Rachel Dahl
Star date 78389… the universal symbol for “I have nothing to say this morning and have been staring at this blank screen for several hours interspersed with lengthy sessions of social media scrolling.”
I made tea. I made coffee. I made scrambled eggs. Fed the chickens and the bunnies. Discovered that I have indeed, finally solved the problem of the bunny water freezing every morning.
The bunnies are super funny. Joe Burrow has been getting groomed nightly this week – he is the white bunny born the year the Bengals played the Rams in the Super Bowl. He has the most fabulous fiber, shiny white and super soft, but he gets messy fast, and keeping his fur from matting takes a massive amount of work.
But, wow, is it worth it. I cannot wait to show off the first little beanie I make out of that white fiber.
When it comes to grooming these fancy English Angora bunnies, it’s super important not to get them wet. Imagine a wool sweater that you wash and put in the dryer – never a good result. However, at times, bunny digestive systems lead one to situations where only warm water will help.
We were in that situation Sunday night, and after quite some time spent with a warm blow dryer, I still didn’t think it a good idea to put a wet bunny butt back in the bunny shed for the night. Normally, angora bunnies can withstand very cold temperatures. They are, of course, made for the cold. I always worry about this, in spite of extensive research on the matter, because of my own personal, intrinsic resistance to winter weather.
Imagine my relief as the cold questions were finally put to rest on Monday morning when I found Mr. Burrow in the coldest corner of the house, snuggled up to the back door in the laundry room, sleeping soundly in his now-dry fur coat.
This also makes me worry about putting a heater in the bunny shed. For a couple reasons. Number one, what if they get too hot? Number two, what if they’re so warm they quit growing thick, wooly fiber? Last winter, I definitely got them too warm in there at night. We had thin, weird coats by February. This winter, I got everyone trimmed down in September, and we are on our way to right proper wool.
Which means I’m reluctant to introduce the heater. However, if I don’t, the dang water bottle freezes every morning, and the way the bunny shed sits, they don’t thaw until the end of the day, so we have perpetually thirsty bunnies. Which leads to the digestive thing and blow drying, yadda-yadda-yadda…
Finally, though, I seem to have found the sweet spot with the radiator heat. No ice. Thick coats. I think we’re there.
So, while we spin more yarn and ready for knitting, we’ll be right here…
…Keeping you Posted.
Rach.
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