HAPPINESS IS BAKING YOUR OWN COOKIES.

What are your first memories of helping with baking cookies? When I was a boy, preparing food didn't intrigue me much. My interest was in eating it.

On a lovely weekend in 1968, a gracious couple let me stay with their family. Being five-hundred miles from home in Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind, spending time in a genuine home, rather than a sterile institution, was a blessing.

From my Deliverance from Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School) memoir, here is a pleasant vignette of one happy experience in Vancouver.

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On one of those blessed weekend outings, Mrs. Rupert asked me to help with baking the cookies. She showed me how to flatten the dough with the rolling pin. She also demonstrated how to keep dough from sticking to the roller by sprinkling flour over it. Mrs. Rupert handed me a cookie cutter and showed me how to remove the different shapes.

Far from being an irksome chore, this turned out to be enjoyable. Once the cookies were baked, I experienced the added satisfaction of eating treats which I actually helped bake.

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Deliverance from Jericho abounds with vignettes of what life was like in that government-run institution. These range from poignant experiences of homesickness to hilarious incidents of mischief. Please feel free to click on the link to my books or contact me directly for more information about them.

THE CONFUSED BACHELOR BUNNY.

Not many folks know this but rabbits dislike having familiar objects moved around. They mentally map their surroundings in order to know where they can escape to in case of danger.

I discovered this resistance to change on the part of bunnies when I decided to do some spring cleaning. Being a bachelor myself, I let the suite I rented become untidy. One day, I decided to clean up my act as well as my kitchen.

From When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living With Bunnies), here is an excerpt which demonstrates the effect of tidying up on my first house rabbit, Gideon.

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Perhaps he was more of a bachelor than I was, but the amount of filth around his cage reached the point where even I was offended by it. In April, I decided that some spring-cleaning was in order and I tidied up the whole area, including the dropping tray.

Poor Gideon looked lost. He hopped into the space where his cage once stood and looked around all perplexed.

"I know my cage should be here, but it isn't."

Everything else seemed to be out of place for the poor lad as he wandered around, examining all those once-familiar objects in his territory. He actually seemed relieved when I finally replaced his cage and put his box and other toys back in their customary spots. It's funny how rabbits can be so traditional and set in their ways?even more than their humans.

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When a Man Loves a Rabbit is filled with many more fascinating stories of life with house bunnies. These vignettes range from the tragic to the hilarious. Please click on the link to my books for details about both of my paperbacks. You're also welcome to contact me directly for more information.

PLANNING AN ESCAPE

By now, most children in North American schools have resigned themselves to the routine of classes and homework. In a majority of situations, these students are able to return home each afternoon. Others aren't so fortunate.

Back in April of 1969, I dreaded another long exile from home. My parents sent me to Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind, five hundred miles from home. At the time, they were convinced by government bureaucrats that only specialized teachers could educate sight-impaired children.

From my Deliverance from Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School) memoir, here's a vignette depicting how deeply returning to that institution depressed me and how strongly tempted I wished to escape.

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Easter ended far too soon for me. I stood in the day coach's doorway, gazing out at Edmonton, and a strong temptation gripped me. "What if I escaped and ran away?" I thought. An argument raged in my mind between the practical side and my emotions. Finally, I gave in to the inevitable and shuffled toward the seat assigned to me. I recalled how humiliating my last attempt to escape Jericho had been.

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Deliverance from Jericho abounds with vignettes of what life was like in that government-run institution. These range from poignant experiences of homesickness to hilarious incidents of mischief. Please feel free to click on the link to my books or contact me directly for more information about them.

RECOLLECTIONS OF A RECORD.

What was the first full-length album you ever owned? For some,
it was a vinyl LP while others may have bought a cassette or CD.

Back in the late sixties and early seventies, a Canadian company called K-tel sold a series of "best hits" LPs which featured popular rock songs of the time. Ads for these records bombarded the airwaves as each new release came out. "Original hits! Original stars!" an over-excited announcer bawled at the start of each commercial. Then he named each group whose music played in the background.

