Mr. Bun Update

Greetings Every Bunny!

The good news is my gut is doing so well that I only needed 2 bum bafs all of last week! The 2nd one being a "precautionary" one.

The interesting news is that I have engaged in several EBAs (Extra Bunnicular Activities).

I was off structure! I was detached! At least I had plenty of O2. Saturday morning I drifted all the way to the kitchen before hoomin found me and towed me back to my Bunn Station.

I'm afraid I can't really see out of either eye anymore. To be honest, it's hell on my hoomin.

We'll keep you posted.

- Mr. Bun

The Disapprovers - The Corridor

The early morning felt bitterly crisp. The stars seemed brighter and sharper. We clawed as hard as we could to uncover the little tunnel leading to the artery. Bruno, Suzy and Abby kept a lookout. Zeus and Milla worked on equipment checks. We had made a change in plans and I now would be going with Molly, not Abby. Since Zeus and Molly were already familiar with the artery, we thought it would make sense to have them do the EBA with the rookies.

Abby & Mr. Toes

When we finally got the opening cleared, Molly darted in, Zeus and Milla followed with their disassembled roll boards. When Molly got the artery open, they tossed in the parts and jumped in. Zeus and Milla deftly assembled the boards. I dragged in all our parts to the opening. Molly got into the artery and I slowly handed her all the stuff. Our boards were bigger than the ratties' so we had to be extra careful. Zeus watched us put them together and when we were done gave us a few, small, signal amplifiers to be placed along the way. He really wanted to eliminate any communication blackouts.

Once Zeus and Milla were on their way, Molly and I got on our boards. She started to roll using the electric motors until the artery started sloping down. I followed. As we picked up more speed we had to put on a little bit of breaks and at the same time re-charge our batteries a little bit. Twice we stopped and left behind the amplifiers. We knew the artery would clean them up eventually, but for now we had a stronger signal. The overhead light glow followed us all the way down, like a moving tunnel light. The ride was a bit overwhelming and the best I could do was to take it one breath at a time. Those breaths felt like they took forever. The ride was surprisingly smooth. Since we didn't let our speed get out of hand, it dampened any bumps.

Abby

After a while we heard Zeus on the radio, "We're at the end, smooth ride all the way!" We still must have been a ways away from our end. I didn't look at my tracker, we were going to get there when we were going to get there and taking my mind off the task at hand would do us no good.
Just then Molly exclaimed, "I think this is it! Break!"
We slowed to a crawl and then stopped at the rounded, cavernous end.
"Frankie, radio check." I called out.
"Loud and clear, Major" replied Frankie.
"Same here." added Zeus.

I felt relieved hearing their voices. I slowly got off the board and stretched. I did my best to to pretend I felt at ease, but my legs weren't buying it, they were cold and rubbery. Molly was already up and telescoping, looking over the smooth end of the artery, with the familiar dark area where we hoped to make an opening. I handed her some water and got myself a dried carrot. I needed something sweet. I nomed it slowly and looked around. Behind us was the narrowing pathway of the artery, looking very small compared to its ending. The overhead glow followed us all the way here and we could probably turn our lights off if we wanted to. Molly finished her snack and was eager to get going.

Molly Mr. Toes

"Come on, Major. Let's see what we got on the other side of this wall. I want to get out of here before my bravery vitamin wears off."

I said, "Wait, let's turn the boards around, get them ready for departure and make sure we can drive off." So we did and while checking the batteries. We were showing about 84% charged; I was impressed. I hoped it would be enough to get back to the top.

We came up to the spot where we hoped to make an opening and pressed our bare paws against it. I looked at Molly out of the corner of my eye. She was as cool as a cucumber. She had to be made out of steel or granite.

Molly

The wall or tissue slowly parted. There was no dirt or soil behind it. I strained to peer inside. The place was pitch black, nothing glowed inside it, it didn't look like the artery extended into it.
"Does this look like anything at all to you, Molly?" I whispered.
"Not one bit, Mr. Toes."
"Frankie, are you getting this?" asked Molly.
".... yeah." replied Frankie, slowly.
It looked like ..., like an old, giant, metal tube, empty and deformed. Its insides were covered with something moss like, dust or something. Was it an old sewer pipe or something? A mine access tunnel?

