The latest installment of the bunny chronicles

Today Colonel Bunny and I had another misadventure of the poopy kind, this one also necessitating a bath.  While I was filling the sink with warm water, we had an epic battle of wills that resulted in the Colonel getting a toenail stuck clean through my sweatshirt. Not just poked through, but through and through another fold.  His toenail was serrated (probably from chewing on it) so I couldn’t pull the shirt off of his toenail without taking his toe with it. 

At least he had the sense to stop panicking and trying to escape my grasp.

I tried cutting his toenail so the shirt would slide off. That failed.

I tried calling my parents, who live downstairs, to come lend the extra set of hands I really needed for this whole operation. Right to voicemail.

I tried to reach more toenail and couldn’t without cutting my sweatshi— OH, I KNOW WHAT TO DO.

I had to cut a hole in my hoodie around the offending toenail, then cut off the remaining toenail and its attached sweatshirt material.

You better believe while I had the Colonel so cooperative that I trimmed the rest.

At this point, we are both covered in fur and poop, so after I checked to make sure the Colonel was still alive (his cooperation without a struggle was most unnerving, if helpful), he took a dunk in the sink and got so fresh and so clean. Also, that’s when he decided to get really mad and try to climb me like a tree.  Now we are both soaking wet and wrapped in towels.

While we dried off and got warm, I called his vet. Ready for this?

It turns out that I was doing the right thing to counteract the loose stools by eliminating fruit and pellets from his diet (to be reintroduced slowly) and encouraging more hay consumption.  However (and here’s the kicker), he has been eating a new brand of hay that has dried flowers in it and THOSE are sweet enough to cause loose stools.  In my ignorance, I thought they were part of the grass stems and not separate entities, especially since the packaging says all it includes is Western Timothy Hay.

I am to mix this new hay with the kind from Oxbow until he gets used to it. Even then, I am to continue mixing it until it is gone, and then to feed him strictly the Oxbow brand. The vet said that they are very careful about what goes into their hay bales and that the price is worth it.

Good news is this is completely fixable and not a sickness or age-related thing.

Bad news is I can expect at least another week of poop adventures.

late summer solstice

i wasn’t expecting much of this day, except a great lunch ahead. instead, i was caught off-guard by the series of unfortunate events that keep on coming. 

first was the misarranged transport service from my workplace to manila. call time was 7:00AM yet the transport service was provided an hour later. i ended up eating fast food in the morning as the pick-up point is in the parking lot of this place. thank God gourmet coffee is available. 

we were about to meet with one of our trusted suppliers and check out their facilities and documents, formally called audit. the way to their office should be bearable even in the edsa traffic given that the vehicle you’re in is fully air-conditioned. but heck, it temperature feels a bit close to the incubator we have in the lab. imagine a hot, moist and heavy enclosure. i was beginning to think it was summer all over again amidst the stormy weather outside. it’s underestimating to say that it was the longest one and a half ride. 

the audit went as smooth as iced mochaccino with all the coarse ice pieces stuck in your throat. i did not expect much really, but still it was frustrating in the sense that i cannot impose the values and change we need even if it for their improvement as well. when a business is running successfully for the last 35 years, injecting new ideas tend to raise eyebrows and pout mouths. “what’s in it for me?” as they always say.

how to persuade is the extra challenge. the closest thing to convincing i enjoyed was jane austen’s persuasion. does any training on being persuasive exist? i could sure use one.  

so there i was finding words to explain concisely the recommendations. firm but kind, as my boss would say. sweats keep pricking. it sure is summer eh? 

i was not sure how this meeting turned out, but we have to go four hours later. again, we rode the incubator vehicle. this time, amidst the heat i dozed off to sleep. exhaustion dominates me and i give in. 

the next thing i know we are to wait for our company’s car at the mall. for how long really? fuming, i started walking inside the mall. looking around, i saw the most wonderful thing. this sums up the out round trip from south to north of manila in one day: a good serving of dairy queen strawberry banana! after that, the wait for the car is so much pleasant, even if it was a good two hours. 

it is summer after all! the longest day so far. my summer solstice. 

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summer solstice is believed to be such a blessing in the ancient times, relating to good harvest, festivities, and good luck. i’d like to believe i’m blessed today. it was a safe trip after all. i also became diplomatic - that is really something.