Category Archives: Random Topics

Forever Grateful!

I promised myself to write a post when the number of hits to this website reaches 100,000. I missed it because for the past few days, the hits has been surging dramatically. To date, we have 102,272 hits!

I want to thank all my faithful readers both old and new for visiting my weblog religiously.

I was just thinking back to the days when I first started off. It was indeed a period of my life where I did some soul searching. I was taking a long break from the corporate world to reflect on my life. I just got married and life seemed to be quite uncertain without a job. It was by choice that I took the leap of faith to quit my well paying job to search out my vocation. I wouldn’t change a thing. It was at that time when I first fell in love with the Holland Lops.

My deep thoughts brought me back to the time when I first set out to import my foundation stocks. I do not want to mention names but someone once discouraged me from getting into Holland Lops because this person did not have enough trust in me or perhaps did not even have the intention to sell me any of her rabbits. Being a person that do not give up easily, I asked for the reason why she did not want to sell to me. She said that I will have too much going on in my life when my 1st baby arrives and it is not the right time to get rabbits as pets. Bullshit I must say – LOL!

I told myself, to hell with that bull crap and turned out, I have very nice Hollands that I enjoy very much now and she has since QUIT raising Hollands.

And the best part of it all, we just had our 2nd baby born and my love/passion for the Hollands has not diminished but instead, has grown tremendously. Comparing my little small herd to most breeders overseas, I do not even have more than 10% the numbers that they have but it is good enough for me. I am very contented right now and I look forward to the future. I cannot imagine not having at least one Holland Lop in my life.

I have many people to thank for inspiring me and helping me sustain in this hobby. 98% of them are breeders overseas and they have all been very encouraging and helpful. I am very glad that though most of them do not constantly keep in touch, we do form a huge support group when it comes to Holland Lops. Despite the distance, I am glad to be able to feel their enthusiasm which helps a lot in keeping me afloat in this hobby.

My only hope is that there will be a little bunny support group here in Malaysia.

Whatever it is, HOLLAND LOP rules!

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The Fox & the Bunny Grapes (Politically Correct)

I read a lot thanks to my parents for instilling that trait in me. It was because of them that I can write well enough in English so that most reading will be able to understand. One of my all time favorite book was Aesop’s Fables. I must say that most of the values I practice in life pretty much came from Aesop’s Fables.

As a continuation to yesterday’s rambling, which I was giving much thought as I try to reason out the situation, a fable came to my mind. It is called The Fox & The Grapes. I believe that this is the fable where the English idiom “sour grapes” came from.

I believe strongly that most adults these days did not have the chance to read Aesop’s Fables. Even if they do read it, the unkind world must have drown the good moral values in them. The story is self-explanatory.

Original illustration source unknown but was taken from http://beribiru.net/?p=13. I added a bunch of bunny grapes!

The following is taken from Wikipedia.org with a little “twist” modification :

One hot summer’s day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Bunny Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. “Just the thing to quench my thirst,” quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: “I am sure they are sour.”

It is easy to despise what you cannot get.

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Today’s Theme Is LOVE, As Usual…

I was listening to someone talk about love today and most of it was about marriage. He spoke about the essence of sustaining a marriage and one of the main points were communication. Never to take for granted the expression of love. And then I heard him saying “Tru Luv”. I suddenly “woke up” from my almost asleep state. Turned out I realized that he wasn’t talking about Tru-Luv Rabbitry but he really meant “through love”. So that got me thinking. What does Tru-Luv really means and my thoughts went straight to my “About Tru-Luv Rabbitry” page. Here, True was spelled as Tru but now I realized that it could also mean Thru or Through.

Yes, this rabbitry of mine is nothing but a labor of love. Having had celebrated Labor Day yesterday, I am sure all of us can relate to what working hard is all about in sustaining our lives. We pour in our sweat and tears to achieve so little sometimes. But whatever we do, it is out of LOVE.

Our hard work is an expression of our love for those who meant so much to us. There is a huge change sweeping across the corporate world. We often hear about WORK & LIFE balance. For me, nothing beats having some time with both my family and my rabbits alike.

But when both family and rabbits come together, it becomes even more precious!

Let's do it for our FUTURE!

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Ellen In The House!

I do not mean Ellen DeGeneres but someone that needs no introduction, Ellen Whyte. We all know Ellen from her book entitled Katz Tales: Living Under The Velvet Paw and the Dog Talk column on The Star newspaper. Basically, Ellen wanted to visit the rabbits and ask me a few questions for her upcoming article. Watch out for the article as I promised Ellen not to say a word about it. I am honored she allowed me to post this up.

