocked for a second, which gave me time to pick her up and bring her into the house, whilst Benji had some play time in the garden.

 

 

 

The idea was to then put Flora back in the hutch for the evening...but she hopped off Teen One's lap after about half an hour and catching her again took another half an hour!

However, she is now in the lower section of the hutch and Benji has gone up to the wire several times without incident, so on the advice of this website we will maintain this "can see smell and touch noses but no more" for a couple of weeks I think, give them time to get over the trauma of their first premature meeting.

 

 

Benji was not the only one confined to barracks today, I had to wait in for the washing machine man.

It was only a minor problem and one I would probably have put up with for much longer, if it wasn't for the fact we pay a monthly amount for repairs, so it seems silly not to use it.

I had a small leak intermittently, which the man diagnosed as a new door seal needed, which was great as they get mouldy so quickly, despite the fact I clean mine regularly.

It solved another problem too, the door hasn't been shutting properly, which means I think I have switched the machine on, go away and do some chores/shopping, come back expecting the washing to be ready to hang out, but it hasn't even started!

Banging the door hard solves it, or a big thump by the lock, but of course I don't always remember to do those things....but that is a thing of the past now hopefully.

 

 

 

 

The postie brought a pleasant surprise for Hubby...a tax rebate!!!

Now it might only be £29.40 but a rebate is a rebate, and he just decided to buy himself a new alarm clock as his current one is unreliable, so thank you Mr Taxman for paying for it!

 

 

I busied myself making some new play dough for Parent and Toddlers, a lovely seasonal colour ...

 

 

...to go with the seasonal play mats, freely downloadable from Sparklebox

 

 

Part way through the afternoon my late neighbour's son came in for a cuppa, bringing with him piles of motor magazines, many of which are vintage editions and collectible.

Hubby will love them, but me not so...firstly where will we put them!

Secondly....they smell of moth balls!!

They have only been in the front room a few hours and already the smell hits you when you walk in!

Maybe that problem solves problem one.....where to store them??

In the garage!

 

Hubby has been at the NEC in Birmingham all day ( a very early start I might add!) and is just home now, so its been a long long day!

 

 

 

 

 

A Day Of Mixed Emotions

 

 

Today has been a much longed for day in our household, the day our bunny family was completed.

Poor Benjy bunny has been without a mate for some time, but today was the day we went out and chose a little play mate.

It wasn't as straight forward as we hoped.

We wanted a girl bunny as we understand male/female pairing works best, but our local store only had one  female and she was hiding away out of sight...if I am honest we really wanted a choice, so decided to drive to a nearby Pets At Home.

Sadly they had no bunnies whatsoever!

So we drove another few miles to the next store...they had a pen full of boys...like our local store...but no females, so on we went to a rival pet store nearby...only one large black bunny.

So, we went back to our local store and decided to have a closer look and the shy bunny...well when the assistant removed the top of her hideaway and we saw her sweet little face...then when he lifted her up and we saw her giant back feet, way too big for her body, well it was love at first sight....although the assistant wasn't 100% sure she was female, so whilst he took her off for a second opinion, we willed her to be a little girl bunny...and thankfully she was.

So...welcome Flora to the family.

We have allowed her some time to explore the garden without Benjy, given her a couple of hours in the hutch again without Benjy and given her lots of cuddles in the house.

Tonight they are in the hutch but one up one down with access to each area blocked off.

Tomorrow evening we will try a gentle introduction and build up the time they spend alone together.

Needless to say Teen Two is highly delighted.

The assistant at the store told us there is a supply problem at the moment, so the females being born are not being released for sale, only the males so they can build up stock again....whoever would have thought there would be a problem breeding rabbits!

 

 

Today held another special event, Grandma was 83.

We always take her out for lunch/afternoon tea on her birthday  and today she chose my favourite tea pavilion out in the country.

With both the Teens being off today they were able to join us, they chose a luxury hot chocolate...

 

 

...for me it was of course a scone....these really are scrummy homemade scones.

 

 

Outside the tea rooms is the most adorable little lawn mower!

It looks like it would work too so I assume it really was a child's lawnmower from years ago.

 

 

We took a walk round the walled gardens and also the new Farm Shop which has just opened.

It was full of unusual (and expensive) goodies, ideal for presents but not general shopping.

  We got well and truly stuck in the works traffic coming home, but when reflecting on some news I had heard just an hour earlier, it was impossible to be frustrated with the sitting in an endless queue.

