Interviewing a New Toy

Once again the humans have tried to amuse me with a toy of their choosing. I have tried to point out to them that this is a precarious business, because I really like to find my own toys, with no outside pressure. But, it does pay to investigate a little, you never know when they may have stumbled on a good idea . . .

Here are a couple of videos of me being introduced to my new slinky. It's our first encounter, and I'm not too sure about it yet - do you think I should give it a chance?

Fashion Police

Most people do not have a stuffed four-foor rabbit in their living room dressing in a pale lavender evening gown.

But we do.

Sometimes, in our showroom, to model our latest accessories we use Ima Rabbitt, who is a rather large stuffed rabbit in a lovely evening dress. Here I am inspecting the finished product right before it leaves for the showroom. It's up to me to make sure every detail is done right - the humans just can't be trusted. It just their natural incompetence, I suppose.

How to Choose a Good Toy

Here I am in the middle of my toys on an ordinary morning. Notice the Big Brown Bag next to me. Notice how uninteresting it is. While it is a perfectly fine brown bag, it has been placed among my toys by my human family in the futile hope that I will take interest in it. Somehow, they think that just about anything will interest me.

Wrong.

Particularly uninteresting to me are the things that are given to me to play with. I much prefer to find my own amusement.

Now notice the white bag on the floor.


It was dropped on the floor quite by accident by the tall thin member of my family. It happened that the short fat one had the camera ready, and was able to capture this record of my attack.

This bag is infinitely more interesting. First of all, there are some things inside it, which I am not supposed to see. Second, I wasn't supposed to notice the bag on the floor in the first place. And last, there was nothing about this that suggested that it was a human-approved toy.

It's much more fun to pirate your toys whenever you can. You never know what goodies might be found, and (although I never admit this) it's so much fun to aggravate the humans!

I Share My Beauty Secrets

I think it is very important to have a beauty regimen, don't you? One of the most important parts of my day is spent in front of our window fan, conveniently (for me) located on the floor right in front of the big sliding glass door. I spend a great deal of time here, and I have determined that feeling the breeze on my body improves the lustrous quality of my fur. And, since the fan lifts and separates all the individual hairs, it takes me less time to preen the fur in that particular, hard to reach area because it is already fluffed. Sometimes I turn around and let the air currents circulate around my lovely ears. Not only does that feel good, but it's fun to do, too. So, my advice to you all is to try to get your family to get you a fan and use it every day. It also makes a great place to have an afternoon nap on a warm day.

Oh, How Sharper than the Serpent's Tooth

is the ungrateful . . . well, whoever it is, I can never remember. But in my case, it's a totally ungrateful human family.

It all started last Saturday morning, when they left and didn't come back for some time. But when they did, they came back with loads of very, very strange scents all about them. I could sense lots of dog, some cat, some goat, some parrot, and even some llama. Worst of all, there was other rabbit on their clothing. I was appalled.

Flimsy as it was, they excused themselves by telling me they were exhibiting my merchandise at PetExpo, an event that featured all the island pets. Lots of animals were there. Naturally, they didn't ask me if I wanted to go (which of course I didn't but I would have loved to refuse).

I had to give their clothing a thorough going-over. Not to mention the fact that now I have to be on my best behavior because I don't want any of those other beasts thinking they can invade my territory!
Here I am completing my task, making sure there's nothing around I should worry about. Footnote: notice all the little scraps of box I chewed up? That was loads of fun - I can do that better than any of those other animals, I bet!

Blackberry's friend Toad

Here is a little video of a friend of Blackberry's - his name is Toad. Don't you think that's cute? They used to go to Planet Hollywood with their humans for dinner at the outside café, and Toad was at Blackberry's fifth birthday party at Iolani Palace in Honolulu. Here he is at the current Pet Expo at the Baisdell Center in Honolulu - taking in all the sights.

