Cuteness on Voting Day!

 On this, the election day in the USA, we are fortunate to have some cute as a contrast to what is going on out near the poling stations. If you haven't voted yet, go do so before you partake of more cuteness below the cut.

I decided to start with the absolutely cutest picture first because the Lady of the House did an amazing job with that shot Above. But of course they didn't start off quite like that. Born on Sunday probably not long before I went to work, I woke up, and did a very quick count. Without someone else there to help keep them warm I wasn't going to weigh them when the temperatures were in the low 30s. I just did a quick feel around and felt 7 babies. When the Lady of the House got up later, she did a thorough check and found all 8. She got a couple quick photos of them in their nest since she could do that quickly. As you can see they look like baby rabbits usually do. Naked, and like bizarre little things. From birth a couple of these guys have had white blazes on their foreheads. They were also born with just a hint of peach fuzz on them which means they were probably born a bit later than usual. It is not a bad thing though. Weather over the past couple of days since their birth has been quiet cold with the overnight temperatures in the 20s night before last, and the teens last night. The temperatures when we got up and were doing weights weren't much better which led to being creative about keeping the fragile babies warm while we do weight checks. For keeping them from getting cold on the scale I just used a paper towel as you can see Below.

I move quickly to keep the baby from being on the scale long. Off the scale the Lady of the House keeps them warm by having one of the furs from Dawn's First litter down, and folding it over them and using her hands to help keep them warm. All in all this morning even with her getting a few photos it took about 2 minutes to weigh and record all 8 of the babies, and get a few photos. I had the idea for using the skin because we know that the fur makes a good insulator since Dawn lines her nest with her own fur, and the babies seem to do just fine there. Below you can see more clearly one of the babies with a white blaze on its forehead this morning. I haven't gotten the new data set up and running, but I will get weights up ASAP.

Dawn has been a bit grouchy with us, and more protective of her kits than she has been in the past. She still doesn't bite and lets us handle them, but she is very attentive. Last night was also the first time we used a heated water bottle as you can see on the Left. You can also see her patented "I am displeased" face. The water bottle worked great and kept her water from turning to ice. Unfortunately she didn't figure out how to use it yet. I hope she figures it out quickly because we are going to have a lot of cold nights and cold days, and I want to make sure she is ok as her babies grow. We also have shifted to 18% protein food as we get in to the colder season since we have lactating females, and hopefully will soon have one who is pregnant. It will help them keep weight on as they burn more energy just to stay warm.

On Saturday we had an opportunity to go for a very nice hike in our back yard with some good friends. One of whom is a very experienced woodsperson. She showed us a lot about tracking in a short period of time. She will be coming up to hunt in our back woods for deer, and perhaps turkey. If she were to get a deer we would get a share of the meat which could nicely supplement our rabbit. As you can see the forest is very much in process of shutting down for winter, though there are still nice green areas. I just figured to show off some of the nice photos the Lady of the House got while we were out here. As you can see Below Rico came with us wearing his requisite orange for being out during hunting season. We are careful when out during this time of year because while he doesn't look like a coyote, inexperienced hunters can get jumpy and shoot anything that moves that is brown. We obviously want to avoid that.