Merlion City: January 2006

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Everyone loves Pinky!

Pinky digs Power98.

Hygiene freak

"No one sneaks up on me!"

Cleaning up before bedtime.

Whoever said, "Shee shee" equals "Pee"?

I'm not sure about you but when i was young, whenever my nanny wanted me to pee, she would make this "sheeee sheeee" sound. Sometimes i wonder if this is a Singaporean thing or a globally recognized sound that "sheee sheee" means to pee.

Now, according to all the baby bunnies nursing websites i've been reading, one is supposed to help the baby "eliminate" / "defecate" after meals by using a cotton wool dabbed in warm water to stroke the baby's tummy & anal area. So like all dutiful bunny sitter, i've been trying to help Pinky in her digestion & elimination processes by doing the above. Unlike Fatty who would spray his pee (and i mean like shoot all over my t-shirt kind of spray) all over once i used a warm cotton wool to stroke him, Pinky obviously has a tighter control over her bladder.

So the last time when Pinky drank way way way too much milk from her mommy, i half panicked and decided that i should massage her digestive system till she pees 'cos she was soooo bloated. I was even desperate enough to try and make the traditional "sheeeee sheeee" sound. My... i "sheeee-ed", and i massaged, and i stroked, and i patted but Pinky just refused to pee!!

Sigh... that night i was really so worried 'cos her tummy was so huge from all the milk. Even when she stretched out, i could see her slim shoulder, followed by a HUGE ROUND tummy, then slim hips and a pointy tail. It's really quite scary.

But that's not the point. I just wanted to reiterate that i've concluded that the sound "sheeee sheeee" helps a kid to pee is but a myth.

Pinky learns to drink water

Ever since Pinky opened her eyes i've been trying to teach her how to drink water 'cos she should be able to eat some hay soon and she'll probably need to drink water 'cos hay is very dry.

My 1st attempt was teaching Pinky how to drink water was yesterday. I lined a shallow jam jar cover with a little bit of water & showed it to Pinky. Guess i overestimated the normalcy as to which animals take to water 'cos Pinky breathed in the water instead! Thank God she managed to "blow" (she made this wheezing sound like how humans blow their nose) out the water.

As Pinky was rather awake just now, i thought it was a good opportunity to get her to learn to drink water again. So once again, i filled the jam jar cover with a little pool of water, and brought it in front of Pinky. While trying to set the jar cover on the floor, i accidentally tipped it a little & spilt the water on the floor. Ahh... that proved to work 'cos Pinky stepped on the water & promptly took a few licks. Voila! I thought i succeeded in introducing Pinky to the all important skill of drinking water. So i placed the balance water in the jar cover in her box.

Unfortunately, while exploring the box, Pinky started sniffing the jar cover.... and 'cos only the lower half of the jar cover had water in it, Pinky probably wasn't aware that there was water there. So she was happily sniffing the part w/o water when she suddenly chanced on the water and... uh oh.... she breathed in the water again.

"Phiit! Phiit!" Pinkly blew out the water again. Aiyoh. Poor baby. She got tired after the whole water parade thing and settled down to sleep real quickly. I hope she didn't breathe in too much water. I'm going to let her take a break b4 resuming her water training again tomorrow.

Sigh... and u thought drinking water would come naturally...

Saturday, January 28, 2006

A Visibly Happier New Year!

Pinky took her 1st peek at the world just now. Just in time to welcome the (Chinese) new year!

After feeding, i was patting her tummy as usual to aid digestion & the passing of shit & pee when i saw that her left eye was open the tiniest bit! After playing on the floor (just running about) for a while, her right eye opened a slit too.

The little bunny has been sleeping most of the night after that. Guess it must be tiring to open one's eyes huh? I played a short while with her after my dinner. Heh... she still likes to sleep on my palm. Sigh... wonder if she'll still stick to me as much after she grows older... I wanted to take some photos of her but i'm afraid the flash will be too blinding so i guess no photos for Pinky for a little while. :)

Pinky is also learning to be more independent now. Heh. This morning, she crawled under a standing Horlicks (who was trying to lick her) and managed to find a nipple to drink breakfast from. All by herself... haha. That made my job a lot easier... i just had to support her (her back was lying on my palm) and she was navigating between Horlicks' nipples. Hehe.

Dinner was pretty much the same except i'm not sure how much milk Pinky managed to drink 'cos her fur has grown a lot thicker so it's quite difficult to tell if her tummy grew in size from milk intake or not. Anyhow, i'm very happy that Pinky opened her eyes today. Love u Pinky!!

Friday, January 27, 2006

Before & After

Pinky scared me just now. She drank so much milk that i could see her stomach balloon up as she drank! I tried to pry her away from Horlicks but she simply wouldn't let go of the nipple! Finally, when she stopped drinking, she was sooooooooo super bloated!

