Standby to be discouraged

I live in a nice neighborhood.  Subsequently, we get quite a few visitors at our door asking for money.  Some are very creative, others not so much.  None of them are successful and some even get arrested.  We are a tough crowd in Menlo Park.

Anywho, I digress …

In the past, I have politely tried to dismiss people from my doorstep as fast as I can, but that can take a while.  Purely by accident, I have found a couple of things that work rather well.

1. The last uninvited people to show up on my doorstep wanted my money and my signature on a petition.  I don’t give money to people who just show up and I never sign petitions.  Ever.  Fortunately for me (and unfortunately for them), it coincided with bunny clean-out.  It was a hot day.  As I opened the front door, the unmistakable whiff of bunny crap and pee wafted out.  It took about 30 seconds for the odor to hit them, mid-sentence.  They took a step back, before quickly excusing themselves. The look on their faces was priceless   Shame nobody called when Alan had his moment.
2. Another winning method is the moldy lemon gambit.  There are two prolific lemon trees in the front garden that attract lemon pickers.  Although I don’t mind people helping themselves, I do expect them to ring the doorbell first.  The bedroom is at the front of the house, right next to one of the lemon trees.  That can be quite unfortunate when the windows are open on a Saturday morning.  Ahem. TMI?  The last Lemon-Picking, Non-Ringer Of The Doorbell rustled about enough on Saturday evening to incur the wrath of Alan, so I popped out to give the LPNROTD a hand.  I reached up into the tree to pick a particularly good-looking lemon only to dislodge a way past it’s best, incredibly grotty, one.  I inadvertently covered the LPNROTD in a shower of mold spores.  He made a hasty retreat with a very small bag of contraband lemons.

So now I keep a bag of festering bunny crap/pee, and a fiercely moldy lemon by the door, just in case.

Uninvited guests, you have been warned.

Lisa.

When I am out and about with Alan, I make many new friends!  He is quite the magnet.  Usually, when I walk into town, I only speak to the guy in Starbucks to order my coffee and morning bun and that’s it.  With Alan, I get to chat with at least 6 new people.  There doesn’t seem to be a common thread connecting them apart from the fact that they think Alan is cute.  He is   Alan’s fan club is split evenly between men and women which surprised me.  I have actually made some useful business connections along the way – the Chihuahua mafia

Anywho, I digress …

Noodles is about 5 pounds heavier than Alan.  He can bite really hard (Ask BB) and kick really hard.  Alan, not so much.  However, Alan makes up for that with some impressive growling.  Noodles did come over a few times to see what the fuss was about, but appeared not to link the noise with the potential new friend.  This Soap Opera will run and run.

Lisa.

Ah. Ah.. Ah... Choo!

I mentioned before that Noodles lost his dewclaws due to my incompetence as a Noodle parent.  Well, it appears that I remain incompetent

Before I dropped him at Save-A-Bunny, Noodles was sneezing every now and again.  It seemed to coincide with when he went under the bed, so I assumed it was a dust allergy.  What a boob!

It would have been funny if Noodles was allergic to dust bunnies though 

Anywho, I digress …

The Noods is off to the vet tomorrow to have his snotty nose looked at.  Right now he is snuggling with BB.  Now they are bonded, they have to stay together all the time, so BB is coming too.  I am hoping the vet can tell me if the pellets can be removed from her shoulder.

I will post an update when I return from the vet tomorrow …

Lisa.

UPDATE: Noodles and BB are back from the vet.  As expected, Noodles has a sinus infection   He has a 2 week course of Apple flavored Baytril.  He is one happy bunny – Apples … nom, nom, nom

BB’s pellets can stay where they are unless they get infected.  An infection is unlikely which is good – I don’t want to change her name

SECOND UPDATE: Noodles is still sneezing   He goes back to the vet tomorrow to see what’s up.  Poor Noodle.  BB is fine.

THIRD UPDATE: 16JAN10    The Noods is still a little sneezy.  He tested negative for all the nasty bugs and just needs to stay on Baytril for a few more weeks.  BB is still in fine form

Anywho, I digress …

Noodles started his visit with a mani-pedi from Joann. Doesn’t he look sweet!

Cute overload!

Joann laid him down on his back and he just went into a kind of trance while she trimmed his nails.  She discovered that his dewclaws were missing.  I am a bad Noodle parent – I let his nails get so long that he broke his dewclaws off

After his beauty treatment, it was time to meet the ladies!  I took a look around with Marcy and picked out Moreland #15.  They have so many rabbits that they have run out of names!  #15 has two BB pellets lodged in her shoulder from her rough life.  I named her BB.  I think she has the cutest nose I have ever seen!  Check it out!

