Bunny

Well, so much for rabbit ownership. Yesterday Aaron and I discovered that our baby bunny had diarrhea. Of course we went straight to the Internet, only to learn that diarrhea in baby rabbits (and often even in adult rabbits) is usually fatal. I read more and more and became very disheartened. Things did not look good. Despite our plans to take her to a vet recommended to me by a teacher this morning, she didn’t make it.

After we got her home from Asahikawa, we looked more closely at the paperwork. It turns out she was only about five weeks old. In America, you can’t legally sell a rabbit under EIGHT weeks old. So, the pet store should NEVER have sold a bunny that young. Everything I have read yesterday and today indicates that a baby rabbit’s chances for surviving an early weaning are not so great, as we have unfortunately learned.

Aaron came to see me at work to tell me. I guess he’ll take care of burying her today before it rains. I warned Ridge this morning that Tama-chan might not make it so hopefully he won’t be too upset to come home and see the sadly empty cage. It’s just all so frustrating and sad at the same time. We could already see a little personality emerging and were looking forward to having her around for a while.

Village Festival and our Latest Addition

Last Sunday was the village “just-for-fun” festival. The festivals prior to this one were somewhat religious in nature, but this one is just an excuse for the locals to party. Last year it rained and so the event was moved into the building that houses the indoor baseball field. Fortunately the weather was fantastic and the festivities were held outside in the main park. In this photo you can see the park as folks prepare for the day. I took this picture by walking a short ways up the ski slope. The white things are long pieces of Styrofoam, which serves as seating. The round pit of sand is the sumo ring, the site of Aaron’s infamous wrestling matches. On this day, it was used as the spot where they lit all the barbecue grills. It was really quite the undertaking!

All around the seating area were booths set up by a wide variety of people. There was a small pen with some of the mayor’s dairy cattle (calves), a booth giving away free milk samples, food vendors, games of chance, and vegetable stands. People began to arrive around 10:00 and the performers started their show about 10:30. By 11:00, men caring grills full of hot coal began to circulate around the seating area. After buying a barbecue “set”, you simply cooked your food and ate while listening to the singers. The barbecue “set” consisted of a few skewers of chicken, a scallop, a large shrimp, half of a small fish, a bit of beef, and some Japanese pumpkin. Everything is cooked on the grill, which is usually shared by a group of people.

After setting up.jpg
Calves tied to the play structure
Ridge fanning the grill
"Grill, anyone?"
Folks grilling and eating

After the performers were finished, there was a milk-drinking contest. Fortunately, the contest was one of speed, not quantity consumed. All the while, our children had been running pell mell around the park, playing with their friends and trying to talk us into buying them cotton candy. However, after the milk-drinking contest, I gathered the boys up so we could watch Aaron compete in the wood cutting contest. He joined Mr. Tao, Mr. Kamaya, and the mayor for this event. Each team of four had to cut through a log. Every 30 seconds, a whistle would blow and a different person took over sawing. Aaron team did very well and I could hear people around me exclaiming with surprise, “wow! Look at sancho-san (nick name for the mayor) go!!” The nine teams competed in two heats. Aaron’s team won their first heat and came in second all around. It was really fun to watch! Those older men really knew what they were doing!
The Mayor sawing
Aaron sawing
Mr. Kamaya (my boss) sawing

The day before the festival, we decided to go to Asahikawa for the day. After much debate, Aaron and I had decided that we could no longer be happy without a furry creature in our lives. So, we are now the proud parents of an amazingly small rabbit. Ridge picked her out and we spent most of a two-hour drive debating her name. I will now treat you (ha ha ha) to a long and perhaps tedious explanation of her name.

Ridge began the conversation by be immovably set on the name, “Spot.” Aaron and I immediately said, “No way!” I insisted on a Japanese name for our little Japanese bunny. In the end, we compromised. The bunny has been officially named, “Mizutama”. This means, “spot” in Japanese. But wait! There’s more! “Mizutama” is written as two kanji. (1) “mizu” – means “water” (2)”tama” – means “jewel or drop”

Also, a quick lesson on Japanese nicknames. To make someone’s name a pet name or a nick name, you add –chan if it’s a girl or –kun if it’s a boy. For example, Ridge’s teachers call him, “Ridge-kun”. We call Ridge’s friend Aiko, “Aiko-chan”. Got it?

Okay, now let’s put these two mini-lessons together. The rabbit’s name is Mizutama. She’s a girl, so we can call her “Tama-chan”. This is a nickname for Mizutama AND a name on it’s own. Basically, “Tama-chan” can also mean “little jewel”.

I know, I know – that was more explanation than you needed for the name of a rabbit that weight less than an apple. But, we were really quite pleased with ourselves to have come up with a name that has a kind of double meaning. Not to mention the fact that she is still named “Spot”, essentially.

Rest In Peace, Steve

I just finished reading an online article about Steve Irwin’s memorial service. Apparently, his private funeral consisted of family and friends swapping Steve stories around a campfire. I can’t think of anything more appropriate.

Frankly, Aaron and I still can’t believe he’s gone. We’ve been watching Steve and Terri for years. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve watched the DVD we have containing an hour long special biography. I suppose our family has watched Bindy Sue being born about ten times. Ridge’s default dog name during pretend play is “Suey”, named after Steve’s faithful bull terrier. In fact, Steve himself is the first person Ridge ever pretended to be.

