Not The Way to Start The Day

Am back at work today. And what an eventful (not in a good way) morning it's already been. My heart is still pounding and I've been here almost half an hour already (sorting thru a day of missed work emails!).

I did my normal morning routine, got up, showered, got dressed, hung washing (I love having a timer setting on the machine) and made myself some lunch (okay, those last two aren't really part of the normal routine, but anyway) and then got the bunnies some water in their jug and stepped out of my front door. Only to spot the tiny Lilith sitting in the corner between my rose-pot and fish pond. WHAT?!

So I raced round the corner to see if the whole hutch was open. But nope, there sat Rex & Coal shut inside as usual. Even more: WHAT?! So I tried to coax her out, but she's my most skittish bunny at the best of times and she was having none of it! She raced across the driveway and hid under my car. Bugger. Eventually with *a lot* of racing around trying to fence her in and using a broomstick to herd her, I got her fenced in next to their enclosure and managed to catch her and get her back into the hutch with the other two. She seems fine. At this stage she's probably more fine than me because I'm going to spend my day wondering how she got out and if she could do it again (did I leave her outside the hutch when I shut them in last night ?! I can't imagine I would, I've *never* done it before). But I have CollegeInstructor keeping an eye on them today and he's under strict instructions to call me immediately if anything weird happens (although I've even latched the top door, in case she somehow fell out of there).

The thing that I find *most* worrying tho is that we all (me, Beukes and CollegeInstructor) noticed that the gate to the giant rugby-sized field behind our cottage (where we park out cars and where the bunny enclosure is) was shut last night from about 7pm. It's never been shut in the entire time I've lived there. Now I'm wondering if someone saw Lily out and just closed the gate and didn't bother to tell me?! If that's the case I am seething. Who would do such a thing? She's a poor defenceless tiny bunny, someone's pet, who is used to being safely shut in a hutch in the cold dark night and you don't bother to tell her Mom when you spot that she's escaped? I can't even begin to think of all the things that could've gone horribly wrong over night. There are cats, she could've got thru the fence into the dog's side of the garden and not been able to find her way out (and then I never would've found her cause I never go there), she could've got all the way down the driveway, thru the gate and into the road. Okay, I'm freaking myself out again. *sob* *double sob* I didn't even have time to check her for injury's or cat-scratches this morning after I caught her cause we were both so panic-ed, although she seemed okay, jumping around the hutch as normal.

Other than that, went to SCM as usual on Monday night and spent yesterday home in bed doping myself up with Med-Lemon, cough syrup and oranges in an attempt to ward off this cold. I'm definitely better today than yesterday so let's hope it's working!

ps. that's another of my #365 photos there ... thank goodness it won't be the last of my sweet little thing. *sob*