I spent like 40mins using a cotton wool + hot water to stroke her tummy area to aid digestion. This process is supposed to help her poop / pee but she didn't! Made me so worried that she'll die of overeating (it happens to baby bunnies... something abt their intestines not functioning properly). She was so bloated that she could barely lick her own chest!!

Anyway, Pinky pooped small bits of crap the past 2 hrs so i think she should be ok. Here's some photos of how bloated she was!

Overfed bunny... :(

"Ooh... i'm too full, too full!"

Thursday, January 26, 2006

My name is Pinky. Watch me sleep!

I'm so tired now. Checked on Pinky at 6:48am this morning and that little bunny crawled between the layers of the t-shirt. Gave me a shock 'cos i was afraid she would suffocate. I quickly took the bunny out... she was warm but sleeping well. After patting her to sleep on top of the t-shirt, i decided to place a hankerchief over her so she could use that as a security blanket. Maybe if Pinky turns out to be a "he", i should name it Linus! (like the Linus in Snoppy).

Anyway, after feeding her this morning, i did a short photoshoot of Pinky. Plus a video. But i can't load the video here so u'll just have to make do with photos. Heh.

Tired after drinking mommy's milk. Getting ready for bed.

Easing into bed...

Curled up bunny style!

Pinky likes to sleep on my palm too! I love the shot on the left. It was totally candid. Pinky just happened to stretch out when the camera snapped! :)

Airbus

Just saw from Airbus' MSN nick that his dad has passed on. I suspect it was rather sudden 'cos i don't remember him mentioning any health problems his dad had to me before. I know Airbus must be feeling terrible now 'cos he's an only child and now that his dad has passed on, his mom would be all alone in M'sia. Guess he must also feel sad that his dad would not get to see the bungalow that he bought for them. I wanted to find out more but given how our last conversation ended, i was afraid that he might think i was patronizing him. So i said, "hey, just saw your nick about your dad... my condolences". His reply was, "thx".

Short, concise, maybe a little too sterile. I wanted to say more but i didn't want to make things any worse than they already are. The last time i blogged about Airbus in "Shortcoming", i was really mad & insulted, totally indignant about his opinion about me. But at the end of the day, i still regard him as a friend.

I don't know how to comfort Airbus. Maybe that's why God created prayer.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Rabbit Hopping School

Pinky's been doing ok so far. She's (disclaimer: u can't really tell the gender of a rabbit till they're closer to 6 months old) grown quite a bit of fur so she's not really pink anymore. She's white with lots of brown/darkbrown spots. Her spots are at almost the same places a Horlicks... hehe... talk about bunny genes...

Anyway, Pinky's really getting into the rabbit hop recently. As of yesterday, she was still very unstable when she stood up 'cos her legs are too weak to support her body. So everytime she got up on all fours, she would wobble wobble and then fall down. Sometimes she can take like 3 steps before she falls down, does a roll in the box, and stands up again. Hehe, everytime i see her fall all over the box, i get very worried that she'll sprain her back or something, so sometimes, i use my fingers to support her sides... and she uses them like crutches to move about.... and that was the start of my Hopping School syllabus.

Today, we practised hopping again. Wow, the improvement is fantastic. Pinky doesn't really need my fingers as crutches anymore. When i put her on the bed, she'll scramble like 5 steps, then hop forward once, followed by more scrambling. Only when she falls down and has difficult getting up, then i'll give her some assistance. Heh. I'm going to take a video of her scrambling / hopping when she wakes up later. She's sleeping off her dinner now.

Pinky turned 9-days old tonight. She should be opening her eyes either tomorrow or the day after. After that, she'll be able to take some solid food (mainly hay) + Horlicks' milk. This is another danger period 'cos if her stomach doesn't take to the food, it may cause intestinal problems, enteritis, etc.

Anyway, i need to go mug a little about what happens from the 10th day onwards. Hope to be able to take many many photos of Pinky for many many days to come. :)

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Loanrabbit behaviour

Pinky is starting to get used to sleeping by herself (i'm assuming it's a "she" 'cos the fur coat looks like Horlicks'). She still tries to look for Fatty 1st.... and will crawl very unstably all over the box for at least 15min before she tires herself out and settles down to sleep. My dad just called back from Germany to ask what happened to Fatty... he suggested it could be some sort of milk regurgitation from the stomach that caused the choke? I think that's unlikely 'cos i hadn't started feeding yet. Sigh... poor Fatty... he really looked a lot like the daddy.

Now... about the topic i was going to share. My female rabbits, i.e. Horlicks & Peanut have been exhibiting "loanrabbit" (think loanshark) behaviour. It's strange but Horlicks refuses to allow any other rabbits into the backyard. It's probably some instinct thing so whenever i let Horlicks out to roam, i need to lock Peanut back into her cage. Even then, in a show of defiance, Horlicks would sometimes go in front of Peanut's cage, attempt to scratch Peanut through the grilles, and then pee in front of the cage. Just like your HDB loanshark... pouring smelly stuff in front of their debtor's home.

