Larry and Rita's Bunny Business

Rita

2007-04-23T21:49:00.000+01:00

Sadly, Rita passed away this morning due to complications arising from a routine operation. We will miss her.

Big Nice

2007-02-04T17:03:00.000Z

Hello this is Larry here. Rita asked me to write something for the blog so I am showing you a picture from a newspaper. The picture is of a Guinea Pig called Big Nice and he was the Pet of the Day in a newspaper that people read on the way home from work to find out who is the best pet. I think that Big Nice was the pet of the day because he looks like a hazelnut and has tiny feet compared to his big body. What do you think? There's an empty Kiwi Fruit skin in the picture too. I've never tried a Kiwi Fruit. Lots of love Larry xxx

Temple of Rabbits

2007-02-02T14:43:00.000Z

Blimey, keep your 'hare' on everyone (i'm talking to you Uncle Al). I don't update the blog for a couple of months and I'm being threatened with the boiler.

It's all Larry's fault, but I suppose you don't believe that. He's a complete numbnut - a fluff brain of the highest order. I asked him to come up with a few words about this new hay we're eating and what do I get: nothing.

I'll badger him about it today and hopefully have it loaded into the loptop this weekend, failing that I'll do it myself, as usual.

If you're interested, it's been all go around here. We've had the builders in, making us a new 'run'. There's a gate at the front that needs lowering into place to stop me escaping (which I have to try, even if I don't really want to). Anyway that results in a sort of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Rabbits type situation. I nearly got away this morning, but J managed to lower the gate a split second before I got my enormous ears through. Ho hum, there's always tomorrow.

See you later then, Rita (the rabbit).

Living In A Magazine

2006-12-05T23:33:00.000Z

Welcome, dear reader, to the latest installment of Larry and Rita's Bunny Business.

Rita here, and there has certainly been some funny business this month! I was planning on reviewing a new gourmet hay product recently procured from Bryan the Vet, but what with all the excitement recently it's going to have to wait. I'm really sorry!

I'll get straight to the point. Larry and I are big readers - we'll read anything that lines our litter tray. Obviously we prefer highbrow material like 'The Guardian' or 'Viz', but unfortunately we can't often choose and last week we had to put up with a shoddy publication called 'The Times Saturday Magazine'. Anyway, one particular article caught my eye as I shuffled some sawdust out of the way and began to have a wee over it.

I've found it online here, but this is an extract. Brace yourselves:

Meanwhile, Rebecca, [that's our Rebecca, gives us food and stuff -R] a friend of the family, was walking home to Hackney by the Grand Union Canal when she saw a group of boys dangling a kitten off a bridge. “Is that cat yours?” she demanded. “No,” they admitted in surly pre-teen fashion. “Then give it to me right now or I’ll call the police,” said Rebecca, having calculated, correctly as it turned out, that these boys were young enough, just, still to be influenced by the twin threats of an adult speaking sternly and the summoning of the law.
Once Rebecca had got the kitten home, things moved quickly. She has but a small flat, which she already shares with her fiancé and two rabbits, one of whom, Larry, faces a constant battle with his weight. Rebecca knew that we had the space and the inclination. The upshot was that when I got home last Friday, the spare room was all laid out for a new arrival: basket, litter tray, imitation mouse and so forth.

Whoa there!! Now it all makes sense - that creature we showed you last week, it was a kitten, but it doesn't live with us anymore - Phew! More news: Larry faces a 'constant battle with his weight'. Well, hello? Hold the front page! Come on Mr Times, everybody knows Larry is a FAT RABBIT, that's hardly the scoop of the century! I showed Larry what was in the magazine and he mumbled something about 'post-traumatic stress' before tucking in to his seventh leaf of the day. Oh yes and fiance?? Enough said!

To be honest this event raises more questions than answers. Why am I reading about bloody Larry's weight issues in a floppin' national newspaper? Is there no end to the British public's desire for celebrity tittle tattle? Will we ever get to meet the little cat thing in person? And why would she marry him??

Take care, bunny hoppers - it's a crazy world out there!

Rita x

Intruder Alert!

2006-10-30T10:51:00.000Z

Greetings, Bunny Watchers!

Yes it's our new look monthly blog - Larry and I are fed up of being called computer geeks by the local squirrels so we've cut down our on-line time in the hope of getting a bit of respect from our peers. I've planned a schedule of topics that I would like to discuss with you, and which I hope you will find fascinating and informative. These include 'My Top 5 Hay Types', 'the Great Hay versus Straw Bedding Debate', 'Woodchips - Who Needs 'Em?', and 'the Joys of Independent Living for Rabbits'. Oh and 'How Come Larry's So Bloody Fat?'.