Mr. Toes

We stretched up as much as we could to get a better look and we slung ourselves over the edge of the opening. We put on our night vision goggles, but even with that it was to tell what we were looking at. We kept staring and hoping to make some sense out it.

"Oh wow, that's beautiful!" we heard Suzy on the radio.
"What's beautiful?" I asked.

Suzy replied "... the place where Zeus and Milla came out. We're watching their video feed. Over there, the artery opened up to a little burrow leading to the surface on the southern end of the hill we're on. The town at the foot of it is covered in fog and there's yet another thin layer of clouds above that. It all catches and diffuses the lights coming from the town. Yet, a lot of the brighter stars are still visible."

Zeus

"Shhhhhh, I think somebunny's coming this way!" whispered Zeus with trembling voice.

Credits:
- Renee: taking care of critters, photography
- Mr. Bun, Ijon Thichy The Nth: story
- Mrs. Angie: editing

Follow Suzy, Molly, Abby Mr. Toes, Frankie, Freddie, Mila, Izzie, Zeus and Bruno on FB
On Instagram @dollyalittledisabledrabbit

Fiasco

The last thing my hair needs is you messin' about with it!

- Thank you Kayla!

Ferdinand

Don't look at me! I'm too cute.

- Thank you Nicole!

Tinsel

You know what's wrong with this snow? It's too shallow, I can still see you!

- Thank you Gabrielle!

Lady Grey

You're going down, hoomin! 

How dare you take my picture without brushing me first.

- Thank you Melissa!

Mikey

  

M*nd*y, what about it? I handle M*nd*ys just fine. I'll expect treats and snorgles after my nap!

- Thank Gabrielle!

Mr. Bun Update

Basil fears me!

 

Mint is mine!

Greetings Every Bunny!

Good, quiet week with nothing to complain about. Snorgles,  treats out of critical care and occasional green (basil, mint, raspberry and a bit of nanner mixed with critical care).

Last night I did "the flop". You know, the one that stops two-foot's heart. I was just napping, as comfortable as I could get. I slept with my eye opened a little bit, so you can image the rest ;-)

Hoomin said that making those nice treats on the weekends is part of his arting meditation. Sigh...

- Mr. Bun

The Disapprovers - Bun Sledding

We spent a lot of time with the ratty friends planning the next EBA (Extra Bunnicular Activity). Frankie had to measure us to make our roll boards. When we gathered around to talk about what we needed to do each night, Frankie would always have the image stream from the rover up on the screen. We glanced at it politely and never payed much attention to it. He wanted to see if there were other critters using the artery. We were surprised how long the battery lasted. Frankie said he caught a badger and a garden snake down there, both very well behaved. So he said. How could he tell a well behaved badger or a garden snake from... oh, say, a rowdy one? Abby teased him about it, but he ignored her.

Frankie

I think it was the second planning night and we sat in a circle, most of us with our backs turned to the laptop screen. Only Abby and I had the screen in sight, but we weren't paying any attention to it. Suddenly, I noticed the image started to change, the rover was sinking. It took me a bit to realize what I was seeing, but then I shouted "Hey! What's happening?!" and we watched as the rover's camera sunk lower and lower. Then, all at once, we've lost the signal. I think we witnessed the artery in the act of cleaning up what it considered to be trash.

Our moufs hung low for a good while.
"Let's make sure we check that spot when we get there." said Zeus.

Molly

Since we agreed that time was of the essence, we had to use it wisely and not waste it on assembly or foot travel. Zeus demonstrated the roll boards the 2 ratty explorers would use. I was skeptical. They looked like they were put together from erector sets or as if some bunny threw together some toy parts. I was surprised by the large size of their wheels relative to their bodies. Frankie said those were the smallest wheels with motors they could find. I think he just wanted a lot of excess power to make the ride more "enjoyable". Then again, the ratties being so tiny and light, any machine would feel turbocharged. We, on the other hand, had to be weighed, unfortunately. Abby suggested it would be prudent for me to lay off the treats and hit the hay a little harder. She said I really needed to be "hay strong". Sigh....