With Ellen Whyte in the rabbitry. My wifey can take good photos too!

A rainy Saturday morning. It couldn’t get better than this. The bunnies were all very happy as though they knew someone special is coming. The first rabbit that caught Ellen’s attention is Sibylla. She was just sitting there looking at Ellen and she was successful in getting her attention. Ellen picked her up and held her for a while. One thing I need to learn from Ellen is how she can strike a conversation with any animal that she picks up. There will be a lot more talking in the rabbit room now.

Though it was a pretty short visit, I hope Ellen gathered enough information as needed. I really enjoyed chatting with her and knowing what’s on her mind. I am really happy that she didn’t get a shock looking at my little rabbitry which by all normal standard, out of the ordinary.

Ellen, if you are reading this, THANK YOU very much for visiting. It was a pleasure having you over!

For the rest of my readers, do look out for another wonderful article by Ellen. You have been informed…

A virtual mark can be seen written all over Meadow Haven that reads, Ellen wuz here

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What’s Been Happening

There has been a lot of changes for me recently and that explains why I have not been writing much. Life in general is pretty interesting and we all go through phases that knock us out of our ways. The next few weeks would be crucial for me as I pick out who I am keeping and who I am sharing out as good pets or brood. I have improved the sale and purchase agreement for those who get rabbits from me.

The FurryButts are going home tomorrow so I’ll be missing them, I can’t wait to check out their new crib and hopefully their owners will start blogging again.

Oh yeah, it’s Good Friday today, I hope everyone “celebrating” this day is having a good time reflecting on some spiritual stuff. Not forgetting, Easter is just another 2 days away. I hope no bunny will become casualty during this EGG and BUNNY season.

As for the bunnies in TLR, they are sort of enjoying a new environment.

Other than all these random ramblings, I’ve got lots of chores to do as I am gonna “bunny-cum-house sitting” for a friend. It’s gonna be a short weekend!

As you can see, I have nothing much to update for now…

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How Far Have We Come?

I was just wondering to myself how far we have come collectively in terms of quality rabbits here in Malaysia. Though I have not shared out much of my rabbits, I am pretty proud of the progress thus far and I don’t mean the taste of rabbit meat – LOL!

Many have chosen to import directly from the USA and some if not all are of decent quality. There must be demands since there are people who want these animals so badly that they opt for direct importation. Not to sound arrogant but to a certain extend, I believe that this blog has disseminated much knowledge in terms of quality that may have contributed to the awareness and demand for quality, else we will still be where we are 3 to 4 years back.

You see, a regular person will always react to provocation. Without it, sometimes there wouldn’t be much motivation. I was just wondering if there are some people out there who are just for a little thought wants TLR to just shut up and get out of the limelight. My mind plays tricks on me sometimes and just for laughs,  I would like to share this little scenario so that everyone can share the laughs with me. Let’s for an instance say that TLR has quite a few “competitors” and most of them would come into this blog and peep at what’s happening or what not. Being envious some may even try to top the quality? And it would be so funny if I just told them that what I have in this blog is totally a make belief? Wouldn’t it be such an irony that these people actually put in so much effort just to top something virtual?

Aren’t we all the same? It is so common for us to be envious of others till a point that we loose our directions as to what we truly want and enjoy in the first place. It is always about being better than some one else. That is what competition can do to us. The thought of winning blinds us. In places without shows like Malaysia, winning does not come in the form of a show competition. Winning comes mostly from the amount of money one makes.

But all these, can be thought of as VIRTUAL. Are we using our pets as stepping stones to make money or they are for our favorite past time? In the old simple days, kids have their dogs tagging along while walking, kids cuddling tiny critters and the true joy of having a pet is enjoying their presence – just having them with us that is.

Gone are the days I am afraid. Instant gratification has gotten the best of us. We want nice things RIGHT NOW most of the time. We throw away UNWANTED things RIGHT NOW too! I truly fear for the future sometimes thinking about this part of it. Demands create a lot of problems including and not limited to abandonment, temperament problems (near to no interaction) and long term health issues.

Who is there to govern what is right and wrong anymore?

But I am happy. I mean the progress that we have made so far. We have nice rabbits in Malaysia now. Maybe the next step would be adding some varieties in it? For crying out loud, 47 ARBA breeds right now, let’s not stop at Holland Lop, Dwarf Hotot and Netherland Dwarf.

And a final note, all the rabbits that you see on this blog is REAL. They are right here with me as I type this post. I love each and every single one of them very much and I am truly enjoying their presence. Just like the old simple days when a bunny gets to be a bunny!

