Midwest Bunfest

Well since we are snowed in I figured it was as good a time to post twice today.  This would have been one long extended post but I also figured that these are two WAY different subjects!

First, where I wish I was (rather than freezing in West Verginia):

Debby taking picturses of some horses in a pasture on the Hana side of Maui

Midwest Bunfest, Saturday October 27, 2012, Whitehall Community Park Activities Building, Columbus Ohio

OK now the Bunfest! This event was a blast, We met some wonderful rabbit people, the speakers were fantastic and the vendors had wonderful products to sell!  I had Bogie there and he (as usual) was the star of the show.

Mr. Bogart hanging in his litter box at the fest!

There were a couple other Flemmys there but since Bogie is very experienced, and a bit of a celebrity, he shined. Bogie is an extremely calm guy and because he has been a Humian Education and Spokes-Bunny he has been in the public eye almost his entire life, he handles crowds better than the average rabbit. Many of the buns were nervous but not Bogie, he took many guests and about a million pets!  He really was made for this kind of event and did his very best to be an excellent Rabbit Ambassador, he was right in his element! Bogie also left with quite a nice bag of parting gifts including a nice bag of goodies from the Daton Area Rabbit Network, a willow wreath from Worfie’s Willow Wreaths, some absolutly beautiful hay, called “Crazy Tasty Hay®”, from Bingaling Bunnybox and some really nice treats from Plaid Rabbit Designs, he fully endorses all of these folks and the many other vendors that supported the Bunfest!

Crazy Tasty Hay

Now about this hay, talk about incredible! it is some wonderful stuff, we bought a bag for all the buns and I wish we had more room cuz our buns went crazy over the stuff!  This is the description from their website:  “This is a softer, sweeter hay grown for the particular tastes and smaller mouths of house rabbits. This is a combination of sweet orchard grass and Eastern Timothy hay, blended at seeding to deliver the most flavorful taste to bunnies. Our hay smells, well, different. It smells “candied”. But it is not. We do not add sugar or flavors to our hay. Unlike most hays, this is an Eastern Timothy hay that is grown with the orchard grass to create an amazing blend of sweet flavor and scent!”  All I can say it is some great stuff and when we get the chance we will get more for the kids, order some for your buns but be ready for a feeding frenzey!

Doc making his guest appearance

Doc also made an appearance at the fest, being his usual cute self!  He came in with me after a break and when I needed both hands to carry my snacks from the snackbar I stuck him in my jacket.  He liked it and spent about an hour hanging with me and meeting the folks at the fest.  He also made an impact as he is a special needs bun and showed that he was just at ready to travel and hang out as Bogie was!

Folks browsing the vendor area of the festival!

The fest was well attended and it seemed that the vendors did well and sold lots of stuff.  It really helped that all of the products were rabbit friendly and of very high quality!

As for the speakers, there were great topics covered such as:

1. Emergency First Aid and Home Care Tips to Use With Your Rabbit
   •  Susan Borders, D.V.M. , Norton Road Veterinary Hospital
   • Terri Cook, Licensed Educator for the Columbus House Rabbit Society
2. Feed ’em weeds: growing and foraging for edible wild foods for your house rabbit
   • Phyllis O’Beollain,  Dayton Small Pets Examiner Columnist
3. Therapy Rabbits
   • Sassy Pickard,  F5RS,  Bunnies in Baskets (BIB)
4. Dental Issues in House Rabbits – and How They Can Be Treated
   • Susan Borders, D.V.M. , Norton Road Veterinary Hospital
5. Keeping Your Rabbit Healthy: Wellness Exams and Best Bunny Food
   • Laurie Millward, DVM , Capital Area Humane Society
6. Digestive Issues You Should Absolutely Know About – GI Stasis and Bloat
   • Barbara Oglesbee, DVM, DABVP (Avian), Capital Veterinary Referral & Emergency Center
7. Bunny Basics: Easy and Innovative Ways to Care for Your Pet Rabbit
   • Heather Dean, Rabbit parent and foster mom for rabbits with special needs
8. Bladder Sludge and Related Issues
   •  Barbara Oglesbee, DVM, DABVP (Avian), Capital Veterinary Referral & Emergency Center
9. Bunnies in Baskets – Therapy Rabbits
   • Jane Flores, DVM, Elemental Veterinary Center and Pet Spa
   • Terri Cook, Licensed Educator for the Columbus House Rabbit Society
10. Best Friends Forever: Bonding Rabbits
    • Karen Winstead, Columbus House Rabbit Society Educator and co-leader of volunteers for the Rabbit Care program at the Capital Area Humane Society
11. Bunny Play and Language
    • Linda Baley, Too Many Bunnies Rescue, CA
    • (Bogie was the Visual aide for this seminar and helped keep things on track!)
12. Using Acupuncture to Help Your Rabbit
    • Jane Flores, DVM, Elemental Veterinary Center and Pet Spa
13. Elder Bunny Care
    • Terri Cook, Licensed Educator for the Columbus House Rabbit Society

