I had a good friend who kept rabbits, and the thing about bunnies is they are not cuddly (despite looking as though they ought to be) and they CHEW. Bunny-proofing included cardboard taped over the baseboards in the room bunnies were let out in, and being very careful with cords and stuff.

Oh, I hope you can adopt the bunny, JZ! It sounds like a great idea, from here where I don't have to do any bunny-proofing.

Some bunnies are more cuddly than others, they do have personalities and personal preferences.

I grew up with swamp coolers and my parents still have one. They work incredibly well in low humidity, though it is a tossup if they are really such a good idea in water-deficit areas.

We had a Bunzilla. And an evil cottontail. Both wanted to kill the cats. It was hilarious.

My parents are awesome, 99.8% of the time. They are just also my parents, equipped with the necessary and insidious means to drive me utterly batshit. They also have their quirks (believe me, I'm laughing at the lights-out thing too. It's totally absent minded professorism that doesn't really surprise me at all) that I can abide from a distance. But put me together in close quarters for 3 weeks? Let's just say my coping mechanisms start to show their age.

On the trip, my peers, while sympathetic & willing to spirit me off for some, um, spirits, also found my parents utterly delightful. Which is as they should. The things that make me crazy are harmless or endearing quirks if you haven't been experiencing them for 34 years.

Deck construction has resumed.

Now if the weather will just hold off long enough.

Good weather wishes for you, sara.

I think your parents are utterly charming too, fwiw.

Oh man. I did NOT sleep well and neither did Noah. We set up the tent to do our periodic camp-in-the-backyard bit. He was wound up (4+ hour nap + sips of an iced coffee + visible moon = toddler too excited for words) and wouldn't lie down. Finally he said he wanted to go in the house, so we did and I put him in the crib to howling. He didn't want to not be with us. Ugh. It took to long to get him settled.

I never even heard of a swamp cooler until I went to Tucson! They are so ingenious, and much better for the environment/your electricity bills than AC. A pity they don't work where I live.

Also never encountered until I went to the desert: outdoor patios 'cooled' by sprinklers set up just high enough above the tables and chairs that the water droplets evaporate on the way down, and all that is left is the cooled air.

Goddamned rain.

Working for the power company, I had a couple of conversations with people from the Southwest who moved to Georgia and went on at length about how we wasted so much money here on air conditioning when we could use swamp coolers. I just wanted to pat them on their dense little heads and say, "We don't have evaporation here, honey."

Oh, yes, flea, I know all about the CHEW problem--I had a raised-from-a-bun rabbit for five years and two adult rescues for another three, and the combined list of electronics ruined by the three of them despite proofing is a little horrifying. Our place will be severely rabbit-proofed before any new rabbit comes in.

I'm sorry for the rough night, Kat. Matilda's been in a similar wound-up-at-night, don't-make-me-sleep-alone cycle, and it's exhausting for everyone.