Anyway, i decided to be fairer to Peanut 'cos we've been neglecting her a bit since Horlicks gave birth and i let her run around the backyard for a couple of hours just now. Wow.... talk about revenge... when i went downstairs to lock Peanut back in the cage, i saw this pool of pee outside Horlicks cage. No wonder Horlicks was hopping mad inside her cage. Sigh... anyway, it's going to be like that till i get the boys sterilized.

Instead of sterilizing Coffee on 1 Feb, i'm going to send Muah Chee in instead... 'cos MC is really in heat so i think we better settle him first.

If u're reading this and u're a rabbit lover too, please pray for the bunnies ya? That MC's sterilization operation will go well and that he'll recover w/o any complications (eh, the poor rabbit has to be put under GA ok!) Then there's Coffee... smallest bunny in the household... please pray that no one will bully him.

Please also pray for peace between the 2 fine ladies, Horlicks & Peanut. My mom and i are a little concerned now that Peanut may be pregnant again (after locking her up with MC for 2 nites... before we found out MC is male...) 'cos Peanut has started her digging habit again....

And most importantly, please pray for little bunny Pinky.... only survivor among Horlicks' 3 babies. She's getting less pink now as more white fur grows. We all appreciate your prayers.

Oh did i mention before that sometimes to coax Horlicks into staying in a lying down position so i can feed the babies, i would sing to her? So far her favourite song seems to be "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear". Maybe 'cos her babies were born at night too...

Monday, January 23, 2006

7th Heaven

I took these 3 photos of Fatty & Pinky with my hp camera this afternoon. Last 3 shots of the siblings sleeping together happily.

I was quite tempted to name them "Patience" & "Cirrus" (depending on their gender) when they grew up... but there's no need for that now i suppose. Pinky could just remain as Pinky... it's an endearing name in itself.

Sigh. :(

Forever Young

Fatty died tonight. It was very sudden. It was about 7:30pm and i brought both babies down to the backyard to feed them. I managed to coax Horlicks to lie down so i went to carry Fatty to her... but as i was approaching, Horlicks got up again. So i placed Fatty back into its box. Fatty was so excited... nibbled my finger 3x! I told it to wait a little while till "mommy was ready".

I then went to coax Horlicks to lie down again and once she did, Clown brought the box the babies were in over to me. I picked Fatty up and saw that it was rather lifeless. When i placed Fatty near Horlick's body and it still didn't move much, i realised something was seriously wrong.

Clown & i examined Fatty & we suspect that it was choked on something. We tried all means to save Fatty... we patted it, stroked it and when it struggled, Clown even opened its mouth a little & blew air into it. For a while, it seemed to work and three times when it seemed to go stiff, this bunny CPR worked... but after a tough struggle of about 15mins, Fatty breathed its last.

Its throat was all stiffen up when it died. Clown opened its mouth a little to see if we could find what it choked on but we couldn't. It appeared as though it choked on its own saliva and couldn't cough to get rid of the choke.

Pinky's still ok... Pinky drank A LOT of milk tonight. I was so worried when i saw its SUPER round stomach. I quickly warmed some water up & managed to help it pee... and my did it pee! Pinky's stomach shrank to normal after that. What a relief!

I really don't know whether Pinky will survive. It's like every day a baby rabbit lives is a miracle. Now when i see all my 4 adult rabbits, i realise that they're all miracles 'cos someone, whether it's the breeder or their mommy rabbit nursed them into life.

Quite a lot of unfortunate things happened to Clown recently... including getting into an accident on Sat nite. Sometimes we don't understand why bad things happen. Yeah, skeptics may say it's juz a bunny... but it was a bunny loved by all. (Pinky at first refused to go to sleep w/o the sibling... kept crawling all over the box to look for it... which is what 1 baby would do whenever we take the other out of the box). But i believe Fatty joined all my other bunnies in rabbit heaven.

Just to share a song that we sung on Sunday during service...

"Trust His Heart"

All things work for our good
Though sometimes we can't see how they could
Struggles that break our hearts in two
Sometimes blind us to the truth

Our Father knows what's best for us
His ways are not our own
So when your pathway goes dim
And you just can't see Him
Remember He's one the throne

(Chorus) God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When you don't see His hand
When you can't trace His plan
Trust His heart

He sees the master plan
He holds the future in His hand
Don't live as those who have no hope
While our hope is found in Him

We see the present clearly
But He sees the first & last
And like a tapestry
He's weaving you and me
To someday be just like Him

(Chorus)

(Bridge) He alone is faithful and true
He alone knows what is best for you

(Chorus)

Friday, January 20, 2006

Please vote! Baby bunnies need names.