All the single ladies, all the single ladies ...

Put a ring on it!

They got on like a house on fire.  Seriously, they made me blush!  Rest assured, there will be no babies but they certainly seem to enjoy a little something something

Just in case a fight breaks out, Marcy is ready with her “bonding tool”.  It looks surprisingly like a kitchen implement, but apparently it works well to keep fighting/over-amorous rabbits apart.  Sweet.

Stand down sir!

After an exhausting introduction, Noodles had to lie down for a cigarette.

Damn, I'm good!

So, we left the Noods in the arms of his new love, BB.  We will return in 10 days, hopefully to find an inseparable couple. Yey!

Lisa.

Chicken Noodles

Noodles is about to embark on a journey – he is going back to Save-A-Bunny.  Fear not, he is not going to stay for long!  Just long enough to find a friend

The Matchmakers at SaB are going to try and bond him with a mate. I have spent quite some time thinking about names.  Clearly I can’t decide until I meet the new cheekster, but I do like to speculate …  I initially thought the new bunny name should go with Noodles, but Chicken is a bit of a crap name to give to a sweet bunny.  If the new bunny is brown, Mango would be good.  Mango Noodles.  Not sure if that sounds tasty or ghastly.

Anywho, I digress …

I have given the Matchmakers some guidance – must get on well with Noodles;  must be litter trained;  must not bite!  Size is not important, although I would be thrilled with an extreme – gigantic or minuscule.  Long hair would be good – I could collect the fur for spinning.  On the other hand, short hair is easier to maintain.  And if he turns out to be gay, I am just fine with that

So it’s exciting!  In a couple a weeks, I could have another bunny … or I could discover that he isn’t gay or straight, just a hermit.

Lisa.

You know where you are when you've got your towel

On May 1st, I picked up my new bunny from Save-a-bunny.  He had spent his entire life in a cage – albeit a very comfy one once the fine folk at SaB rescued him.  I called him Noodles.

Noodly Jowls

It took the Noodster 6 weeks to come out of his 5ft pen loaded with special Noodly toys and tasty vegetables.  Then there was no stopping him!  I have discovered that the Noodle-Doodle likes to “taste” everything … including me.  He also likes to snuggle, on the sofa, with a towel.  The towel is his best friend.  He is constantly rearranging it to his liking.  I guess you could call it Noodling

Mr Noodles, as he likes to be called, has a splendid face.  Oh, he is cute, but what I really love are his joggly jowls!  At the risk of sounding weird, I really like joggly jowls.  I often stop to snuggle with dogs on my way into town to joggle some jowls.  When I was in Costa Rica, I spotted a cow with a huge dewlap – sort of jowls.  Didn’t get to touch them, but I tried

Anywho, I digress …

Happiness is enormous jowls

The Noodle is now quite settled.  He loves hopping around the house, although he does skid on the hardwood floor and crash into the wall rather a lot.  Very funny to watch.  He gets up and hops off as if nothing happened.  He is a goofy bunny!  Sweet, sweet boy

I know what you are thinking.  Is he litter trained?  Oh yes. So far, so good.  Noodles hops on back to his house to use the facilities.

Why all the name variations?  Why use one name when many will do?

Lisa, who has no variations.

This weekend, I spent some time at Save-a-Bunny in Mill Valley.  This is a remarkable charity that seeks out bunnies on death-row at shelters, and finds them homes with people who want one – like me.  The place is clean.  The only smell is of sweet hay – quite a feat if you are familiar with rabbits and their powerful output!

I visited on the way back from St Helena, where my friend Bob has a vineyard.  Bob worked with me at Sun.  He sold his stock before the crash (I didn’t) and now lives in St Helena, in a fabulous house surrounded by vines (I don’t).  Lucky man.  He makes the most awesome Cab I have ever tasted. There is nothing like a bottle of Bob with dinner.

Anywho, I digress …

Back to my rabbit!  His name at the shelter was Simon, his name at Save-a-Bunny was Painter.  Not loving either of those, I have named him Noodles.  Why Noodles?  I was watching a dog show on TV the other day and the winning dog’s nickname was Noodles.  I like the name.  Noodles is quite the goofy rabbit and has wierd rex fur – kind of curly but very short.  Oh, and he’s cute.  What’s not to love?

Lisa.