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Whilst browsing through one of our earlier websites as the 4th anniversary of losing our beloved Heathcliffe approaches, we found some of his old web-pages so have included them on this site in his memory. Heathcliffe was the most special bunny you could ever hope to meet and, although he died several years ago, he is not forgotten - and never will be..... (Please note: The photos were taken in the early days of digital cameras and don't really do justice to the boy!) SADLY, WE ANNOUNCE THAT HEATHCLIFFE DIED ON FRIDAY 27 JULY.
Heathcliffe's Christmas Message to the Nation 2000
Year 2000 has been an excellent year for myself and all my friends and family. Early in the year, Japonica and I had our first litter together - although she didn't adapt well to motherhood and attacked all our babies. The second litter in March was a little better although she still didn't look after her new family and human-mummy had to hand-rear them all. We later split up and Japonica moved to a new home with a castrated buck. Our son, Auberon, stayed here and is a very popular young man, with many of my own features. April saw the birth of my first grand-daughter, Bilberry who later produced great grand-daughter, Cloudberry in August. In May, the humans went on holiday together to Steynton, near Milford Haven. They stayed on a farm and, by coincidence (yes, really!) their hosts bred rabbits. Human-mummy showed them how to sex babies and the inevitable happened - she fell for the last boy and brought him home to live with us. 'Magic', the son of a Magician's bunny is now the proud father of Honeysuckle and another litter of 7 ginger bunnies. I almost had a triple engagement in June to sisters: Mam'zelle, Francine and Sapphire but, sadly, Mam'zelle and Francine died. However, Sapphire and I became engaged in October and we had 3 sons together. Now, we have another 5 sons and a black daughter. Next year, we're planning to marry, although we will continue to live separately; me up in the big brick house and Sapphire in 'The Octagon' (hopefully with our two daughters). Our breeding programme is going well and human-mummy is involving us in selective breeding using colour genetics to produce blues in the Netherlands and us Frenchies, and ginger or tri-colour in the cross-breeds. As a result, she's retained Santolina, Blue Peter, Teasel, Honeysuckle and Sunflower this year. I keep volunteering my services to introduce a little more black - but human-mummy just tells me to "calm down" and stop my panting. Health-wise, my chin abscess has been playing up and has recurred a few times and this lays me low for a few days. Human-mummy always gets very worried and takes me out to Safeway to treat me to all my favourite veg and then hand-feeds it to me while she massages my neck and shoulders. I'm a very good patient and I know any slight illness can bring a lot of extra fuss and attention around the clock. I also developed sores on my right paw so human-mummy had to rub Panalog ointment into them and then cuddle me for the next hour to ensure I don't get chance to lick it off again. Now I've learned how to get an extra snuggle from her - bend down towards that paw and watch her come running. An intelligent bunny has to keep his slave on her toes . . . . We survived the torrential rain and the floods - although the garden is still a quagmire of sloppy mud which I'm not allowed to play in - but this suits me as I don't like to get my paws dirty. The girls seem to enjoy it and Hattie went for a roll in it yesterday - can you imagine a mud-bathed English Angora? Not a pretty sight for a Gentleman such as myself, and not very Ladylike for her. <tut> As for the Millennium Dome, none of us went down to London-town to see it. However, my girls have their own Millennium Shelter instead - at the foot of the garden which has kept them, and my families, dry during the heavy rain of the last few months. Their hutches have also been re-decorated in green for their Millennium Project. In November, we
suffered from some nasty vindictiveness although this has just been
resolved in time for us to enjoy Christmas. We've been celebrating
today with a 'meadow hay, carrot, broccoli and brussels sprouts party' and
all the girls have I'm running out of modem time now so it's time to wind up . . . . My girls have worked me hard all year and I now have many sons and daughters, family, friends and relatives living all over the UK. On behalf of their mums and my human-mummy, I would now like to end my Christmas Message to the Nation by wishing them all (and their humans) a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year in 2001. Nose -rubs to all Heathcliffe xxx 25 December 2000 |
bravenet.com
been out
playing in the mud together while I watched longingly from my padded cushion in
the conservatory.