Hi everyone! Need some help. Should i name Pinky, "Latte" and Fatty, "Mocha"? Or should i let Pinky remain as Pinky (it's a cute name anyway) & Fatty becomes "Kuachee"? (Well since the father is called MuahChee and kuachee is sorta brownish)?

Ok... here are the choices:
1) Pinky & Mocha
2) Pinky & Kuachee
3) Latte & Mocha

You can leave your vote on the tag-board, as a comment, or email me. Thanks! :)

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Happy 3rd Day

The babies are now 3 days old. Aiyah... just realised ishould've weighed them at birth then i'll know whether they grew or not! Hmm.... maybe i should weigh them tomorrow.

A little worried for 001 aka Fatty 'cos it's not fat anymore. It's thinner than Pinky (002) even! But for their dinner juz now, i let Fatty feed 3x whereas Pinky fed only twice. Fatty as usual, peed straight after its dinner... maybe that's why it always seems thinner? Another possible reason could be that Fatty is now half a head longer than Pinky. Perhaps all the milk went to its height.

Clown says that i shouldn't call Fatty, "Fatty" anymore. We played around with a few names last night - Latte, Milo, Kua Chee (melon seeds).... but it's difficult to settle on one since we're not completely sure what colour the babies will turn out. I believe Pinky will turn out like Horlicks - white with brown sports and Fatty already looks like MC - a mixture of brown & grey fur.

For now, i think i'll call Pinky "Latte", and Fatty shall be called "Mocha".

Photos take on day 2 - Mocha's on the left & Latte's on the right.

Photo taken today (day 3).

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Goodnight babies

Just went to check on the babies. They're sleeping in a small box in the guest room on the 2nd floor. We decided not to keep them outside 'cos the change in temperature may be too drastic for them and since it was obvious that Horlicks wouldn't be able to feed them successfully, we chose to keep them inside & increase their chances of survival, even though Horlicks may miss her babies.

The 2 darlings are definitely hungry now... they're like sucking as they sleep... oh well, some websites say that mommy rabbits feed twice a day - during dawn & just before dusk... while some other websites say that mommy rabbits feed once during the day, usually during the night. I guess it could be both? I'm not sure. Was wondering if i should wake Horlicks up to feed the babies... but that would be cruel too? Poor gal fed 002 till she ran out of milk just now!

I'm going to sleep now... gotta wake up early in the morning to feed them before i go to work. Need to set aside 1.5 hrs every morning to coax Horlicks into feeding them. My main worry is that once their teeth grow sharper, it may get too painful when they nibble on Horlicks' teats and she may not allow them to feed anymore... but will have to cross that bridge when we get to it i guess!

Goodnight everyone! I love my babies.

"Eat dead cat"

There's this Cantonese saying, "吃死猫" and it basically means to take the blame for someone else. Well, I wronged Coffee. No wonder he refused to play with me the past week.

Just now, before Vivi left, I asked her to help me clarify Muah Chee's gender and guess what we discovered? MC's a guy!! I can't look at MC straight in the eye now 'cos all along i thought 'he' was a 'she'! *Sob*

Then it occurred to me... the reason why 001 & 002 have really long ears is not 'cos they "take after their mom" but 'cos both their parents are lop-ear rabbits! (MC's a Mini Lop & Horlicks is a Holland Lop).

This is how i reasoned it out:
MC has always humped Horlicks since she first came. Coffee started humping Peanut 1 month ago and only stopped in the past 2 weeks. He then switched his focus to Horlicks and tried to mate with her... but Horlicks always ran away. At first, i thought he somehow succeeded in mating with Horlicks... but given that Horlicks gave birth about the same time as Peanut, she must have gotten pregnant about 1 week later only!

Hence the most probable father is MC! And u know what? MC tried to silence me after i discovered "she's" a male!

When i scooped "her" up just now for Vivi to check her gender, MC didn't resist at all. But after Vivi announced that MC's a male, fwah lau... MC struggled & kicked. In fact, MC kicked so hard that his hind leg went straight for my stomach. It felt like someone gave me a punch! And when i took a bath just now? I saw 2 scratch marks on my tummy! It's a miracle that my blouse didn't tear! Tsk tsk!

That sneaky fella...

Godsend

My dad went to the pet shop at Simei today to look for pine shavings. He wanted to line the nesting box with pine shavings to prevent the babies from rolling about so much 'cos he suspects the thin baby was suffocated to death when it rolled under the nesting wool last night.

At the pet shop, he met this young gal called "Vivi" who breeds rabbits. She was really sweet and offered to come to my place to show us how we could get the babies to suckle from Horlicks. So i picked her up after work and came home.

