Washington State Convention

WOW. What a weekend.

Thursday night I left for my barn, and to pick up some transport rabbits and culls. I fit about 25 rabbits in my car comfortably, which was pretty impressive! I put them in Jill's barn for the evening and left Friday around 1. I got stuck in traffic in Salem, Wilsonville and when I got on I-205 there was an accident. I was about an hour and a half behind I figured. Somehow, I still made it there around 6:40, unloaded my rabbits and attended the judges conference. That night I set up my tent, studied for an hour and tried sleeping. Tried, being the key word.

Saturday, I made the whole effort of waking up at 5 am, had breakfast at 6. Fed/watered rabbits. Figured out and exchanged all my transports. Bought my checkers, a new carrier, Susie's ND buck, and did all that before 9 am. Took my test. That took a whole 2 hours. I was then able to show my Mini Lops.

Rylee was 5th of 21 in A, 1st & BOSV in B

Lea Ann was 3rd of 22 & 6th of 18.

There were about 150 Mini Lops entered (2000 for the whole show)

I wasn't even out of my test a whopping 25 minutes before I experienced the lowest filth of rabbit exhibitor conduct in my whole 11 years. These people know who they are, what they have done, the enemies they have created and the fools they have made of themselves.

At any rate, Velotta's Nell won BOB in show A. The Posey's chestnut buck won BOSB in show B.

My Checkered's... My new buck was 3rd in his class, and my doe, was 2nd in her class. She ended up beating the doe that the Silbernagel's are keeping. I am very happy with my purchase and my new direction. I can't thank Jeff & Terisa enough for this beautiful pair!

I culled out 2 Mini's, and I managed to come home with no new rabbits except for the new breed.

My trip home was entirely painful. I was hoping to get out of there around 10, but I was leaving WA around noon. That is after I had to pump my own gas. :)

Got stuck behind an accident/fire on I-84. I had to keep the AC on but when I had to shut off we were in the shade of semi trucks. I made it HOME before 9 pm, and then got into Corvallis about 12:40 this morning. I woke up at 7, so I didn't get a whole lot of sleep :(

Took my o-chem test at 10. If all goes well, I might go home Friday. I need to work on my checker run and cages, look at my new babies that are due soon, breed Rylee and perhaps another doe.

The website is currently being updated. Then it's back to studying!

Ouch!

WA State is next weekend. Test is in 8 days. Am I prepared? Slightly. I won't ever feel 100% prepared.

I have only entered 3 for WA State. Rylee, who is still holding that darned coat! Lea Ann, who looks very nice, and Compulsive Addiction, who is loosing his junior coat, but his new coat is coming in nicely. I don't think that should affect much... I am so happy with my replacements for Kristie, I don't feel bad for parting with her now :)

I am home from school, been here since Sunday night. I haven't really accomplished much except relaxation.

Today though, I got my rear in gear and cleaned half the barn. I cleaned all my carriers and equipment. I got out my tent, chairs and sleeping bag for WA State. Got the 5 big holes burned, scrubbed and pressure-washed. I have the two 6 holes and the one 9 hole'r left for tomorrow, but it was so nice getting those cages back and ready to use.

After all the cages get burned, scrubbed and pressure-washed tomorrow and put back in, I'll then blow out the auto-water line and get it hooked back up. It's due for a cleaning.

I spent a good portion of the morning building a run in the rabbitry for the Checkered Giant I am getting from the Silbernagels. I've always wanted one, but never had the gusto to actually go ahead with it. Owning a wooled breed inspired me to try something new out.... I think it will be an especially good experience to get a taste with the running breeds (which to be quite honest... I don't have a lot of hands on time with them).

I am getting some Dutch and Thrianta experience this weekend. I was also supposed to get really good Holland experience but I have postponed that until after WA State convention.

It's all a funny story, because I didn't forsee myself going for this goal until after college. But, college has been SO rough lately I need something to look forward to!

On the topic of looking forward, my juniors from Melinda amaze me! It was definitely a good cross, because I just can't get over this litter! Since Melinda is older, I won't feel bad if this is the last litter from her, though if she stays in good condition, I'd like to try one more time! I don't know if that would be greedy though.

Of the 7, I had a hard time cutting the litter in half. I was able to throw out a chestnut doe & buck, they were not "as nice" as their siblings. 1 Broken doe I am holding that I promised to a local breeder friend.2 Broken does, I like one over the other, but the second best doe is still really nice too.The Broken buck, is very nice! I want someone to buy him and respect him.

The Chestnut buck, OMG! I told myself I "had to atleast take a look at him, and not judge him by the fact it's a buck". Jaw dropped, he's gourgeous and I am keeping him!

I weaned Obnoxious's litter somewhat early. OBN is leaving on Friday to Karin Vail and I wanted to make sure her litter of 8 was well on it's own. So the 5 I'm not keeping are in with the 2 I'm not keeping from Melinda's litter and the 3 I am keeping have a cage to themselves.

