Rabbits USA

We just got the lates issue of Rabbits USA and Disapproving Rabbits is in it! We're in a section called "Wonders of the Web" on page 74.

Go out and grab a copy today. We usually buy it at PetSmart, but I'm sure most pet stores carry.

Bunny Aftermath

Christmas Eve, Non Birding Bill and I headed out to Carlso Avery WMA to watch the short-eared owls. There were at least eight owls that we saw (and about a dozen birders--almost an informal Holiday party). The owls came very close to the car and two even flew right in front of us. I thought NBB had a great time, but I should have known better. I found this entry in his blog. We really did see the owls a lot better than that.

Thank you so much to everyone who sent notes and comments on the Disapproving Rabbits shirts and calendars. I'm so glad people enjoyed them as gifts. We have already had to do two new orders for the DR shirts since we started selling them and maybe a third. We're still on our first order of bird shirts. Note to self: rabbits outsell birds.

We survived posting a photo of Cinnamon in a Boingy Boingy Santa Hat, but it was not easy. She went on sort of a rampage after that: sneaking into the kitchen, chewing a hole in a pair of pants, ripping open presents, etc. It's a wonder she didn't get a lump of coal for Christmas.

She was a bit helpful before hand. Above I was wrapping a present for Non Birding Bill and she disapproved of my use of blue ribbon and didn't hesitate to let me know.

After all the gifts were wrapped, we left space open under the tree so Cinnamon could have a place to hang out. She seemed more interested in the packages though and a bunny fortress was made out off all the colorful boxes.

When the unwrapping of the gifts started on Christmas morning Cinnamon was right there to enjoy the party and the ripping of paper. I think she was a tad confused after having been told not to do it all week.

"Wait, if we rip open all the stuff under the tree, do I lose my fort? I don't approve, put them back!"

The gift the pets were excited about was a giant container of Nutri-berries loved by cockatiels and especially bunnies. Cinnamon was so excited, she never noticed the bow placed on her backside.

NBB also gave Cinnamon a carrot that was about as large as she is. It took her almost all day to eat the whole thing. When she finally had it whittled down into three chunks, she picked up each chunk, one at a time and placed them under the tree for safe keeping. Before the night was finished though, she had eaten her entire, carrot cache.

I did get some lovely bird books and NBB got me a plug in travel mug to keep my coffee warm when I'm on the road. He also got me a portable wet/dry vacuum for the car. Trying to tell me something, pet? Do I keep the trusty Saturn a little too unkempt?

Christmas night we were tired of having been in the house and a little sad being far from family so NBB took me for a drive. We went to Carver Park to look at the stars--yes, how romantic. We pulled over onto the darkest spot of a side road we could find and looked up. It was beautiful and we tried to remember which constellations were what. I suddenly began to hear faint, rhythmic booming noises. The were deep, heavy thuds--not unlike the T-Rex approaching sounds from Jurassic Park.

"Do you hear something?" I asked NBB.

"Um, kinda." he replied.

We turned around and in the distance down the road we could see bright red lights in an odd pattern. Was this the park police to nail us for being here after hours? What was that rhythmic thumping sound? An AT-AT Walker? We started to quickly hightail it back to the car. I turned around to see the status of the mysterious vehicle making its way towards us. The lights suddenly disappeared. Then reappeared. Then disappeared...

Wait a minute, this wasn't some dinosaur-esque creature coming to kill us, the sounds and lights were distant fireworks! We stopped and watched them, wondering who would have such a large firework display on Christmas night. These weren't the usual backyard fireworks, these were large mortars. So, there we stood with our arms around each other in the cold dark, numerous constellations overhead (we could even make out the Milky Way) and fireworks...Does it get any more romantic than that? Well, yes it does and that is where this blog entry ends.

More Disapproval

In the post about finding some Holiday Spirit, someone mentioned in the comments section that Cinnamon looked like a vampire. Well, let me lay the photo that we took right after that one on you:

Deep, intense, massive disapproval.