So there's something to look forward to in the coming months.

Oh yes, there was one more thing. The other day I nosed in on J and R in the living room. They weren't alone. Can anybody tell me what this creature is...?

Rita x

An even more evil stench

2006-09-22T09:00:00.000+01:00

Good morning again, rabbit watchers!

Larry and I always like to hear about our fans. Today we read a blog that has posted two of our videos. It is called Watergate Summer.

I think it's pretty fair to say that we are the nicest thing on the blog. Most of the stories are about a man called George Bush and all the horrible things that he has done. Apparently he OWNS AMERICA, which is a place much bigger than London Fields where Larry and I live. Anyway he's not taking very good care of America or the people who live there. I don't think he has a rabbit. I think he's probably even more stupid than Larry, and smells worse, too.

Larry is smelly and stupid, but he hasn't got a bad bone in his body. That is why you cannot compare him to George W Bush of America.

Rita x

An evil stench

2006-09-22T08:52:00.000+01:00

Good morning, rabbit-watchers!

How are you today? Larry and I had a shocker yesterday. There we were frolicking (yes frolicking) in our run, when an overpowering stench enveloped the yard like a thick dungy soup hanging in the air. Obviously my thoughts turned to Larry, but he denied any responsibility and reminded me that he hadn't eaten brocolli for 6 days. I let him off the hook.

Anyway, to my horror I noticed water bubbling up from the drain under our hutch. I don't know what the resulting mess was, but it wasn't pretty. It went down pretty soon after that but not after a lot of panicking by J and R and myself and Larry being swiftly dispatched to our Hutch. Safe to say we're keeping out of the run today until the plumber's been!

This Post is All About Larry

2006-09-13T21:23:00.000+01:00

Oh dear! It's been a long time since I've updated our Bunny Business Blog. Very sorry about that, but I'm a busy rabbit, and Larry hasn't been in a fit state to do anything. There I was getting used to his new gender, when he starts behaving even more peculiarly. The other day he was out all day and when he came home he was in a terrible state. The fur on his face was all matted and it took me a couple of days licking to get it back to fine fuzzy form. Anyway he was a bit down. I couldn't understand it until, rooting around J and R's flat the other day, I found this shocking note:
Poor Larry! He's had his bits chopped off! Ha!

Anyway, one mustn't gloat. I love Larry. Do you remember I promised you a picture of him looking like a cloud? Well, I've managed to dig it out, so here's something special for Larry fans everywhere:He could also pass for a marshmallow, I reckon.

Rizza x

New video on YouTube

2006-08-31T12:47:00.000+01:00

Larry here!
Thought you might like to see our latest video. It's called 'Larry and Rita Mow the Lawn'. I think it should be called 'Larry Mows the Lawn'. Look at Rita, she's so busy eating some big stalk that I'm the one doing all the work. Anyway, thanks to Uncle Allan for playing the tune.
Larry

Lookalikes 2

2006-08-31T09:18:00.000+01:00

Hi flopsters!

Rita here. Sorry, I still haven't found that picture of Larry looking like a cloud, so here's a picture of me doing an impression of a chicken laying an egg. I hope you like it!

Stay tuned to the bunnyblog - might have some exciting news soon...

Rizza x

Lookalikes

2006-08-25T10:42:00.000+01:00

Greetings, lop-lovers!

I just wanted to show you all my friend Cuddles, who is doing an impression of an owl in this photograph:
Somewhere there is a picture of Larry doing an impression of a cloud, but I can't find it at the moment, so I hope you enjoy looking at Cuddles being an owl instead. Also when I say friend I mean acquaintance.

Bye for now

Rita

Larry and Rita Argue Over Celery (Starring Larry and Rita)

2006-08-22T14:00:00.000+01:00

A Weighty Issue

2006-08-20T13:25:00.000+01:00

What a week it's been, bunny fans! Larry's been driving me hopping mad now he's a boy. First he starts racing round like he's auditioning for a role at the greyhound track. A real bunny racer! Then he starts going around 'marking his territory'. As if he's got any territory to mark, the great fluff-filled hair brain! No, as far as Larry and Rita are concerned, it's bunny business as usual, which means I'm the rabbit in charge around here - don't you forget it!