I was one of many teenagers who longed to have those records. In Deliverance from Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School), I wrote about one of those albums which I strongly desired. Here's how one K-tel release impacted me.

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While Mom and I spent the afternoon shopping, I begged her to buy me one of the K-tel records called 24 Power Hits. These compilation albums of current pop tunes were advertised everywhere and I felt I needed to have one. After Mom reluctantly parted with four dollars, I proudly carried my new album home. I spent much of the Easter holidays enjoying that record, listening to it almost continually on Mom's player. Whenever those tunes come on the radio today, they bring back the feelings and memories of that holiday.

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Deliverance from Jericho abounds with vignettes of what life was like in that government-run institution. These range from poignant experiences of homesickness to hilarious incidents of mischief. Please feel free to click on the link to my books or contact me directly for more information about them.

RABBIT-PROOFING A COMPUTER ROOM.

bunnies certainly can get into mischief, as I've discovered on numerous occasions. No matter how careful a person is, these buck-toothed vandals seem to find ways around preventive measures.

During my years of having house rabbits, I've been defeated many times by clever lagomorphs. In my debut memoir, When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living With Bunnies), I wrote about how destructive my long-eared companions became at times. Here's an example of how I was outwitted by one determined bunny.

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Around that same time, Harry began to be quite a pest. Perhaps my being gone all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while I took a Windows course in Edmonton made him feel abandoned. He was especially naughty in April when he pushed a box to the PC desk, hopped on it and chewed a placemat. He also knocked the mouse off the keyboard shelf.

Fortunately, Harry didn't chew the cord through, but he almost bit the plug off. I thanked God that Pastor Wayne Sykes was able to solder the wires back together for me and it worked just fine. Then Harry nibbled a chunk out of the middle mouse button.

On another occasion, the sneaky wretch nipped the computer's keyboard cable. Thankfully, there was no electrical damage and I finally got the hint. I immediately covered all the peripheral cables with wire wrap and aluminum tape.

I did three things for Harry that distracted him from his destruction hobby. First, I turned half a box upside down, put a chair over it and cut doors in it. He had fun going in and out as well as peering at Gideon through the NIC barrier.

Next, I took a box lid and sat some water bottles inside. Harry loved the resistance when he tugged at the edges of it with his teeth. Lastly, I gave him a paper grocery bag and he loved hopping inside it and ripping the other end open.

All these distractions helped keep my lop-eared lad out of mischief, but it wasn't a perfect solution.

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When a Man Loves a Rabbit is filled with many more fascinating stories of life with house bunnies. These vignettes range from the tragic to the hilarious. Please click on the link to my books for details about both of my paperbacks. You're also welcome to contact me directly for more information.

BLACK RABBIT WITH ATTITUDE.

Now that Easter is over, what will happen to all those bunnies which unwise parents bought on a whim for their children? Most likely, many will be surrendered to animal shelters or cruelly dumped outdoors to fend for themselves. Some will be "loved" to death while others will end up exiled to a lonely cage in the back yard.

With resources such as The House Rabbit Society website, people lack the excuse that they couldn't find information on house rabbits. In fact, many folks believe they don't need to learn anything about how to care for these mentally-complex creatures.

As I found out, bunnies are like other pets. They get into mischief and some have attitudes. In When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living With Bunnies), I wrote about one little Netherland Dwarf with a big attitude. In this excerpt, I show that not all rabbits retain their litter habits.

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By April, Neutrino's cockiness had surfaced with his increasing freedom and as a result, I locked him away during the nights and mornings. Even so, the naughty boy chewed holes in one runner and urinated several times next to the sink. Caging him after each offense didn't seem to help the situation, so I moved the rectangular rug under the table.

Neutrino retaliated by wetting in the corner behind my chair and he ripped some threads out of the carpet. Chasing him away from under my table where he liked to loaf and getting in the habit of pushing the chair in each night only helped a bit. That bad lad still insisted on peeing in the corner. Eventually, I just gave in, wiped the floor and washed the rug whenever it was
wet.