My Favorite Toy

Lots of different bunnies like to play with lots of different toys, and I have a lot in my toy box to chose from, but my very favorite toy is a plain cardboard box. There's so much you can do with them! You can jump into them, sniff them, crawl under them (if they're turned upside down - one of my real favorite passtimes) and you can chomp them. I love to chomp them - tear them up, scatter them around. If you look closely at our floor, you can always see lots of little scaps of box -that's my contribution to our interior decorating! I'm very lucky, because the folks don't seem to mind, except when the phone rings and someone announces that they're going to visit. Then it all gets swept up and I have to start all over again.

Maintaining Standards

Here I am inspecting this week's production, getting ready to put them in their boxes. I think it's important to maintain high standards, don't you? That's why I insist on looking over each piece to make sure the humans aren't goofing off -- they can't get away with anything with me in charge! Would you like to see my jewelry close up? just go to www.rabbittinparadise.com

Updating My Spring Collection

In our family, it's important to keep up on the latest. My company, Rabbitt in Paradise (which you can find at www.rabbittinparadise.com), deals in lots of ladies' accessories (but lots of other rabbit-themed things too), so I have to know what's going on.

Here we are examining this season's trends. There certainly is a lot to go over - sometimes it's hard to concentrate for so long a time. But what's so great about these magazines is that once you've looked at them, they make a great snack!

Shopping Bag Fun

When you're a tired and a little depressed, nothing is as good for the soul as a nice big shopping trip. Well, I didn't go shopping, but I did get to play with the bag when the shopping trip was through.

Lately, we've had a lot of weather problems here in Hawaii. The volcano has been erupting and the air has been clouded with funny fumes that keeps everyone indoors and under wraps. The folks around here all have allergies, which makes them extra grouchy, but there is a side benefit: they go through a couple of kleenex boxes every day, and that makes for a lot of fun for me (see earlier post).

Well, yesterday the windows opened and the air came through and everyone was in a great mood, so they went shopping. But no one had more fun that I did when I discovered the bag!

They Missed My Second Birthday!

Do you believe it? I had my second birthday on February 22nd, and they were in Paris when it happened. I thought it was very, very rude - to say the least.

Well, there were compensations. To take care of Grandpa, we had Nana and Tony come in every day, and both of them were lots of fun to play with. And Calvin came to stay with us - he was here at night, and gave me salad and changed my box. Frankly, new people are a lot easier to coax into giving you extra treats. I think I've almost perfected the technique.

When they finally came home, I found out that they became acquainted with a couple who have an apartment near the Canal Saint-Martin; they would like to change apartments with us for three weeks.

Most astonishingly, they also have a pet rabbit, named Poussinet. So, when they come here, they will take care of me and my family will take of her. You can see her picture above - isn't she lovely? Her name means, "my little chickee" which I think is very, very cute.

Frankly, I would have loved visit Paris myself, but when they told me the plane ride takes about 18 hours, I wasn't so interested anymore.

In the meantime, I'm improving my French. Fortunately, a lot of the important words are either the same or similar, such as carrotte or endive. One night I asked for un raisin, s'il vous plaît, and they gave me a grape! Quelle chance!

Well, above is a picture of the Paris apartment, which I thought was very nice as old buildings go, but what really interested me was the garden in front of the building. Now that's something a rabbit would really like to have in their front yard!

Desirée's Tips: How to Amuse Yourself in a Small Apartment

Faced with a problem experienced by many house rabbits (lack of new and different toys), I have come up with a solution I'd like to share:

Tissue boxes.

We have a very nice apartment in a very nice building, but, face it, it's not the size of the Taj Mahal and after a very short while you run out of things to amuse yourself with.

While I have lots of things I'm supposed to be playing with, like cardboard boxes and oatmeal containers and willow balls made from untreated sticks, it's much more fun and daring to pinch things you're not supposed to have in the first place.

So, when no one was looking, I reached up to the end table and pulled off a box of tissue that was just begging to be nibbled at. It was fun for a whole morning, and lucky for me the folks here all suffer from allergies so there are loads of new boxes to choose from every day.

My First Celebrity

Yesterday was a very exciting day around here.