The first thing I took charge of this week was eating our neighbours' garden. Now, I've been meaning to reply to a certain comment poster who, a few weeks back, asked what he thought about rabbits eating people's vegetable patches. This individual, named 'anonymous', though i don't know if that means he is a mouse, implied that stealing vegetables was in some way harming our reputation. I couldn't disagree more. By eating these vegetables us rabbits are in fact performing a valuable public service: a) proving said vegetables are not poisonous; b) proving said vegatables are very tasty; and c) encouraging humans to grow more of the said vegetables, thus increasing the vegetable population and improving the environment for us all.

To other business, and Larry and I just can't get our heads around litter training. Do we go in the tray, or outside the tray? I can't work it out. Larry's useless. He says we're supposed to go in the bin!

Cabbage leaves consumed: 8
Wildberry drops consumed: 2
Weight: 1.15kgs

Rita x

My gender crisis, by Larry.

2006-08-11T11:20:00.000+01:00

SHOCKING REVELATIONS!

Hello everyone. Larry here. I bet you thought that after my brush with death a few weeks back there could be little more excitement in the world of Larry.

You'd be wrong!

I don't remember much about the first days of my life. Us rabbits are born blind after all, so anything could be going on and we wouldn't know about it. All I do know is that I was supposed to be a girl, and apparently Rita's sister. That's what the pet shop said where we lived before Jared and Rebecca carried us home. When I went to the vet he had a look at me and agreed I was a girl, too.

So why did they have to go and name me Larry?

It's all a bit confusing because I only have a small brain. I did feel very comfortable with my name, though. As the cries of 'poor Larry', 'Larry, you're such an idiot', and 'Larry, stop being silly and get out of the oven' rang out across the household, I realised that - girl or not - Larry suited me.

Well, I promised a revelation, and this is it. The other day I found something. Something I'd never seen before, that nobody had noticed, that just appeared out of nowhere. On my body. Hidden behind a load of fluff. Can you guess what it was? That's right: A TINY PENIS!

So that's today's story, Larry fans. I am, alas, not a lass, but a boy. And Rita hasn't looked at me in the same way since.

Larry x

Garden of rabbits

2006-08-11T11:12:00.000+01:00

Hello. Here are some more pictures. We've been employed as guard-rabbits whilst some friends of J and R are on holiday. We've been charged with looking after their garden, watering the plants, trimming the grass, that sort of thing. A wise move?

Rita

Home alone - Almost!

2006-08-06T19:17:00.000+01:00

We had a special treat today. Jared went to work and left us all alone. I thought I'd have to put up with Larry's jabbering all day. Luckily our friend Sarah came over to check up on us and give us some lovely hay to eat. Larry was so excited that he pestered Sarah to have his picture taken with her! Here they are now:

Thanks for dropping by, Sarah!

Rita

A new video

2006-08-02T16:56:00.000+01:00

Hi!

Here's a brilliant video of me eating a carrot. Jared edited it and everything. I think he's clever. And hey, my ears are down too!

See you at the top of the YouTube charts!

Larry x

Rita's favourite hobby

2006-08-01T13:49:00.000+01:00

Hello, Rita here.

Whilst Larry's ears have been going bananas, I've had more of a sedate week.

From my base under the hutch, I've been busy contemplating important questions of life and bunnyhood.

Here's a video of me in the midst of aforementioned contemplation:

I like sitting still.

Rita

Ear we go!

2006-07-31T14:08:00.000+01:00

Hello folks. This is Larry.

What an exciting week. My ears decided to droop together - at the same time! That never happens. In fact I've suffered some awful rejection regarding my sticky-uppy ears. Obviously Rita teases me about it. But even Dr Brian, our vet, the man who saved my life, thought my ears looked silly. He didn't want a picture of me for his website. I hate my ears! But that was all by the by because all of a sudden I looked like this:

Gorgeous. Perfectly symmetrical! How do you like that Rita? Want me on your website now Dr? Well, you couldn't afford me now! I won't get out of my hutch for less than ten carrot-tops and a cabbage!

Of course, my lop-eared glory lasted about five minutes until this happened:

Doh! I'm such a fluffhead!

Larry x

A Place Called Bunny

2006-07-24T16:50:00.000+01:00

Larry and I were most amused to find out about a place in England called... Bunny!

We were less impressed by the content of the village's website. Makes the place look boring! Where are the visual reminders of Bunny's lagomorphic roots? What about a statue of the great leader Flopsy, who founded the settlement in AD43? Where are the photographs of giant rabbit footprints - the only remaining evidence of Herman the Great and his magnificent thumpers? No... this village is rabbity in name alone!