Madonna & Brianna are fat, I can't wait to give them their boxes when I come home!

I'll be getting pictures before I leave, that is after the barn is spotless :) I'm sore, but tomorrow will be even worse!

I don't have anything else to add, other than trying to figure out how to fit all these rabbits in my car, moving my new roomate in on Sunday, and starting school on Monday... one week break was just NOT enough!

Just thinking

Topic: early culling / not growing out every rabbit in a litter

Rylee was the ugliest baby at 10-12 weeks. Deciding between her and her sister was hard because they each had their ugly parts, and deciding which was worse was hard!

She was ugly until about 6 months. Then she blossomed. How? I don't know.

Her parent's weren't that spectacular. I just bred the doe to the buck because he was being sold. Her parents were half siblings (both had the same sire).

She is now a (colored) 2 x Best in Show Winner (both at big shows/ with incredible breeders exhibiting (Betty Chu, Shumaker/Mesick, Webb, Peralta, Cathy S, etc)

If she doesn't win (BOB), it's mostly because she's under a judge who doesn't know where the points lay in ML's. Oh "this doe is "soft" in condition". Condition is 5 points out of 100. The icing on the cake. But when the animal who wins clearly is not as good in General Type (80 points) it makes you bang your head against a wall.

Rylee's show days are over with. She's now gotten a little soft in condition (no longer "tight"), but I know her type, her body are so irreplaceable. I will be breeding her after WA State Convention and will await her to give me her first litter. I had "bred" her in January to Stitch. I tried breeding her to Dream Maker when I got him. She hated him and smashed her butt on the cage floor. That was the good lord's sign that I needed to SHOW her so that she could bring me sheer happiness. It's Rylee, and her success this year that has drug me out of the hole of nearly selling out last November!

Now, almost didn't keep anything in Rylee's litter. Infact I culled everything but her sister because I had her sold. She now lives in WA somewheres. So does her mom, Mia. Her dad lives in CA with Bob Tapp. If I ever want Mason back I can get him from Bob (or any of his offspring, I currently have a Mason daughter).

How many of these early culls, would have gone on to be big winners like this? I almost culled Rylee, but I didn't because I felt the urge to keep "something" in the litter so it wasn't a "waste".

I went through one of my old CD's and pulled off pics of their Grandsire Keepsake, mom Mia, dad Mason and baby pictures of Rylee. The rabbit in the top of the post. Yeah, that's Rylee!!!

What was I thinking, right? :)

Pretty much done!

I have a final tomorrow, but I can fail it or get an A on it, and still get a B in the class. So I'm just going to relax a little since there's nothing really I can do about it.

I passed Stats (a relief!), got A's all so far. I'm pretty alright with how things turned out.

Oregon State Convention!

Was alright I suppose. Judges weren't great in A & B. In C Rylee won 1st & BOV. I'm not exactly sure why the Broken doe beat her, but I'm over the complaining stage, she's won far too much for myself to care. Compulsive Addiction won 3rd in his class! Lea Ann won her class of 9 or 10. The judge loved her and saw her promise!

I got rid of Sid, and came home with a little chestnut jr doe. (and my mom bought a Chinchilla, not the color but the rodent) I was able to get out of there early enough to make it back home before dark.

My next show is Washington State Convention. I entered 3. The same from this weekend. I am also camping. I can't afford a hotel, so $24 beats $200 :)

After tomorrow morning, I'm cracking down hard to study for my judges exam. I've never been so worked up about a test before, academic or not!

I can almost taste it!

Just one lab tomorrow and 4 classes on Friday left!

After my last class on Friday, I'm flying south for the Oregon State Convention. This is the first year it hasn't been in Newport and it will feel weird not going to the coast. I entered Rylee in all 3 shows, and I entered Compulsive Addiction and Lea Ann in Sunday only. I can't afford much, and they are still young.

Oaks Park was decent! Vern Palmblad judged the A show so Tricia & Coley won with their buck Alf. Rylee won Best of Breed in show B under Cliff Dick. She got mentioned for BIS, but she's just too soft after being shown so much! The Satin that won was stunning though!

I picked up my bunnies from Emily. I missed Dominic more than I realized. Carly is a cute doe, older, proven, but I think she will re-coop well to where I can breed her soon. Thanks to Tricia for picking them up and bringing them down for me :)

I can't party too much this weekend, I have 2 finals on Monday. Monday night I need to take another final (flexible due date) but I want to work all day Tuesday so that would be my time to get it done and over with! I then don't have another final until Friday at 7:30 am. Talk about a weird finals week. I am sticking around for Graduation.... I then plan on going home for a little bit. Summer session starts back up June 21st. Too soon; 1 week is NOT enough!

Above is a beautiful sunset that caught my eye while studying. :D

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