Don’t Ask A Bunny To Help Make Cookies

"No, I didn't rip open the bag of flour. Why do you ask?"

It was my own fault, I should have put the groceries away quicker.

"Here, you better let me test one more spoonful of pumpkin before it goes into the cookie dough."

The recipe only called for half a can of pumpkin so I spoon fed the leftover to Cinnamon. It's odd, she doesn't care for squash when I'm cutting it up before I cook it, but as soon as it's soft and mushy, she cannot get enough.

"I love pumpkin, I demand more!"

Her little bunny lips are orange from eating so much pumpkin! She was a little taken aback when I took this photo, I had just taken the can and spoon away.

"Oh, Mom, why did I eat so much? Urp."

And, there is a new page of disapproval up.

The Bitter Irony Of Disapproving Rabbits

So, my editor at Harper Collins wanted us to work on getting a photo of Cinnamon for the cover of the Disapproving Rabbits book. While he agrees that Cinnamon is generally awesome (smart man and quite possibly a masochist) the cover photo needs to have a light background and no clutter--it's a design issue.

We don't have much in the way of light walls in the apartment: our living room is red, the bedroom is purple, the kitchen is white-ish but full of appliances and Cinnamon isn't allowed in there anyway. So, we took the back of a comforter and set up a mini studio in the living room. Cinnamon wanted none of it. She kept hopping away and after the third time we picked her up and set her in front of it she grunted--a big sign of bunny annoyance. I thought, okay Cinnamon is really annoyed and we'll get some fantastic disapproval shots...

Okay, we were going for the most intense bunny disapproval but she almost looks like she's grinning.

We wanted anger and to be properly put in our place and she looks like she's serenely imagining her happy place on a beach.

Okay, here she just looks down right jovial! Apparently when a rabbit is really irritated, they tense up their little faces making it look like the are happy and content. When we finally gave up and let her hop away to her play area, we got this:

Relaxation leads to proper disapproval.

Presenting: Cinnamon Eating Parsley

I took this video with my new camera:

This is what makes all the chewed up wires worthwhile. In other news, Non Birding Bill has added another page of disapproval.

Gigantic Disapproving News!

We interrupt the coverage of the Rio Grande Valley Bird Fest for a special announcement.

First, remember the Disapproving Rabbits Shirt idea? You can view the graphic here. The caption will read "Nope. No, sir, I don't approve." and the back will have www.disapprovingrabbits.com on it.

The shirts are brown Hanes Beefy T-shirts and available in mens or womens sizes and will retail for $15 plus shipping and handling. Before I order, I need to get an idea of what people will want. Can you either leave the number of shirts you plan to order in the comments section or email me privately at sharon at birdchick dot com. Please note sizes. I don't want to go crazy Broadway-style when I order but I don't want to run out of shirts for people who are planning to give them as holiday gifts. I plan on placing the order over the coming weekend. I will order some extras.

And since Lynne brought it up as a suggestion in the comments section, I have other very super exciting news. Harper Collins has offered to turn Disapproving Rabbits into a book that hopefully will be out next fall. It will not be just Cinnamon...which she is not happy about:

"What do you mean I'm not the only one in the book?"

I am on a quest to photograph 200 some odd bunnies disapproving of various things over the next few months. What a way to make a living! Who knew this would happen when I started this site? I sure didn't know. I can remember when Non Birding Bill and I were kicking around ideas for this site and I said that I wanted a page of Disapproving Rabbits. He said I was crazy and no one would get it, especially since it was a bird site. I said that I didn't care as long as one person just happened to find it on a lunch break and got a chuckle out of it, that was enough for me. Who knew this would happen.

The poor editor at Harper Collins got an earful when he made the offer. I was so excited and disbelieving I unleashed a huge amount of profanity uncontrollably. Looking back, I'm a tad embarrassed by my lack of decorum, good thing Cinnamon wasn't there. I'm not sure I would have survived that disapproval.

Speaking of disapproving, NBB has added another page of disapproval.

Anyone out there have a gaggle of bunnies for me to photograph?

