Friday Foster – Poppy
It’s been a while since I wrote a Friday Foster post… I guess I’ve just been busy. Lord knows there are still plenty of foster rabbits to write about.
This week I’d like to introduce Poppy. This last spring – May, to be exact – a woman called to report a stray black rabbit that was hopping around her neighborhood. Indiana HRS gets lots of calls at all time of year regarding stray rabbits, and most of the time our efforts to capture them have been successful. This time, our volunteers went to do some recon work ahead of time, and while we didn’t see the rabbit, we’re also smart enough to know that bunnies are most active at dusk and dawn, when it’s cool, and predators are less likely to strike. We made plans to come back in the early morning… but the only thing we were able to find was a black cat hiding under a mini-barn. We left some traps, but never did catch the black rabbit.
In the meantime, that same woman called back to say that she had captured a white and tan rabbit that had also been hopping around, and could we take it? I live nearby, so I agreed to foster her until there was room for her elsewhere. She has been with me since then, and I can honestly say I’ve never met a rabbit quite like her. The nicest way to describe her is to say she’s a crackhead. This rabbit literally bounces off the walls when she’s out to play – it’s a symptom of her age, mostly. She’s very young, probably no more than 4-5 months old at the time she was rescued. She’s still growing into her feet and ears, that’s for sure. But she’s a delightful entertainer, and as long as she doesn’t hurt herself leaping around the way she does, she’ll make someone a great rabbit! She has pretty good litter box habits, LOVES to eat, tolerates being petted, and is becoming pretty easy to handle. I kind of like having her around, if only for the fun factor.
Poppy, rabbit on crack from Amanda on Vimeo.
If you’re interested in adopting Poppy or any of our other adoptable rabbits, please visit our website at www.indianahrs.org. You’ll find a list of upcoming events we’ll be participating in, as well.
Filed under friday foster, rabbits, videos | Comments (2)Talk about your dust bunnies…
I’ve been saving this for a while; I read most of the blogs in a feed reader (doesn’t everyone?), and it allows me to save the posts I like so I can share them here later! Whoopee!
This, over at Cute Overload, caught my eye a couple of weeks ago. With the state fair coming up, I was really afraid I might see some of this action:



Photos courtesy of Betty Chu.
You know, I was once involved in the rescue of several English Angoras that had not been so well cared for, and would you believe that under all of that hair they actually resemble bony little rats? We had to bathe them, and let me tell you, I’ve never seen such pitiful looking creatures. This was the daddy, Mike – he was the sweetest foster rabbit I’ve ever had.

I’m still here!
Yes, I’ve been away from blogging… but I have good excuses. One, I’m feeling uninspired. The only subject I can really think to write about is how unhappy I am at work, but who wants to read about that? Nobody, that’s who.
Second, I have a sick bunny. Hazel had surgery almost 3 years ago to open his floppy, loppy ear canals to combat recurring ear infections, but somehow he managed to develop one in the last month that caused some facial nerve damage, leaving him unable to chew properly. He got to the point where he would eat a soft mush on his own, but in the last few days he’s having a harder time with that so I’m syringe-feeding him again. He doesn’t mind it, but it’s just a lot of extra work. Life is much easier when he eats on his own, and fortunately he seems to be back to it as of yesterday.
Third, I’ve been landscaping! I started Thursday night by spreading 18 bags of topsoil on the flowerbed. Naturally it rained on Friday, so I spent the day driving around buying plants and more dirt. It doesn’t sound like I did much those two days, but when I think about the fact that I, personally, moved almost 2000 lbs. of dirt… it’s a wonder I’m still standing! Saturday I got up early and added cow manure and peat to the flowerbed, then turned it all under. The soil here is such heavy clay, it really needs a lot of work. I also bought mulch, and then spread some of it around some existing spots. Sunday was D-Day… I spent the entire day adding another 22 bags of topsoil to the flowerbed, raking it smooth, putting down landscape fabric, planting all but 5 plants, and mulching. I finished at 8:30… just 1/2 an hour before sunset. Phew! My goal was to get it done over the weekend, and it is mostly done. I have a few more plants coming from White Flower Farm, and I’ll be visiting Soules Garden in a couple of weeks to pick out some daylilies to fill in the big bare space. I’m planting all perennials, and most of them are not mature plants, so I’m excited to see how it looks in the next couple of years.

I may join NaBloPoMo for June… just waiting to hear what the theme is. I’m hoping it’s something I can be creative with, but I can say for certain that it’s a lot easier for me to post when I have to… it’s easier having a reminder of sorts.
Filed under blog, dream house, rabbits, work | Comments (3)



