Convention Countdown

As I sit here by the calendar, I realize there are only 14 full days until Conevntion starts. 11 days until I leave. I deliver my rabbits this Friday to my transporter. And I was just filling out a state royalty application in May. Where did the time go?

I have a butt-load of things to do. And where it's raining and freezing cold out, I can only do the things inside right now. Many of which I can't do because my clothes are in the dryer.
I need to:

• Decide which clothes I will take to convention, and how much suitcase room I need. Wether or not I need to take two suitcauses and a carry on or if just the big and small one will be enough. It is going to get cold there, so I will have to dress in layers I suppose.
  
• Clean my carriers! I do not know of Teri will be taking them with her or not. Either way I don't mind, but if she does, they need to be clean and fresh!
  
• Continue preparing the rabbits. There are still some who need some grooming and I forgot to clip a few nails.
  
• FEED! I still have to figure this issue out. I have 13 days in which my rabbits will eat 60 ounces a day (6 ounces x 10 rabbits). I have 6 days where 5 rabbits will eat 6 ounces each. That's 60 lbs of feed. I figure since the rabbits will stress a 50 lb bag will do the trick, but how do I get 50 lbs of my feed to convention, where convention does not supply my brand of feed?! I have to find dealers near Grand Rapids and see if any of those carry Nutrena Ring Master.
  
• Decide what I will use for cage markers. I want to use my blue cage tags that I use here at home, but I do know they are common and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has thought of that.....
  
• Charge all my batteries. I have like 3 or 4 sets and they take like 16 hours each set to charge. Since I don't want to be on battery watch, I'll do them in the sleeping hours.
  

I am sure there is much much more, I am just not thinking of it all right now.... ha ha....

Long Week / Portland Trip / RVRF Show

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday went well. Seemed to go by very slowly.

Wednesday a few friends and I went to Portland. We had one idea on our agenda, we wanted to go to OMSI! We left at 7 AM, and arrived in Portland shortly after 1. We toured the exhibit halls (which were very fun and entertaining). At 2 o'clock the Body Works Production was on the OMNIMAX theater [10x size/quality sound; in a dome] and it was really neat. We then toured the Body Exhbits [bodies/parts that have been fixed for museum viewing]. We went to the Science Store, and there was a COOL rabbit shirt there [a dissected rabbits showing all ariteris and organs] but of course, I left my $$ in the car. Wed. nite we had to sleep on a floor since there was 7 of us that went. Wasn't bad, and ended up having lot of fun with my friends.

We left Portland around 6:30 and got back around 2 oclock. Have a few pics but need to download them. :)

Friday was my birthday. I turned 18 years old. Yay me. I didn't actually have a super exciting one though as we had just too much to do. Convention is coming up on us so fast and I had the RVRF show to prepare for today!

Speaking of that show. It went very well! I got there around 7 AM. I unloaded my bunnies. The show got started around 8:30 and I went to work with Roger H. Now, Roger is a close aquantance, a local breeder, a well respected judge and our district 1 director. Let me say it was an honor to work with him [practicing for royalty, pursuing my judges licence in the future] but it was still very awkward. We got started though. A bunch of Mini Rex and a bunch of Dutch, so those were the only breeds we did in A. Potluck lunch was good. I sold two rabbits at lunch, so that opened up ahole. That hole didn't stay open long, as Mandy from Mandy's Monster Farm came up to me asking if I needed a ML buck. So... I looked at the pedigree.... Velotta's Drizzt. Gee... that sounded familiar. So I didn't *need* another buck, especially since I am supposed to be downsizing! But I went to look at the buck after I was done eating, and even though he was out of condition and a lil chunky, the type was there!

I came home, the buck is an RGC; 3 or 4 legs and placed 9th/53 at 2005 ML nationals in Maryland! He even has a RIS win. He is pictured at the top.

Show B started. We had Rex and Mini Lops. Respectively I pulled my two bucks out of contention so I could work the Mini's. The Rex were phenonmoal (sp?) I have truly never felt coats like that, and almost every single one of them had a sweet set of fur on them! Andre took BOB/BOS and the two that took it were very nice animals. My bucks placed 2nd to his boys in A, so I didn't feel bad. PJ (my homebred Satin doe) beat out BOUNCE, which I bought from Roger. I am not sure how BROOK placed, since there were so many blacks! Whoever got my animals to the table, I thank them :)

Tomorrow is filled with work / getting rabbits ready for Convention. I meet Teri next Friday, so I won't have any time during the week to get my buns ready.

