In peaceful times I hold her close and I feed her

It can now, at last, be revealed.

When I last talked about looking for a new pet rabbit it was the adequate but unspectacular meeting with Walter and Larry. We didn't change our mind about Walter (or Larry). And we understand that Larry has been adopted out. But ...

bunnyhugger learned of a young female rabbit suspected of being a Flemish Giant --- granting that every non-dwarf rabbit is labelled ``Flemish Giant mix(?)'' to make them more attractive to big-bun enthusiasts --- out near Kalamazoo. And we got pictures. She was a young rabbit, barely old enough to be neutered. Found out in the wild, somewhere, despite being a domesticated rabbit and so not appropriate for outdoors on this continent. And, when taken in, in some pretty rough shape. Diseased (who knew a rabbit could even have a tapeworm?) and injured, likely reflecting some conflict with a raccoon or something that she survived.

We were enchanted, bunnyhugger even moreso since she saw more pictures more often than I did. We thought it worth going out to at least meet the rabbit and see how we felt. ... And then, you know, we just kept having stuff going on. Evenings booked by something or other. Weekends occupied by, for example, going to Cedar Point. We could not find the time to make the hour-long drive and see how this rabbit felt to us.

At some point this transitioned into, do we really need to know to put in an application? To fill out the survey questions and give a photo tour of the area we'd plan to keep her, in case the rescue found us acceptable? And once we had that set up, well, why not at least put down the adoption fee so that if we did meet the rabbit and felt good with her we could take her home right then?

So, somewhere around last week we had it basically decided: unless this was a rabbit violently repelled by us, we'd be adopting her. (Our credentials and our setup and all were, of course, quite good.) All that we needed was time to meet her and ... you know, this week? Monday and Wednesday bunnyhugger was working, Tuesday was a pinball tournament, Thursday Halloween, today another pinball tournament ...

Well. This afternoon, while I was still at work, bunnyhugger went on her own to the outmost skirts of Kalamazoo, and formally met this rabbit and made official what was a foregone conclusion.

And so today we welcomed into the household Athena, named for the goddess of wisdom and war (the latter reflecting her presumed survival of a fight with a predator). She's large by rabbit standards --- over eight pounds --- but small for a Flemish Giant, if she's eight months old. She's right-sized for a Flemish Giant if she's six months old. In any case she's the youngest rabbit we've ever had, and likely ever will.

No time for pictures tonight; see above comment about pinball. And probably not tomorrow because of thing taking us away from home tomorrow. But, soon, I promise.

We are finally again a home with rabbit.

Trivia: When the World Series was made a permanent baseball institution in 1905 the National League and the American League agreed the winning players would receive an ``appropriate memento, in the form of a button''. Within a few years giving some kind of jewelry --- initially, a stickpin --- became the custom. Source: A Game of Inches: The Story Behind the Innovations that Shaped Baseball, Peter Morris.

Currently Reading: Images of America: Lake Shore Electric Railway, Thomas J Patton, Dennis Lamont, Albert Doane.