The Ohio House Rabbit Rescue is the official sponsor for the Midwest BunFest.  They have partnered with rabbit rescues across Ohio and the surrounding states to build a network of individuals, organizations, and corporate partners to improve bunny welfare in our community.  The event had a Bunny Spa where trained volunteers, many of whom are registered veterinary technicians and veterinary assistants provided such services as:Nail Trims, Light grooming, Gland Cleaning, Mat Removal and Bunny Massage.  There was also The Bunny lounge, a place for visitors and their bunnies to take a break, relax, kick back, and meet some new friends! This was a place to give bunnies an opportunity to get out of tieir carrier or stroller and stretch out a bit. They had tables and chairs for the people and x-pens with litter boxes, water, and hay for the bunnies. Finally there was a raffle and a silent auction to raise much needed funds for the  Ohio House Rabbit Rescue.

Debby and I had a blast, Bogie had a chance to star once agian and Doc even got a chance to join in the fun.  After the event was over Phyllis, Skye (her daughter) Debby and I went out for a bite and have a nice chat, Debby and I went back to our RV park and fell fast asleep, We got up the following morning and headed south to avoid Sandy and what happened next will be covered in my next post.

If you are a rabbit person and are in Ohio next fall I would invite you to join in the fun, the knowledge that was shared was invaluable and the event is just plain fun!  Take care and I’ll be chatting at you soon!

Victor

Hurricane Sandy

Everyone sing along to the tune of John Denver’s “Country Roads”:

Almost frozen, in West Virginia,
Hurricane Sandy is dropping all her water.
Wet and cloudy, I still can't see the sky,
I wanted warmer weather, there are tear drops in my eye!
..........

Well, as usual, things are crazy on the road and this time we have the Frankenstorm to thank.  We left Ohio with the hope of getting far enough south and west to avoid any storm delays and we made it to a little burg in West Virginia called Beckley.  This is a small town with all of the hotels on an exit we happened to a.) not know about and b.) missed by 20 miles.  After driving in the rain all day we decided to hit a hotel since it was late and we both did not want to set up camp in the rain and dark. After we missed the exit where all the hotels were we saw a place off the highway and stopped in to get a room, of course they were totally booked and even if they were not the rooms were about $200 a night, WAY over our budget. The guy at the counter told us about a MicroHotel one exit back so we high-tailed it back and found the hotel and checked in hoping for a one night stay.

Unfortunately this place is not pet friendly so the buns and the dog are in the truck.  We have Zoe in the cab with her bed and two extra blankets to nest in, with food and water.  The buns are in the bed of the truck. We set them up with extra blankets and plenty of food, water and lots of extra hay.  I wrapped all of the cages with a tarp to help insulate the little guys and closed the venting to stop the wind from getting to them. The cages are also insulated above and below with blankets, I’ll add a pic of the set up when I thaw enough to go back out and get a shot. I’ve been out to check on the kids twice since we got up and they are all doing fine (if not a bit pissed that we aren’t in the warmth and they can’t get out and play!)

Zoe and I took a nice walk in the cold and snow and she was VERY animated, I’m pretty sure it was having me as company and seeing new stuff.  Something I didn’t know about her is she is a car chaser.  Living on my street in Kanab we didn’t get a lot of traffic and Zoe spent most of her time in the back yard so she didn’t see many cars driving fast, walking her down a busy street here she was VERY interested in the trucks and cars passing us so I had to be extra vigilant to keep her out of the street and safe, wasn’t a big deal just something I hadn’t seen in our 10 years in Utah.

