I'm home from county fair :)

Monday: The rabbits went into the barn... everyone vet checked and got a few hours of sleep.

Tuesday: The open show went very well... Maid Dignified was Best of Breed, with Keepsake winning Best Opposite and Exclusive Getaway winning Best of Variety both for their first legs. This is MD's 7th.... and it made it even better when she won Reserve in Show!
That evening, I won Champion Senior Showman, and won Grand Champion Showman with MAD. One incredible bunny for the stress/temperatures that night.

My Educational Display won Champion Senior and Grand Champion! It's also on it's way up to state!

Wednesday: Was the 4-H Show... MAD was Reserve Champion and Hollister was Champion. Hollister also won Grand Champion / Best In Show!!!

Thursday: Was the Judging Contest... I won Champion Senior Judge and Grand Champion Judge.

Friday: was Master Showmanship... last year I lost to the Pygmy Goat Showman by 5 points. This year I lost by 3 points, to the same girl.

Saturday: Auction! GC Lamb went for 14.50lb and GC Steer was almsot $5 lb. Awards night... They handed out certificates and gift cards instead of trophies, so I got 2 $15 gift cards to walmart and a $15 towards wild river resturant... so that's pretty cool.

There was much more to report, but thats the most important rabbit stuff. Did lose a rabbit to the 118* record temperature heat, but lost a few other animals at county fair. By the 3rd day they had bought a HUGE fan... Round Robin was insane at 2:30 in the afternoon friday I was baking before I ever went in that arena... but MAD (and her backup, her daughter) came out just fine...

The rabbits are home and happy...Now we have to figure out State Fair stuff and our Crescent City entries...

*I'll have pictures soon... I got a couple I need to get before I download.

Automatic Water !

After months of talking about it....

IT's UP -- AND WORKING!

So far, one rabbit has figured it out... 12 (+6 babies) left to figure it out before I start removing waterbottles. I am soooo scared to remove them because I've had water-weaning issues before... it sucks.

I dont have it on the auto-refill valve yet, I have to find a short hose but I filled the bucket up and bled the air out of the lines. I will see how much they drank in the morning.

It looks nice... just what I wanted :) $200 + later for 15 holes.... mhm. I had to have more tubing sent twice so there were some unnecessary shipping charges due to my bad calculations.

Now, just to figure out what to do in the winter :D

Random Notes

Amy has her BEW page up at http://www.sandiegorabbits.com/blue-eye-white-mini-lop-BEW.htm. SourCream has 4 of 7 VM's and Klara has 1 of 6 VM's. Gives me high hopes for my next BEW project breedings. :)

Easy Summer and Keepsake's babies are all chestnuts.... Go figure.

Fair Starts tomorrow... (the slower stuff...) Rabbits go in monday night. My last one I am able to compete in, so kinda feels weird, I feel old. Im not entering much this year because everything is on litters, or pending sales.

I found transport for Heather's rabbits... atleast to Sacramento. Pacific Pride will leave bred to Stitch and one of MAD's bjb's will go down there for new blood. I am hoping that this same ride might be able to work out for Vanessa and Annette as well... we'll see. I'm hoping I can kill three birds with one stone, and leave the 4th bird to Muriel transporting the pair to Mike and Leslie at HDH. That would mean, I wouldn't have to attend OSF or HDH, and I could save my money for another show... or more logical... school stuff...

In less than a month, I will be doing collegiate 4-H and becoming a 4-H leader for Benton County. It feels really weird moving into a leader position so young, but I hope to get a spot in rabbits (or one of the other animals areas I've raised). I still dont know if I will be riding Rex or not... He's only grown another half a hand since I seen him last, he's 17.3 hands at 4 years old. I have to measure Sierra and get her a new winter blanket. She tore a hole in the wrangler one I bought for her a few years back.

My tubing from KW came today! So I will be starting on the auto-water as soon as it cools down. I am soooooooo excited, I got all of my questions answered and I am ready to put 15 holes on auto-water permanently.

I also finished my seven chapters for my ANS class.... now to studying for my math class and I should be good.

The website is updated...

Be careful what you wish for . . . seriously!