I met my very first celebrity, a very famous ballet mistress.

And I learned about ballet.

You can see what I learned by the above illustrations. We even made these illustrations available on our Café Press site. And we have lots of other illustrations available, too, on t-shirts, tote bags, caps, aprons, clocks, appointment books, you name it. You find them by going to our website, www.rabbittinparadise.com and clicking on the Café Press link. (click on the above illustration and you can enlarge it for a better view.)

I'm always hearing about how Blackberry Rabbit was going out and meeting all kinds of people, going to restaurants, to the beach, out visiting. It doesn't interest me too much, because I'm not that fond of going out, but it does make me curious to find out what's what in this world.

And then I hear all about the rabbit who was known as "The Bunny" who lived in Manhattan with my humans many, many years ago when they were involved in the performing arts. He knew all kinds of people, from performers to conductors to directors - and he even met some of those people of whom the showfolk don't really speak very well (not that I mean to tell secrets), the producers.

Well, yesterday a very old friend of my family's came to visit; she is a ballet mistress with a great big ballet company that performs all over the world. She teaches class, she coaches dancers in their roles and even auditions new dancers for the company.

I am not used to having new humans in my home, but when Alaine sat down I immediately knew we could be friends. She sat in the chair next to my end table, so I hopped right up on the table to say hello. She greeted me and offered me a little pet and I was very flattered.

The trouble came when she had a cold drink of grape and peach juice, which is something that I dearly love. When no one had the good manners to offer any to me, I simply went over to help myself. I didn't see any point in wasting time, everyone else was enjoying themselves.

Well, they took the glass away from me, but all was not lost. They had a plate of fruit on another one of the end tables, so I was sure they wouldn't mind if I had a grape. But I was wrong. I hopped up to the other table and took one, but was again asked to leave.

However, gratification came later, when C.J. Rabbitt reached over to prevent me from helping myself to another treat - he dropped a plate and broke it. Serves him right, I said to myself.

So I spent the rest of the visit sitting in back of the living room chair. They can't insult me and then expect me to be friendly, you know.

But I did have lots of fun making a new friend and finding out what all those other bunnies were up to for all that time, long long ago.

Today's accomplishments

Before I came to live with my family I never considered that learning about anything would be very important, but my ideas have changed. It's easy to see that there's a lot more to life than I had figured on, and I plan on making it my business to get as educated as I can. I'm always hearing about what a sharp little bunny Blackberry Rabbitt, my predecessor was; here is a picture of him watching a game show on tv and guessing the right answer.

But, I think it's very important to develop some accomplishments of my very own.

First of all, I learned to answer the telephone with my nose. It's very easy to push off its little stand, and I like to do it, particularly when I know I'm not supposed to. Humans are not so dumb after all, and when they saw what was happening, they removed the telephone from my reach and gave me one of my own for a toy. However, when I realized it was a toy, I wasn't interested any more.

Then, I learned that there are a lot of pictures hanging on the walls around here, and they all have bunnies painted on them. I feel it is important to give a rabbit's point of view on these, so I have taken it upon myself to examine them closely. If I do say so myself, I'm developing into a very good art critic.

Today, I am working on my jumps. This appears to be very important in this family, because one of them was a professional classical dancer (many, many years ago by the looks of things, because in his pictures he's much, much younger than he is now) and always talks about how he used to be able to jump up in the air and spin around two times - and start and finish in fifth position, whatever that it. So, this morning I contemplated on exactly how to do this, and during Exercise Time I was able to jump up and spin half-way around. It's not twice, but I think it's a good start. And I don't know what number position it was in, but I can assure you it was a very cute one. I had to have a good rest after that!

Finally, I was able to do something I've been thinking about for a long time. Although I like to sit under the end table for a rest, today I tried something different. I hopped up on the couch, and then I hopped up on the very top of the back, and sat down and rested. I could see all over the room, and out the window down the street to the big blue water. It was loads of fun, and no one chased me off, either!