Got us thinking though: how many other places in the world have bunnyish names? Once we've got a list together perhaps we'll take the Larry and Rita show off on tour?

Bye for now, rabbit fans!

Rita

Nice Weather For Bunnies

2006-07-20T16:57:00.000+01:00

Phew! Yesterday was the hottest day of summer so far and today isn't too far off. I don't want to be like those annoying people who complain all winter about the cold and then moan about it being 'too hot' when the sun finally decides to shine. But you try wearing a rabbit fur coat and living out in the sun all day!

Air conditioning was invented for days like these but much of London isn't equipped to deal with heat. Isn't it strange how the people here are always surprised when it's hot in the summer. It can't be that rare, can it?

Larry and I have different ways of dealing with the heatwave. I like to lie down under the hutch for most of the day (keeping out of the rays helps prevent bunburn). Larry hops about and then drinks lots of cool water. I was on my loptop again just now and I found these top tips for helping out rabbits in the heat. If you're a rabbit, show them to your human today!

Rita

Encephalitozoonosis - or What Made Me Ill, by Larry

2006-07-19T13:52:00.000+01:00

Hello again from Larry. Last night was the first time I didn't have to take my medicine. I was excited and enjoyed exploring the house and being interested in things. Yesterday I left you dangling over a cliff, and my little brain fighting off a nasty parasite. Let's pick up the story:

The morning after we went to the vet's I was in a terrible state. My eyes were twitching, my head was tilting and I was completely off my food. I've always been smaller than Rita but today she seemed like a giant compared to me. Rebecca collected me from the hutch and I sat on her lap while she gave me my first dose of medicine. Next, to make me eat, she put a syringe in my mouth and squirted in mashed up carrot! Normally I'd hate that because everybody knows that carrots are meant to be crunchy, but today I didn't have the energy to put up a fuss. She also squirted water in my mouth which was good because my wonky head made reaching the drinking spout very difficult!

The parasite that was in my brain was called Encephalitozoon Cuniculi, or E Cuniculi for short. I didn't like having it in my brain. The medicine that I took was called Panacur. It is a 'wormer' and it kills the parasite. I had to take it every day for one month. As you can imagine, it didn't taste very nice and I often tried to get away. Jared and Rebecca wrapped me in a towel to stop me from struggling. Look at me! I look ridiculous!

Well, as bad as it tasted, the Panacur seemed to start doing the trick quite quickly, because a day later my eyes had stopped twitching and I was a bit more comfortable. Unfortunately because my head was droopy it made my eye very sore and I had to have human eye drops. But I quite enjoyed that.

Over the next two weeks I was fed and watered by syringe every three hours during the day. But after a week I was able to eat some things by myself again. At one point I ate a whole celery stick! My tilting head improved and I began to be comfortable walking around by myself. Things were much better and Dr B was very pleased with my progress.

Now I am a very different rabbit. I'll always have a slight tilt in my head to remind me of my brush with death, but hopefully the parasite won't come back and I'll be fighting fit for a long time to come. I'm just lucky that Jared, Rebecca and Rita are here to look after me!

Larry

A Bunny Blog We Found

2006-07-18T22:17:00.000+01:00

Dana McCurley's BunnyBlab

Here's a blogger who's mad about bunnies. Larry and I think there should be more rabbits on the internet. Larry says he thinks rabbits are better than dogs, cats and lizards. I said most people don't think lizards are better than rabbits, but dogs and cats are very popular pets, and we just have to live with that.

By the way, how about Larry's cliffhanger? I can't wait to find out what happened next, but I'm not surprised to find out he's a bit wrong in the head.

Rita x

How I Cheated Death, by Larry

2006-07-18T13:34:00.000+01:00

Hello! Larry here. Last night I went to see Dr Bryan for a final check-up. With any luck (paws crossed) I'd get the all clear and be able to stop taking my medicine. I was very nervous when we went into the surgery, but Dr Bryan had a big smile on his face. He said 'I am very pleased with you Larry'.

He said that most rabbits like me don't survive.

Some of you might be thinking: 'But Larry! We didn't know you were ill! We would've sent you a card and a bunch of carrots if we'd known!'. In truth, I didn't feel like talking about it much at the time. But if you'd like to know the full story, read on:

Thirty days ago, I think it was a Friday, I woke up and my head really hurt and I didn't know where I was. I couldn't see properly out of my eyes because I couldn't control them. It was like they had the shivers, darting back and forth at a mad rate.