Earlier this year, I pondered the thought of having a really nice broken buck... I haven't had a 'real good one' since Dean. I almost bought a really nice buck when he went for sale, but I told myself... I'll get one in a litter.... I'll get one in a litter. Winter, Spring and most of Summer has passed. I even brought home a nice broken buck from Washington State Convention. Don't get me wrong, I love Keepsake, but I wanted something young and fresh and I could show.

Well... I got my wish.

Habanero's 2 babies are -- BUCKS!

Pacific Pride's 3 babies are -- BUCKS!

and the best of Secret Score's litter is a BUCK!

So, I'll be at 7 bucks and 8 does for my "Final 15" :

Stitch #VEOR4 – Chestnut
Keepsake #KS11 – Bkn Chocolate Chestnut
Boomerang # BP2 – Chinchilla
Kenai #KI – Chestnut (Vienna Marked)
- #SSLH (Bkn Chestnut)
- #PPL (Bkn Chinchilla)
- #HL (Bkn Chestnut)
Kassidy #SCI – Chestnut (Vienna Marked)
Scidget #BD – Chestnut
Summer #RW5 – Steel
Dignified #LGB3 – Bkn Chestnut
Mozzerella #KM – Frosted Pearl
Maddelyn #MB1 – Bkn Blue
- SSLH
- ESBK

I'll keep the best doe from Secret Score's litter. And of course, I will keep the best bucks from both Hab and Pride, but I'm always fond to those brokens. The solids will have to be preeeety nice to pull me away from keeping the brokens.

News: Good, Bad and Other :D

Other:

*LHHR's Oopsie Daisy won her 2nd leg for BOV. She is Secret Score's sister. Congrats Amy, hopefully you can get a 3rd leg on her!
*LHHR's Lela is doing good on her colorful litter of chestnuts by Keepsake :) I would hope to get something more than chestnuts in my litter from him, but I probably wont get that lucky.

*FD's Klara has 6 chestnut kits by LHHR's Boomerang.
*LHHR's SourCream has 7 or 8 (I forget!) by Velotta's Stitch -- for Amy down in San Diego. We're waiting to hear back if any of these are Vienna Marked, and positive colors on SC's litter. Sounds like she might have gotten some fawns? pretty neat :)

*Rebecca has LHHR's Hollywood Dun It up for sale in SW Washington. I would hope that he goes to show/breeding home so I am kinda posting here for him. She's keeping a nice looking Jr. Doe from him [which can be seen here] I kinda wished I kept my daughter from him, but she should do some good in Utah


Good:
Summer's 4th kit (born 20 hours after the others) is doing good with a full belly.

I think I have figured out the auto-water situation, with a little brain storming done in the barn this morning. Actually, I'll have to admit this works out better.... but

Bad:
I have to order more tubing! I should have just ordered more to begin with, but whatever.... If I'm going to line the lickers up next to the feeders I need 10 inches of tubing per cage minimum (should proably be a foot just to make sure!!!!) and while I'm at it, I myswell order more incase I mess up or decide to run more cages in the future.... UGH another 1-2 weeks of waiting....

We got an award!

We would like to thank Kim & Cristina Posey for this Brillante Weblog Award! They have blogs at The Other Breeds Blog and The Mini Lop Blog for their Jersey Wooly and Mini Lops. I enjoy reading thiers, they always have good Mini Lop stuff to hear about :)

As a part of the tradition, I would like to nominate the following blogs for the award:

1) Velotta's Rabbitry

2) Hoppin Herd of Hares

3) Bradbury's Bunny Barn

4) Northern California Angora Guild

5) The Nature Trail Blog

6) Double Dutch Rabbitry

7) Keep's Rabbitry

Picture time!

Mozzerella Bkn Steel Doe

Chinchilla Doe

Steel Doe

Habanero - resting from her litter

Hab & Pride's litters

Summer's litter - born yesterday & today

The irresistable buck

Yeah, he needs a name

Secret Score's litter

That bkn chestnut again

Kokomo getting exercise :)

Or not.... gotta rest sometimes too

Automatic Water

I have yet to set up my automatic water -- I'm the worst procrastinator... I ordered this in the sping! But I still have several unanswered questions and I dont want to cut or make anything permanent until I find out more info! Here is what I plan on doing.... The picture above is my cute paint rough that I posted on RabbitWeb hoping to get some feedback. :S

Read if you care...

