Venting My Bunny

I love my pet rabbit Cinnamon, I really do. I miss her when I travel and she is home with Non Birding Bill. But she is driving me up a wall!

I'm still catching up from Texas, I still have Rio Grande Valley birds and critters to talk about and I'm also in the middle of National Novel Writing Month (you try to write a novel or 50,000 words in the month of November). Both Birdfreak and I are giving it go...because you know, we don't write enough as it is. I was off to a good start, but lost momentum in Harlingen. I've been trying to catch up and was really on a roll yesterday--I typed 7086 words! I'm still behind for the month for a total of 11,587 but I'll keep going.

Cinnamon is not helping! Here she is right after I have yelled at her for nibbling my Swarovski back back. After a gave her a firm "no" and resumed typing (I have a very certain tone of voice that I use that Cinnamon understands is the I-Mean-Business-Tone). She waited and moment and then she started licking the backpack. You can't tell me rabbits aren't smart.

She has also taken to just sitting on my bag, and trying to root around inside. I think she either can smell that I have had apples in there or that I have some fruity gum (I don't give her chewing gum, but I'm sure that smells edible to her). She seems to go through phases. We have a large closet that we have converted into a "bunny room" with a Cottontail Cottage, toys, food, etc that is blocked by toddler gate when she cannot come out, usually when NBB and I are away. Sometimes she goes through a mellow phase and she sleeps under our bed or hangs out in her little hidey holes around the apartment and I know I can leave and not worry about her getting into mischief while I run errands.

But she also goes through phases of mischief obsession and is hell bent on doing the opposite of whatever we say. Last night, she kept hopping on the futon with me as I was typing, I kept putting her back down. NBB left a box of cookies on the couch and though she was insisting that wasn't her main purpose for hopping up time after time...

...if I did not pay attention, she would open the box to get at the sugary goodness on the inside. She is also going for the kitchen constantly. She's not allowed in there because she gets in the trash and I'm worried that she might find a bottle of cleaner or inappropriate bunny food. But as soon as a door closes in our apartment, she runs right for the kitchen. NBB headed out last night to help his friend Ari with his computer. Door closed, Cinnamon made a mad dash.

"Oy!" I shouted at her in that tone, "Get out of the kitchen."

She hopped out, waited for me to resume typing and went right back in. I yelled again, she did not leave. I set my lap top on the coffee table and she came tearing out of the kitchen (uh-oh, it's serious if mom puts down her laptop). From there it was an endless parade of chasing her out of the kitchen, chasing her away from chewing/licking my backpack, removing her when she hopped on my keyboard, taking her off the futon when she hopped up to steal cookies--BUTThead! I started an auction for one naughty bunny on FaceBook.

By the time NBB returned, Cinnamon was dozing on top of her Cottontail Cottage--the amount of mischief was just exhausting. He didn't believe that this peacefully sleeping bunny could be so naughty.