It’s the rabbit’s fault

Plans are made to be broken, right? The booth pre-setup had yet to be settled when, about a week ago, I began to notice Peabody wasn’t eating well and stayed hidden in his quarters. When his nose started running, and I heard some sneezes, I decided it was time for a trip to Alford Animal Clinic, where we learned he had an upper respiratory infection.

In case you didn’t know already, a section of my studio is inhabited by a little brown rabbit. Not only does he provide great fodder for the garden, but he’s also good company. The little fella got pretty sick before he got better. For a day or so, it was all hands on deck, cleaning and scrubbing his living area, and  nursing him back to health.

Peabody enjoying some timothy hay-based pellets.

There are two daily nebulizer sessions. That’s where he sits in a little tub for a kind of steam bath. Reminiscent of the old days when I was a kid and had a bad cold, and Mom would set up the soothing Vicks VapoRub vaporizer, this part he doesn’t seem to mind.

In addition, we had to administer rounds of meds, including a daily injection! I kinda thought you needed some letters after your name to do that, but the staff insisted we could handle it. Richard agreed to do that part. I was in charge of holding him still and administering the oral meds. Whew!

Mr. Peabody is pretty old. I’ve had him for over ten years, and he had two owners before me. He’s getting on up there, and he is pretty much at his life expectancy, but I think we’re going to get a little more time with him. Things seem to be improving.

Easter Bunny

Tonight, we will give him his last injection. Yea! But with all this going on, I’ve fallen quite a bit behind. I’m just now back to working on my booth, and I’ll have to drop one painting I’d planned to have ready for Magic City Art Connection. One less piece of art won't kill anybody and will keep me on a realistic schedule as the festival approaches.

On the upside, my studio got a nice cleaning, and that makes everything feel a bit easier and more pleasant. I can find things again, and that fact will buy me a little extra time as well.