The Satin Story

We don't talk about our Satins very much because our focus is always on our Mini Lops. But they have been a vital part of this rabbitry for almost two years now, so shouldn't I talk about how they came about in the first place? In 2004 I got the "commercial breed" bug. I wanted to raise a large breed of rabbit. I began my quest for Californian or NZW rabbits, but when found that those rabbits are not available in quality in my area, I turned to another breed. At our local fair in 2005 I found my self constantly gazing at the Satin rabbits. I had never really paid attention to them before except that they were big. I did some research and found out they were good meat rabbits, came in a variety of colors and had an awesome feel to their fur. I was hooked, this is the breed I wanted to raise!

I knew I had an awesome Satin breeder near me, and I contacted him around October. He didn't have anything for sale so I waited. March 2006 he e-mailed me and asked if I was still interested in Satins, and of course I was! He gave me two black intermediate does to start out with. I named them Jessica Simpson and Sarah Jessica Parker. In May, I was able to have them bred for Meat pens for county fair. I had them bred to a black buck "Bench". They kindled 7 & 8 kits each, all blacks and raised them successfully for fair. Thier meats pens were 1st in Open, Champion, Reserve Champion and 3rd in youth. I also had the Best single freyer. We put 15 juniors and SJP into the freezer that summer. We kept the feet, tails, pelts and I gave my dogs the heart, kidney, livers and lungs. There was very little to discard. We kept one of the junior does, we named her Brittney Spears. In the meantime, I purchased Porky, a broken red buck from Melissa Magee in Crescent City. He would serve as our herd buck. In December I bought a mate for Porky, a red doe and I also picked up a copper doe from the Fenton family at the Red Bluff show.

I bred the Satins in January of 2007, giving me two litters in Feb. Jessica had 5 and Brittney had 3. I sold Brittney's broken buck and Jessica to a Satin breeder here in Grants Pass. "Bandit" won BOB in Crescent City earlier this month! I kept one of Jessica's babies, which I still have today. "PJ" has turned into an awesome doe! It just amazes me how she has turned out.

Around March, I decided the reds and coppers were just not going to work out for me. I sold Porky, Ilana [+ her two does], Sanetti, Brittney [bred] to a nice lady up in Eugene. I miss Porky, I miss him a lot. But hopefully he has a nice home and is being used more often for reds. With that sale, it left me with one Satin in the barn, "PJ". I had decided I wanted to do black & blue [broken/solid] varieties only.

So, I contacted Roger, and I did have to wait a while for him to sift through 175 juniors so I could come and pick a couple out. I took a trip over there this July and picked out three Satins. A black doe [who looks very nice!], a broken doe and I even came home with a black buck. I thought the buck was pretty stinkin nice, so he came home with us too :) So currently my Satin herd stands at 4. I doubt there will ever be a day that there will be more than 5 seniors. And most likely, with me going off to college, the Satins may be non-exsistent after next year. My true love falls within my Mini Lops, and where I have a strong hold onto the Satins, I always have access to great stock. There truly are great Satin rabbits here in the northwest :)

Boog will be 7 months old in December and we are going to try to breed him to our three does. We are going through Satin-baby withdrawls!

Bad News / Cleaning

I should start off with the bad news first. MAD lost her entire litter :( It was a huge dissapointment to find that this morning and we have no clue what could have happened....

On a more positive note, we let Hab back in her cage for a few hours while we were cleaning. She stretched her back legs really good and put her weight on that leg. It seems to be a little crooked, but she's doing well, eating well and continues to have a good attitude.

We moved a few rabbits around. I took Cloey and Peppercini's babies away from them and put them all together in one of the junior cages. I also took some pics of my juniors :) I am very impressed with what I have got. LGB3 will be Buster's backup for convention. He's a very promising buck. LGB1 also looks promising! BK1 looks very nice, as does BP1. These are all of Boomer's kids! Cloey's solid opal is a doe :) whoops. So either the solid or broken will be available in December. They both look pretty nice.

I dumped every tray in the barn. I got my carriers down that I will use for RVRF next weekend. I still need to clean the trays out though and re-fill them.

I am making convention transport plans currently. I might be switching transporters, and we might be making a trip down to Santa Rosa because of it. :) We'll see.

AZ pops / long week

Arizona kindled this morning, three healthy kits! 2 solid and 1 broken :) Sire is Boomer.

