Merry Christmas Cookies

This one doesn't need any grooming.

Merry Christmas from your bunny friend.

Can you find the bunny?

Buried under a pile of cookies.

This was supposed to be another bunny cookie photo but somehow this one wanted to be copied again. Probably just wanted to say Merry Christmas again.

My grandmother was an excellent cook and when we were small she always enlisted most of the grandchildren to help her with the Christmas cookies. I know why she had us help because they take so long to cut out. She gave me the recipe and I was the one to carry on the tradition. The only problem was she had a pinch of this and a pinch of that kind of cooking style so every Christmas I try to refine the measurements and time of baking. This works out better some years and worse on others. I work in retail and the holiday season leaves little time to do anything much less bake mounds of cookies.

The year I didn't bake any (I made the dough and it sat in the fridge for 3 weeks, yuck!), I was met with such sad faces and looks of disappointment, I never tried that again. Anyway, this is about as close to bunnies as I have gotten in about a week so I took a photo.

Notice my many disfigured cookies. They go on the cookie sheet no matter how they get cut out or travel to the baking sheet, loosing limbs, tree tops and tails. I even put the "in between" pieces on the baking sheet if it resembles something that might be recognizable as a cookie shape. Everyone has fun trying to figure out what that shape might be. I have some truly odd cookie cutters that I have collected and inherited and everyone looks for their favorite, may it be Unicorn, Peacock, or Bi-plane.

Well, I hope everyone that reads my blog has a truly happy, healthy holiday season, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. If you eat a cookie, think about me.

Cold Days, Cold Dogs

Moe looking guilty.

Noses tucked in tight.

Two more comas trying to warm up.

Maybe she won't notice that my cold feet are on her back.

The Jack Russell breed has very little fur on their bodies and almost none on their bellies. They do not like the cold and will sit on the deck with their butts hovering and not making contact with the ground. It was 23 degrees here yesterday and they went out to do their business but cried to come in right away. Four of them curled up into a coma shape on the sofa right away with their noses tucked in tight. Moe was using Nelly, our sheep dog mix as an electric blanket. These two do not usually get along, each wanting to be the boss, so it was very surprising that the two alpha dogs put away their squabbles until each was warmed up. He is looking very guilty about it, though.

Babies Bunnies Everywhere

Jersey woolies are so small at birth.

This was a large litter for a wooly mom.

Welcome to the land of torts.

Lots and lots of torts.

Except for the one lonely sable pearl.

The "King of All" has his first litter on the ground and mom had 6 with 5 making it so far. This is a really big litter for a Wooly. Especially since this doe is pretty young and this is her first litter. She did have them in the corner by her food bowl instead of in the nest box but they were all covered with wool. They are so small when they are born, about the size of my thumb. Wooly moms are fiesty and one of mine raised 2 English Angora babies with no trouble.

It is so much fun to have baby bunnies and a nice winter cheer up if you have a spot for them to grow up. I keep 2-3 stacks of cages in my laundry room for this purpose. This area is also used to keep Convention bunnies in air conditioning for the summer.

I bring in the expectant moms about a week before they are due so they can get used to the new cage and nest box. I have never had any moms have a problem with this arrangement. On the floor and around 3 sides of the cages, I put a frosted plastic tarp, clipping it to the cage with clothes pins. You can buy this type of sheet plastic in Home Depot, in the paint department, by the roll so it covers alot of cages. This keeps all the food, hay and other matter from going every where and makes it easy to sweep or mop up areas. It can also be hosed down it it gets really messy.

It is so much fun to sit on a stool in front of the cages and watch them boink around.

Granding the Big Girls

Jitterbug

She is a Chocolate Tort.

Jive is her sister.

She is a blue tort.

These two girls are amazing in that they kept their coats on for 14 months. I only wish that they had been in better coat for Convention. They both have a beautiful crimp and silky texture to the coat and just a really sweet, calm dispostition. A fun pair to show, they really enjoyed the attention. I can't wait to breed these two and see what beautiful babies they have. I will take some photos of Mirror Image and post them soon.