Seventh Day In Tucson

Wow, it's been almost 11 months to the day since I last posted. What a wild time it's been those months. It started with bitter cold weather that made my pelvic and muscle pain sky rocket. Most of the winter was spent in bed on a heating pad that my mother mercifully bought for me. I couldn't concentrate on my needlework, so I went back to much reading. Many hours, many days, weeks, etc. equals many books read. I should make a list sometime.

The spring didn't get any better. On my birthday, my mom had a minor heart attack and my Happy Birthday phonecall was from step-father to tell me my mother was in the hospital. It was good thing I didn't have any plans to celebrate. Later that evening my beloved bunny Lexi passed away. It was expected, she was eating and hopping less and less. The finale was when MY kitty Bright Eyes comes up on the bed to console me, turns around and she has a good size lesion on her bottom. I flipped out thinking she had colon cancer. It was fitting due to age of 9 years and the way the day was progressing.



We'll miss you, Lexie.

Luckily, a trip to the vet and crisis everted. She had only blown out her rectal gland. A frequent occurance according to our vet, and just required a good wound cleaning. I've had cats and known people with cats all my life and never heard of such. Well, you learn something new everyday.

Dammit bunny went into a deep depression after Lexi died. He ate less and less and moped around. Very un-Dammit like. After two weeks I was sent on mission to find him a baby female bunny. I surprised how hard it was being late spring. None of local pet shops had young bunnies. An internet search brought up a breeder in Syracuse, Snow Shoe Bunnies. At first she e-mailed back that she didn't have any available, then after some thought she e-mailed the next night she had a bunny she was going to use as a breeder we could buy. So after several e-mails later we met up on a the thruway exit near me at a truck stop while she was on her way to a bunny show that weekend. Thus Nippit entered our lives and hearts.

Mom named her Missy, I wanted to call her Honey and Duane said Ginger. However, when on day 3, she shot across the room and took a large chunk of fur out Dammit's but as he was hopping away. We realized she was Nippit.




Sad little Dammit getting a snuggle from his Pop.




Baby Nippit, day 1. Looks so precious.


We did bunny dates on our bed, however they weren't going very well. So, I bought ferret harnesses and we took them out in the courtyard. One good thing about the complex management being cheap. They won't pay for weed killer sprays.





A few seconds of nice. Immediately after, Dammit goosed Nippit and then she pounced him.



I am Nippit, who are you looking at? She's such a pugnacious little being.



Luckily, they became friends just in time. A group of guys the owner hired to replace the roof, came along. They ripped off all the old shingles and tar paper. Left the roof to bare plywood during several days of this.



Which led to this.



This is section that landed on my head on that Friday evening. Duane was carrying my dinner out of the kitchen. I heard water suddenly dripping next to me. He yelled move, as the ceiling came down.



It took over an hour for their so called emergency maintenance to show up. One of them said I should call an ambulance because I was acting dazed. Well, duh, a 3 X 4 section of wet dry wall hit me on the head. Duane said he didn't realize I was hit, because he was moving stuff and pets out of the way. Nippit and Dammit had to live in the big cage together for several days.

I sustained whiplash and a cucussion, was pretty out of it the three days we put up in a hotel. The ceiling had come down in all four upstairs apartments. Tuesday, they moved us back in to the mess, ceiling still not fixed, until that Wednesday morning. All they did was put up drywall and left it like that. Very ghetto looking. The maintenance broke my spinning wheel when they rammed Duane's recliner into it. My children's father fixed it for me days before we moved to Tucson. Three months later, I still have periods of neck pain and severe head aches.

We couldn't find a lawyer to take the case, I'm already disabled so no lost wages and my neck wasn't broke or paralyzed. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. They went into receivership and then forclosure for 400,000.00 to the bank. So, if we went to court and won, I would have to wait a very long time to see a dime.

I spent the summer in a deep depression. September, while visiting the pet store we came across a little black bunny they claimed was purebred Netherland dwarf. To my surprise, he bought her for me. We named her Betty. After much thought we realized she really looks like a Shmoo. So here is Betty Shmoo.



We took Betty with us to the vet, when we took Nippit in for her spay. The vet agreed Betty does indeed look to be a mix breed. Possibly mixed with a mini Rex. She has very large feet compared to Nippit, and the longest toes. The vet was even surprised at her feet.


Duane came into a small inheritence which he used to move us Tucson when our lease ended in October. We made the decision on the fact that last winter was so hard on me. Duane, who made fun of me for having a blog, started his own. You can read his blog for posts about our trip. He is a professional writer, so much better to read. He also has many interesting stories about the bunnehs.

Tuesday morning I woke up and thought day 4 in Tucson and wished I kept a diary some week prior. There wasn't much time, if I had tried. So here I sit, day 7 of my new life in Tucson.