Last night and tonight I watched a 2 part special on the National Geographic Channel called Inside 9/11. It was incredible. Watching the show brought back all of the emotions I felt on September 11, 2001, and the days following. It showed footage of people jumping, or falling, to their deaths from the burning World Trade Center. It gave the background on how the plot was planned, and carried out. There were a lot of things I did not know, including the confusion of trying to figure out which planes were hijacked, and what was happening.

I felt the same shock and horror watching the footage tonight as I did when it was happening – actually, I felt more horror as I knew what had happened, and understanding that so many thousands of people suffered and died at the hands of crazed extremists.

This show was one that I feel should be shown to ALL American citizens – as a reminder of what happened, and how our Nation was attacked, and suffered. People forget too easily what happened – and that is how history can repeat itself – by not learning from our mistakes. I hope that at some point, this can be televised nationally, so many more people can watch it. I hope we never forget what happened, or the pain that was caused by the terrorists.

God bless America

Today President Bush came to Salt Lake City to speak at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention. I was quite proud to have him come to the state I live in, however I was quite embarassed at the conduct of Salt Lake City’s mayor, Rocky Anderson.

This is the second visit to Utah by President Bush, the first being during the 2002 Winter Olympics. I had the privelage to be at the Opening Ceremonies, and it was quite an experience to see the President in person. This time around, however, I was able to watch him give his speech on tv, and I thought it was a very good one. He praised the veterans for their sacrifice, and also spoke of the soldiers currently serving our country overseas. He mentioned sticking with the plan in Iraq, and finishing it out, rather than leaving now, and leaving everything to chance.

Earlier in this post, I mentioned Rocky Anderson, the joke of a mayor of Salt Lake City. Prior to President Bush’s arrival, Mr. Anderson sent out an email encouraging people to protest our President and his stance on Iraq. While I recognize that freedom of speech is an essential element of our Constitution, and something that should never be taken away, I feel that Mr. Anderson was extremely tactless in inviting the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) to hold their convention in Salt Lake, and then protesting the war, and refusing to attend the convention. I believe as Mayor of Salt Lake City, Mr. Anderson has a responsibility to be welcoming to visitors. It showed very poor taste on Mr. Anderson’s part to accept the money that was brought in by the convention, but then “spit” on the people that were visiting, including our President.

While I am very conservative on many issues, and totally support President Bush in the war in Iraq, I think the freedom we have to protest is one of the things that makes our country great – and different from others. I just feel that Rocky Anderson is a disgrace to the city of Salt Lake, and the State of Utah. I am embarassed to have him representing any aspect of this state. I hope that other voters will remember this in the next election, and choose a mayor that represents the majority of the people here in this conservative state. (I do not reside in Salt Lake City, therefore I do not have a vote as to who the next mayor will be)

I just want to say that I am glad George “W” Bush is our president. While I know that may not be a popular opinion, I have never been one to worry about what others think about me. I stand up for my beliefs, and am proud to say that I am a conservative, God-fearing, red-blooded American citizen, and I support all of our troops overseas, and pray for them. I want them to come home as much as anyone, but I think bringing them home before the job is done makes all the progress they have made worthless. By bringing troops home now, it would be saying those who died did so in vain. I am glad to have a President that sticks to his beliefs, and does not care about being popular with the louder minority of democrats and liberals.

If only Rocky Anderson had such courage and strength of character.

Well, I’ve been working a lot with the bunnies, and the fighting continues. The fights seem to get worse. Yesterday, Honey and Jack locked onto each other, and I couldn’t separate them – even squirting water at them, and trying to pick them up. They’ve both got their battle wounds, and I’m wondering what to do. I’m considering returning the new bunnies to the Humane Society, simply because I don’t want the bunnies to get hurt – or at least hurt worse than they already have been. It hasn’t been anything serious yet, and Thumper and Jack get along really well, but Honey just isn’t enjoying these guys “trespassing” on her territory. They may be able to find a better home elsewhere, and I want all the bunnies to be safe and happy.

It’s frustrating because the bunnies seem to do well in the bathtub, sans water, but when I try to take them to the backyard, the fighting begins with a vengence. I will take a few more days, I think, and see how it goes. Honey still is my princess, and it’s hard to see her get hurt.

My husband and I built a new townhouse in Riverton, Utah, in January of this year. We are finding that we have a few extra visitors around the house – mice. I’m not sure what to do about getting rid of them. Because we have bunnies that hop around the house, poison and snap traps are out of the question, as are the sticky traps. (The bunnies are very curious, and would certainly get into any traps like that.) I was going through boxes yesterday, trying to get everything moved into our house, when I discovered what had been mice nests – complete with the droppings of mice. We have even seen a couple of mice running around our house, and in the backyard. It is driving me crazy!