The buns are taking this all in stride, Bogie was just munching on his hay and new willow wreath (well almost new as his only choice in chew toys is a willow wreath and he has done a good job of eating all the leaves off of it and has managed to make in into a willow twist instead of a wreath).  Zsolt and Halle are chomping on the toy Phyllis gave them and are also munching hay.  Halle came out of the cage as I was setting them up to weather the storm and gave me a nuzzle, almost like she was saying that she knew the storm wasn’t my fault but PLEASE hurry and get us all the heck outta here.  Zsolt let me cuddle him a bit but is also ready to head to warmer weather.

Joey Bishop is cuddling Angie but is still giving me that “What the hell…” look but he also came out of his cage to say it’s alright.  Doc was lucky yesterday when we were driving here in the rain as he was sitting in Debby’s lap for at least 2 hours, just enjoying the warmth and Debby’s calming pets.  He is just going with the flow and was happy to get a new batch of hay.

All in all this sucks but we all have a warm and dry place to stay through tonight and we will see how much snow Sandy drops before we decide if we can get back on the road and head south to warm weather and calm waters. I’ll post later today about the Mid-West BunFest, it was a great time!

Chat soon with pics!

Victor

More About The Critters

Last day in Parma and we are over visiting Amy and the kids for the last time before we head to Columbus for the Bunnyfest.

Zoe taking a nap in the leaves

This post is about our cage and run setup for the buns but first Zoe. The stuff we got Zoe is seeming to calm her down quite a bit, she is going to bed by herself now and is pretty mellow most of the time.  She still gets worked up when a dog comes around but that has been the case since the day she was thrust into my life.  She is eating her food and drinking her water just fine and for the most part is doing well (she is still a PITA but that is nothing new). Zoe is in a cage that is 48″ long x 30″ wide by 33″ high at nigh and is on a long cable at camp or on her leash when we are out and about.

How we set the cages when we are in camp.

Now the setup, the buns are all in cages that are 36″ long x 24″ wide x 36″ high.  We have Bogie and Doc in their own cages and the 2 pairs (Szolt / Halle and Joey / Angie) are in cages as pairs. This works pretty good for everyone but Szolt and Halle they are the only buns that are kinda crowded. Each cage has toys (a ball with a bell, a big bell and some wooded chews if they haven’t chewed them up – Bogie does not get a chew toy because he has never been a chewer). When we are camped we stack the carriers inside the awning room with Zoe’s cage on the outside to help protect the buns from predators, we figure that she will let us know if any critters come around. Each cage has a food dish that  is attached to the cage and a good size water crock that we change daily or as needed.

How we set up the buns for travel.

When we are driving we have the buns in the bed of the truck in their cages, they are two across and two deep.  we have a moving blanket beneath them to reduce the rattling of the cages. We bungee the cages together to keep them from sliding around and to also further reduce rattling. We have blankets we bungee over the cages for additional shade and we have the front vent and the side windows open for ventilation. We check the buns every single stop to make sure they are doing OK and so far they have been fantastic traveling partners and really seem to be relaxing into the trip, I spend time with each of them at the end of the day and having them around helps me relax and get to sleep!

Joey Bishop and Angie Dickenson out for a morning in the sun!

Doc Holiday on his outside time.

We only brought two x-pens with us to save room but they are pretty good size and are working very well.  We rotate the buns outside (weather permitting). They have been chewing on leaves like mad and seem to think they are chips cuz they keep asking me for fresh salsa (HEAVY on the cilantro)!  We often give them their greens and veggie treats when they are in the outside runs to give them a bit more stimulation. They love their time outside and I really think for the most part they are having a good time!

This last pic is of my beautiful Bogie hanging out in the leaves, soaking up rays and “chillaxing”

My big man hanging out in the sweet fall sunlight!

Take care and I’ll post from Columbus and the BunFest!

Victor

The last couple of days

A nice hike around Stump Lake in Punderson Lake State Park

Zoe and I walking through the leaves in Punderson Lake State Park.

Well it has been a couple days since I have posted (at least a couple of days, I kinda loose track with all the insanity that has been going on with this trip, I’ll get to all that later). On the Monday the 15th Amy, Debby and I went on a nice long hike around Stump Lake, one of the at least three little lakes in this park. The weather was terrific, a nice cool autumn day, and the colors were fantastic. We enjoyed the hike and afterwords we went to Newberry, Ohio, the home of the fourth largest Amish settlement in the US and had a nice late lunch at ” Mary Yoder’s Amish Kitchen, Bakery, and Gift Shop” it was tough getting a nice Amish lunch for Debby seeing how she is a vegetarian, but we got by and the lunch was very very good!