A Binky A Day Keeps The Doc Away - Fred being bunny!

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Rabbit, How To Train Your Human

Photo taken from HowToTrainYourDragon.com

I had a great time over the weekend with the family watching this wonderful movie. Not in 3D though as I hate having double vision throughout a movie. I absolutely love the humor, the cute dragons and a superb story line to boot!

Photo taken from HowToTrainYourDragon.com

If there is one lesson I’ll take away from this movie, it would definitely be the way we train ourselves to keep pets. Yes, I really mean how we train ourselves and not our pets. I am not referring to only rabbits but any pets for the matter.

Many of us are like the Vikings in the village of Berk. They just do not understand the dragons that they were up “against”. Like them, we are also sometimes oblivious and do not understand what we’re getting ourselves into when bringing little bunny or puppy home for the very first time.

There are many different breeds of pets be it dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters and birds. Do we look beyond the cuteness when we plan to bring them home? Ideally, most of us will do extensive research while most of us prefer the impromptu impulse buying. There are 2 ways to go about it when it comes to impulse buying.  The first would do research only after purchase or when facing difficulties. The second would just get rid of their troublesome pets or allow it to die before acquiring more.

The issue is not really about the pets here. We are in dire need of training ourselves. Like the dragons in the movie, each type has its own characteristics, needs and behaviors. It has been mentioned many times before that we should choose pets that fits our lifestyle and not trying to make our pets fit into our expectations. There should be a fit in your daily routine and with the attention needed by your pet so to speak. In order for us to have the fit, we must first learn the requirements of the pet itself.

Failing to understand the behavior of the pet to begin with is like being a Viking in Berk that kills every dragon that crosses one’s path. Therefore, we all need to bring out the Hiccup (the main character not gas stuck in your throat) in us so then we could give ourselves completely in giving and receiving trust from our pet.

Photo taken from HowToTrainYourDragon.com

Once we’re able to understand the needs of our pets, then we can even tame the Night Fury!

Photo taken from HowToTrainYourDragon.com

It is a great movie everyone ought to watch both children and adult alike! Highly recommended!

On the other hand, I recently had an itch for little cute animal. I must admit that I almost took it home on impulse! Take a look at this photo and tell me who wouldn’t!

A Chinchilla! Isn't he cute? Cuddly Chinchilla courtesy of Furfurries!

It really took a lot of self control to resist the temptation. If you were there, I am sure you can hear me out loud as I kept on reminding myself, “Only Holland Lops please”…

I would also like to say that I am pretty sad to learn that someone I really look up to has made the decision to quit raising rabbits entirely. Maybe one day she’ll be back if it is meant to be.

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OMG! We’re On CuteOverload.com!!!

The Chosen Photo

J & J just dropped a little comment telling me that TLR is being featured on CuteOverload.com.

Indeed, it was Sibylla in the food bowl!!!

Here’s the link, http://cuteoverload.com/2010/03/17/when-irish-eyes-are-smiling-they-seem-to-be-mocking-you/

Thank you so very much to that special person that took the time to submit the photo on my behalf!

As you can see, I no longer fit in that "pot" anymore

That was me!

I'm all grown up now...

I am happy Paul found me...

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Deep Thoughts

How much can one possibly write about rabbits? What happens when you have possibly written most of the important topics? I guess we move on to those unimportant ones?

Two words captured my attention today as I scroll through the social networking website – Pet Blogger. I start to wonder how does one qualifies to be a Pet Blogger and I search deep within myself asking that question – Am I a Pet Blogger?

First of all, I must say that the real definition of a Pet is actually in a singular form. The purest form of keeping pets as hobby is to have one animal at any point of time. With that said, I must admit I do have an obsession over rabbits in their plural form. My problem is that, I can’t just keep one.

That brings me to the question of whether a breeder that blogs can be considered a Pet Blogger?

I believe that we breeders walk on a very thin line and it always come back to the question of whether breeding comes first or pet comes first. Most of the pet people I know share the same obsession regardless of the species that they keep as pets. They just can’t have one. We know the consequences and most often than not has experienced losing our pet in its singular form and the result, disastrous!

So what sort of stuff do a Pet Blogger write about? How many times does he or she have to write “Fluffy eat kibbles today” before readers get bored of the blog? What is the essence that drives people to keep on coming back to one’s pet blog? I really do not have the answer but I am sure it does get a little boring at times.

