Tooooo hot.

The other day it got unbearably hot, and with all efforts Reflection lost her litter a couple days early. 9 scattered on the wire, all chocolates & lilacs. It really was devastating but she seems so much more happy to not have a litter...

Kicker kindled yesterday and did amazing! 7 all live, and atleast 2 of them are a chocolate variety. Kicker goes alll the way back to our original starter doe, so this litter is super special and it's a must to keep a few from her ;)

Improved the cull pen, it's a double pen now, so about 7 feet long, 2.5 feet wide and pretty tall. Now have 11 to cull with the 4 I added today. I'm waiting until I have several to do, really.

The weather is starting to cool down for this next week, but 100 fires still surround us, only 3 "big" ones. Ash and brown smoke fill the skies and it's hard to breathe at times. It is a 0% containment and they are letting it burn and focusing on structures/houses only. Selma, a town a few miles north of us, has been evacuated. I figured we'd have another big Biscuit Fire (2003) this year, but there is still time I suppose. Crazy.

10 years with ARBA

July 22nd, 2003 was my membership join date as a youth at age 13 :) I had a few "pet" rabbits and was begging to breed, mostly Mini Rex at the time, though I had a few Mini Lops and a Holland Lop. Never would I ever imagine that I would get involved in 4-H, ARBA royalty or even get my registrars or judges license! I can look back at these 10 years and remember all of the good memories, with my family & friends. Where will I be in another 10 years? Well, certainly ... I don't know!

Yesterday was also the 1 year of Rylee's passing away. Rylee died and left her litter of two 4-week old babies behind. One of those is Reflection, which is due in a couple of days. Kicker, Rylee's GGG-daughter, is also due. Related to Rylee we also have Stupid Lana, Smart Nicole & VELN# We're so excited to get this project back on it's feet, since Rylee is the sole reason I didn't sell out in college. Having that "one" rabbit to hold onto, is all I needed!

Summer Heat

Temps have risen to triple digits this week -- no losses. The help of proper barn placement, shade grasses and an industrial fan do most all of the work for me. I can turn the fan on before I go to work and off when I get home. 

Michelle and Avocado both had their litters -- 5 each. Avocado has 2 REWs, 2 seal/sables and a chestnut. Michelle has a chestnuts and blacks like her 1st litter. 

I bred Kicker and Reflection to a new buck I picked up from Deb (bred by Nicole). He's a chocolate chestnut. I also got a Bkn Chocolate JR buck from her sired by Jones's Mahler. I got a Lilac GT Steel Jr Doe from LHHR's Stupid Lana (GC lilac steel 8 legs) that I gave to Nicole and also sired by Jones's Mahler. 
I'm getting Stupid Lana and one of her babies sired by McNay's Neo (bkn lilac steel) in a couple of weeks. Needless to say I got my chocolate/lilac program back on its feet. Thanks to Yvette for making this happen! 

Got a cull pen started 6 jr bucks from Cherry Bomb & Sweet Potato. Holding one of SP's babies back, a bkn chin jr buck. He looks nice so far, so we'll give him the benefit of the doubt. SP, Cherry Bomb, and a chin jr doe from a March litter are headed to CA soon as well. So we'll see a few holes opening up soon. 

Got a broken bag pallet from work yesterday. It contained 10 bags of pellet bedding, a bag of rice bran, 2 bags of poultry food, 3/4 bag of cat litter and some random gate latches/nuts/bolts all for $10. The pellet bedding will come in handy for more litters, carriers & trays. 

Work has been good, the 40 hours ended the start of this week when our company attempted to abide to ObamaCare. We discovered in 3 short days this will never work out, and with the extension, I'm hoping to have my hours back soon. So we'll see what happens! I'm aiming to make it to 3 or 4 shows this fall.