Just passing along this link to an NPR story this afternoon about an Irish-American fiddler. Listen to the story for a treat!

I adore Irish folk music. I love the fiddle. Wish I could learn to play. Last spring I started taking a series of courses at the community college where I teach to learn the pennywhistle. Fun courses, but difficult for me to learn in such a large group. I hope to repeat the beginning level course again this spring, but would really like to find a private tutor to give me lessons.

Send your favorite bunny photos for the annual Hot Buns photo contest; the winners will be featured in the Buns 2007 calendar which benefits The Rabbit Habit. Send entries (gif or jpeg files) to lilbun@verizon.net or dhoffman_48@yahoo.com (which can handle bigger files). The deadline is April 10. All entries will be posted at www.geocities.com/dhoffman_48/.

My husband and I took a ride today to Peddler’s Village in Lahaska, Pa. – the drive was short – only about 1 1/2 hours. Closer to home is Smithville, which we usually combine with some birding at Brig. Believe it or not, we didn’t get lost despite the easily distracted navigator (me!)

We did some shopping and had lunch at the tavern. I spent too much money on things I don’t need (like the adorable pair of ducks at left). We’ve been doing some remodeling at home and are finally buying proper furniture after 12+ years of marriage, and I’ve decided that I’m tired of looking at bare walls and empty shelves. I hate to spend money on silliness like this, but they do make me smile! We found them in one of the shops that had the primitive-style country crafts that I like.

There was also a lovely shop that sold imports from France – beautiful things! I couldn’t resist this dried flower arangement; now I just need to find the right place for it – and figure out how to keep it from getting full of dust! My poor flash photos don’t show the intensity of color – the deep red and yellow of the roses together with the lovely purple of the dried lavender. Just gorgeous!

A few weeks ago we drove to Conneticut to pick up a huntboard for our dining room and plan to go tomorrow and order the farmhouse table we picked out locally to go with it. The table is huge – really too much for just the two of us -but it will give me a good excuse to have holiday dinners here at home after all these years. Anyway, I thought these dried roses were a perfect contrast with the black-painted wood of the huntboard.

The DH is snoring in front of the TV, tired from all the driving he did today; and I’ve got bunnies to feed and love on. So, I’ll have to share the rest of my finds from our road trip on another day.

Miss Buns has a chronic respiratory infection called Pseudomonas that was diagnosed in December of 2004. This bacterial infection is very difficult to get rid of. My vet and I have been treating her for more than a year now with various bunny-safe antibiotics and still every culture and sensitivity test we do comes back positive. I’ve more or less given up on the idea that we’ll ever cure her of it (I’m not willing to subject her to a cocktail of strong, injectable antibiotics) so I concentrate my efforts on coping with and keeping the infection in check. When her breathing gets bad and she starts sneezing too much I dose her with 10 days of Baytril and that seems to do the trick for a month or two. Twice a day I clean the crusty stuff from around her runny eye to keep the fur on her cheek from falling out. She enjoys this extra attention and daily *grooming* from me and generally won’t struggle as I wash her cheek fur and comb through it with a small flea comb. Sometimes she gets pissed and will nip me if I’m not careful and pull at her skin.

Every so often her breathing sounds just horrible and I can see that she is congested and struggling to breathe through her stuffy nose. Today was such a day. My vet was kind enough to loan me a nebuliser machine (used by people with asthma) to treat this congestion. I use a very weak mixture of a liquid antibiotic and saline solution in the nebulising machine. Then, I corner Missy and hold the mouthpiece in front of her face so that she has to breathe in the medicated mist. We’ve done this often enough that she is no longer freaked out by the mist floating past her nose, nor is she bothered by the sound of the machine. She’ll sit quietly for the 5 minutes or so that the treatment lasts and will sometimes nibble hay from her litterbox or wash her face in the adorable way that bunnies do. None of it seems to faze her at all, thankfully. Lately, she is so comfortable that she *chins* the mouthpiece, claiming it as *hers*. Once we’ve finished, I always give her a favorite treat to reward her for behaving. I also give a treat to Freckles who lives on the other side of the lattice wall you can see in this photo. A favorite and convenient treat is a few craisins which she gobbles up quickly.

The nebulsing has a dramatic effect on her breathing and I’m thankful to my vet for suggesting it as an alternative treatment. I know a few people who nebulise their rabbits every day to treat chronic respiratory problems and they’ve all said that their bunnies handle it well. For Missy, I think it’s the craisins when we’re finished that make it worth the bother. And she does breathe easier afterwards. She always feels well enough for a treat!

Interesting post today on Charlie’s Bird Blog about birders who keep lists. I’d imagine most birders do keep some manner of a list. I have friends who keep year lists and place lists, in addition to their life lists. I keep a yard list, and a pond list, and also a life list. I’m not fanatical about it; hence when I tried to come up with the last five additions to my life list, I was only certain of three:
1. Wilson’s Plover
2. Eurasian Collared Dove
3. Razorbill

Prior to these, I’m not sure. Probably Gray Jay and Boreal Chickadee from my early summer trips to the Adirondacks. Obviously I don’t keep very good records! What do these birds say about me as a birder?

Would any birders care to list their most recent 5 life birds?

I was afraid the winter would pass without any significant snowfall, but we hit the jackpot today. I love the snow, but my husband, who worked all day and all night plowing for the town and schools, doesn’t feel the same, needless to say. A neighbor was nice enough to take care of my front sidewalk and dig out the end of the driveway, I guess so he wouldn’t have to watch me out there struggling while my husband was at work.

I dragged the dog off his warm bed for a walk around 5 pm when it finally stopped snowing. I’d guess we got about 15 inches; just enough to make ordinary things look beautiful. We walked through the neighborhoood and ended up with our customary pass through Sickles Park to have a look at the raspberry and blackberry fields and the farm pond. There a few people cross-country skiing on the track around the ball fields, but besides them we had the place to ourselves.

The neighborhood red-tail was perched in his usual spot on the edge of the field, but flew as soon as I raised my camera to take his picture. I found a very cranky-looking great blue heron standing on the ice of the farm pond who was a more willing photo subject. Oftentimes there are a few mallards that hang out in the pond, but I didn’t see them today. Not many birds around in general, I guess most spent the day hunkered-down out of the weather.

There were masses of robins flying overhead just before dusk, but I didn’t see any feeding in the holly trees or viburnums in my yard during the day. There were only a few house finches, a bedraggled starling, and a lone junco at the feeders today, despite their being stocked with sunflower, suet, and peanut mix.

Buddy and I finished up our walk just in time to wake up Rich to go back to work for the night. So now we’re both hunkered in for the night; warm, dry, and happy. I’m lucky to have the day off from work tomorrow and I’m dreaming up all sorts of things I can do with so much free time. More than likely I’ll sleep late and spend some time grading papers – which I’ve been ignoring all weekend!

**Begin rant**
I’ve spent the last few hours playing around with my blogger template just so I could add “What I’m Reading” to the sidebar. You’d think it would be simple, even for someone like me who is clueless with code. But no, copying and pasting just isn’t enough. You actually need to know what all that gobblygook means! I’ve had enough for one night. I would like to add the other books I’m reading, but can’t figure out how to do it – I’m defeated.
**End rant**