Short post on Pet Expo

I tell you what, that first day wore me out. I didn't get any nap at all! Today, I just had to take a snooze. Good thing mama thought ahead and brought the little travel crate. I can't sit up in it without banging my head, but I can curl up incredibly small, so it's okay for a quick couple winks. Mom promised me a mastadon bone at the end of the show and she pulled through. I will protect this bone with my life! I worked so hard to get it and NO BODY is taking it back, including mama....so sorry for her luck.


My pal Annushka stopped by our booth and I must say her jazzed up jag looks too cool for school with the top down! Did her mama take Daphne the special head rubbing I put on her lap? She said she would. I was awfully disappointed not to see Daphne indogson at the show. I would have pawdegraffed her copy of the book with all 4 feet!

I'm still whipped, so off to the great crate and will snooze with my head over the new bone so no one tries to snatch it when my guard is down. More in the morning.....Yerz, Yukanuba...

off topic---grandparent scam succeeds

Monday, My parents got a hysterical phone call, supposedly from Martin, stating he was at a wedding in Mexico City.  He desperately needed money to get home.  They wired him $4,000 US.  Then they got a second call, requesting more, and the bank intervened before they sent him $10,000.  My brother John called us on Dave's cell to ask what was going on.  Since Martin has no phone, I called his sweet girlfriend, who said Marty's car had been burglarized Sunday night and the police already caught the guys who did it.

I thought the two incidents might be connected, but Martin told me later that the burglars had been caught in the act and had no time to use his information.  Mom felt really foolish, but relieved that Marty was safely in Bloomington during mid-terms, taking care of business.  I was really furious at the scum that would upset my parents and take advantage of them, but also very touched that they were willing to bankrupt themselves of their life savings to rescue my son.  

Martin is scurrying everywhere, trying to figure out who hacked his information and make sure it doesn't happen again.  Dave's theory is that it was just someone phishing with random phone numbers who got lucky.  (Hearing an elderly male voice the caller just said, "Grandpa?" and Dad said "Marty?  What's wrong?" and the caller had all the information he needed.)  Either way, it's being investigated.  I so hope they catch the eel-scum that is responsible.  Too much excitement.

Crash! Bang! Boom!

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Yukon here~  As you well know, I'm a big feller....and sometimes things near me just seem to fall down, even when I don't think I even touched them....well, today it was mom's big bunny cage with the little bunny cage inside it.  I was just playing ball on the porch, since it was rainy, pushing the ball into and out of the dog house and up the outside wall, like I generally do.  But this morning, the ball got stuck between the doghouse roof and the new big pen.  When I tried to get the ball un-stuck, mom's cage fell down all by itself....it just collapsed.

I got out of there as quick as I could, but Gretchen was still sniffing the damage when mom came running....Gretchen caught the blame for that one, but I'm not so sure mom was right.....but hey, looks like I got a break in the "who's fault is it" game.  I'll take that!!!!  Anyway, mom was just happy that the new rabbit didn't get hurt.  Once she calmed down and started fixing the wreckage, she sort of told dad that it was a good thing this happened when the humans were there to fix it.  I tried to come out and help, but they said no and closed the bathroom window.  Dad also told me "NO" about coming out through the closed office window.  Sheesh!  I thought the whole point of fixing the window with plexi-glass was so it wouldn't cut me the next time I used the office window for an escape hatch....but it seems the humans have other ideas.  Dunno why.

When they finally let me out, there was nothing left for me to help them with, so I offered to let them play ball with me.  I got the "not now, Yukon" excuse.  Anyhoo, the rabbit is loose in the big pen with the door to her cage open so she can hop back inside whenever she wants to.  I don't mind trading sniffs with the bunny, but she doesn't run, so there's no sense in trying to chase her.  How Boring!  What good is a rabbit that doesn't run?  Still, mom likes to hold her, says Stella is velvety.  At least she's got a cool name, Miss Stella.  Better than Honey-Bunny, I guess.

Yerz, Yukon C. Jack

idiot free to roam at ARBA

(off topic--ARBA is the National Bunny Convention--held here in Indy this year)
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 Gosh, it was like being in bunny disneyland!!! The sensation of being in the midst of all these fantabulous rabbits was sensory overload. I just wandered in a daze glancing at random rabbits in various rows, not really knowing what I was looking at. I mostly got vague impressions of body shape and activity levels, a blur of colors, shifting patterns. So much energy and people talking. Tension. Excitement.

Of course I didn't know anyone, until I got to the Angora section. There was Betty Chu's name on a cage card! Wow! a Rabbit Rock Star! I even glimpsed her getting one of her rabbits and taking it off to the grooming area. She was all business and I didn't feel like bothering her. I did chat with a few tourists. There was an English Angora that had everyone's attention because she was playing with a set of plastic keys, throwing them, digging them with her front paws and flinging them behind her. The owner had written a phone number on the cage card, so I impulsively called it. She was only a few feet away, returning one rabbit from the grooming area and taking another.

I asked if I could watch her groom the rabbit, which surprised her but she said okay. Donna was very patient with my questions and showed me how to groom the little oily area behind the ears with cornstarch and how to use corn starch to remove webs. Seeing how powerful the blower was and how strong it had to be to get through 6 inch fur was amazing....all the bands of color on each hair shaft made a sort of bulls-eye wherever the blower was parting the fur. Even though she'd finished with the blow out, Donna let me touch the coat, feel how soft it was. I felt like crying, it was so soft, so beautiful. My husband joined up about then, eager to talk about toys and tools of the trade, making suggestions on where to get surgical scissors, and what-not. 

We wandered over to the junior's area and I eavesdropped on all the show advice that people were just thrilled to give each other and the kids. A lot of the competition edge was reduced in favor of education and improvement....I was finally where I fit in!!!!

Oh, the reason I called myself an idiot in the title.....there were some guys with a Checkered Giant letting it run back and forth along an empty judging table. I suggested to them that their rabbit really had a secret ambition to be an agility rabbit. They looked at me like I was from Mars and said they'd keep it in mind. (Bad enough) But then I noticed it had identical patches on both sides!!! Wow! That was so cool....now the guys looked around, hoping I had a handler near-by to come haul me away. That was when I noticed a whole row of Giant Checkers who ALL had identical patches on both sides.....uhm, never-mind......do you think "that's" why they are called Checkers?


Later, I discovered that part of Checker judging involves watching them hop 3X down the judges table.  Those guys were just pre-judging a rabbit, possibly talking sale....and I interrupted.  Sorry, folks.

Somethin's Up!

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~Yukon here~
Somethin is UP and I don't like it.  Mom didn't give Sal any breakfast....or let her have a drink after watching Sal do her business.  After a while, mom jumped up, grabbed her keys and a leash, then was out the door with Sal and didn't let me come along for the ride!  Well, that's just not right.  If anybody takes a ride, I'm the first one in the truck.

Then, to make matters even odder, mom came back by herself.  What did she do to Sally?  Why didn't she bring Sally home?  If there's a cone involved, I'm outta here.  Yerz, Yukon-no-kone