Oksana shooting her bow

Debby trying to shoot the bow (with little success)

On Thursday we went to watch Oksana practice shooting her Bow after she got home from school, she really is quite good and hit the target almost every shot and even hit some bulls eyes, I was quite impressed!!! Oksana shot from 10, 15, 20 and 25 yards and after a little adjusting did very well from each distance, Debby and I each took a turn and well, compared with Oksana we — Sucked! I actually hit the hay bales but not the target and Debby hit the forrest behind the target (we did find the arrows with minimal hunting) so we both gave up quickly. David Columbo, Oksana’s father and quite a nice guy, gave it a whirl and he, of course, did WAY better than Debby and I did but I think he has had some practice! David brought along his wife and Oksana’s little sister, a very cute and quite precosious little girl and we had a wonderful autumn afternoon hanging out at the archery range, talking, laughing and just having a great time.

The American Falls and Bridalveil Falls.

The “Canadian” falls (Horseshoe falls)

On friday Amy joined Debby and I on a day trip to Niagra Falls, it was a wonderful day but it is a four hour drive each way so my butt still has not recovered from the drive. We lucked out and had perfect weather for the trip, the sun was shining and it was simply a wonderful fall day, we visited both sides of the gorge so we got the full experience and with the sun there were incredible rainbows in the gorge below Horseshoe Falls.

Maid of the Mist and a pretty rainbow, the raincoats are pink because this is Cancer Awareness month.

Saturday was pretty fun, we went with Oksana and David to Oksana’s guitar lesson, of course we made her nervous but she did real well and is progressing very nicely. She has an excellent teacher who is showng her much more than just how to play songs, he is showing her how the whole deal works! While we were at the archery range David noticed that the glass on my iphone was cracked so he brought along a new iphone 4 (same as what I have but in great condition) and gave it to me. He backed up my old phone to the cloud switched out SIMM chips and I was back up and running. He also gave me a sweet Otter case for the phone so I shouldn’t have that problem again!

After the lesson Debby and I went back to the West Side Market in Cleveland and got more goodies and of course (for me) another dozen oysters, this time Blue Points for $10.00, what a deal. I also got some cured meats for the road but at the current rate of consumption I doubt they will make it out of Ohio!

Sunday was a “relax around the camp” day, we both needed a day off.

A new problem and another unplanned expense! When we were driving back to Punderson after Niagra, we developed a major shimmy in the truck, it happened twice and was very concerning so we had a guy (the nephew of one of Amy’s neighbors) look at it. We both thought initially that is was the U-jounts but after looking at it, giving it a test drive and asking a mechanic friend of his it was noticed that three of the four tires had blown radials so off to the tire company to get 4 new tires for the truck, another major bummer.

Amy has been working the last couple of days so we had the chance to fix all the problems at her house, yesterday I fixed the gate and the siding and today I got the screen fixed, been a busy bunch of days!

We have two days left here, Birthday dinner with the family for Debby tomorrow and a day to get ready to hit the road. We are on the 26th off to Columbus for the BunFest on the 27th then points south!

See you all soon!
Victor

The Gypsies were run out of Parma …

but there was no mob with pitchforks and torches!!!

Sorry for the delay in posting but we are now camping in a state park about 25 miles from Amy’s house and there is no Wi-Fi and pretty sparse phone signal.  Seems that Parma has an ordinance against trailers in driveways, WAY different than Kanab!! So we had two nights at Amy’s then had to get up, pack up and move to a spot where we can camp in peace!

The lake view from our campsite

I actually like where we are better than living in a driveway and it is super pretty where we are, just was a PITA moving again when we just wanted to hang out (it also ain’t free and that is a bummer). We are pretty much alone in the campground, only three or four RV’s down by the lake and we rarely see anybody which is real nice!

This will be our spot for the next week or so.

The buns handled the move with thier usual grace and style but Doc is currently giving Debby the bum when he sees her, guess he didn’t like the butt bath and grooming sesion! We have two x-pens set up and are rotating the buns outside for some sun and fun, they are really liking that!

