Radish Box: Part 2

Success!

Or at least the first signs of success!  We are at day 8 and I have noticed several sprouts of radishes popping out from underneath our growing medium.  I have not actively put any kind of fertilizer in with the radish seeds but I have been using the cast off water from the hydroponic units in there sporadically. Since the plants in the hydroponics grow better if you change out the water for fresh about once a month and I can't bring myself to throw out perfectly good water with nutrient sludge left in the bottom I've just been pouring that into our little DIY route planting box.  Since these vegetables don't actually sit in the water permanently I'm not concerned about its stagnancy giving them any issues - but that is all part of the experiment.  it looks like some radishes of both kinds I planted are growing which is very exciting because even though those seeds were quite old they seemed to have a good amount of life in them still.

Rest In Peace Oppy ❣

Opportunity Rover

Fourteen+ Earth years and forty-five Martian kilometres.

Two-hundred seventeen thousand pictures of another world.

Discovered evidence there used to be liquid water on Mars.

May you confuse the heck out of some future xenoarchaeologist.

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Official NASA Statement: Opportunity Rover Mission on Mars Comes to End

Probably the best tribute on the internet (XKCD.com)

Botany Bunnies: Hydroponics Project Update

The grow lights interact oddly with
cellphone cameras.

After weeks of rigorous scientific analysis, our team of highly specialized lettuce experts has concluded that fresh-picked hydroponically grown lettuce is the most superior of lettuces*.  

The key is developing your hydroponics bay within a climate controlled habitat compartment, so neither your humans nor your lettuce ever has to traverse the -40°C with windchill January air. 

Using a mixture of powdered nutrient solution (instead of the usual liquid form which costs more) and the occasional batch of home-brewed compost tea (totally optional - just to get a little bit more microbial diversity in there), McFlufferton Inc. has been able to produce a continuous-harvest head of lettuce for well under $0.50 each!  (We have not yet attempted additional scientific endeavours to harvest our own lettuce seeds, that will likely be the next phase of our research.)

Harvesting technique is arguably important in reducing the probability of lettuce bolting.  You'll want to nip any central spires in the literal bud so the plants will keep trying to grow leaves instead of flowering. Additionally keeping your hydroponics from getting too warm reduces the likelihood of bolting (some of our human affiliates suggest tossing a few ice cubes into the water reservoir every day if your garden is kept at a warmer temperature).  While bunnies are perfectly happy eating lettuce flowers and the more bitter woody stems - humans seem to dislike them.

Stunt Bunny,
Botanologist

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* With only the technical exception of lettuce that you ate straight out of the hydroponic unit when the human's back was turned and you hopped on the bench which is normally outside the "fluffs reach" perimeter. 

Migration

The geese are back!  

Planes Trains and Automobiles!

Good view of the countryside!

Our adventuring party arrived safe and sound in Frankfurt!  Sure, none of the humans were able to get any sleep in the unnatural confines of a commercial airliner.  They're all going to have crazy jetlag when their brains finally realize they're going to have about a 36-hour gap without sleeping.  But now we've settled into our train seats on our way to Baden-Baden. 

Happy Mother's Day

Some moms get flowerz for motherz day, but OUR grand-mommy got the biggest bouquet of them all! 

The pear tree decided to blossom with perfect timing! 

Okay, so maybe we didn't have anything to do with this particular display... but I'm sure our wild bunny cousins did a good job of fertilizing the pear tree so it would flower extra pretty.

Don't forget to binkey for all your momz today to let them know how much you love them!

Departure Day: New York!

Initial status: Winnipeg, Stupid Early

Yay! We're off to New York today! The bunnies are in charge back at the house (as per usual) so Stunt Bunny is joining me. It's cold here but not in our destination, so I'm leaving the winter coat and making a mad dash to the cab and hoping for the best!

Status update: Toronto, 1:00 pm local time.
The first flight was fine - but the second leg of the journey is delayed by over an hour.  It's not a problem really but I'm disappointed that I'm losing an hour of New York for an hour of airport. Also, this terminal is under construction so there's nothing to do and only very sad food options. Stunt Bunny is restlessly chewing on cables around the airport.

Status update: Toronto, feels like hours later...
It's snowing rather substantially outside.  There are many delayed flights and lots of increasingly grumpy people. I don't know what it is about airports that creates a specific kind of boredom.  Perhaps it's the combination of anticipation and the cramped uncomfortable seating specifically designed to prevent anyone from enjoying their book. Stunt Bunny is having an overpriced drink to pass the time.