Note: Read if you care -- this is my blog and I cannot get this off my mind; I dont know where else to post this...

I sat down earlier taking a break from my chores... flipping through the channels of disgusting or non-needed channels and commercials, I settled on watching a "Friends" re-run. A commercial came on, a "new" one that sent shivers down my spine. As children were playing happily on a jungle gym in a park, small statistics popped over their heads saying wether they were born to a cocaine mother, sold for drugs or born HIV positive at birth. Where I've had a wonderful, wonderful childhood I know several people who haven't. Just the other day I was setting up details for a 4-H member who has to have a special class in 4-H showmanship because she was born to a drug mother. Apparently it's a disability law... something I didn't even know.... I didn't know because I've never really informed myself on the issue. The commercial gave a website (www.truecompassion.org) I think you should all visit, but I've quoted the important and STUNNING information from it... it's sad... and where people spend unknown amounts on presidential debates or spend that extra $20 on a pizza... there are several children in need of help because their parents are not making the right choices for them... they have no voice in this huge world. Relating to my title... There should be more unsettling commercials like the one I saw today... it might just get someone's attention.

Note: All of this information is directly quoted from http://www.truecompassion.org

• Habitual marijuana smoking suppresses the body's immune system response to
  bacterial and viral infection. (American College of Allergy, Asthma and
  Immunology)
• THC, the major psychoactive ingredient of marijuana, enables tumor
  growth by impairing the body's immunity against it. (Journal of
  Immunology)
• Regular marijuana smokers are more likely to contract bronchitis,
  emphysema and pneumonia. (Journal of General Internal Medicine)
• People who smoke marijuana in their teens are three times more likely to develop
  schizophrenia. (Cardiff University study)
• Even after quitting smoking marijuana for 28 days, users' brain functions (memory, perception, reasoning) were still impaired. (National Institute on Drug Abuse)

More info : http://www.dfaf.org/marijuana/excuse.php

• In 1992 the Lewis group estimated that drug abuse costs society at least 97.7 billion dollars a year. (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
• At least 67 percent of parents with children in the child welfare system need treatment for substance abuse. (Child Welfare League of America)
• 75% of children in foster care are placed there because of a parent's substance abuse. (National Survey of Drug Use and Health)
• In Tennessee the numbers of children brought to foster care because of methamphetamine abuse rose from 400 in 2003 to 700 in 2004. (New York Times)
• 40% of child welfare officials reported a yearly increase in foster care placements due to the methamphetamine epidemic. (National Association of Counties)

More info : http://www.dfaf.org/whatsright/

• Drugs other than alcohol are involved in nearly 18% of motor vehicle driver fatalities. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
• While teen drug use continues to decline, drug abusers today are likely to be baby boomers in their mid 30s to mid 50s. (Psychiatric Times)
• 51% of drivers involved in trauma admissions to emergency rooms tested positive for illicit drugs. (Accident Analysis and Prevention)
• 11 million Americans have driven under the influence of drugs. (2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health)
• The higher the blood level of marijuana in the driver, the higher the risk of causing a fatal crash. (British Medical Journal)
• The rate of current drug users aged 50 to 59 increased from 2.7% to 4.4% while the rate of current drug users aged 12 to 17 decreased from 8.2% to 6.8%. (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
• The number of joints per ounce of marijuana is 60 for standard strength pot, 120 for sinsemilla. (Economics of Cannabis Legalization)
• Regular cannabis users were 9.5 times more likely to be involved in automobile accidents. (University of Auckland study published in Addiction)
• In a 2005 study of trauma center admissions, one in four drivers tested positive for marijuana. (Accident Analysis and Prevention)

More info : http://www.dfaf.org/marijuana/whyharmful.php

True Stories:

A 31 year old mother of seven has six children in foster care and one living with another family member because three children tested positive for cocaine at birth. Her children range in age from eight months to 12 years with seven different fathers. In December 2005, Judge Marilyn O'Connor stated that the children were removed from their mother's custody because "she could not and did not take care of them." (Associated Press story from Rochester, NY)

