Scraps, our new baby

With the virus from hell that has plagued our household and the subsequent catching up as a result of the VfH, I haven't had the chance to mention our newest adoption, Scraps the bunny. Scraps' family was moving cross country and unable to take her with, so we adopted her as a friend for Thumper. So far however, Thumper is being a bit of a spoiled brat. Although Thumpy has free reign in the bird room, he spends a good portion of his time in the large (hard plastic kiddy)pool with Annabelle, the guinea pig. They have quite a sweet relationship. He does manage to find time in his busy day, however to jump on the back of the couch, seemingly to stare at and taunt the very interested cats who like to watch through the window. Anyway, Thumpy rudely chases Scraps when she gets into the pool. Annabelle is very sweet to Scraps of course. He didn't attack or hurt her, but it did frighten her. So for now, she is in her very large cage when we are not in the room with them. We spend a lot of time in there with her/them, so she gets lots of cuddles and play time. I HATE leaving her in that cage when we aren't there, but until we get their relationship established, it's not worth the risk of a fight or fear induced heart attack. Rabbits are so delicate! Scraps doesn't seem to mind, but I sure do. Soon--very soon hopefully--she will be out and free all the time, and then I will feel much better. She's black and white, a dwarf--just like Thumper, very cute, and she loves nose and forehead kisses. I will get pictures of her soon, but with so many changes, I don't want to freak her out right now with a flash.

Tomorrow we are planning to put our tree up. We all finally feel well enough to tackle that. I have a bad feeling that it's not going to go well this year with Lila the naughty kitten. Normally the tree holds up fairly well, as long as we accept as fact that every single morning we will have to rehang most of the ornaments on the lower 1' of the tree, and a few random others that proved too tempting for the cats overnight. We're okay with that, it's like a newly decorated tree every day. Okay, it's really a PITA, but having seven cats requires us to have the ability to put a positive twist on the frequent disasters they cause and redecorating they do. Lila, at six months, is at about the peak of naughtiness, and I'm not sure the holiday decorations can withstand her. It will be an adventure, no doubt. On that note (and because I haven't had a chance to upload the latest pics from my camera) here's Ivan a few years ago. He has always enjoyed climbing up inside the tree, lying down, and peeking out, as if he were an ornament.