Next weekend is a year since my friend died of breast cancer.

Her daughter was in her first week of uni, and my heart broke for the family.

Yesterday my friends husband was admitted to our local mental hospital after being found having made an attempt to end his life, had a friend not realised things were not right and broken in, it would have been too late.

I can only imagine how his poor daughter must be feeling.

Life is so sad at times isn't it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Hectic But Happy Day

 

Today was church as usual in the morning, and these days, with students around I always make sure I have plenty in "just in case."

It was as well I was half prepared, as I ended up having eight back for lunch instead of five.

Thank goodness for freezers!

 

 

All the students are model guests and help clearing away tables and dishes etc.

They went on a little walk over to the shore for me, in search of apple trees!

I had said I would love some apples for the freezer so off they went.

Sadly this marvellous weather we have been having came to an abrupt end and they had to make a hasty retreat home when the rain came.

So instead they spent the afternoon playing games....this one involved cards and spoons!

It was a riot, Teen Two in particular enjoyed it.

 

 

Benjy came in for a little cuddle with Teen Two and he snuggled down much to everyone's amusement!

Tomorrow his little life is going to change...for the better we hope, when we go and buy him a little girlfriend!

 

 

Its been a hectic but happy day and Grandma really enjoyed sitting on the sidelines watching the youngsters have fun.

 

 

 

 

 

A Titfer's Tale!

 

Today was just the most glorious day weather wise!

The sun was warm, the skies blue, it was like a summer's day it really was.

I had some toys to clean from Friday Club and was glad to be able to lay them in the garden to air dry.

There was also a significant amount of laundry with Hubby having been away all week, so todays weather was just perfect!

Had Hubby not been jet lagged it would have been an ideal day to go for a walk somewhere, but as it was we just pottered around in the morning...

 

 

 

I made some soup for lunch and a chocolate fudge cake for tomorrow's tea...

the idea being I don't much like chocolate cake, so I wont be tempted to have a slice whenever I make a cup of tea next week...which is often the case when there is cake in the house!

I was about to make a dessert for tomorrow's lunch when Grandma rang to say she was going to make us an apricot frangipane tart...now that is right up my street....and as she leaves any leftovers when she makes a dessert it looks like my cunning plan...and diet is in jeopardy!

 

 

After lunch Teen Two had an afternoon of bowling ahead of him, something he has been looking forward to for a while, so whilst he enjoyed meeting up with friends, Teen One and I enjoyed walking in the sunshine around our waterfront shopping centre.

 

 

I had promised Teen One we would stop off for coffee after a wander round...but we got one for free as it turned out!

White Stuff had a little trolley of free drinks and nibbles and comfy chairs!

Must remember that for another time!

 

As we were wandering round the shops, I saw a young lady who looked the image of a friend's daughter, so much so I almost went up to her, but then I realised it wasn't her, and anyway she lives in Windsor so it was a silly thought anyway.

We went back to the bowling to see if Teen Two had finished, just in time to see him bowl a strike!

With a few turns to play  we decided to go and sit in the sun rather than wait in the noisy atmosphere of the bowling alley.

As we were people watching ( I love doing that!) I commented to Teen One it was unusual not to have bumped into someone we knew....with that my friend's daughter from Windsor walked by!!

It wasn't her we had seen early either!

She was down for a wedding and meeting up with friends for lunch, it was such a surprise we couldn't help laughing, especially after thinking we had seen her too!

 

 

 

We experienced another "coincidence" in the week.

On Sunday's I always wear the same blue beret to church, one I bought in Accessorize two or three years ago

I really love it, it has felted flowers on the side and matches so many of my clothes.

I noticed on Wednesday it wasn't on the shelf in the cupboard as usual, so thought it would be in my handbag....not finding it there I thought it might be in the car still...but nope.

I hunted high and low, in the car about three times, under the seats, in the boot etc.

I was feeling quite sad about it and looked online to see if I could get a replacement, but not even ebay turned up trumps!

On Thursday I mentioned it to Grandma, saying how frustrating it was to lose something you really love and  would she mind if we took a detour along the route we walked on Sunday to the car, just in case I had dropped it and some kind person had left it on a wall or fence...or maybe it might be in a gutter even!

Sadly no beret.

Soon after dropping Grandma home later that morning I received a phone call from her...

"Guess whats sitting on my neighbours wall....your beret!"