It's been a long week. Just have been getting caught up with things. Really cracking down on the convention plans, it's creaping up closer and closer!

I got 200 lbs of rabbit food today... 100 of the professional and 100 of the show. That should last me through convention time.... The brand of feed I use will not be available at convention.

Tomorrow I will be cleaning rabbits and cages before convention. I have just a couple rabbits that were on litters that really look down, I will trim all nails. I also need to move a few rabbits around and that involves cleaning cages. I also have a couple trays to dump. The work never ends.....

On a more positive note, I will be conversing with a young adult from Palastine, either WestBank or Gaza here soon. It will be an internet pen-pal community thing I am getting involved in. I might blog some on that when I get around to it.

I got my show reports from Yreka and Crescent City shows. I love it when they all come back correct :)

I'm going to try to breed some rabbits this evening, so I may update who I get bred. [if any, haven't had much sucess with the weather...]

MAD pops :)

MAD is a natural born mother. Her not being due till the 20th or 21st, I wasn't expecting to see babies this afternoon.... but she had NINE! Just like her momma :) Will post pics soon.

Big N' Fat

Who's big and fat?

Arizona Sunset and MAD is who is fat. Came home and Sunset was stretched out in her cage today and it dawned on me her & MAD are due soon... when soon.... the 20th! But then I look over at MAD, and she has nearly DOUBLED in size! She looks like a bit fat marshmellow with blue dots... I'm takin' numbers on her expected litter size.... I never palpated her so I truly have no idea how many buggers she could be hidng in there. MAD was 1 of 9 children, so maybe she carries the big momma gene. :) We'll see, she gets her box soon.....

RVRF entry

I decided to send my RVRF entry out this morning, as if I wait until next week, I am bound to forget!!!!! I had to go out and weigh bunnies [the Satins] to make sure they were within their limits. They have gotten to be such fatties! PJ was nearly 9 lbs, Brook was about 7 3/4 and well I forgot to weigh Bounce, but she weighs more than Brook!


I entered:

• PJ - Satin Broken Intermediate Doe
  
• BOUNCE - Satin Broken Intermediate Doe
  
• BROOK - Satin Black Junior Doe
  
• Mr. Miami - Mini Lop Solid Senior Buck RGC; 6 legs
  
• Hollister - Mini Lop Bropen Senior Buck RGC; 6 legs
  

I might bring a couple sale bunnies... If so I would bring Kaluah and BBLH3. That is about all I could bring at this point, since I haven't chosen my keeper broken boys from Renee and Gigi's litters yet. Maybe I should do that today....

I also sent out the pedigrees on my sold rabbits for Convetion. I am espeically going to miss Boomer. He's such a cutie! And Blue Bijou... the world's greatest mom... well Peppercini & Cloey get those awards as well. But I hope their new owners spoil them rotten :)

Random thoughts - rabbits and otherwise

So, we have just gotten busy since I decided to go to Michigan. Which was a BIG decsion, to say the least. I figured... it's the last year I can compete for royalty [and if I didn't go, Oregon wouldn't have a team], all my family lives in Michigan... and it's the last year I'll be able to attend a convention, mainly because of school and... well... life goes on. That outweighed the school days I will miss and the money it will cost me.

But I am super excited, as is for everyone else. Before I even knew I was going [my parents bought my ticket for me] I had several e-mails from Oregon league members congratulating me and wishing me the best success. My friends [non-rabbit] are excited for me even though they really do not understand how the process works. I just know this will be an awesome, awesome one in a lifetime experience.

RVRF is rolling up fast. Just a couple weeks away. Entries are due postmarked on Wednesday. I think I will enter just five rabbits. 3 Satins and 2 Mini Lops. They are all looking fine and are in good condtion. The Satins.... PJ - a huge WOW on this doe, she still has a couple body faults, but that fur [which is 50% of a Satin] is to die for! So dense, and great texture! Brook is looking good. She's got a deep and massive body on her, good fur on her, she does have some scattered white hairs though. Which is one of the reasons why I chose not to send her to convention. Bounce -- Bounce is very deep, but I'm afraid doesn't have the width to balance at this age. She's got a pretty good fur on her, she's still young, but I wanted to compare her up to PJ. I would have entered Boog, but he's not feeling well right now. Miami looks great, and so does Hollister. Hollister was a late blooming buck, finally getting his coat after fair, and with his success at Crescent City, I'm going to take him, even though I swore I would be retiring him again!