Debby’s new tatoo

Debby got inked today, her first tatoo, of course it is a bunny! The tat is of her original rabbit, Rosebud, and came out very nice!

Tomorrow we will be going to Niagra Falls.  Part of this trip is planned for seeing things we have never seen and since we will be headed south soon it makes sense to see the falls and enjoy the autumn colors.  we are headed back to Punderson so I’ll close this for now and hope to get something here tomorrow.

See you all soon.

Victor

Day something in Parma

Hi all —

Haven’t had a chance to do the repair work on Amy’s house yet but have a Lowes run tomoorrow to get the stuff to fix my mistakes.  I’m pretty confident that with the tools I brought and the skills I learned working on the house in Kanab I’ll be able to fix the siding, the scereen will be a peice of cake.

We went to PetSmart today and got a different kind of tension suppliment for Zoe (they didn’t have Rescue Remedy) and hopefully this will help.  She is actually getting better (despite what Debby says) and isn’t whining near as much as she was. She was aggressive towards a new man, she has only been this way with one other guy – a salesman that came to our door when I was living in the Ranchos in Kanab – but I hope this a one off thing, just someone she felt uncomfortable with.  I am getting a bit tired with the distruction and her insanity but I did make a commitment to the old girl and I will not give up.

West Side Market

Amy brought us to a killer market, The West Side Market, in Cleveland.  Man oh man I fell in love!  I haven’t been to a place liike this in years (since I was a chef in Boulder, Co. and hit the Farmer’s market).  This place had some of the most incredible produce, baked goods, ethnic fare and meats that I have seen in years and had absolutly the most remakable cured meats and Charcuterie I have ever seen in one place, there was incredible seafood, a coffee shop and two or three cafes, I WAS IN HEAVEN!!!  I bought a dozen Cape Cod oysters (for $13), and 4 cobs of corn for a buck, I shucked the oysters and slurped them bad boys up tonight and will grill the corn for dinner tomorrow!  I also bought a pound of HUGE grapes that I’ll nosh on tomorrow (well those that survive tonight)!  I’ll be back there before we head south just to stock up on cured meats for the trip to FL.

We got the buns out of their cages today and they all had a great time running around and binking in the grass.  Bogie was first out and boy was he pissed when he went back to his cage, the thump he let out would register as a minor earthquake in a small Latim American country and would probably would have killed thousands.  Zsolt and Halie were out next and they also were not ready to give up thier freedom!  Doc had some more personal attention attention as he needed a butt bath.  He delt with it in his usual manner, not all that happy but let Debby have her way.  Joey and Angie didn’t really want to get out, probably to cool by the time it was thier turn, they will go first tomorrow.

We did have a small bit of bad news today, evidently in Parma you are not allowed to park a travel trailer in your driveway.  We will be speaking with the city tomorrow to see what our options are because it is nearly impossile (I think it is completely impossible) to get the trailer into the back yard here and all of the RV parks in this part of the world are either closed or will be closed by the 15th, one option is a State park but the closest is near Dayton and that would be a heck of a cruise to visit Amy and Oksana, we will work on this tomorrow and hopefully we will have it figured out quickly.

That is it for tonight, I’ll try to post again tomorrow, it is supossed to be sunny so maybe a bike ride is in order!

Victor

Parma Problems

OK so finally in Parma and at Amy’s house – whew!

All I have to say is I cannot believe how close together Ohio houses are! The 39something times I tried to back into Amy’s driveway with no success I finally ended up running into Amy’s house causing damage I will spend my first day not driving – fixing, SERIOUS bummer! If I remember I’ll post pics of the damage but I’ll probably forget!!!

It is good to be here and seeing Oksana and Amy, and getting off the road are both good things but after a pretty smooth day it ended up being pretty crappy.

The buns are fine and went through the back and forth just fine, all were eating, drinking and pooping just fine. Joey gave me a “knock it off jerk” look, Bogie is his usual WTF, Doc is noshing and Szolt and Hallie are just hanging out. Because of the crash we have to leave them in the truck but it is a pretty good deal, warm and dry – food and water, so they will be fine till we get them in the grass tomorrow. Zoe us in her crate in our temporary room, had her water and will get dinner when I head up to bed. So everything is normal.