Status update: Toronto, four of the five flights to New York have been cancelled - but not ours (finger's crossed).
My lovely coworkers are emailing suggestions of things to do in Toronto should we too get bumped to one of tomorrow's flights.  I've realized I forgot to tell everyone else I was going anywhere. Stunt Bunny is critiquing my communication skills. 

Status update: Boarding the plane!
Yay - our flight is going through after all - we totally lucked out!  Also, the nice folks at The Musket Room were very understanding when I called and managed to squeeze us in for a later reservation, so today's adventures won't even been hampered much! Stunt Bunny is very excited! 

Not for Puppers

Sorry to our doggie friends, but you won't get to play fetch when you come to visit. Bub has claimed all the apple wood sticks for himself.
He doesn't care for playing fetch, but his burrowing instincts are pretty strong. He's pulled them from the playpen so he can sit on them in his favourite spot while watching documentaries.

Ubuntu (The Cape Town Project)

Stunt Bunny and Вікторія
waiting for the play to start.

South Africa is an incredibly amazing and interesting place.  I had a wonderful three months there, if you ever get the change to visit it's well worth the trip.  So, when I saw that Prairie Theatre Exchange had a play written by a team of folks including South Africans I really wanted to see it!

Here’s the official description: “In South Africa, “ubuntu” refers to the spirit of community and the belief that humanity is tied together. In this collective creation, a young Canadian woman begins to unravel the legacy of her mother, when she meets a young South African man searching for his father. Drawn together by chance and circumstance, they relentlessly pursue the truth, only to realize it will turn their lives upside down. Through spirited storytelling, music and dance, this international collaboration of Canadian and South African artists traces the ties that bind us all.”

From a technical perspective this play was really well done!  The set/props are simple but very effective and clever.  The physicality of how the performers interact with – and create – the environment was quite impressive.  It's playing until November 26 - and I highly recommend you go if you can!  

The story is very engaging, but it has some dark themes, so it’s not really suited for younger children.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Of course, this is a hay manger.
What else would you put in here?

Hoppy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian Humanz!  I hope you're all getting to spend some extra time with your nice familyz too.  I'm super thankful for Jenn’s Furry Friends Rescue who helped me find my forever home! <3

Aftermath

Well, it took a couple of days, but there was a big sale at Artists Emporium so Dawn and I stopped at the Tim's on the way and Dave and I finally got our double doubles.

The Great Belgium Waffle Quest continues...

Sure the capital has 24-hour waffle shops. They'll roll their eyes and take your tourist Euros, handing you crazed breakfast heathens a waffle at nine in the morning. But out in the towns and villages of authentic Belgium, waffles aren't served until 11:30.

This is how the zombie apocalypse begins.

Okay, first off let's be serious for a moment:

The Chernobyl explosion was a horrific disaster that could have rendered the entirety of Europe uninhabitable. Thousands of people died (some of them slower than others) and millions were affected. There's a lot of really important things to unpack in the history of what happened, why it occurred, what people did about it, and how it impacts the world today.

However, putting that aside for a moment:

Check out this cool lady bug that hitched a ride out of the exclusion zone in my backpack!

It can't be too radioactive, we passed through two rounds of military controlled checkpoints on our way out. People, and vehicles (including interiors) are scanned for radiation before they're allowed to exit.

Still, if there's an outbreak of mutant insects across Europe you know who to blame.

Stow away!

Naturally we packed baby carrots
for bunny snacking.

Sadly the real bunnies can't join me on my four week language and cultural tour of Ukraine, but Stunt Bunny is the next best thing!

Thankfully the fluffs are in really good hands. Hopefully they won't have too many wild parties while I'm away.

I'm sure they will be raiding the yard for dandelions plenty though! 

Veterinarians Affairs

What do you call a veterinarian who can only treat one kind of animal?

A DOCTOR!

Okay, for real now though. It's International Women's day, and I want to say thank you to a super special lady in my life, Dr. Hickling! She's so smart and so nice and is even a vegetarian just like me!

It takes a crazy smart homin to be even a regular veterinarian, and finding people who can take care of animalz that aren't a cat or dog is really hard. Dr. Hickling is so amazing she can take care of me and my brother Levi, and your dog or cat, or bird, lizard, guinea pig, snake, turtle... and probably a whole bunch of other animalz too!

It's very important if you're thinking about getting (or already have) a rabbit, to find veterinarians in your city that can take care of us properly. If you live in Winnipeg like us, you can find Dr. Hickling and her team at the Centennial Animal Hospital. Wish her a very fluffy Women's Day from me!

