Family

I just wanted to write a note in here about Susan's Grandma, Laura Monica Olsen. She passed away on February 13, 2007. She was 91 years old.
She left behind a legacy like no one else that I have ever known. She was an amazing woman and an incredible teacher.
She had 12 children, 78 grandchildren, 135 great-grandchildren and 54 great-great-grandchildren. Isn't that incredible! 279 direct offspring and she knew everyone's name and something about them. She almost single-handedly built a community.
I consider myself very lucky to have known her. She will be missed by all.

Valentine's Day

This is a little late but, it was a very special Valentine's Day for Susan and me. We both had to work and the kids were home for the week because there was a death in our family.
We both got home to find Laura baking heart shaped sugar cookies for us as a Valentine's treat. They were baked perfectly and tasted delicious. She even made icing and coloured it with jam because we had no food colouring. What a little baker!
This treat made our day!
What was so funny about it was that when I was young, my Mom used to make exactly the same thing for us for Valentine's Day.

Roger

It is a very sad time in our house right now. We just lost our pet rabbit, Roger. He was a black Holland Lop and as cute as a bunny can be. We got him a few years ago for Susan's birthday surprise. He quickly found his place in our house, and in our hearts. He ran the show!
We had quite a time when we first got him because rabbits like to chew things, like electrical cords. A big learning curve for us. He was not a cuddly bunny because he was always too busy. He liked his space and loved to run around the living room, doing laps and “happy jumps”. Happy jumps were when he would just randomly jump a couple of feet straight up in the air. When he was tired of running, his favourite spot was right in the middle of the living room and he would always lie down with a big flop, as if someone pushed him over. He would then rest his chin on his little front paws which was so cute.
He enjoyed getting treats from everyone. He would run around all excited, taking treats from our mouths. That was how we got our little bunny kisses. Everyone loved that. Another treat for him was his carrots and lettuce. Whenever he got them, he would dig right in. Mm, munch, munch.
Roger was not allowed on the furniture because he would leave little presents for us. If ever he was in the living room and we all left, he would use the opportunity to jump up on the couch and sit up like he was the king of the castle. As soon as one of us would come back into the room, he would jump back down and look at us with his innocent bunny stare. “What did I do?” he would say with his eyes, especially if there were bunny drops all over the couch. That was really the only time he would not use his litter box. He was very well trained.
The only other place that Roger was not allowed to go was upstairs. We had to get a gate to block the stairway because he would run up the stairs and mark the first landing. Also, if any of the bedroom doors were open, he would run in and “claim” everything he could jump on, especially in Kyle's room. Sometimes, if the gate was left open, Roger would try to run up the stairs. He was not very quiet and we just had to say his name and he would come running back down and give us that “look”.
We always had to watch the front door because Roger was a curious bunny and would want to go exploring. When we first got him, we tried a leash so that he could explore outside. This was not acceptable to him. If he was going to be out he wanted to be loose. This did not sit well with us so the outside adventures were short lived.
One thing that Roger found right away was our phone book. He started tearing into it and decided that it was his. Soon after that, we got a new phonebook so we let him keep his and he always had his own after that. He would spend so much time tearing out pages, one at a time. He would also sit on top of it when he was just relaxing. What a funny bunny.
If ever he was mad or not impressed with us, he would let us know with a loud thump of his back foot. It was usually when I was making him go back to his room.
He did not have a regular rabbit cage, he was too good for that. He had a mansion. I built a three level house for him out of wire shelving panels. He also had his own room which he shared with our computer. He liked the living room because it is carpeted. It was always a big panic for him to run from his room to the living room because his furry little paws would slip on the floor. For that reason, he never saw our kitchen in all his life. We could always tell when he needed to get his nails clipped because they would clackety-clack down the hall when he ran.
Roger was a busy bunny and he will have a special spot in all of our hearts. I could go on about the chewed blankets and shoes and purses, which were not his fault. Or about his many mis-adventures which always gave us something to talk about. He was such a “funny bunny” and we always told him so. We miss him more than we can say. How a small creature could take such a large part of our hearts, I'll never know. We are just thankful for the time that we had with him.
Farewell Roger, we love you.