Monday, August 30, 2010

Vegas Baby!


Miss Jill was tired of feeding rabbits this week (I smell irony there) so she left for Vegas. She has a nice spacious room with glorious furniture. Meanwhile the bunnies and I stay home at Chez Erb. That's OK. Really it is.

Hopefully she bets on UCLA football for me. Then again... they could tank horribly this weekend.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Sisters Fight for the Right... to Banana!

Miss Jill and Mister John were relaxing in the back yard this afternoon when Miss Jill thought about giving her loving husband a banana. Quickly though Prince Phillip hopped over to say Hola to the two. He took a few bites and then hopped away. For a rabbit who is typically shy of humans, he clearly loves bananas enough to hang around humans to eat more. The sisters though are worth a lot more trouble... or humor.

Upon getting a piece, the two chased each other in circles playing "grab the banana from the other girl's mouth." These two are so engrossed in the chase that they often forget to eat the banana piece or even worse, they drop it and the other gets it and the game of chase goes in reverse.

Oddly though today had a different variation. Ruby Jane, our veritable Brown Bear, grabbed the piece of banana and was irritated that her fluffier sister Root Beer Float was chasing her. So she turned around -- with banana in mouth -- and started charging at her sister. What ensued was a furried frenzy of frenetic proportions. Within minutes peace ruled the backyard and they flopped beside each other. At one point Prince Phillip actually came in and broke up the squabble. While he knew they were not fighting over him, he doesn't like to see young girls beat each other up for relatively no reason (although bananas are quite honorable).

Shortly after Miss Jill and Mister John watched this incredible rabbit drama, Miss Jill reached over to steal a pretzel with peanut butter inside (oh so delish!) but Mister John slapped her hand and then ran away with the bag in his hand. Miss Jill, knowing she could not catch up to the fleet-footed Mister John, sat there and cleaned her ears.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Someone Is Sleeping in My Bed!


Pengoon realizes that his summer vacation is soon to end so he's sleeping on Mister John's side of the bed right now.

Mister John will have to find his own place to sleep for the night. Maybe if he grabs a tuna can and opens it in the living room, that might lure the mighty Decathlon mascot out there. Otherwise, he'll have to sleep on the couch and watch more reruns of Doctor Who. Well, that and pre-season football.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Life Is a Hammock

Some day Clyde in the back yard will be large enough that we can attach a hammock to him and we can swing back and forth while relaxing. We used to have one at Chez Erb but TOME (The Original Mister Erb) chopped down the elm tree to build a ham radio tower. There was still a hammock pole independently standing in the back yard for another decade or so after that.

To the right is a picture of Mister John quietly reading while lounging in a hammock in Saruni, the final camp in Kenya which we visited. Such a luscious green valley over yonder. Occasionally a herd of trees would make their way up the valley and eat some leaves.

Due note that the patio has a fifty foot drop and the camera lens came within a foot of rolling off it. Quite spectacularly Miss Jill made a triumphant dive/slide and caught the lens before it fell off to its destruction. Heck, this picture might have been just before that happened as Mister John was too deep in the hammock to get out quickly.

Ah, to swing back and forth... some day they will safari again.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Who's That Bunny Miss Jill Is Kissing?

A few things to note:

  • That grey rabbit isn't Jane.
  • Wow, no goatee on Mister John.
  • That rabbit is busting a move on my wife!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Penguins Tend to Relax on Sundays


The Pengoon is spending his vacation in style. For much of the year he sits atop Mister John's (aka Mr. Erb) mobile school closet. But for a few weeks during Christmas and summer break, he gets to chill with the family. Of course that brings the annual conflicts with TV Turtle and Sharkey as they all want to eat fish. And clearly this proves to be a greater problem as the Pengoon is much larger than them. Never discuss issues of biomass with Decathlon penguins, television turtles, and cloth-toothed sharks (they get a bit testy). Furthermore Shark Week comes on just in time for the fish eating conflicting every year. This year the three have bonded and have enjoyed watching all the Shark Week programming. This has left Miss Jill and Mister John a little worried as the new programming for 2010 dealt mostly with shark attacks on humans. When either Jill or John walks by, they all turn their heads to look at them like the ghosts did on the Ancient Mariner's ship (what, you haven't read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" lately? you suck!).

In the afternoons, Pengoon gets out and lounges in the back yard. Good for him, he deserves a good rest from all the action inside. Besides, in about ten days, he'll be back at Mary Star and surviving all the sophomore madness. And he also knows that January is coming soon enough: the Decathlon awaits. Mister John (aka Coach Erb) will be ready to bring him into battle. And nothing drives fear into other Decathlon teams than the Pengoon. Because they know Mary Star is coming. Well, that and the onslaught of parents that come.

Chip Says He'll Behave Today

Chip wants to run about in the back yard with his older sisters but that always ends up in a fight. Today he says he will behave and those persnickety older curmudgeons should act their age too. For some reason, Miss Jill and Mister John will still not allow him access to the backyard on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Cherry Bugg flops in her newly cleaned cage.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Sisters Think It's Sunday


Root Beer Float and Ruby Jane should know better. Their weekend day of play and grass-hopping frivolity is Sunday. However, they indignantly thumped today as Chip and Cherry Bugg hopped free in the back yard.

Chip was only out for a few hours as he can only spend so much time sitting under an orange tree. He'd rather sit in a corner and stare at a wall.

The girls (as they would ideally be seen on the right) ran in circles in their cage with Ruby Jane every so often nibbling RBF in the butt to show her displeasure. Mister John did give them some hay this afternoon but that was about it. Somehow they mystically empty their water dish every time as well.

Friday, August 6, 2010

The Couple Who Sleeps Similarly...



There's an odd familiarity between Miss Jill and Mister John's sleeping habits. On the left hand side is a picture of Mister John sleeping oh so comfortably with a pillow over his face. Don't laugh, he actually picked that up from his mother who used to sleep with a pillow over her face as well. Miss Jill thought that was an odd habit. (Instead of bunnyonthehead, it's pillowontheforehead.)

But there you have it, on the right hand side you can see Miss Jill going all veiled on a plane. Something about sleeping with more darkness methinks.

So the question is: do you sleep with a pillow or a veil on your face?

Oddly enough, Jill had a bunny on the head last night in bed. As Miss Jill lied asleep in bed last night while Mister John watched poker for about an hour (hey, it's the 2010 addition of the World Series of Poker, yo), Cherry Bugg was asleep behind her head. But as Mister John turned off the TV and went to bed, Cherry Bugg grew restless and bit Miss Jill on the skull. Ouch. Bunnybiteonthehead?

Do note that Cherry Bugg never bites Mister John. She knows who feeds her. And she also fears he who has the power to give her a bunny bath. Nothing like having the power to bathe being one of your powerful weapons.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Remote Control Seized During Shark Week


Normally TV Turtle is in control of the remote but for one week a year, Sharkey swims from upon the bedroom television and seizes control. He watches nothing but non-stop Shark Week programming on the Discovery Channel. He sits there casually enjoying the remarkable pictures of his fellow sharks. On Sunday night he was jumping through the air as he emulated the flying sharks off of Shark Island.

So as Miss Jill sits there in the bedroom watching the tense conclusion of The Bachelorette and Mister John oscillates between a Dodger loss and How the Earth Was Made (hey, man, this episode is about the Rocky Mountains), Sharkey sits in the living room and watches three hours of shark programming. You can call us crazy but look at the picture. That shark's got teeth!