Houdini

It is with a very heavy heart that I have to report that yesterday we said goodbye to our dear old Houdini, long time resident and the bunny whose tail currently decorates the heading of this blog.

Back when I started volunteering at the Rescue in 2008, Houdini and his then partner Tequila were young and lively bunnies. One of my earliest memories of him was, in keeping with his name, being the first (but not the last) to outsmart my friend Helen, escaping from their enclosure for a jaunt around the Rescue. Herding such a mischievous and energetic little scamp back to his own house was quite a challenge, but it certainly taught us a lot about his personality very quickly!

Houdini was perfectly healthy and desperate for his own family but because of Tequila's eye problems it looked like they would be permanent residents. In a similar situation were another resident pair, Panda (healthy) and her husbun Heathcliff (not so healthy). Not wanting two healthy bunnies to miss out on finding their own family, Caroline took the unusual decision to do a wife swap, Panda moving in with Houdini, Tequila joining Heathcliff. It seemed slightly cruel to take them from their original partners, but as well as giving Panda and Houdini a real chance of finding a home it also turned out that the new pairings were far better matches. Their personalities just seemed to fit together better and both of the new pairings saw increased levels of snuggling and mutual grooming!

Houdini and Panda did then find their own home where they lived happily for several years, but following some health issues and vet trips they broke up and Panda decided she had had enough of him. So sadly in the summer of 2013 he came back to the Rescue, where after some months of bachelordom he finally decided to make a go of it with recently widowed resident Mars.

I guess there's not much to tell after then. He lived his remaining time pottering about amusing himself, loving his food and nose rubs until finally age started to take its toll on him. He developed spondylosis and over the recent months his mobility gradually declined while the pain increased. Around two weeks ago, Caroline let the volunteers know that we were reaching a point where we would have to let him go, giving us all a chance to spend one last time with our sweet old boy. By yesterday, with his happy moments starting to be properly eclipsed by periods of real pain and distress, Caroline took him for his final trip to the vets, where he was helped on his way to the bridge.

Goodbye Houdini. You were a very special boy, one of the first I met willing and eager to teach me what rabbits were all about. You will always have special place our hearts. Binky free, sweet Houdini.

Bright Light, Big Sleepy

Wisdom of the Ancients

"A wise old bun once said, 'Breakfast is more than just the food you see before you'. And don't bother looking it up, it was ME that said it, just now. So get with the 'more' already..."

Bunfire?

"Miss me, punk?"

Flock of Houdinis

You know that thing, where you have Photoshop open, and you're looking at a picture of Houdini with his ears out like wings, and you start wondering what he would look like flying through the air, then you absent-mindedly copy him over a picture of some sky and fields, then you start wondering what a FLOCK of Houdinis would look like and before you know it you've absent-mindedly copied him a bunch of times over the picture, and you realise a flock of Houdinis would be kind of awesome, but now you're looking at this crazy picture wondering if you've maybe spent too much of your time the last few weeks staring at computer code and seeing how many times you can get 4096 on the 2048 game and maybe, just MAYBE you think to yourself, you might be starting to lose your sanity JUST A LITTLE BIT? You know? That thing? No? Just me then I guess.

Lessons in Earth Science

"Did you know that the Earth is not in fact flat, like this floor, but round, like my food bowl? Oh you did? Just the one mistake then..."

Winning Stroke

"Hello up there! Could I get a nose-stroke down here?"

The Reason Escapes Me

Am I getting old and starting to lose my mental function? Or is somebun playing magic tricks with my brain? Can senility begin at 40? Or was I hypnotised? I don't know how it happened, there's nothing in my memories to explain it, but when I got home I discovered that a huge number of pictures on my camera were of the same bunny.

"You're feeling very sleepy...or was that me? No wait, I remember - I'm feeling hungry, you're feeling guilty and neither of us have any carrots."

Down Nosin'

"Looking down my nose at you? Of course not! I hadn't found you interesting enough to look at at all!"

Houdini, That's Who!

Congratulations to all our readers that spotted who yesterdays bunny was! It was of course our very special Houdini Bunny!

Houdini was one of the bunnies resident during my first year volunteering at the Rescue. I also remember Caroline leaving a couple of us in charge of the Rescue one day and, perhaps not surprisingly, Houdini was the first bunny who ever escaped on us after slipping past Helen as she opened his gate. He didn't get that name for nothing you know!

If you are still wondering why I thought you might recognise him, here's another photo from 2008:

That's right - along with Megan and Whisky, Houdini is the only other bunny who is here every day! And if you STILL don't get why you should recognise him then I can only guess you only ever access the blog on your mobile device - check out the full blog website and all will become clear!

:-)

Guess Who?

A very special elderly bunny has come back to the Rescue. If you are a regular reader of this blog he should look very familiar - comment below if you think you know who this delightful character is!

;-)

"Wait - I'm who now? I've got myself all turned around again."