Jared came to say hello. When he opened the door to our hutch I thought about jumping out and playing in the yard. I poked my head through the door but decided to stay inside - I was just too dizzy. Jared helpfully picked me up and put me down on the ground, but the space really freaked me out and all I could do was wander round in circles.

Jared said: 'What's the matter, Larry?'. He put me back in the hutch. I was very sad. Luckily Rita decided to stay and gave me a comforting lick.

I tried to stay calm and sat really still, because if I tried to move I tended to fall over, which was embarrassing. Jared patted me on the head occasionally. All I wanted was for my head to stop spinning. Later that day, Jared put me and Rita in a box. It smelt very familiar, because I think it was the box that we lived in on the way from the Pet Shop to our new home. That time I felt very scared, but this time I thought we would probably be going somewhere nice. Rita didn't agree. She was very annoyed about being put in the box, and her scrabbling around didn't do my headache any good.

As it turned out, we ended up at the vets, which is where animals go when they are poorly. A man (Dr Bryan) picked me up and looked in my eyes and put me on a thing and picked me up and held my head and made me eat something horrible. Then he said something to Jared that I didn't understand. I was very confused. It hadn't been a good day. We went home and I tried to get some sleep.

I wasn't alone, though. Because apparently there was a parasite and it was EATING MY BRAIN.

Sorry for the scary ending, but I thought I'd leave it on a 'cliffhanger' to get you all excited and wanting to read the next instalment. Sorry again if anyone was shocked.

Larry x

A Big, Big Bunny

2006-07-18T13:02:00.000+01:00

http://people.tribe.net/cheshiretigger/blog/5d565c4f-daa2-4c23-8d8b-853995c8586a

I'm not one for dieting but seeing that is enough to put me off Wildberry Drops for life!

Rita x

Back in Town

2006-07-17T18:15:00.000+01:00

All good things must come to an end. The end of a carrot. The end of a stick of celery. The end of my back feet (eventually). The same thing goes for holidays. Jared and Rebecca came over this weekend to pick us up. I hate being picked up, especially to be plonked in a cat basket and driven back home to gloomy London!

We've had a very nice time. The place in Birmingham is called Edgbaston. It is well-to-do and leafy. We liked nothing more than frolicking in the grass and sitting in the summer house when the sunshine got too much. Here are some pictures of the aforementioned frolicking. My face looks funny in one of them because I am eating a dandelion shoot.

Now I'm sure you wouldn't blame me for trying to make a break for it into the glorious freedom of the flower bed. It was exhilarating! Alas, Jared and Rebecca really wanted me home and I was captured. Larry didn't seem that bothered but he's not much of a revolutionary. He's happy to do what he's told.

By the way - he's off to see the doctor tonight. Wish him luck!

Rita

Message from Larry

2006-07-14T11:59:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone. This is Larry.
I thought you might like to see a video of me and Rita in action.
Having fun in Birmingham, but missing the old Hutch, and Jared and Rebecca.
See you soon
Larry

Our Holiday

2006-07-14T11:13:00.000+01:00

Hello! Rita here again. We've got lots to tell you about our short lives, so I thought we better get on with it. The first thing is we're on holiday! I bet you didn't think Rabbits went on holiday, but Larry and I do. For our holiday this year we are in a place called Birmingham. Here is a postcard from Birmingham:

Now, as well as people saying 'yowl this' and 'yowl that', there are plenty of posh things in Birmingham too. We live in the lop of luxury. Plenty of grass to eat, loads of room to run around and play, and the fresh air is doing wonders for Larry's health. (Oops - that's a whole other story!)

We've been guests of Rebecca's mum and dad, and bunny, do they know how to treat a rabbit! No stinking yard for us here - we're staying in the summer house! And I bet they wouldn't up and leave us in the company of strangers whilst they swan off on holiday alone. No. I'm not looking forward to coming back!

Hello, rabbit fans!

2006-07-13T15:54:00.000+01:00

Rita here. As the brains of the operation it's only fair I get to have the first post on my new blog 'Larry and Rita's Bunny Business'. Welcome, one and all!

This site was my idea. I jumped on my Loptop, did some burrowing around and decided to start a blog all about mine and Larry's lives in this crazy city they call London.

Larry thinks the internet is something you put over your hutch to stop ants getting in. I say to him 'Larry! It's internet, not antinet, you big fluffball!'. If some of Larry's posts don't make sense, go easy on him, because he's not the brightest rabbit in the hutch. I am!

Anyways, we hope you enjoy this blog, and we'll try and update it whenever we're not eating or being busy sitting still. Bye!