My question is this: How can I get rid of the mice? I have tried the live traps, complete with peanut butter on crackers to lure in the mice. They’re just not interested! They prefer chewing through important paperwork, and other things in boxes. (I have since filed everything in a metal file.) I just want to find a way to get rid of them, humanely. If any of you have suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. I’m stuck here…

We have had our 3 bunnies for about two weeks now, and they are making progress – slowly. Once we brought the bunnies home, and started working with them, they decided that they wanted to fight. The fights weren’t too bad – but Honey did get a cut eyelid. (It has healed completely now.) Honey still wanted to assert her authority, and Jack and Thumper were trying to figure out where they stand in the “pecking order.” They would try to get away with anything – from trying to go into Honey’s “area” under the chair, to trying to get into her cage, which is forbidden. (Bunnies all need their own “personal space” away from the others – a place they feel safe and secure.)
She has taught them that she is the “queen” around the house, and that she’s in charge. We’re still working with them on getting along together – they can’t be trusted to be alone together yet. I take about 20 minutes a day, and put all three in our oversized bathtub, and just let them figure things out. They sniff each other, and ignore each other, and sometimes try to nip at each other. I keep a squirt bottle, set on “jet” at hand, and spray any bunnies that are trying to fight in the face. This serves two purposes: it distracts the bunnies from fighting, and allows them to be comfortable grooming themselves near each other. They don’t like having wet faces. Once they’re comfortable in a “neutral territory” together, I’ll move them outside together, and work using the same techniques, in a different, less neutral territory. My goal is to have them comfortable around each other, and have all three eventually become friends. I realize that this is a very time consuming proposition, but they seem to be making progress. This is a great lesson in patience for me!

Every March, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, the seal hunters gather to slaughter baby seals for their fur pelts for sale in Europe, and other areas around the world that do not ban the sale of the fur. (The United States does, in fact, ban the import of the fur.)

The Humane Society of the United States has documented video of this slaughter, and it can be seen by clicking here. I think anyone with a heart that sees this will agree that this is one of the most barbaric practices – one that is legal and encouraged by the Canadian government. In fact, the government sets a quota for how many seals can be slaughtered each year – sometimes up to 350,000.

I have decided to do what I can to protest the seal hunt. I refuse to buy any Canadian Seafood, and that includes eating at Red Lobster, which primarily purchases their food from Canada. I believe that money speaks louder than anything, and if the Canadian government sees that they are being boycotted by their neighbors to the south, they may alter their stance on the slaughter. It is sad that money is really all they listen to, but if that is what will help the seals, then I think it is what should be done.

The Canadian government says that the seals eat too much fish, and they harm the fishing industry, but what really hurts the fishing industry is the over – fishing that is done. People must regulate themselves – nature always balances itself out. When humans start doing mass slaughters, that is what throws off the natural balance.

Please write to the Canadian Government, and even to places like Red Lobster to show your support of the ban of the seal hunt. For information on what you can do to help, see the Humane Society website.

Last night, my husband and I went out to adopt a new bunny to be a friend for our Holland Lop, Honey Bunny. For the past several weeks, I have looked for potential adoptees on a wonderful website, Petfinder.com. The great thing about Petfinder is it allows you to search by Zip code, and brings up all the animals in your surrounding area. You can pick out what kind of animal to search for, what size, age, and gender. I finally found a bunny that seemed to have potential, and she even looked like my very first bunny, Bonnie Bunny. We went down to the West Jordan, Utah Animal Shelter to look at her. We brought Honey along to meet the bunny, to see if they might be compatable. Unfortunately, they were not. I was beginning to be frustrated because we had brought another bunny home a few months earlier, but that proved near disastrous when Honey needed 5 staples to stitch up her neck. This bunny, which weight in around 2 pounds, seemed crazy. It was growling and snapping at me and Honey, who, although is three times the size of this bunny, seemed terrified. We decided against this bunny, and chose to look elsewhere.

We ended up at the Utah Humane Society, and they had several adorable rabbits to choose from. We found a couple that were really cute, and decided to see if they would get along with Honey. They all got along, although Honey seemed a bit intimidated. We decided to adopt the two – they are brothers, and so now we have three bunnies. We named the boys Jack and Thumper. They are very sweet, and the three seem to be getting along. Honey still asserts her authority, and lets them know that this is “her” home, but I’m amazed that they are all gettling along so well.

I have done a lot of research on introducing rabbits to each other, as they tend to be very territorial. The best resource I have found, by far, is the House Rabbit Society. They give great tips on how to introduce rabbits, care for them, etc. I was prepared for there to be more aggression, but the bunnies have surprised me.

I love having my bunnies as pets. My husband likes them because they’re small, quiet, and they can be litter trained. They’re very clean, and they don’t smell, as long as their cages are cleaned out daily.

I want to mention that all of my rabbits are either spayed or neutered. There are so many sweet animals that have to be enthanized each year due to pet overpopulation. I would encourage anyone looking for a new pet to check out their local animal shelters – there are so many sweet animals in need of a good home.