We tried a few ways. First i carried Horlicks on her back and Vivi placed the baby on her chest... but Horlicks protested violent so we had to abort this method. Next, we tried to get Horlicks to sniff her babies & then place them in a tray in front of her.... Horlicks sniffed them then ran off. Plan B - failure. The 3rd attempt finally work. Horlicks ran around the garden till she got tired & laid down to rest against a wall. Vivi located Horlicks' nipples & place the baby against it while i coaxed Horlicks to continue lying down with biscuit treats.

Wow... u should've seen the baby's reaction when it was placed near the mother's body. It sprung awake & rushed to try to suck the nipple. Some natural instinct kind of thing i suppose. Using this method, we managed to feed the smaller pinker rabbit (henceforth known as Baby002 - temporarily named according to birth order) till poor Horlicks ran out of milk.

Then we had to rest her a bit before feeding Baby001 (aka the miracle baby from this morning) a little. Horlicks was v.cooperative too. Vivi let her sniff 001 & Horlicks flipped onto her side, as though she really knew what we were trying to do. So we quickly placed 001 at her nipple & thankfully 001 managed to drink some milk too. But i think 001 was too hungry & it sucked too hard (i could hear the sound) and might have bit Horlicks too so Horlicks couldn't tahan that long. Prob. about 2 mins and Horlicks stood up again.

Nevertheless, i'm glad we found a way to feed the babies. Nothing beats a mother's milk. (Did u know that a baby mother's milk is super high in calories? And that newborn baby needs no more than 5cc a day!) The dilemma i have now is how do i know when they're full enough? (Overfeeding also can die... feed too little also can die...). Sigh... haven't figured that one out yet.

Anyway, here are some photos of Baby001 & 002. :)

The one on top, the pinker one is Baby002. The greyish baby is 002, the miracle baby.

Same... 002's the one on top. :)

001's on the right.

May God bless these babies! (Really scared they'll shrink & dehydrate overnight like Peanut's babies.)

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

A miracle & a tragedy

This morning when i went to check on the babies, i couldn't find them in the nesting box!! They somehow rolled themselves under the nesting wool and totally out of sight. I was like gentally probing the wool to find them and Horlicks kept hopping in & out of the cage...

After searching for like 5 mins, Horlicks came & started sniffing the corner of the cage.... and that's when i saw a pink baby inside the litter tray!!! (As in the litter tray beneath the cage.) I quickly pulled out the litter tray from under the cage & there it was! The FATTEST PINKIEST little baby! Thank God it was still alive! And warm too! This baby is a true miracle baby! Somehow i've this strange hope that this miracle baby will be able to survive & grow up.

While i was really thrilled to find this 3rd baby, a tragedy occured during the night. Out of the 2 babies we placed in the nesting box last nite? The plumper one was sound asleep underneath the wool but the thinner one died. It was still a little warm so it must have just died only. Poor thing... i'm not sure if it suffocated in the wool ('cos it rolled itself to the corner of the box, totally covered up by the wool), or if it died 'cos it was under-nourished at birth.

My dad fed the plump baby a little bit of milk just now but the fat miracle baby is still sleeping soundly. Oh... it did pee a little. Guess it got the most amount of food while in the mother's womb. Anyway, i don't approve of my dad handling the babies so much in the first 24 hrs.. i mean... what if Horlicks looks for her babies and can't find them then she gives up nursing them or something?!?

But what's been done cannot be changed... so bo pian. I'm going to try to force Horlicks to nurse the babies tonite. My gameplan is to place her standing up on my lap, then put the babies at her nipples (my dad claims he can't find them). My dad thinks this won't work but i think it will... well, we'll see how it goes. I really hope miracle baby & plump baby will survive.

Please pray for them.

Monday, January 16, 2006

Mummy Horlicks

Horlicks just gave birth to 2 babies! My parents just came home from dinner and my dad went to check on the rabbits. He heard Horlicks making darn a lot of noise, wanting to come out of her cage. Out of pity, he opened the door for her and ta-da! There were 2 baby rabbits there! Horlicks started pulling her fur outside the cage (talk about last minute work) so my dad scooped up the babies & placed them in the nesting box we prepared.

As my dad was preparing the entire nesting facility (it's now been upgraded to this wooden house with a cardboard box base, filled with nesting wool hollowed out in the middle), Horlicks jumped back into her cage... but i guess 'cos she didn't see her babies, she left the cage & stopped pulling her fur.

Anyway, after i came home, we did a search to make sure that there were no babies left stranded around the backyard. We found a whole clump of fur in the drain... guess Horlicks dumped the fur there when she couldn't find her babies... so we removed the metal grating of the drain and i fished out the fur. We've placed the fur on top of the babies so hopefully Horlicks will know they're there by the smell?