Mr. Toes and Abby Suzy

But I digress. They had to design the vehicles around their payloads. The biggest challenge would not be getting down to the end of the artery, but coming back up. Since we were going down the part that sloped down, a simple set of wheels on a frame would be enough, but we needed power to climb back up. Another problem we had to solve was how to make those vehicle easy to assemble. We didn't want to risk forcing an opening big enough to push one of those things through into the vein, so they had to be modular and easy to put together.

So far, the grimmest realisation we made was, that if something had gone wrong down at the deep end of the artery, rescue would be very unlikely. I was most afraid of a cave in, of the artery collapsing and cutting us off from the surface. How about an underground flood? What about an ill behaved badger? Subterranean tarantulas or rubber booted sharks?

Suzy and Molly

I took a deep breath and we got those things up on a list. We went over everybunny's concerns over and over again, looking for ways to mitigate the risks. We agreed to accept those items we could do nothing about as they were. Anybunny still had the power to veto the whole thing. Going ahead with the adventure means having to find a way to live with not knowing. That night I slept very well, grateful that for now I didn't have to worry about any sharks or tarantulas, or floods.

Zeus

Finally, one night we got to test our roll boards! We rode all around in the house and Frankie even made us learn how to ride around backwards. Everybunny got a chance to learn how to control them; just in case. Molly had such a blast that she would make a Saturn V rocket blush. We learned how to assemble them too.

Once more, we had to catch the right day to head out. We were getting into the middle of the fall season and weather outside couldn't decide if it wanted to play fall or winter. Finally we caught the hoomins leave early for the tar pits one freezing, beautiful morning and our little caravan moved out and through the yard to the artery.

Credits:
- Renee: taking care of critters, photography
- Mr. Bun, Ijon Thichy The Nth: story
- Mrs. Angie: editing

Follow Suzy, Molly, Abby Mr. Toes, Frankie, Freddie, Mila, Izzie, Zeus and Bruno on FB
On Instagram @dollyalittledisabledrabbit

Camilla

No more Winter! Oh, do I have to say please?

- Thank you Mellissa!

PS: Follow Camilla and Sweeney on FB at
https://www.facebook.com/Collected-moments-Bunnies-447426932128463/

Gibbi

Blizzard shmizzard! Off you go and don't come back without raspberrinis and Friday. Yeah, bring Friday as soon as you can.

- Thank you Jack!

Snickers and Simba

Have you let the two-foot get out again? It's late for my head rubs.


- Thank you Carlissa!

Gigio

Don t look at me like that! I'm not fat! I'm just testing my camouflage skills....can't you see? I'm a bread loaf! Stupid hoomin.

- Thank you Elisa!

Sami

What do you mean M*nd*y is not a market day? I'll keep busy with the couch then.


- Thank you Angel Tommie, Mientje & Sami

PS: Sami is rescue, follow him and Mientje on FB

Mr. Bun update

Greetings Every Bunny!

Hoomin said he had a dream about my hair falling out again from urine scalds.
My hair, undercarriage and the troubled junction are doing well.

Sheesh, since M*nd*y after Christmas this is the best stretch we had. I don't have to get as many bum bafs, pellets are great, I'm eating hay and once again bunstruction is under way.

I enjoyed some mint, dill and raspberries yesterday. It was a production of course.

So here we go; how to make a critical care treats with mint and dill.

We used  about 3 heaping teaspoons of critical care. We mixed that with 2 raspberries and a little bit of water. Using banana instead of berries would probably make the mix and little more sticky and easier to work with.

 

 

The simplest and most fun to make was the raspberry with a sprig of mint in it!

... and that's the one I devoured first!

- Mr. Bun

The Disapprovers - Mysterious Possibilites

I gulped and asked, "Do you have any ideas what that's all about?"
"A few..." said Frankie.
"This thing could be reacting to being scanned. Maybe the rover induced that electric current. I wouldn't go as far as to say that we caught this 'thing' thinking. At least I'm not sure what we're seeing."