I remember once, before we left Juneau, Ridge was playing outside with a neighbor. They had a long piece of thick rope that they kept throwing up into a small tree in our yard. Ridge would then put on his rain boots and a pair of sunglasses (to protect him from the spitting cobras) and pretend to catch the snake. We all loved Steve. After we told Ridge about his death, Ridge decided to watch his “Most Dangerous Adventures” DVD. I admit that I couldn’t handle hearing Steve’s voice. It made me too sad. We’re going to miss him so much.

Well, just had to get that off my chest.

Sumo! (again, this year)

Here's Aaron squaring off against Aiko's father (she's one of Ridge's friends from pre-school). Unfortunately, Aaron lost this match. He did, however, win the next two. Nishiokoppe's "jinjasai" (shrine festival) was on Monday. I'll post more photos later.

The Forest of the 21st Century

(F.Y.I. – this took place the weekend before last)

As the weather cools a bit here, and we can sense fall just around the corner, we decided it was time to have another little family trip. Thursday is my long day; I have to work until five and most of that is spent at my desk. On the spur of the moment, I began looking for places to camp in Asahikawa. Five minutes until five o’clock, I dashed downstairs to ask Fusae to make a phone call for me. The line was busy the first two times she called and I nearly gave up. Finally, she got through and discovered that they did, in fact, have one available “bungalow” left. We were very lucky – there had been a cancellation. So, I happily bounced home and told Aaron and the boys that we would be going to the zoo on Saturday and spending the night in a campground. The kids were nearly beside themselves with excitement.

Saturday turned out to be beautiful and not too hot. We made good time to the zoo and enjoyed our most recent splurge: an Ipod. We simply could not make another road trip without music. Since our car has no CD/tape player and the radio stations are pretty limited, we usually travel without any tunes. This time, we listened to music all way there in back and it was wonderful. Even if we had to listen to, “Anything you Can Do” from the play Annie Get Your Gun about a dozen times (Holt loves that song).

The zoo was perfect. It was crowded, but we just took our time and moseyed along. It’s much nicer in the summer. If you recall, last time we went it was VERY cold. We enjoyed not having to worry about breaking a hip on the slippery ice!

We bought Ridge and Holt some kid’s meals for lunch and this is what was inside the box. The food with the white drawings is “onigiri” – rice balls wrapped in nori (seaweed).
kid's bento

Many of the exhibits at this zoo are designed to get the visitors up close and personal with the animals. These are two photos that really illustrate this goal. First is the chimpanzee enclosure, and second is the macaque habitat. You can see Asahikawa in the background.
"What are you looking at?"
A Room with a View

The “farm animal” section was a load of fun, too! I love how they built the feeders for the goats. There was also an opportunity for kids to pet guinea pigs. First, everyone stood in line and waited patiently. Then, they each had a turn sitting and having a critter handed to them by a very watchful staff person. You can see the diagram with the rules illustrated very clearly.
Notice what they are standing on
Petting Instructions
Staff with a basket o'critters
Ridge's turn
Holt's turn
Watch your step!

After our lovely day at the zoo, we drove to a campground about twenty minutes away. This place was called, “The Forest of the 21st Century.” I don’t know why. It was wonderful! We stayed in a very cozy cabin, the boys played on a play structure just fifty yards away, and we explored the other camping and recreational areas within the park. When fall is here for good and the trees begin to turn colors, we hope to return to this park.

The entryway
Bottom floor, view one
Sleeping area and loft
Garden view
Garden view, 2
Play structure

Photo Reminder

Just a reminder: if you click on the photos, they will enlarge. Just remember to use your back button to return to the blog text.

Kamiokoppe Jinjasai

Today was Kamiokoppe’s Jinjasai (shrine festival). The boys, Aaron, and I joined some locals and the school children in the procession around town. Ridge opted out of the outfit Holt is wearing. Instead, he agreed to wear a “happi”, which is a traditional festival jacket. I don’t know the name for the outfit Holt and the other small children are wearing. He simply said it was a “hero costume” and I didn’t argue with him.

During this festival, the portable shrine belonging to Kamiokoppe is carried around the streets to each neighborhood. At designated spots, tables with food offerings are set up in addition to a squared-off spot of ground which is a symbolic shrine. The local deity is said to ride on the portable shrine and the priest asks for it’s blessing at each spot. Then, the shrine bearers toss the shrine into the air while chanting encouragement. The deities are believed to enjoy this motion. The small children dressed as Holt represent something like Shinto angels who accompany the deity as it travels around town.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any good shots of Holt. He was not happy with the idea of being photographed today, for some reason. The event culminated in a community lunch in the community center and some games for the kids which were held in the elementary school gym (due to rain).

Still No Blog

Sorry, folks. I still haven’t finished the blog. Here’s a couple more photos to pacify everyone. The next few days will be busy, too. Tomorrow is Kamiokoppe’s “jinjasai”, or shrine festival. We’ll head over there in the morning and hang out most of the day.

In this photo, Ridge and Holt are riding some mechanical critters. For 200 yen each, they got to ride around this flat area for about three minutes. Each animal can be steered, as you can see.

The next is Holt and me in an observation tower in the park we camped at.

Photo for Today

We had a lovely little trip to the zoo and camping last weekend. I have a lot of photos to post, which is a bit time consuming. So, until I complete my longer post about the trip and put up all the other pictures, I thought I would post one or two each day.

These two are: a shot of our crazy family as we stopped for a lunch break at the zoo; a shot of me and the boys on a bridge at a park near where we rented a cabin for Saturday night.