Blessing #18 - Miss Bunny

When I was writing about Blessing #18, Special Gifts from My Husband, I went into detail about why my spinning wheel was and is so special.  My knitting led to a yearning to learn about fibers, how they got from sheep to knit shops, and how they were dyed to get all the enticing and beautiful colors. I discovered to my amazement that sheep were not the only animals producing fibers, but rather dogs and rabbits had to be added to the list. I’m sure there are others, but these are the only ones I came to learn about. While attending one of the sheep and fiber festivals in our area, I met a lady selling the most precious Giant English Angora rabbits....you know what comes next.  Yes, I bought one, brought her home, and we named her Miss Bunny because she was a proper, well-bred lady that wasn’t interested in courting or marriage.  We bought her a condo...a double roomed hutch up on “stilts”, which sat under the big old oak tree in our front yard.

   She grew into the sweetest pet and absolutely adored Buddy.  Each morning when he would open the front door to go out for his daily run, she would start prancing and jumping all about her living room until he came over to talk to her and give her her breakfast.  She ate really well: fresh carrots, lettuce, dandelions, spring water...she got only the best. For feeding her the great food, she paid us back by producing the BEST fertilizer.  It did wonders for our 3-tiered compost container.  She definitely earned her room and board. I would hold her in my lap and pluck her magnificent fur so soft it was mind boggling.  When our little granddaughter would come for a visit, Miss Bunny’s cage was the first place she went. We’d let her out and the two of them would play together.

   This all went on without a hitch until last summer.  We were out in the Pacific Northwest visiting my middle son and his family. To be sure she had her water all the time, we would take Miss Bunny over to my friend’s house along with her condo, and she would spend the week on her front porch shaded from the sun. While eating lunch at a little Mexican restaurant overlooking the water, my cell phone rang. It was my girlfriend, and she was hysterical....Miss Bunny was up and about and perfectly fine at 7:00, and then at noon was gone.  It was sosososo sad.  We have since learned that this sudden death syndrome is not unusual.  When we got home, she was already laid to rest out by our barn, but I knew she was up in Bunny Heaven with all of her little hopping two legged friends having a grand old time.

   For those years she was an important part of our extended family asking only for some food along with a morning visit from her dad, and giving so much love and pleasure to all of us.  I missed out on animals growing up. We lived in town, and my parents did not allow any animals.  Once I married all of that changed, and when we bought this little farm, it REALLY changed.  Over the last 31 year here in Virginia, we have had chickens, 2 goats named Rosebud and Sagebrush, lots of goldfish, Pretzel and pony, and more dogs and cats than I can name.  Pets are wonderful; they love us unconditionally, and we love them right back.  We miss our Miss Bunny so this little square pays homage to her.  She is my Blessing #19.

“What is a country without rabbits or partridges? They are among the most simple and indigenous animal products; ancient and venerable families known to antiquity as to modern times; of the very hue and substance of Nature, nearest allied to leaves and to the ground.”

~Henry David Thoreau