I couldn't see the babies very clearly 'cos they were in the nesting facility when i got home... my dad says they're slightly shorter than Tim Tam but plumper. I saw a partial view of them and they were definitely a lot more pink!!

Please pray that Horlicks will know what to do 'cos it really seems that the survival of baby rabbits depend 99% on the mother.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We locked Horlicks back into her cage (she was roaming about the backyard and only returned to her cage to eat & drink but didn't go see her babies) and she protested strongly. She wanted to come out but we quickly covered up the cage & switched off the lights. Hopefully she'll settle down and learn to nurse her babies. My main worry is that she doesn't know where the babies are! :(

The process of getting married

At a friend's wedding dinner recently, we started talking about the process of getting married. Generally i've observed 2 common ways that Singaporeans get married. My observation is that Christians usually have a church wedding in the morning / early afternoon, and a wedding dinner at night, then go on a honeymoon, and stay together in their marital home after coming back. (Well, at least something very similar to that). Non-Christians on the other hand will ROM first, move into a flat together, then have a wedding dinner 2 years later.

Now this may be a little sensitive but i really don't see the logic behind that lor. I mean, what's the point of living together as a married couple for 2 years then have a wedding dinner? To me, it only goes to show that the wedding dinner is purely for show, whether it is to please the older generation, or for "face".

I would rather not have a wedding dinner if that's the case... but believe it or not... i actually want to have a wedding dinner. Somehow i think it's cool to be able to ask people that matter to you to celebrate your wedding. It's just so festive. :P Hence i've long made up my mind that should i ever get married, i'm going to have the works - "fetching the bride" in the morning, church wedding in the afternoon, dinner at night, then off to a honeymoon.

Clown & i have spoken about making long-term plans before... and he was actually for the idea of ROM-ing first, and having a dinner later! I objected vehemently! I was so set on my idea of how a wedding should be that i simply cannot imagine having it any other way. I explained to him the rational behind my thinking and how i didn't want to do things in what i consider a meaningless & illogical way. But Clown brought up the fact that to fulfil my wish, we would need a lot of savings. A lot.

Strangely, when this same topic was discussed at my friend's wedding, the gals agreed with me that they want to have the wedding dinner about the same time as their ROM / church wedding (depending on whether they were Christians or not). (I never expected that there would be a gender divide on this.) A guy who recently got married said that he wanted to do the ROM first dinner a few years later thing but his wife also objected. So the conclusion i got was that gals probably place more emphasis on the significance of getting married whereas guys may see a wedding as just a stage that a couple has to go through.... as in "i definitely want to spend my life with this person hence we have to do this thing called a wedding, so that we can get the paperwork done". (OK, maybe not exactly like that but close...)

Anyhow, to all the people who keep asking whether i'm going to get married soon... the answer is no.... 'cos i have no money. Haha. An estimate of the cost of getting married the way i want is about 40-50k. I'm a poor person. So now, besides an UTG Red Light Camera Fund, i'm setting up an UTG Getting Married Fund. All are welcome to donate.

Tim & Tam

I'm still using Tim Tam as my MSN pic. I miss them even though they lived for only a short 3 days. I feel sad yet happy when their image appears in my mind. I think nature is such a paradox sometimes... like how a mother rabbit knows how to pull her fur to make a nest but yet she can not know how to feed her babies properly. And how babies will fight for their lives no matter how difficult the odds are.

I surfed the Internet extensively for more information on nursing baby rabbits & compiled a list of websites that had the most useful information. Sent the links to my dad to read too and he summarised the things we have to do when Horlicks gives birth (i'm really assuming she's pregnant here).

We're quite prepared now.... my dad bought nesting wool to line the floor of the box and we'll use the wooden house that the rabbits used to lie in as shelter for the babies. I'm going to buy alfafa hay tomorrow to place on top of the nesting wool and my dad has also created a smaller litter tray for Horlicks so that the house/nesting box can fit in the cage together with the litter tray.

Coffee is living alone in BZ's old cage now. He looks quite lonely at times but no choice lah... gotta put him in solitary confinement till he becomes a eunuch. Peanut & MC are in the bigger cage and they've been living quite harmoniously together. Horlicks is in a cage by herself so that she & her babies will have their personal space when they come along. We estimate the babies to come around the end of this month.

Now i just gotta think of names for the new babies... :)

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Tim & Tam passed away

Woke up this morning and saw that Tammy was dead. Timmy (i decided to name them in the order they were born. I'm pretty sure the one with the smaller head, i.e. Tammy was the one born 2nd 'cos this baby was born the smallest of all 4 but it was the most active when born.) was struggling for its life. They both looked even skinnier than last night! I don't know how come they could lose so much mass in 8 hours.

I took Timmy up & warmed it in my hands. My dad prepared some glucose water for it to drink. It's breathing was hard & laboured but it managed to lick 3 drops of water. It did seem to get a little better but it still died shortly after.