Disapproving Shirt Preview

I promise, tomorrow usual blogging activity should resume. This flu has really knocked me on my behind. When Lynne mentioned in the comments that she was on day 11 of the illness, I thought maybe that was an exaggeration but I have been living with this since the Sunday I came back from Duluth, and by tomorrow it will be day ten! It's been in my lower GI, it's been in my nose and just when I thought I was feeling human again, it's moving into my lungs. I'm hacking like crazy, but when not coughing I'm getting a sexy Kathleen Turner thing going so it's not all bad.

By the way, I've been testing out various internet hot toddy recipes, this one is my favorite:

2 oz boiling water
1 1/2 oz whiskey (I used 12 year old Glenfiddich)
one slice of lemon
1 teaspoon honey (I like Really Raw Honey)
pinch of ground nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1 cinnamon stick

Very soothing and highly recommended.

Okay, here is an early design of the Disapproving Rabbits Shirt:

The caption will probably read "I don't approve of this." and it will have www.disapprovingrabbits.com on there somewhere too.

What do you think, I still have time for changes.

Dishwashing Bunny

Cinnamon finishes up cleaning all the acorn squash on my fork and prepares to steal it. Hard to take her seriously as a master thief with buck teeth.

Cinnamon on the Move

Per Ed's suggestion, we stopped at his store and picked up some Feeder Fresh for Mr. Neil's feeders. Ed wasn't there, but Cinnamon got to meet one of his employees named Jake. He was very nice and helpful, but what does Cinnamon say:

"I don't approve of facial hair."

Well, Jake, you tried. Non Birding Bill and I appreciated your service, though. Note the calendar on the wall in the back of the photo under the clock (mine--whoot!)!

Feeder Fresh is absorbent sand that you put in the bottom of your feeder that prevents moisture from making the seed all moldy. We put it in just in time, right after this photo was taken, it started raining...for the rest of the day. We'll see if works when I return in a few days.

Mr. Neil has some nice ledges around his kitchen windows, so two weeks ago I set one of his extra hummingbird feeders on the ledge. I think at first there was concern I was leaving feeders around willy nilly, but there's a method to my madness--hummers at the window!

Keeping in my theory that the smaller a bird is, the less it fears humans, the hummingbirds don't mind striking a pose while I snap photos. I tried the motion sensitive camera, but the hummers weren't triggering it...I wonder if the low light caused that. I've photographed them before with the camera.

We then headed up towards Duluth. We stopped to say hello to Birderblog, but she wasn't in. When we stopped at her desk we found:

Cinnamon at the keyboard! Wait, is this blog really written by a rabbit and not Laura Erickson? Hmmmm, I've never seen Laura and Cinnamon in the same place at the same time...Cinnamon does go for long absences through the day...I thought she was napping under the bed...is she really Birderblog?

"You brought me to a hot spot for hawks? Are you insane? I don't approve!"

Since it's early in the hawk migration and winds were out of the east today, I thought it safe enough to drop by Hawk Ridge with Cinnamon. She was not amused.

Ah, here I am showing the majesty of the views from Hawk Ridge to Cinnamon. Isn't it beautiful? Look at Lake Superior! Aren't you just the luckiest bunny on the planet?

I love this photo--it about sums up the afternoon. Both Non Birding Bill and Cinnamon have this pained expression that begs, "Can we go home yet?" This is the second time I've gotten NBB to come to Hawk Ridge--last time he ended up napping behind the t-shirt booth. A sharp-shinned hawk and osprey flew over today and NBB asked while chuckling, "You've seen your two specks that are supposed to be hawks, are you done now?"

I will be back, Hawk Ridge, very soon to enjoy your splendor unfettered by pet and spouse! Yes, I will be back!

I need to get to bed, one last day of State Fair with a Showcase Minnesota appearance Monday morning. This is one of my favorite segments to do because of the audience. Everybody is cheering and is in a great mood. I also answer audience questions--which is hands down my favorite thing to do live on the air. You never know what people are going to ask--it's fun challenge!