Our 6-year-old house rabbit, Twinkles, was ushered to the Rainbow Bridge this afternoon. I've been a member here for several years, but mostly just lurk. I wanted to post this memorial to our boy who had the biggest personality of any bun we've ever had.
Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of him available just now. Most are on another computer at my office. But he looked a lot like Miss Hoppy - cinnamon colored with a bluish stripe along his sides that we called his racing stripe. He had very expressive uppy ears.
He was the rabbit who could be counted on to find mischief. He used to climb on the kitchen table! He could jump a standard baby gate with ease. One of his favorite pastimes was to run up and down the basement stairs - not necessarily to get anywhere - just for the fun of running the stairs.
I used to keep aloe plants in a lighted plant stand in his room. About a year ago, he decided he wanted to hang out in the plant stand so he dug up the aloe plants and threw them on the floor! Ever since that plant stand has been Twinkles' "bun warmer". He would spend hours just hanging out up there. Just lately, when he has been unable to jump up himself, we've been lifting him in and he still loved it, especially when there was a pile of nice hay for him to nibble.
One day a couple of years ago, I was in my office, a couple of rooms away when I heard a CRASH! from his room. When I went to see what was going on, I found him on the third pantry shelf from the floor, just hanging out, as if to say "What's the problem, Mom?" The crash was the rabbit food bin which had been shoved out of its normal spot to the floor (fortunately for all involved, the lid was locked firmly in place). I'm sure it was not random that the food bin was the item shoved out.
Twinkles always knew when there was a treat along with his evening salad. The occasional half a strawberry was a particular favorite. Even if you buried it under the greens, he'd go digging for it in a particularly ungentlemanly fashion, throwing greens everywhere to get to it. Carrots and radishes elicited nearly the same response.
Twinks was also the guy who could wake me in the middle of the night from three rooms away. We cage our guys at night mostly so that if the tornado sirens go off, we can grab them easily. One night, Twinks thumped and thumped till I came in to see what was bugging him. There were crickets in the garage (next to his room) making noise. Another night, he woke me because the night light had gone out. I told him I'd take care of it in the morning and he quieted down. A third time, he woke me because his rabbit brother's cage door hadn't been latched and Orion decided to take a walkabout in the middle of the night. Twinkles tattled on him.
Twinkles will be buried this evening in the mint patch in the backyard next to Orion. The Twinkles shaped hole in our hearts will take somewhat longer to heal. Play hard at the Rainbow Bridge, buddy, and enjoy all the mint, basil and strawberries you can hold. Mom
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