We buried Tim & Tam in the front garden next to Cokie. I took a photo of them together before i buried them. Just to remember the babies by.

My dad & i suspect that Horlicks might be pregnant too 'cos she's been digging a lot lately & she has suddenly grown to be fatter than Muah Chee. I use MC as a benchmark now. Rabbits that dig + grow bigger than MC = pregnant. I'm kind of hoping that Horlicks is really pregnant 'cos it would be really cool to have babies born & brought up in my house. But i'm still going ahead to sterilise Coffee 'cos the survival rate of newborn babies are very low. (I've already booked a date for Coffee to be sterilised - 1/2/2006).

I was lamenting that it's a pity Much Chee wasn't the one who was pregnant 'cos she's the most caring of all the rabbits. My dad says that MC is also more matured so the babies may have a higher chance of survival. Oh well, if Horlicks does give birth, at least we'll be better prepared now. Also, Horlicks likes to be touched by humans... like a little puppy.... so we prob. can give her more help in feeding her babies. I'm going to pet & carry Horlicks more often now.... at least make sure she's really really used to people carrying her. So should she have babies, can help carry her in a standing position & put the babies to her body to suckle.

Please still pray that Peanut will get over her loss ok? I don't know how she'll react to the babies being gone.

Tim Tam

Some pictures of my precious darlings. If u compare the two, u'll know why i was so worried that they'll die of malnutrition / dehydration.

This photo was taken on 13 Jan 2006, about 9:30am.

Photo taken on 13 Jan 2006, about 3:30pm.

See the difference? They were plump & less wrinkled in the morning... but by afternoon, they were definitely skinnier & more wrinkled.

My dad managed to feed them a liiiiiitle bit of evaporated milk about 9pm just now. Earlier on, when we tried to feed them, they kept sleeping & refused to drink the milk. Then about 9pm, i heard them scratching the cardboard box they were in. My dad rushed to warm up the milk and we fed them.

Well... i attempted to feed 1... but it kept falling asleep in my palm... but once i laid it back in the box, it'll wake up again! In the end, my dad fed both. They drank about 0.3ml of milk... which is barely anything... but that's the best we could do.

Please keep the 2 darlings in your prayers. They're known as Tim Tam.... named after my fave Arnott chocolate biscuits. I haven't quite decided if the bigger baby (there's 1 that eats more & is visibly bigger) is going to be Tim, or Tam... :)

Friday, January 13, 2006

Peanut gave birth

Peanut gave birth to 4 babies on 11 Jan 2006, at about 8pm. The first 2 babies were rolling all over the cage when they were born... but the 3rd & 4th babies died soon after / at birth.

The first sign that Peanut was going to give birth was when she suddenly started pulling out a lot of her fur to line the cage... and before long... out popped the babies. We put Baby One & Two in a shallow carton box to prevent them from rolling out of the cage. The babies look a little like tiny piglets - dark pink, furless & blind. In fact, i couldn't even see their ears!

First time any of my rabbits gave birth so i quickly went on the Internet & got some info on what to do. Interesting thing abt mother rabbits - they don't lie together with their children, instead preferring to watch from a safe distance. The reason is because being prey animals, they're afraid that their scent may attract predators & so in order to keep their babies safe, they usually watch them from a distance. Mother rabbits feed their babies twice a day, usually during dawn & just before dusk.

This is the tricky part... how does one tell if the mother rabbit has fed the babies? What if being a 1st time mother, she doesn't know what to do? Or what if the blind babies are unable to find her teats to suckle?!?

According to the American House Rabbit Society site, it says that a baby that has been fed will have a distended stomach. Babies who are left hungry will wrinkle (a sign of dehydration). The important thing is to leave the mother alone to feed the baby 'cos if she senses "predators" around, she'll not want to go near her babies. Also, a mother may not feed her baby till 24 hrs after they're born.

So we decided to observe Peanut & her babies. Up till last night, i really couldn't tell whether she fed them or not... though they seemed the same size as when they were born. But just now, when i got home from work about 3pm+, the babies looked quite wrinkled!! Which made me very very worried. I tried to use a syringe to give them some milk formula (bought from the pet shop) but they were so sleepy that they refused to drink.

I know the babies will wake up abt 6pm+ but i told my dad not to disturb them... i mean what if Peanut does feed them but 'cos we're around then she holds back right?? But my dad JUST WENT TO CHECK ON THEM!! (It's 5:59pm now).

He says that the babies are awake & rolling about... and i told him to quickly move away 'cos i'm sure no matter how quiet u are, the mother rabbit will still be able to sense a human being near her cage.