Habanero is still in her carrier. But looks better and better everyday. She still carries that leg wrong, won't put it down straight, but she is putting more weight on it and is more.... content. She still looks utterly pissed for being stuck in a small carrier, but she is eating/drinking and pooping well. I am extremley depressed to be retiring her already! She is quite the fancy lady!

Convention bunnies..... I entered Stitch, Kokomo, Buster and RW5. For starters. RW5 has only been shown once. She took some 2nds to older does [as she was only about 10 weeks] and she had promising comments, just wasn't old enough to run with the big dogs. I figure give her another month and she may be spiffy. Buster... has only been shown once, at fair. He was just weaned and took a 2nd, I didn't care for the comments he recieved, but I didn't care for the judge either. I personally, think he is a promising animal. He's a stinker to pose but we will be working on that. His fur, hopefully will come in before then.... Stitch.... Should be past his prime, and I should have just retired him... But when I pulled him out the night of the 11th, I just couldn't leave this sucker home. He is such a nice buck! And I still, do wan't to thank Nicole for him. He is a HUGE sweetie! He completely molted out right after C.C., so he looks very handsome right now. Kokomo [which is a Stitch baby]..... The judges didn't agree with this doe at C.C. but I LOVE this doe. I think she's got a little bit of length/narrowness to her head, but she's got a good crown/ear and a terrrrrfic body! She also holds superior flesh and fur condition. So... she went on the list.

Have been trying to get a few does bred! I know I don't need any more litters right now... but some of these gals just need to be moms. And I need to use my boys! I have three leaving for convention and I need more of their blood!

I am going up to Portland on the 26th and 27th. Shall be fun with some of my amigas. Then I am coming back home for my birthday on the 28th, and then the RVRF show is on the 29th. I will be working with big daddy Roger Hassenpflug and practicing for Royalty! I need to start studying again.... I want to do rather well.... if that's possible....

until then, I am done rambling for now. Tomorrow I will re-try to breed some does and clean some trays. Maybe groom some bunnies. Or ride my horse. Who knows. :)

It's FINAL!

Well... I am going :) Where? National Convention!

So... there was this huge issue with me and convention and for a few weeks there I seriously thought I would not be going.....

BUT

I got da' bug. I bought my plane ticket and am sharing a hotel with some friends. I am bringing 4 rabbits to show and am representing Oregon and competiting in royalty, achievement and management [also team breed ID & judging]

I will undoubtedly have fun :)

I entered:
Boomer *Sold, to Ken & Hannah Henry, Ohio
Miami *Sold, to Eileen & Larry King, Maine
Blue Daiquiri *Sold, to Val O'Neil, New Hampshire
Peppercini *Sold, to Val O'Neil, New Hampshire
Blue Bijou *Sold, to Alicia Trickett, Massachussetts
Cloey *Sold, to Jessica Foster & family, New Jersey

Stitch, RGC 9 legs
Kokomo, RGC 3 legs [limited showing]
RW5 [shown at CC 10 weeks old; 2nds to a 5 month old doe]
Buster [not shown]

And I am coming back with a rabbit. I am trading Peppercini for Klara, a Chestnut VC doe, bred to a BEW buck. Hopefully she will travel well and bring BEW's to the West Coast Peppercini and BD will help implement strong type and genetics into the BEW line on the east coast.

What else... I will take a thousand photos [and yes, I will share them ]

Hind Leg Injury

First I will start off with the hind leg injury, a topic I have been hesitant to write on yet, but I need to get it off my chest..... Last weekend at Crescent City, I was busy working. I had asked others to show my animals for me. It worked well, my rabbits got up to the table and back into my carriers without little worry from me. In the 5th show, Randy Shumaker brought it to my attention that she would not pose correctly because of her back leg. He let her hop on the table and she for sure, was favoring that hind leg. He said she would have placed first and possibly have gone for breed, but he didnt want to stress her out more so I did take her off the table. When I got home, I placed her in a hay packed carrier. She has been in there for a week. In the evening I will take her out and put her in her cage while I clean the carrier and restuff it full of hay. She seems to be getting better, the swelling and heat has gone down. She is an RGC with 8 legs [2 BOSV, 3 BOS, 3 BOB] and those were in the bigger shows. I was going to take her to Redmond, Grants Pass, Grand Rapids and continue showing her this winter. Most likely I will be retiring her now, so that is quite depressing. She is a huge sweetie that doesn't deserve this.