Bruno Suzy

"What about its composition?" pressed Suzy.
"We're suspecting mostly carbon and silica, possibly some organic compounds. I'd expect the majority of it to be something else though"

Frankie paused, gazing at the ceiling, he said, "I'm running out of options to analyze this any further. I've just about pulled all the strings I could pull to get even this far." He shook his head slowly side to side.

After a long silent moment he continued, "I have a friend at CalTech. If I can smuggle a piece of this to her, she can do some real work on it in the lab."
Then he switched topics. "Your idea of 'it' being an artery is somewhat accurate. This thing is not transporting blood but it is transporting oxygen. It might be both 'pumping' and moving it along. I wonder, does it have a proper heart somewhere; a liver or a "real" brain? Does it have leaves or roots?"

Molly

"As long as it doesn't have a 'real' face, maybe we can eat it?" chuckled Molly, but Frankie ignored her and carried on, "It's acting as a neuron, gizzard, kidney, vein, armour, electric fence and what have you. At least that's my best guess for now. When I look at those cross sections and the different layers, I want to know what each one does, but that's not the important question. Is it something terrestrial, a life form, something primordially exotic? Where did it come from?"

"Now you're losing me. Surely, you can't be serious." I said. Molly tried to suppress a giggle, Frankie just shook his head.

"Frankie's right, he's absolutely right." said Abby. "I don't think he'll be able to find any links between this thing and any life forms we're familiar with."

"It may not even be a life form in the conventional sense." said Suzy.

Suzy

I tried to laugh it off for now, because I didn't want to grapple with the possible destinations of this train of thought.

By now Zeus and Bruno had rejoined us, except Bruno's head was still somewhere in the clouds, savouring the way he got to use up one of his nine lives.

"What are the chances we can inspect both ends of this thing?" asked Molly.

"Pretty good. You tell me when you can get out there again and I'll take care of the rest." said Frankie, he continued, "I'd like to take Milly with me and explore the narrow end of it, you can have the wide end. This way we won't be holding each other back. Because, it's a little hard for me to keep up with your stride."
"Indeed." said Suzy.

Molly

"Frankie, I'll make a little cart for you." said Zeus. "There's no sense in you hoofing it. You want to check what's beyond that endpoint and come back. You might be needed to assist Molly. Who else is going with you, Molly?"
"I'd like to go!" and my paw was up before I knew it and before I realized what I said.
"Sounds good to me." said Suzy.
"Come to think of it, I better make something for Major Toes and Molly too. There's no sense in you wasting any time getting there either."

"...and what about the sample?" I asked.
"Let's see if we can find a piece that separated from this thing on its own" said Frankie. "I'm hoping that sooner or later we'll find it. Everyone, keep your eyes open for something like that. But I think this thing would try to clean it up before we can get to it. If not, we can try to slice a sample, but only when we're on the outside of it! I don't want anybunny to get trapped inside a giant gizzard."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Suzy shudder.

Molly and Suzy Mt. Toes

"Look here, Zeus..." started Abby, "I bet you this thing is waiting for 'Flotillas of galactic battleships to fall upon our unsuspecting little planet, to lay hands on the local dollars, diamonds, chocolates, and, of course, beautiful women.' ... just saying; I don't trust this thing." and Abby winked.

"Lem's 'Fiasko', page 127!" I blurted out.
Zeus looked at us, perplexed and silent.
"Glad to see you're reading again!" laughed Frankie.

After we got all debated out, Zeus pulled up a video of Chris Hadfield's rendition of Bowie's "Space Oddity" on board the International Space Station. When I watched it a while back, it felt very somber. The scene was too vibrant, too invigorating. The ISS seemed like a place on the edge of the best that life has to offer, a constant new beginning. Now sadly enough, everything floated in place. Life caught up with the song and turned the ISS into a proper place to mourn. Bruno was glad to have lives left to use up and we were all glad to have one another.

Credits:
- Renee: taking care of critters, photography
- Mr. Bun, Ijon Thichy The Nth: story
- Mrs. Angie: editing

Follow Suzy, Molly, Abby Mr. Toes, Frankie, Freddie, Mila, Izzie, Zeus and Bruno on FB
On Instagram @dollyalittledisabledrabbit