My laptop went to repair and the guys there did another excellent job, even gave me a "frequent flyer" discount on the service because it's been less than 6 months since the last time. But they had the thing for about 3 days (I know - that's still a fast turn around) and I just get twitchy without computer access. So I bought another laptop so I can have a back up. I'd have preferred a Mac but they're just too much for the budget at the moment. So the new laptop is an HP, with Windows 7. Looks snazzy but that W7 is taking some getting used to. I much prefer Windows XP so far. As it turns out, I've settled into having one laptop in the living area of the house and the other stays hooked up in another area. My repair guys tell me a likely source for the nasty stuff that got my computer is Facebook. Specifically video links. They say the videos which come directly from youtube are ok. It's the ones that pretend to come from youtube. I will be a lot more careful about opening videos.
So how about this weather here in the northeast? Ugh! Poor CC sweats just standing in her stall. To get her through the heat more comfortably, I've been hosing her off
with cold water then standing her in cross ties with fans blowing in the
barn while I pick her feet and her stall. She has recovered from her lameness. The farrier trimmed her feet a few days ago and found a hole in her hoof that he says was the site of an abscess. It only showed up after he'd trimmed away the excess hoof so that's why I didn't find it when she was lame. First time in all my horse adventures I've had a horse turn up lame. I didn't like it! But I'm quite relieved to know why, finally. And the farrier tells me she has really good feet. He also told me to keep her barefoot as long as possible and to consider using some kind of glove/boot before going to shoes - he told me a brand but I can't remember, so I'll have to ask next time he's out.
The bunnies have been a bigger concern through this heat wave. They handle cold quite easily but heat? Not so much. They start getting uncomfortable around 85 degrees. At 95, it's dangerous. Temps hit over
100 , coupled with that stifling ugly humidity. Our temps don't usually do that so this was extreme. Only one thing to do for them: bring them into the house for AC. Not so bad with a couple bunnies but a whole herd? Yeah, rabbits stashed everywhere. I used two puppy pens to house
most of the does in the kitchen. Three of them have babies, a total of 11 babies (4 still available: email me for info). The oldest baby, Blueberry Sundae, is pretty sedate. He hung out with mom. The middle ones, about 5 weeks old, were quite persistent in their efforts to bust out but I mostly kept them confined. And after a burst of running around in their temporary housing, they piled on each other and went to sleep. The three little ones, 3
weeks old today, thought it was great fun to scamper at will through all the pens, visiting the does and even checking out the milking stations of the other mothers, who were remarkably accepting of it all. They hopped around the kitchen, into the living room to check out the bucks in cages, under furniture, back to mom, gnoshed on pellets, napped, rinse repeat.... In the photo to the right, two of them are hanging out with Blueberry Sundae and his mom. The only rabbit that caused any commotion was Hop Chocolate. I don't know if she was attempting to defend her brood, but she figured out how to escape and started jumping each of
the other does. None of them fought back, so clearly she is the
matriarch of this herd. I removed her to her outside hutch as soon as
possible. I leave you with one final photo: a basket o' babes.