So, it is now time for me sit under my end table and clean myself thoroughly before nap time. There's nothing like a good rest to get me ready for a nice lunch!

Lots of love from

After the Holidays. . .

Here I am resting after the holiday season. We are very lucky, because while everyone around us is taking down their decorations we have one

visitor left to come from the mainland, so we're leaving ours up for a few days until she can see them. So, I get a few extra days of Christmas cheer.

The holidays did interfere a little with my schedule (the one I mentioned briefly the other day). But it was lots of fun to have pretty lights and music, fun movies to watch with the family, and loads of extra treats to sample. So I really don't mind if the fun continues for a while longer.

But I want to tell you a little more about my schedule, because it is such an important part of my life, and I try to adhere to it every day.

As I said, the day starts at 7:30 am when I toss my little dish and inform the family that I am ready for breakfast. After I finish breakfast, I toss it again and they usually let me have a few more pellets. And if I am very lucky and work very hard at being very cute, sometimes I get a third helping. However, I can't be too upset because I also get a tiny leafy green salad at breakfast time, and that is always a welcome treat. So I'm on pretty good behavior until the salad is presented at my station under the end table next to the couch in the living room.

After breakfast is Exercise Time: it is when I do the Around the Living Room Dash, or Jump onto the Dining Room Chairs; I also have fun Running Through my Plastic Tube, which I think is my favorite. And I am currently working on a new one, the Standing High Jump, in which I stand perfectly still and then jump as high as I can. The humans were astounded when I almost cleared the top of the couch two days ago.

Incorporated into Exercise Time is another little game I love to play, which bears a little explanation. You know, I really love my family and they are very generous with me, but sometimes it's so much fun to aggravate them I can't resist. That's why at some point in the morning we always have Irritate the Humans time. It usually consists of jumping on top of the credenza near the dining room table, munching the palm tree in the living room when I know I should leave it alone, or (and this is loads of fun because they really get mad) I climb up on the glass-top end table and push the box of Kleenex off onto the floor. Then I settle in on top of the table for a well-deserved rest.

Here I am, having pushed the box off

and having a bit of a snooze.

After Exercise Time, I have my first of several Hay-Munching breaks. I sit in my box and nibble as much hay as I can. And then I put myself to sleep for my first nap of the day, and that lasts until the Lunch Salad.

I have to get up about a half hour before Lunch Salad Time, because I like to sit and watch through the pass-through in the kitchen to make sure the family is actually preparing the salad. I don't take any chances - I don't want them to forget! So I sit in plain view of the kitchen and try to look as intimidating as I can.

After lunch is a very, very important part of the day: it is Flop On My Side Under the Chair time. After lunch, I do this every day, and I nap on my side for about two hours. It is very restful, and when I get up, it is time for the Second Hay Munch time of the day.

Around 4:00 pm, C.J. Rabbitt goes into his room to play his keyboard. I have heard countless stories of how Blackberry Rabbitt, my esteemed predecessor, used to follow him into the room and sit at his feet for two hours while he played and played.

I, however, do not share in Blackberry's appreciation of music, and so I head for the dining room chairs, climb up and close my ears and try to sleep. "Try" is the operative word.

But then at 6:30 it is Big Salad Time, and after I groom myself thoroughly, I sit and watch dinner being prepared. I like it at exactly the same time and same place every night. The thing that is really exciting about this time is that I get an Extra Special Treat: we live in Hawaii, so I get a little piece of fresh papaya or mango, sometimes a little apple or cherry, and I also get a flower from either our hibiscus or our jasmine plants that grow right out on our own balcony.

Then we have Improve Your Mind time: the family watches a game show, and we all try to guess the answers. I guess my mind is improving, because I'm getting much better at it. I'm also trying to show my humans that I like them more and more, because sometimes I sit at their feet, and for the past few nights I have actually jumped up on the couch with them for a few minutes and I've allowed them to pet my forehead.