In January 2005, a Florida woman was sentenced to five years in jail for sending her 11 year old daughter out on the street in her nightgown to sell heroin. Police had been watching the girl for months, selling heroin to drivers and pedestrians, and had sent undercover officers who successfully bought drugs from her. The girl and her sister went into state custody. The mother, Alison Lolanda Davis, pleaded guilty to nine counts including child abuse; the girl was not charged. (Associated Press story from Miami, FL)

Rob Cabitto of Wisconsin spoke to a crowd of distinguished guests at the Sheriff's Prayer Breakfast in May 2006 about his childhood and the life choices he made as a result. Cabitto spoke of his earliest memory, "When I was four I remember being at the river with my dad when I felt this cold sensation and I thought it was the water, but it was my dad pouring gas on me trying to kill me because he had been awake for 17 days on meth." Cabitto continued, "When I was six years old, I weighed 27 pounds and my dad locked me in a closet for a couple weeks because I was crying." He discussed his struggle with drugs, "and while I never picked up a drug, drugs severely affected my life." He went on to talk about his father's imprisonment for murder, his mother's prostitution and his eventual drug addiction and drug dealing. Cabitto's turning point came when he asked God to "show up" during a drug deal and "twenty minutes later when the DEA busted through the door, it was God showing up." He served 8 "terrifying" months in prison and turned his life around. He has earned his MBA degree, has a son and volunteers at the Salvation Army Treatment Center in Minneapolis where he seeks to help others like himself. (Burnett County Sentinel)

A 45 year old mechanic driving under the influence of marijuana killed a mother and 2 of her children. Michael Smith was arrested by officials in March of 2006 on suspicion of driving under the influence of an intoxicant when he caused the crash that killed Gertrude Daniels and two of her daughters. A third child, Deja Daniels, survived the crash but was reported to be in critical condition. Palm Beach prosecutors said that this was the first DUI manslaughter case that they have had in which alcohol was not also involved. (WPBF News)

18-year-old Tyler Messmer of Indiana crashed his pickup into a tree while under the influence of marijuana in June 2005. He was charged in March 2006 with reckless homicide because his 16-year-old sister, Sarah Messmer, and two other teens - Tiffany Adkins, 17, and her 16-year-old sister, Brittany - were killed during the crash. Another passenger, Michael Friedel, 18, was injured in the crash. (North County Times)

A 40 year old Michigan woman, Delores Derror, admitted that she smoked a marijuana cigarette four hours before a January 2004 accident that killed Angela Grierson, 28, and seriously injured seven others, including four children - Eden Elkins, Brittany Elkins, Notasha Elkins and Tegan Elkins. (Traverse City Record-Eagle)

New Orleans charter bus driver, Frank Bedell, 46 was at fault in the wreck that killed 22 people on Mother's Day. Bedell was to be charged with 22 counts of vehicular homicide, but he died of a heart attack prior to being sentenced. Police found evidence that Bedell had smoked marijuana two to six hours before the wreck and was still impaired by the drug at the time of the crash. (The Times-Picayune)

More Babies :) and more cleaning ;(

Summer kindled 3 of 3 kits this afternoon: 2 broken, 1 solid. The sire is Keepsake, his 2nd litter so I am excited to see what I get (his last litter was all chestnuts). This will be my last litter until December.

While she was kindling, I took the time to do some cleaning. I had to dump all my trays today. The bunnies are really molty so all the hair in the trays made the job extra hard. I've been trying to get some rabbits groomed for the upcoming shows. I removed Secret Score's box and let the babies have the entire cage. I have my eye on the bkn chestnut buck and the better colored steel doe. I dont know why, but I just like them -- they stand out ;)

I've still yet to decide if I'm going to state fair... If I find someone else from my county going I'll go I suppose. I might go to the HDH show September 13th. I have several reasons for heading to Corvallis on the 14th, so why not go a day early right? We'll see.

I have an off-topic post that's running through my head that I'll post later this evening. I am in the process of updating the website right now.