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When a Man Loves a Rabbit is filled with many more fascinating stories of life with house bunnies. These vignettes range from the tragic to the hilarious. Please click on the link to my books for details about both of my paperbacks. You're also welcome to contact me directly for more information.

STIGMATA: DIVINE SIGN OR FAKERY.

One of the most curious mysteries in Christendom is the stigmata. Throughout the centuries, a variety of oddball people claimed to have had the marks of Christ's crucifixion appear on their hands, forehead, and sometimes their feet. A few have even claimed to have the spear wound of Christ in their side.

Forty years ago, I was in a cultic house church where the minister, who I call Brother Herald, claimed to have the stigmata. Back then, I was an awestruck new believer with no discernment skills. Because of that, I accepted whatever this charismatic leader and his elder taught me. Now I know from proper exegesis of Scripture that this man was a liar and a fraud.

From my upcoming How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity memoir, here is an excerpt that tells of my introduction to what I now believe was a false sign.

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Meanwhile, an incident on Good Friday strengthened my faith in Brother Herald. As proof of his being a teacher of God through divine election, according to Sister Roberta, he suffered from the stigmata.

As Sister Eileen, her mother, and I sat waiting at the card table, I asked them, "Where's Brother Herald? I thought I just heard his voice."

"He's in his room," Sister Roberta explained. "Don't disturb him. He has the stigmata."

"What's that?"

"It's a special burden of God which only a few exalted people get. Brother Herald bears the wounds of Christ in his body every Good Friday. He bleeds a lot sometimes and he doesn't want to be seen."

"Why?"

"It might be too disturbing for people."

Then she opened her Bible and read to me the passage from Galatians 6:17. "From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus."

She looked up at me and cautioned, "He's in a lot of pain so he doesn't want you disturbing him with questions."

Sister Roberta's rebuke smarted but I held my peace. After all, I still knew little of the faith whereas both she and Brother Herald seemed well-educated in its particulars.

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How I Was Razed is the testimony of how God revealed his true character to me after charismatic house church elders misled me for more than fifteen years. You're welcome to contact me directly for more information about this upcoming paperback.

WHY I DREAD EASTER.

This is supposed to be a happy time of year, right? Spring arrives, the days lengthen, and Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ while Jews celebrate Passover. What's not to be happy about?

For rabbits, Easter means turmoil. Certain unscrupulous breeders remove young bunnies too early from their mothers and sell them as dwarf rabbits. A few months later, purchasers realize that their supposedly small rabbit has grown large. Others sell the small breeds to pet stores. The clerks at these businesses know little about proper bunny health. This sometimes results in ill bunnies not receiving proper vet care. Worse yet, rabbits tend to hide their illnesses until they become life-threatening.

People tend to assume that rabbits are for children and that they eat only lettuce and carrots. This is far from the truth. Rabbits need good grass hay to wear down their ever-growing teeth. They also require leaf lettuce and other greens, not iceberg lettuce. Carrots have far too much sugar in them. The digestive system of a rabbit isn't geared to use large amounts of carbohydrates. The wrong sort of bacteria grow explosively when bunnies eat too much carrot and the toxins these microbes release can kill the host animal.

Additionally, commercially-manufactured rabbit food tends to be filled with seeds and other inappropriate foods. Corn and seeds can cause impactions in the intestine and eventually kill rabbits. Even alfalfa pellets can be bad for bunnies if given exclusively.

Rabbits are shy creatures with delicate bone structure. Children play too rough with them, sometimes causing their beloved pet to die. Dogs are far better for kids since they can withstand rough play.

Conscientious parents also have a problem finding good information on rabbit care since far too many ill-informed authors have written misleading books on the subject. Many of these publications are meant for breeders, not for those who want to have pet rabbits.

Where can a person turn for proper information? The House Rabbit Society is thee place to go for correct and abundant information on the care of house bunnies. The site is packed with tips on every aspect of care for these unique animals.

My When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living With Bunnies) memoir contains good rabbit care information as well as examples of good and bad practices. Check out the book links on the left side of this page for details.