This morning, about an hour after kids caught the bus, Josh (the goose) was making his angry noise outside. I went to put my shoes on and when I stepped into the entryway, I saw George, munching on a grass buffet outside in the East yard. Well, that's not where he belongs. I put my shoes on and went out to get him. He didn't run at all. Thankful that I didn't have to chase him through the yard, I brought him to the barn to put him away in his cage. As I latched his cage, a bunny darted behind the cages to my right. Now wait just a minute... Who's missing now? I pulled the gate closed, did a quick head count, and noticed Kevin's cage was open and empty. He's a sweetheart, but he also seems to enjoy his freedom. I had to play hide and seek with him for a while before finally picking him up. He really is a nice bunny. As soon as I put him back in his cage he was content to nibble his hay.
Today was bunny breeding day. I paired Snowflake with George again, and Feather to Hodor this time. Feather carries blue genetics (recessive to her black/red tricolor pattern), and Hodor carries chocolate genetics, so we could get some interesting tricolors and harlequins out of them - though likely just normal colors, but all should be carriers for blue and/or chocolate. Neither buck seemed to be successful though, so I will put them back in again tomorrow (something I very rarely do).
Little Octavius is scheduled to move to his new home on Friday. By the way he gobbled down the pellet feed last night, I wonder if he won't be a round little thing by the time he leaves. His current cage mate, Onyxia remains listless for the most part. She is gaining weight and is looking more alert, but she's still thin across her back (with a fat little tummy from all the food options she's got). There's never any scraps left after snack deliveries. She ate all the apple peels and the entire watermelon rind, and there was no sign of any corn husks left after the most recent snack rounds. She's a great little food composter! At this rate she should be back up to weight soon I should hope. I just wish she'd show a little more personality. She just sits there all day next to the feed bin. Octavius climbs over her to get his share of the food, and she doesn't seem to mind, or make any effort to get out of his way or out from under him. He doesn't seem to be hurting her, so I'm not terribly concerned as long as they're both eating well and getting along with one another.
Today we lost one of the cats for an hour or so. I saw her come down the stairs and go into the kitchen, and I asked Tony to put her in the bathroom (where we keep the naughty "think outside the box" kitties with the litter boxes), but when he walked into the kitchen, he couldn't find her. Then the kids went and looked. No luck. It became a house-wide search and some of the kids started to panic wondering is she made it outside somehow. I reminded them that all the windows have screens, and Floki can't open doors. We searched for at least 30 minutes, we couldn't find her. Eventually we gave up and went back to other things. After about another half an hour, I saw her out of the corner of my eye slinking from the kitchen back up the stairs. #4 ran up and caught her and put her in the bathroom. I'm not entirely certain where she hid, but the only place I can think of that we didn't look was in the cupboard with the dog food. She'd have had to have closed the door behind her though, as the doors were shut when we were looking, but open once she'd been returned to the bathroom. Good game of hide and seek Floki! Today, you won!
The house is a mess, dishes aren't done, dinner was late, and now I'm blogging all alone as everyone else has scurried off to bed. If nothing else I will have plenty to do tomorrow to keep me busy while kids are at school!