Long week

We've had a long week. Just things to do, places to go and people to see.

We got the hay in yesterday. I am soooo happy because its the best stuff available and the lady remembered us from last year, so she saved back a couple tons, and even sold us a ton of her alfalfa that she had reserved for her own horses. We couldn't be more thankful :) I am also thankful for Mike and Trini for stacking it in the barn and my dad for driving. I couldn't do without those guys ;)

We're getting rid of 9 animals today. I just have no further need for them. All are juniors we have no intentions of keeping and yes, many could have been potential show animals, but the sales are just not coming in this time of year and I can't keep feeding them.

Took some pics and evaulated some juniors this morning. I like all of the babies in Gigi's litter. There is the 2nd best broken buck I will offer up for sale, he is very nice, so if he doesn't sell right away, I won't be unhappy. Peppercini's buck I decided on looks very nice. Kaluah's doe I am keeping is a seal chinchilla, but she is pretty promising as well. I put them in with Pep as Kaluah needed a break [much older doe, has had more litters, ect.]

Renee's litter is growing by leaps and bounds. Boy I know some of them could do well at Grand Rapids. The one doe RW5 is just "WOW" and the bucks are coming in right behind... the three stooges... they are so comical.

I decided to keep just 20 cages. They are all on one wall, neatly stacked. That would leave me 15 animals for seniors, 2 cages for growing out juniors and 3 brood doe cages. Pretty good eh?
So... I have a 3 hole hutch for sale [very nicely made!!!!] a single 24x24, a 18x20 [with tray] a 20x24 pet style condo cage [with tray, on rollers, all accessories] plus a double 30x30 cage.

Anyways, back to life. I'll try to update often.

Convention Canidates

So, convention entry deadline is coming up. The 11th. That is just a week away! My original convention plans have changed [yet again] and quite honestly, I am not even sure what I am doing yet!!
Cloey, Blue Bijou, Blue Daiquiri, Peppercini, Miami [poss. Boomer and Kaluah] will be entered, they have deposits down on them and transports secured.
As for Satins, all four I have look nice. But... I don't work with the Satins much so I doubt I will enter any.
Honey is too fat, Jenie is retired, Quintessence just doesn't have a flowing body I desire, Renee is retired and Habanero has a hind leg injury from this weekends show; even if she does recover, I still wouldn't risk bringing her. MAD will be on a litter, Gigi is on a litter, Stitch is past his prime, as is Hollywood, Sunset will be on a litter, Bridget and Lil' Hollister are past their prime showing ages.

What does that leave me?

Renee's litter, two solid does, two broken bucks and one solid buck. 4 of them had a major chewing war. 3 look salvageable if I seperate them completely. Blue Bijous litter I am afraid is a slow growing line, and even though they are older than Renee's litter, they just won't be there. That leaves me with Kokomo. [Hab is out]. 4 rabbits. Out of..... 19 seniors, 6 juniors and 13 babies. *sighs* A huge trip, for 4 rabbits to show and royalty and an experience to last a lifetime. What shall it be? Well I contact the travel agent tomorrow... so... we'll know sometime around then I guess. :)

Crescent City weekend!!!!

So... basically with me working and running around like crazy, I really have a half-buzzed idea of how my bunnies did and placed. But I had fun and learned a lot and had some more fun. I had a great time getting my hands on some animals with Melissa and Randy, I got to have about 25 different breeds under me between the two days. And I came back with zero pictures.... *sighs* But through other breeders I might be able to scramble up a few.

Sat A: Melissa M
BOS - LHHR's Habanero - 8th leg

Sat B: Cathy S
BOS - LHHR's Lil' Hollister - 4th leg

Sun A: Roger H/Allen M
BOS - LHHR's Lil' Hollister - 5th leg

Sun B: Leslie T
BOB - LHHR's Mr. Miami - 5th leg
BOSV- LHHR's Lil' Hollister - 6th leg
1st - LHHR's Quintessence - 1st leg

Sun C: Randy S
BOV - LHHR's Mr. Miami - 6th leg

BIS- Roger H's white Satin doe "Poetry" [she was a really nice doe!]

Youth A B
BOB - Stitch, 8th & 9th legs

Camping was a blast and the weather was good. Well everything was good. So go next year, or alteast mark it on your calendar :)