To be honest, with so many cute photos posted on this blog, it is hard not to fall in love with the Holland Lops. In the past 3 years, I have had 2 incidents (that I know) where my blog caused my readers to acquire my rabbits on impulse. Everything was perfect until the rabbits actually went home and the just don’t seemed all that interesting as how it is for me – LOL!

Just like any other species kept as pets, it does take some effort to make the hobby a worthwhile one. You just can’t bring Polly home and expect her to ask for a cracker can you?

This is exactly how the term Pet Blogger is for me. It depends very much on how one would want to “recognize” or categorize a person as a Pet Blogger. In my opinion, anyone that writes about animal(s) that he or she keeps, is a Pet Blogger.

Now, I am finding it really difficult to write “Haley took some pellets today, Haley had some Timothy Hay today, Haley slept for 4 hours, Haley drank some water, Haley pooped & pee-ed”. Gosh! Just imagine that here and I am sure in no time I will have no reader visiting this blog. But that is actually how it is in Meadow Haven. Everyone is very laid back, with me doing most of the chores of course. And I cannot possibly write “I clean rabbit poop and pee today, I clean more cages today and I clean more litter pans today” right?

So what sets this blog apart? Is it the way that I write? Is it the photos that I post?

I really don’t know but it would be cool to have someone come up to me and say, “Tim, you’ve got a flair for writing”. I remember very clearly 2 people that actually said that to me and I do keep those words close to my heart. One was way back when I about 11 years old. It was my tuition teacher that taught composition. She said that I had good imagination and I was good at expressing my thoughts through writing. And the other is still a dear friend I hold closely to my heart. She was my supervisor when I was working part-time back then. She said, “Tim, you’ve got a flair for writing”. It didn’t really mean that much to me back then but today, writing is such an important channel for me to express myself. I do get flattered to get some occasional praises for writing well but I do doubt the distance that it can bring me. In this world, it is all about appreciation. If one appreciates Holland Lops, they will put a value into the rabbits. If one appreciates art, they will put a price to it. If one appreciates car modification, they will put an exhaust pipe big enough to fit a coconut in it!

I am really glad that my blog is able to build bridges. People around the world is able to understand what I am trying to say. The irony is that, sometimes I get fellow countrymen that do not understanding a single thing that I write.

I know this entry is a little random (that is why it is categorized as Random Topics). You guessed it right, I am basically expressing myself right now. I am actually sitting here thinking when was the last time that I actually blogged. Has the direction of my blog changed for the worst?

One thing is for sure, I am not writing as much in terms of sharing my knowledge because as time goes by, it felt like spoon-feeding. I realized that people will not appreciate what they get easily. With that said, prices of my rabbits are skyrocketing for sure – LOL! No free lunch people. You want the best, you pay the price – BWAHAHAHAHA! Oh, how I love the art of deterrence.

Before I stop my crap talk, I just want to share my own definition of a Pet Blogger:

1. You write so much that you lost track of time (I was suppose to check on the bunnies like 30 mins ago!)

2. You are always looking for opportunity to show off your pet(s) on the blog

3. You (not me) brags about your pet(s)

4. What you write has more entertainment value compared to substance

5. It seemed as though there is something profound between you and your pet that you must write about

6. Money is not the obvious and underlying reason you blog, you don’t have an entire herd of rabbits to sell and everything that you write is plainly and simply based on passion

Thank you for joining me on this whacky post. It’s been a while…

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Three weeks torts

It has been a really hectic weekend and beginning of the week. I absolutely love the traffic around KL these days and I hope everyone just don’t Balik “from” Kampung.

Before I move on to the good stuff, I am sad to say that we lost Knee-Yo on the 1st day of CNY. We found him dead in the cage when we returned from reunion dinner. I am not sure what really happened to him but I suspect the cause of death is cardiac arrest due to loud noises. A week back when I was using the vacuum cleaner, I noticed Knee-Yo running and crashing unto the sides of the cage. I had to stop immediately. I believe that he must have gotten a scare from the loud firecracker noises. I dread leaving the bunnies alone every Chinese New Year due to this reason. Anyway, I try not to allow this to dampen my spirit in the midst of this festive season. R.I.P. Little Knee-Yo.

On the other hand, the little torts are growing up well and they are so very cute right now. They are really feisty and bouncy. I finally found some ideas for props so that my pictures wouldn’t look so plain. Unfortunately, they ended up eating non stop and showing me their bums instead!

Here are some photos and I hope you like them.

Caught red handed for polluting the food bowl!

Another one checking me out!

Don't you dare invade our food!

Synchronized chewing...

The littlest of the litter

All in a row...

It's hard to take a perfect picture

I love my Chubby Pets Garden hay!

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