It would appear when Grandma took her bag out of the boot on Sunday, she somehow got my beret  (and my keys...another long story!) but it must have dropped at some point and someone had put it on the wall.

I was sooooo pleased to hear it was found!

Teen Two popped in and collected it for me but my elation was soon deflated when I noticed it had been ripped quite significantly....although on further examination I reckon I can hem it over...or at the very worse buy another plain navy beret and sew on the flowers from the old one.

What is a mystery is how it was ripped...if in fact it was ripped...it actually looks like teeth marks all the way round, and the shape of the missing brim makes me think it has been gnawed at.....I can only think of one animal big enough to have left teeth marks like that...a rat possibly looking for nesting material???

Ooo Grandma wont want to think about that so close to home!

The beret has now been thoroughly cleaned and is drying out on a dinner plate to help keep its shape.

It might be a little worse for wear  and one cant help wondering how its last few days have been spent and what a tale it could tell! But I am glad to be reunited with it!

 

 

 

 

 

Nature Or Nurture!

 

Starting with last night, I finished the baby blanket using Sirdar's Snuggly Squishy yarn.

As I mentioned yesterday, I wasn't 100% happy with the width of the blanket...I am generally fairly average with tension, but this was about 4cm less I realised after bothering to measure it!

So with the last ball, I decided to do rounds of single crochet all the way round, which did the trick of adding some extra width and I actually like the firmer edging a border gives.

The blanket is now being blocked ( aren't I good!) and will be ready to give to my friend when she calls in next week.

 

 

 

 

The weather really was beautiful today, t shirt weather!

As I went out to do some shopping, I couldn't help but marvel at my "snapdragon" flowers again...

happily growing from brick work, with no soil or regular watering!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this begonia too....just how do they do it!

All my watering, dead heading and nurturing has nothing on nature it seems!

 

 

At Lidl today I saw these and was curious as to what they were...

 

 

 

 

 

...I really wasn't expecting anything quite so cute!!!!

It tasted similar to a kiwi but a bit sweeter....how adorable are they!!

 

 

 

The big event of the day was Hubby arriving home safely from his trip to the US.

He came armed with the goodies on our wish list and a few extras too.

It's good to have him back.

 

 

Teen Two was especially pleased to have his dad back, and LOVED his present of a pen with a fidget spinner on top!

 

 

 

Our story at Friday Club was of Zaccheus, who climbed a tree to see the Lord passing by.

We printed off these trees and got the kid to make fingerprint leaves, they really loved it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pom Pom Mania!

 

Today was my turn to run the activity table at Parent and Toddlers, and resisting the urge to use one of the super duper Baker Ross crafts that arrived yesterday, I dug out a bag of wool and my animal pom pom set which I bought in the US last year.

It was a great activity for discussing, big, biggest, small smallest with the little ones.

There was a long line of children eagerly wanting to make their own pom pom, and one thought it would actually come out as the animal we were using!

 

 

The mums and grandmas with their little charges were intrigued as to how the pom poms were going to be made and I was more than a little surprised that no one had made them as a child using the two pieces of circular cardboard method!

 

 

 

This useful pictorial shows you the six easy steps to make a perfect pom pom using the traditional method, but there are also pom pom makers available quite cheaply online

 

I can remember making them at school once ( obviously had a lovely teacher who loved her crafts!) and made them at home whenever there were any scraps of wool going spare.

 

Several of the mums wanted to buy the animal set themselves, reeling off the names of nieces and nephews who would really love the set so I promised to search them out the next time we are State side.

Such a shame Hubby is coming home today!

 

 

All the pom pom making, and sheer pleasure the little ones and their mums got out of making, and playing with them, reminded me of a book I bought last year.

We bought a stack for Friday Club Christmas presents and thought they were so good, bought one for ourselves...we really must get round to making some of them...its not as if we are short on scraps of wool!!

 

 

Its been a yarny sort of day, as I had a chill out this afternoon doing some more of the baby blanket using Sirdar's Snuggly Squishy.

I followed the free pattern, but wish I had cast on more stitches, its a little narrower than I would like...but there is no way I am unpicking it all now!

It will be fine for a car seat if nothing else.

 

Only one more sleep and Hubby will be home, armed with gifts of the various foods we miss from the good old US.

Its probably been a long week for him, oddly enough its flown by for us, but he has of course been missed, particularly by Teen Two, so it will be good to have him back home with us.