Treasury Tuesday – Color Me Woodlands

Color Me Woodlands Etsy Treasury

Click on image above to go to treasury and see items

Today a beautiful treasury of items with a woodland feel. After the storms and tornado sirens last night, I needed the feel of a quiet walk in the woods which is always a stress reducer for me. All items in this treasury have been created by members of the Etsy Rabbits team.

Follow the Weather and Stay Safe …

hurricane symbolTropical depression Lee is moving through Georgia. The rain it is bringing is much-needed.  However, it is also bringing unstable air.  We have just come out of a half hour in the half bath due to tornado warnings. There is a watch for possible tornadoes for the remainder of today here in North Georgia.  If you are in the pathway for Lee, keep an eye out for severe weather.

Bunnies were not happy to be grabbed without ceremony and stuffed into a carrier.   We do what we have to for all us to remain as safe as our circumstances allow when those sirens go off.  They came back out thumping.  We have them fenced off in one room only so that we can get them again easily should we need to this evening.  If we have a next house, a requirement will be a basement for better safety.

Stay tuned in to news sources for weather updates and stay safe all!

Edited to be more correct, tropical depression Lee, not hurricane.  Regardless of terminology, the bunnies are still not liking being stuffed in the carrier when the tornado sirens go off. Second time now today.

A Treasury – Falling For Rabbits

Etsy Treasury Falling for Rabbits

Click image above to go to treasury to view items

Here is my second of six planned treasuries this week. I am going to be a one person bunny blitz for visually getting the word out to the members of the Etsy Rabbits team and Etsy about International Rabbit Day being September 24th.  The six treasuries I have created for this week will showcase one item each from 96 of the 97 active shops of Etsy Rabbits team members.  The only shop I won’t be putting into a treasury is Rabbittude, since treasury promotion isn’t intended to showcase yourself. 

I hope to spur bunny rabbits to really start hopping in to Etsy treasuries in force this month!

Follow the Weather and Stay Safe …

hurricane symbolMuch of the Eastern coast of the US and Canada are bracing for hurricane Irene to make landfall.  I hope that those in the path are heading the warnings to leave or be prepared to be cut off.  It is recommended to be provisioned for 5-7 days with food and water for all in your household which includes any pets. 

The size of this storm is enormous.  One forecaster likened it to the size of Europe.  Even if the winds die down a bit, a storm of this size will be carrying a lot of water.  I am no veteran of hurricanes, but do know from watching reports of many that have hit the southern states that the water can often be the most damaging part of the storm.

If you have never been without power for an extended period of time, it can be worse than you can imagine.  My mother lost power for a week in the blackout of 2003 where power was lost starting in Ohio and cascading throughout the east and up to Canada.  In addition to no power, she also had no fresh water or sewer services.  The power outage took out the sewage and water treatment plant in her area too.

Losing power also means losing communications.  That could be the most frightening and dangerous thing of all.  If you are marooned with no TV, internet, telephone, cell phone service or radios, you won’t know what is happening and where.  Being cut off and not knowing what to do could be deadly.

So please take care, take heed, leave now if you are in an evacuation zone. 

Treasury Thursday – Autumns Edge

Etsy Treasury Autumns Edge

Click image above to go to treasury and view items

This week, I find myself dealing with an on and off summer cold or allergy. So today I felt like visualizing myself enjoying one of those crisp clean days of autumn walking out in the woods where everything is so fresh and clean and you feel so good. It is not too hot or cold, the birds are singing, little animals are scurrying and nature’s fall colors are gorgeous.

I love to create treasuries on Etsy since I can take myself visually anywhere I want to go with them. At the same time I can show some goodwill to other sellers by featuring their lovely items. Enjoy!

Photo – Bunny in the Garden

From istockphoto.com

This is where I would like to be right now, in a beautiful garden. Instead, I am waiting on software to download to try to fix a problem with Internet Explorer … and waiting … and downloading … and waiting … looking at the pretty garden and topiary bunny … and waiting … and still downloading …

See you tomorrow.

