Weekend Recap

Lately it seems my posts have been full of bad and sad news, but sometimes, that's life I guess.  The good news is the baby I saved is fine.  I'm so thankful!  The bad news is we lost the runt Sunday morning.  After my scare Saturday morning, I brought the babies into the house for the day, so I could keep a close eye on them.  Olivia only feeds them once a day, so they weren't missing out on meal times.  I took them back out at dusk and left them there for a few hours and then brought them back in for the night.  I checked on them during the night, sleeping fitfully myself.  At 4:45, I took them back out to Olivia.  Apparently I waited too long to check on them again, because when I returned, the runt was on the floor of the cage dead.  Once again, I think it was still attached to Olivia's teat when she jumped out of the nest box.  So, last night we went through the same routine.  They were taken out at dusk and returned to the house for the night.  I took them out at 4:30 this morning, and Olivia immediately jumped in the nest box.  This time, I only waited 30 minutes and went back out.  Olivia had finished, and the three remaining kits were snuggled together as they should be.  I brought them back in the house anyway because it was pretty cold last night.  This morning I have three kits who seem to be thriving and growing each day.  Christine, my breeder friend, told me three out of six isn't bad.  She has lost whole litters.  Apparently, the survival rate of rabbits is not great.  I guess that's why they breed like rabbits to ensure good numbers.  They are just so vulnerable for the first week, and it doesn't take much to end a life.  I've been feeling really down about this, and I told Nate I'm a terrible pet owner.  He reminded me that for over two years, I've been making cat food from scratch for our cat, Lucy, who has CRF.  We know it has made a huge difference in her life, so I felt better after he said that.

On a brighter note, the three remaining kits are getting cuter everyday, and they celebrated their one week birthday last night.  Their eyes are still closed, but should be open by Wednesday.  This baby looks like it's going to be blue, like Mama and Daddy.  Looking at it in my hand makes me realize how much it has grown in a week.   

           












Yesterday was also eventful in that we started round two of our beekeeping adventure.  I think my mind was on the rabbits when we went to install the bees, because I did not put on my veil and neither did Nate.  We ALWAYS wear our veil and gloves.  It was cold and wet yesterday, so not the best conditions to be installing bees, and when the bees were shaken out of the box into the brood box, several of them swarmed up into the air and some of them landed on Nate's face.  Normally he is very calm around the bees, but he reacted in surprise and one stung him on the lip.We immediately went to the house and he took some antihistamine.  His lip started swelling, and I spent the whole morning asking him every five minutes if his breathing was normal, if his throat was itching, if he felt okay.  The car keys were on standby.  By the end of the evening, his lip had returned to normal size. 

I did get together with a friend and trade some seedlings and transplants yesterday.  I now have asparagus bean, european melon, amaranth, and jelly melon seedlings, and oregano, marjaram and creeping jenny divisions.  Most of these are new to me, and she got some varieties that are new to her.  I love bartering!  No money changed hands, and we got to hang out and talk about gardening and share ideas.   

I've had some harsh lessons this past week.  Sunday was a no good, horrible, very bad day with a slight silver lining!  I was asleep by 9:00 last night.   

Here's hoping for a better week,

Candace