Beelzebub

Rabbit telepathy

I'm pretty sure the bunnies have subtle mind control power.  I decided to take a walk to a local grocery store this afternoon to pick up a bag of chips for movie night. 

I came home with three bags full of fruits and veggies.  No chips. 

I wouldn't normally consider dill and cucumber an exciting snack, but Leviathan's enthusiasm is infectious!

Ask a bunny: Leaps and bounds!

"How fast can bunnies run/jump?"

Way faster than even the fastest hominz! We're actually faster than polar bearz and roadrunnerz.  Zoom zoom! There's lots of different kindz and sizes of bunnyz so some of us are faster than others.  Harez and jackrabbitz are the most fast, sometimes up to 80 kilometers an hour!   I can run about 10 meters in a one second.  That would be more than 35 kilometers in an hour!  But I would never actually run for that long, I'd get really tired. And thirsty. And probably lost. Levi is better at directions than me. What makes us really good at running is how zig zaggy we can be without loosing speed! That helps us win at tag even if the other animalz are faster than us. Beelzebub, Bunnyographer

It depends:  -Are there treats involved? -Does someone want to clip my toenails? -Are we supposed to go to the vet? Then I can easily outrun the humans!  Sometimes they catch me off guard though.  Or use corners to their advantage. Or I'll hide from them in a box - and they'll just pick up the box because they're so much bigger than me. We are very good at jumping!  In some places there are even competitions for rabbit jumping.  It's sort of like the ones with horses, but the hurdles are lower.  Our back legs are strong so rabbits can jump very far in just one hop!  The farthest rabbit jump that people have seen is three meters in a single bound.  Pretty impressive when you think about how short we are! Leviathan, Bunnyologist PS: Let's say maybe you had this tortoise friend right?  And maybe that tortoise was getting teased for not being so good at sports. You might not always try your hardest during a friendly race, you know what I mean?

If you have a rabbit related question feel free email the bunnies directly at bunny.questions@gmail.com!

Ask a Bunny: What-ivores?

"Are rabbits rodents?"

Nope! Lots of the mammals that can't fly are rodents, but bunnyz and hominz aren't. Rabbits are a very special kind of critter that scientist call Lagomorpha. Which probably means we're related to wearwolfs (I'm just guessing on that part). Chinchillas are totally rodents though, and clearly not as great as bunnies. Beelzebub, Bunnyographer

We used to be. We didn't change, science changed - 'cause that's how learning works. Some humans used to think Pluto was a planet - ha! Anyway... Rabbits have different teeth than rodents, mostly on account of being herbivores.  (Okay so there was that one time I swallowed a bug by accident.) The point, is most rodents like to eat meat and bunnies don't. Leviathan, Bunnyologist

If you have a rabbit related question feel free email the bunnies directly at bunny.questions@gmail.com!

Bunny personalities

Aside from everything generally wonderful about bunnies, each little fluff is independently fantastic!  One of the best things about having multiple bunnies is seeing their adorable differences. How they eat, which toys they prefer, even how they respond to noises can be unique.

Breakfast at our house is a good example.

Beelzebub gets so excited he will dart back and forth jumping up the side of his playpen.  A few times he's actually climbed up its wall - all four paws in the mesh!  (He hasn't mannaged to get out just yet - I'm still waiting for that day.)  He dives into his breakfast dish, often knocking pellets out with his front feet.

On the other hand, Levithan is casual about breakfast.  We have our little routine where he gets exactly two pets and then takes his papaya* out of my hand. He hops off into a tunnel to eat, and usually doesn't bother looking at his food bowl until later.

Left: Beelzebub's uneaten pellets all over the tray. He even tracked some hay in there.
Right: Leviathan methodologically ate from one section at a time. 

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*Not a necessary part of a rabbit diet.  Levi's fur is long and rabbits lick themselves clean like cats.  The enzymes in papaya help for him avoid possible tummy trouble.

Ask a Bunny: Vegetarian AND vegan!

"I'm think about adopting a shelter animal.  But I feel weird saving a cat or dog, only to feed other animals to it.  Are rabbits vegetarian?"

What? No! Of course not - we're sweet fluffy little aminalz!  Beelzebub, Bunnyographer  AND TOTALLY AN AMINAL! PS: Our vet says it's not great to feed cats and dogs a vegetarian diet.

We sure are!  We eat many kinds of vegetables and fruits that you can share with us!  We need to mostly eat hay though - and none of the humans I know ever want to share that for some reason.   Leviathan, Bunnyologist Gets subtext better than his brother.

If you have a rabbit related question feel free email the bunnies directly at bunny.questions@gmail.com!