Follow Friday – Tyler’s Workshop on Etsy

Tyler's Workshop on Etsy

Some of the 40+ bunny rabbit items in Tyler

I will start out today with a follow, a favorite shop on Etsy, Tyler’s Workshop.  I have included work from this shop in a number of treasuries and purchased the Bunnyland card (picture below on right).  I have my eye on more cards.

The shop announcement starts out:  WARNING: You have a SERIOUS RISK OF SMILING!  I do smile every time I come to this shop to take a look at what is new.

BunnylandThe artwork of animals just being their cute selves is just wonderful.  Even better is that the art is available on cards, providing lots of choices of cards to send to animal / bunny lovers you know.  Or you can keep cards and frame the artwork to enjoy yourself. 

So I would suggest hopping on over and checking this artist and shop out!  Bring some smiles to your Friday or plan to share some with someone else. 

Tyler’s Workshop currently has:

  • 190+ Items
  • 170 Cards – $3.50 to $3.75 with $.60 for shipping
  • 40+ Bunny Rabbit Items

This is lovely affordable animal art!

All Kidding Aside, Bunny Poo Is Great for Gardening!

Bunny poo fed blooms

Bunny poo assisted blooms in our garden

I have been poking fun at rabbit manure for sale on the web for a couple of days.  It is funny how silly some serious listings and terminology can sound when the product being sold is poop.  Today I switch over to the real value of bunny poo.

If you have a rabbit and a garden, rabbits really do create the perfect compost.  If they are fed properly, the only things going in are veggies or hay products.  Then what comes out of a healthy rabbit are nice dry round bunny poo marbles that have extremely low odor.

Someone connected with a rabbit rescue told me they have provided gardeners with rabbit manure and used the rest for gardens around the rescue building.  I think that is terrific idea for rescues.  Added value to the community with a usable product and use it to make the grounds of the building more attractive.  It also provides another positive talking point on an unexpected side benefit of having a house rabbit.  Waste not!  What other composter will look so cute?  Rabbits are just so totally vegan, green and eco conscious little beings.

Here in Georgia, the soil is red clay based, so the soil needs improvement for gardening.  We moved in with the rabbits nine years ago and have regularly used their offerings in the parts of the yard we picked out for our gardens.  I won’t say we have had raging success, because our part of Georgia has been in and out of drought mode with a switch over to flood stage a couple of times.  To say our plants have been stressed for much of the time we have been here is an understatement.  We brought in several rain barrels to collect water from our gutters when it does rain and are putting in more plants that tolerate heat and low water conditions, xeriscaping.

The other thing we have noticed in our gardens is lots of wild cottontail rabbits who will come to visit.  It seems to us that the bunny poo fertilization has hung out a wild bunny welcome mat.  They will sit right below the windows of the house eating quite comfortably.  One time a mother brought her babies with her and they were snuggled up underneath her as she ate.  The babies took off running when we accidentally moved.  I found one of the babies napping in the sunshine curled up in a patch of grass by the backdoor the next day.  We can watch the bunnies through our windows and sometimes sit on the back patio and enjoy the yard with them as they feed. 

So use the poo, its good stuff!  On to the plan for the remainder of this week and next.  Tomorrow, I am going to talk about rabbits and territorial poo, bunnyproofing info.  Thursday, I plan to share some of the unusual things for sale on the web related to rabbit poo.  Friday, I will have a follow suggestion or two.  I figured on getting all the messy stuff out-of-the-way this week, since the first week of August is designated as a Simplify Your Life week.  During that week, I plan to share lots of the tips and tricks and supplies we find most handy for keeping things clean and simple with rabbits in the house.

The Wonderful World of Bunny Poo

oat hay & rabbit poo

Oat Hay + Rabbit = Cheeripoos ?

As a cottage industry, seriously.  I have often fantasized about getting the bunnies to earn their own keep.  I had read at one time about a how-to book that had information for using bunny poo to start a worm farm and then sell the worms to fishermen.  Blaine has a wonderful green thumb and we use bunny poo in our garden.  So I have always been aware of the rich fertilization in the poo since it is already composted veggies and hay.  It is also nice hard dry little marbles that are easy to pick up and don’t have much of an odor.