Anyway, i really hope Peanut knows how to feed them. I took half day off today to come home to spend a bit of time with them... they're really cute even when sleeping. Sigh... it's kinda sad but their survival is out of my hands... and i can only cherish whatever time i have with them.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Smoking Kills

Just found out that 1 of my ex-colleagues' husband is suffering from end-stage lung cancer. He's only 38 and yes, he is a smoker. The cancer has spread to his lymph nodes & stomach. We're all very sad for my ex-colleague 'cos they've only been married for 2 years and their daughter just turned 1 last year. This ex-colleague of mine is also in high risk of losing her job 'cos the management has already blacklisted her for underperforming. If that happens, i really don't know how she's going to cope with the costs of raising a kid & all the medical bills - she's not in very good health herself.

The thing about smoking is that i've realised that the smoker must want to quit badly enough to actually succeed. Lots of smokers have short spells of success in quitting but the no. who pick it up again is just too high. There's so many things out there to help people to quit - treated bubblegum, nicotine patches, etc... but some people just plain refuse to quit. Then there are those who say they're trying... and it seems like they've been trying for an eternity.

There's this website done by a friend of mine to help people to quit smoking. The URL is www.smokeraid.com. If you know anyone who smokes, perhaps this site can help.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

The Jury is Out

Boohoohoo! I checked the traffic police site last night and i got fined $200 + 12 demerit points for "FAILING TO CONFORM TO RED LIGHT SIGNAL UNDER SEC 120(1)(B) RTA CAP 276(LV)."

Waaah!!! What a waste of a good $200! This is for all drivers out there... the red light camera facing the junction of Simei Road & Upper Changi East (direction heading towards Bedok) is REAL!

WAAAAAHHH!

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Attempted Blogicide

I've just been posed with a serious dilemma. I've never been someone to mince my words, nor retract my stand. I've always dared to stand up for what i've said or done before. But the problem now is that what if things that i believe in don't just affect me? I don't give a damn if i lose my job or cause tons of people to hate me 'cos of something i've posted on my blog. I will gladly stand by what i wrote. The problem now is, i'm worried about things i write affecting people that i love. Hence i strongly considered killing off my blog. If i have to censor my thoughts & opinions, then i would rather not have a blog 'cos i don't believe in doing things without meaning.

My previous blog has been too exposed... some of my colleagues know of it & i guess the more people know about it, the higher the chance of my opinions bringing negative consequences on the people i cherish. Hence i decided to keep a lower profile & only let my closer friends know about this new URL. Should by some freak chance others come to find out about my blog, then i'll accept that it was meant to be.

It's tough being a guy...

Hehe... this is a continuation of my "wasted 2 hrs" post. Clown came over at 2:30am last nite. I said he didn't need to come over since it was already so late but he was already on the way. It was sweet of him. Came over to accompany me while i watched Detective Investigation Files II. Heh... i was selfish... didn't really entertain him much 'cos i really wanted to make up my lost 2 hrs & continue to "chase" the serial. But Clown didn't mind... and we spent the rest of 2 Jan together. Which was fun... i don't remember ever spending a whole day together without either 1 of us having to go for a viewing or meet a client... not even on our off days (it's hard to have a collaborated off day).

So the end conclusion is, for 2 hrs of boredom, i got 22 hrs of company... heh... i know my bf's a sweetie!

Monday, January 02, 2006

2 hrs, 120min, 7200sec

Damn it. Just wasted 2 hours of my life. After church, i decided to come home 'cos Clown said he was going to play mahjong with his family. So i came home, watched tv, and took a nap. We agreed to have dinner together and i suggested having sushi at first... but i got a call from Clown about 8:45pm to say that they were ordering KFC delivery & California Pizza 'cos they were still playing mahjong (started at 2pm). He asked if i wanted to go over and so i did. After buying my own dinner over, eating it in front of the tv ('cos they were still at it), i thot they would probably be done in a couple more rounds. But NO! I waited till 12:25am and they were STILL PLAYING THE BLOODY MAHJONG. By then i was damn pissed... cldn't watch TV in the hall 'cos his cousins were smoking and i hate the odour... and i had already spent 1.5hrs in his room, by myself, trying to chat with friends on the Internet to keep myself occupied.

What a way to start 2006 eh? My didi said his jie was the sort that needed to have an activity packed day... which really isn't true... my reply to him was that i don't mind idling... but it must be purposeful idling!! Not doing nothing while waiting for someone to finish playing mahjong!!! I really regretted not taking my DIF II VCDs along with me. If i did, at least i would have had something to occupy myself with and maybe not get so pissed.

But i can't technically be angry with Clown 'cos i asked for it right? I was the one who agreed to go over to his place knowing full well they were playing mahjong. Yeah. Can't blame him for not even being able to take 5min of a break to say a little more than hi to me right? See? This is a classic example of ASKING FOR IT.

OK. So i'm really damn pissed now. Yes. What a way to start the new year. With absolute boredom & frustration.

ARGH!

Merlion City