See you tomorrow
Victor

The stuff we brought

The Medications

I forgot to say in my last post that Phyllis told us about the Midwest BunFest.  It is happening in Columbus, OH on Oct 27.  We decided that we would extend our stay in Ohio and attend the fest.  Debby will have a vendors booth and will sell some of her hand crafted jewelry, I’ll bring Bogie and my guitar and maybe play for tips or just hang out with the bunny folks.

Now for some important info!  Here is a list of the stuff we brought to make sure our buns were ready in case of trouble:

1. Sub-Q fluids
2. Various sizes of syringes and needles
3. Thermometer
4. Hot Water bottle
5. ice bag
6. Gauze and bandages
7. GI Stasis Medications
8. Wound care cream
9. Revolution
10. Metacam
11. Baytril
12. Pen-G (antibiotics)
13. Books
    1. When Your Rabbit Needs Special Care by Lucile Moore
    2. The 5 Minute Vet Visit (for Rabbits)
14. 3 bags of food
15. 3 leaves hay (we will buy more as needed)

We also have enough Fleece cage liners for a couple complete changes of the cages so we don’t need to jump on the laundry at every change.  We do a complete change of litter boxes every other day and change waters as often as necessary (usually twice a day more for Doc cuz he can’t seem to go without pooping in his water bowl).  We have tarps for draft control and we got a heater for our awning room in case it gets too cold.  We have an array of scissors and grooming tools, lots of rags and paper towels.

That is a basic list, we can let you know more details if you post a comment asking for them.

Well off to Parma and almost 2 weeks letting our sore butts relax!  It’ll be nice not having to break down the rig and getting it ready for the road every day.  After Parma who knows, headed south for sure we just haven’t decided on the route yet, I’ll keep you posted and will add pics to this post soon, I forgot my iPhone cable in the truck and it is parked to far away from the Starbucks to run and get it!

Vic

Enon Beach

Ohio, oh how I have longed for you (I know this sounds odd coming from a guy that wants to avoid cold)!

We made great time yesterday and got into Dayton early evening and met up with Phyllis in a K-mart parking lot, the best place for us to park the rig due to it’s size. We had a nice visit, it was great finally getting to meet her in person and Bogie was happy to meet her too! Phyllis told us about this park outside of town and we headed to Enon Beach.

This is a little, private park and is my favorite park so far, lots of grass, a small lake and is a bit “hippie” so it fits us perfectly! I would stay here longer but it’s off to Parma to visit with Debby’s daughter and grandkids for a week or so.

The buns are still doing great, eating their morning pellets and hey

and relaxing before the last part of this leg of the journey.

I’ll post more when we hit a Starbucks.

Victor

Bogie crossed the Missippi (and didn’t get wet!)

We are finally in Indiana!! We should make it to Dayton today and get to visit Phyllis O’Beollain! Phyllis has written several articles about my Bogie and I have wanted to meet her in person for a long time so this will be a treat!

Joy Thomas Gioia, MOHRS

Yesterday we were able to visit with Joy from the Missouri House Rabbit Society. Zsolt was rescued by this chapter so we have a connection with them. This is a very nice chapter and we met some really sweet buns (she has 3 English Lops – Debby’s favorite breed, and 2 Chekered giants – VERY VERY cute – and big – buns). we had a nice visit, got some papaya treats for the gang and got back on the road.

Wi-Fi has been a bit of a challenge the last couple of days, thank God for Starbuck’s!!! the buns are still doing great and if all goes well today on the road I’ll be able to finally post about how we prepaired for the trip, what is in our meds supply, what we brought for food and treats

Szotl and Halie in the sun at Deer Creek RV Resort

We stayed at one of the fancier RV parks in MO called Deer Creek RV Resort a super nice, gated park with real nice bunny friendly grass so the kids got a chance to sit in the sun for a bit. I have noticed that we have had the oldest trailer in every park we have visited so far (but it also has the most character and the best stories to tell)!

Loading and unloading the buns is finally getting pretty routine but traveling with a herd of buns is not for the faint of heart as it takes us about 3 hours to fully clean the cages and changing out the litterboxes when we are hitting the road, good thing we don’t plan on any days with more that 5 or 6 hours driving time.

That’s about it for now, if I have Wi-Fi tonight I’ll post more, chat again soon!

Victor