Bunnies and Ducklings :)

Last Wednesday we wanted a break from what we were doing around the house, so we headed to Tractor Supply Company (our favorite outing). They had just received several Flemish Giant rabbits. We admired the rabbits, then headed out to the rest of our errands. A few stores later, Mickey looked at me and said, "Do you want to buy rabbits?" So back we went to TSC, and came home with a male and a female Flemish Giant rabbit, both about one month old (according to the man at the store).

We have named them Samwise and Rosie Cottontail, with the hope that our rabbits will produce offspring in the manner of their prolific hobbit namesakes. We wanted the youngest rabbits available, so they could become comfortable with us from a young age, and also so we have time to figure out how to raise rabbits before they start having babies! We chose Rosie because she was exceptionally curious and active (jumping in the water dish, etc.), and we chose Sam because we particularly liked the colour of his fur and eyes. They are both very active and curious and seem quite happy and content in their hutch, which is currently located in the back room of our trailer. Mickey has mixed some sap with their water, which they seem to really enjoy, and Sam especially likes to hop on top of their "house."

Roscoe, as expected, is a very curious big brother. He and Rosie checked each other out through the wire.

If you're looking for more extended bunny cuteness, here are a couple of videos. It can be tricky to tell the two rabbits apart, but Rosie is a little lighter in color than Sam, and (thanks to the store employees) Rosie has a pink mark in her left ear, and Sam has a green mark in his right ear. (The toilet paper roll is for them to play with; they like to flip it around.)

They like to munch on shavings too, and they very conveniently do most of their business in one place.

Moving forward in the trailer, our ducklings are settling in to their new home in the green room.

We picked them up this morning from the post office -- neither snow storm (yes, even in March!) nor train (it always seems to come through Cortland at the wrong time!) could keep us away! They hatched in California on Monday morning, flew from Oakland to Rochester on Tuesday, and traveled by Express Mail truck from Syracuse to Cortland this morning. Amazingly, they all survived the journey! We have 13 Welsh Harlequins and 2 Khaki Campbells who eagerly watered themselves, fed themselves, preened themselves, and now seem to be settling down to rest.

Roscoe was very curious about the ducklings too.

Gerard, on the other hand, remains true to form and isn't particularly impressed with any of our newcomers.

We're excited though! And now that we can get our car to the top of the driveway (at least we could before it started snowing this morning), we're just about in business! :)

Cheers!