Spring not Sprung?

With clement weather and a couple of days off work the outdoors seemed like a good place to be. Both Brandon Nature Reserve and Ryton Wood were lovely but still a little early for the bluebells. We'll have to go back in a couple of weeks assuming the current wind and rain only lasts a short while.

Brandon Nature Reserve

Let it Snow

For all the crossed fingers and wistful looks at leaden skies the snow never really came. The fact that it only snowed 3 or 4 inches however seemed to make no difference: The mere idea of snow is capable of bringing the country to a standstill.
Schools closed...Airports closed...Buses cancelled...Trains cancelled...
Perhaps it'll be better next time. Following 1976 and 1990 it seems we have perhaps another one and a half decades to prepare for the worst.

Gun Wielding Cow on Bunny Hunt

Paul Coppen, 69, was struggling to keep an army of rabbits from stripping his pastures bare. So in an attempt to gain the upper hand, he camouflaged his vintage Massy Ferguson tractor as a cow - complete with a firing platform and a gunslit from which to blast the unwary bunnies.

He said: "One of my neighbours came up with the idea and I just went with it. I hoped the rabbits would ignore the fake cow, thinking it was just another member of the herd, thereby presenting a stationary target for the rifleman as I drive about the farm."

A driver-cum-rifleman was cunningly camouflaged behind a picture of a tree above the cow. "It has to be said that not all rabbits are entirely fooled. Whereas cattle obviously do move around, trees usually don't and that may be a problem. I won't pretend this device is going to be the be all and end all of rabbit control - but it does seem to startle them somewhat and stops them from scampering away too quickly, which give us a chance to have a shot at them."

Dick & Tommy Go Abroad

As usual for this time of year, another fun filled panto courtesy of Heckington Players. Enjoyed by all!

New Year Bunnies

Thanks Hetty for the new Bunnies. It's about time I got back to blogging. If only I had something exciting or interesting to reveal or aspire to. Buying a new vacuum cleaner may not sound like a high point but one takes whatever pleasure one can in the dark and dreary month of January.

A Stay In Hay

Took a trip to Hay on Wye recently to celebrate our anniversary. We were the only guests in The Old Post Office B&B in Llanigon which despite it being a little chilly was up to the usual Sawday standard.
Hay is quite a pretty town but seemed cold in a number of ways. The shop keepers generally seemed friendly to each other but we never really seemed to generate a warm welcome. Still, the book shops kept us amused for quite a few hours and the drive round the black mountains was pleasant enough.
Oh, and whilst the loan car from Listers made it all possible it was nice to get home and swap a dirty white A3 for a clean black one - complete with new radiator.

Plastic Rabbit

"A Chinese sweet maker has stopped domestic sales of one of its best-known brands after it was found to contain the industrial chemical melamine. The company, Guanshengyuan, has already halted exports of the popular White Rabbit candy, made from milk. It is the latest development in a spreading food safety scandal involving milk contaminated with melamine. Traces of the chemical have also been found in Hong Kong and Japan in products containing Chinese milk. They are among a growing number of countries which have already banned or restricted imports of Chinese products containing milk."
news.bbc.co.uk

"Food Standards Australia requested last week that wholesalers and importers voluntarily withdraw White Rabbit brand sweets from shops pending testing for the toxic substance melamine, a plastics industry by-product.
In China, milk products containing melamine, including baby formula, has been linked to the deaths of four babies and is responsible for more than 50,000 falling ill. The NSW Food Authority confirmed it had tested White Rabbit confectionery imported from China and found it contained melamine."
theleader.com.au

Berkshire

We had a lovely time staying with Keir and Louise Lusby (yet another Sawday selection) at Whitehouse Farm Cottage. The pair also run a studio in Shepperton which designs and fabricates props for film and TV so it was quite exciting to share the breakfast table with stories and examples of their work.
On Sunday we caught up with Helen and Benny who were the perfect hosts. After lunch we took a whistlestop tour across Smith's Lawn, stopped briefly at the new Savill Gardens visitor centre and were treated to a river cruise before checking out the ancient oaks near Cranbourne, the polo stables at Flemish Farm and back to their cottage for a lovely dinner!
On Tuesday we took an excursion to the somewhat disappointing Brooklands Museum and the impressive RHS Gardens at Wisley. Finally, our break was wrapped up with a trip into London on Wednesday to the V&A.

Run Rabbit

Goodbye BT & Sky, Hello Virgin.

Thug's Bunny

"Roo the monster rabbit cannot find a home - because she's a real thug's bunny. The rare European giant rabbit, who weighs more than 15lb and is the size of a medium dog, has been snapped up from the pet shop by two different owners.
But both soon returned her - saying she was too much of a handful and kept chewing their woodwork.
Tracy Simpson, who cares for Roo at Pets At Home in Elgin, Moray, said: "Her new owners thought would be a nice, quiet pet.
"But Roo's full of life and likes munching on things. It didn't go down well."
Now she is going to live with a staff member." Daily Mail

Thanks Hetty

Rabbit + Ladybird

"Children's publisher Ladybird has partnered with digital company Violet, creator of the Nabaztag Rabbit, to make some of its traditional tales available via the digital device. It is the first UK-based publisher to partner with the French digital pioneer.
The Nabaztag identifies books using the "Ztamp" system designed by Violet.
It recognises a book via the "Ztamp" glued under a book's cover, retrieves the story from the Violet server and then reads it out loud. Users can navigate through the chapters of the story by moving the Rabbit's ears." more here

Alec Azam

Presto - The new short from Pixar, being screened alongside Wall-E, stars Alec. If Pixar did cartoon bunnies they'd probably be the finest in the world. Well, they have and he probably is.

Wordl

wordl is a really nice app that lets you create groovy word clouds out of any text. Size, frequency, font, layout, etc. can all be tweaked. Good for spicing up any presentation or web page.

Lanterns & Locks

Stanford Hall played host to the 2008 Fireworks Championships hosted by MLE. We arrived early - thanks for the tip Karen - and enjoyed a picnic/feast before the three competing teams put on a 10 minute display each. Pyromania won (just ahead of Spitfire) and MLE closed the night with an outstanding display.
Sunday was less frenetic as we met up with my parents on Indulgence near Hartshill. After a pub lunch, Carys took the tiller for a short while before we all parted company at Atherstone

M. C. Lagomorph

Thanks Justine

Identity Theft

Thanks to Claire

Looby Loo - Blue

Finally, it's done.

Easter Bunny Spotted

Jasper & Smokey

"Jasper is the white and grey one and Smokey is the grey one... They are only 8 weeks old and I can fit them both in one hand because they're sooooooooooo tiny!"

Thanks to Kim