So that brings us up to the end of the evening, and there has been a very remarkable development since New Year's: first, let me explain that on New Year's Eve, everyone stayed up late, there were late night snacks and the house had lots and lots of pretty candles around, and the light was very beautiful. Well, the candles are still there, and the humans have decided that I can have an extra candle-light salad at bedtime, so now when I see the candles being lit at night, I know I'm going to get a little extra salad, and I get very excited and romp around the room kicking up my hind legs.

So now, right before I put myself to bed under the end table every night, I get to have a nice salad with pretty candle-light all around. As I put myself to sleep, it's hard to imagine a luckier bunny than I am.

Bonne Année from,

Desirée de Rabbitt

Happy New Year's Day everybody!

Well, it was an exciting night last night around here. First of all, there were lots of loud booms all over the place. I was somewhat startled at first, but recently I've learned that nothing humans do surprises me too much, so I settled in. More disturbing than the loud booms was the noise from the neighbors next door. Lots of people were coming in and going out, and they kept slamming their doors. I had to thump a few times to keep them quiet, and after a while I was able to keep them in line.

Fortunately for us, the smoke from the fireworks wasn't too bad here, so we could keep the windows and lanai door open.

I haven't told you about our lanai yet, have I? Well, it's a balcony outside of our living room and I'm not allowed out on it. The humans have devised what I must admit is a very ingenious system of barricades allowing them to pass by, but I have to stay inside and content myself with looking out.

Except one time - I got right past them. I was having so much fun looking at all the plants and the view, and then I ran smack right into this little plant that was really not very hospitable to me. I had to go to the doctor after that. I felt it was rather unprofessional of him when he looked at me and laughed, and after he laughed he had the nerve to ask if he could take my picture to show to his colleagues (whatever they are). Well, look for yourself, this is what I looked like. They said the plant was a "cactus". I'm not so interested in the lanai anymore.

That was me in the doctor's office waiting for him to take this nasty thing off my lovely ears.

Well, last night the family had to work for a while. They make lots of pretty jewelry, necklaces, bracelets and earrings - and you can always find a little rabbit charm included on them, so you can think of me when you wear them; they were stacking the pieces on the work table and I had to hop right up so I could inspect - after all, when you're part of a business called "Rabbitt in Paradise" and your name is involved and everything, you have to make sure they're doing everything just right. Right? So here I am looking over the merchandise, exercising my post as Quality Management Executive:

You know, it's very interesting to be part of a family that has big boxes around the house marked "diamonds", "rubies", "emeralds" and "sapphires" even if they aren't real ones.

So after they were finished working they all had a good time around the dining room table, which meant that I wasn't able to sit in my favorite chair (they can be so inconsiderate). they were doing something with some white rectangles and every once in a while someone would say something like "three hearts" or "two clubs" and I didn't know what was going on. I know someone got very upset once and said, "how do you like that - we didn't take a single trick" and another one said, "yes, and fortunately you only bid six no trump - doubled" and after that everything was very quiet for a while.

Now, a word about my schedule. I adhere rigorously to my schedule, after all, a girl needs a strict regimen to keep her beauty fresh. So, at promptly at ten o'clock in the evening (that's 22h for those of you who are reading this in Europe), I put myself to bed underneath my favorite dining room chair. I sleep soundly until 7:30 in the morning, at which time I go into my little room and clink my food dish to announce to the family that I am ready for breakfast.

Well, last night that was all gone and forgotten. The family stayed awake. And they stayed awake, and stayed awake. And just when I thought there was no end in sight, the plates came out and there was more food on the table, and there were lots of lighted candles all over the room. There was a lot of clinking of glasses. But best of all, I got an extra salad - long after my usual bed-time, and it was served to me on a great big special plate that I like. And then, as if that wasn't enough, they gave me a little dish with a few drops of fresh pear juice from the local health food store. It was quite a night.

Here I am after finishing my big midnight salad:

I hope everyone had as wonderful a New Year's Eve as I did, and I my wish for everyone is a healthy, happy and prosperous 2008!

With lots of love from,

Desirée de Rabbitt