However, I had never heard or thought about the possibility of actually selling bunny poo online.  I had just recently joined the Creative Breakroom forum.  In one thread I learned about a challenge they had a while back for “Jars O Crap”.  Everyone was to take a Mason jar and fill it with whatever, take pictures and then list their jars online.

Looking through the challenge thread and the very creative responses had me laughing myself silly.  This is the one I loved the most:  Un Bocal des Peaux D’Oignons.  Oh so very special, I am almost tempted to buy it myself.  If I had been there at the time to take part, the title had me thinking quite literally about my most available free item here, a jar of bunny poo!

So I got into a discussion in the Breakroom on the topic of bunny poo.  What do you say the expiration date is on a bottle full of bunny poop? What kind of shelf life does that have? Or does it become vintage at some point? Rapid thoughts were running through my head as to whether that would be tagged as handmade or a supply.  Do I say I made it myself or it was created by my rabbit collective?  Some pointed out that a bottle could have explosive gas issues and that holes in the top or a plastic bag with a nice label might be better. 

As we were verbally flinging the poo back and forth in this discussion, one member asked another if they had heard back officially on this.  That is when I found out that someone had investigated whether selling bunny poo on Etsy was allowed.  They were told that it was, as long as local laws and regulations in regards to animal compost are met.  Hey, I am living in a farming community!  I will just bet I can find out about that!  That is where hysterically funny idea meets up with actual business opportunity.  Too funny! 

I suppose I should be incredibly alarmed with myself that the idea of selling bunny poo has generated more creative marketing ideas in my head than anything else this year.  Perhaps there are whole huge cottage industries out there for the unemployed to sell pet waste and help feed their families.  I did check this morning on Etsy and there are current active listings there for both Rabbit Manure and Llama Beans.  

Objectively, the picture for the Llama beans was a great deal cleaner (does that term ever apply to compost?)  than the Rabbit Manure.  The Llama Bean title is also more appealing than Rabbit Manure which sounds a bit too down on the farm for eco conscious urban viewers.  So I sense an opportunity to upscale the market for rabbit compost / fertilizer.  I am intrigued in my research today on Etsy to see how many people have tagged their items with fertilizer when they aren’t selling compost ???  I am not at all certain about the thinking on that one for SEO keyword searches.

At this point, I have no idea where I am going (is that a poor word choice?) with this.  The minimum I expect is to have some great fun and laughs here for the blog.  Since laughs have been in short supply at many points this year that will be oh so welcome.  So stay tuned for poo!

Treasury Tuesday – A Glorious Day

Glorious Day Etsy treasury

Click image above to go to Etsy treasury and view items

On Tuesday, I always try to create one or more beautiful treasuries to lift my spirits. Today I created one featuring many items from members of the Lean On Me team. The inspiration for the colors and title came from the painting by Lauras Fine Art, Cool Clouds and Golden Field.

Its a Tiggerific Saturday

TiggerrrrLast week on Saturday, Tigger wasn’t eating or drinking and appeared to be fading fast. After lots of work this week with syringe feedings of Oxbow Critical Care, water, Simethecone for gas, pain meds and tummy rubs, Tigger has bounced back.

Last night she and Shadow were running all around the house up and down.  Such a joy to watch. This is a collage of pictures I took of Tigger this afternoon relaxing on a bunny favorite, the plant tray chaise.

Treasury Tuesday – I See Rabbits

Etsy I See Rabbits Treasury
Click on image above to go to treasury on Etsy
I hope that everyone had a lovely holiday weekend.  I missed a few days.  I wish I had been having fun, but instead was dealing with an outer ear infection, nothing like getting swimmer’s ear when you haven’t gone swimming.  Now I understand why the rabbits were so irritated by their outer ear infections and the ear drop treatments.  I’ve been shaking my head a lot and wanting to paw at mine too.  Today I am catching up on lots of things and decided to take a break and find myself some fun rabbits on Etsy to visually play with.  This treasury is all items created by members of the Etsy Rabbits team.
 
Check back tomorrow for a bunnyproofing post.