busy, busy

We're still pretty busy around here. We have the barn done and ready, when Mike gets back from up north we will go get the hay {thursday or friday}.

Friday evening will be spent getting ready for CC. I am actually rather excited for this show, so we will see how it goes :) An update on everyone we entered/are bringing:
Miami - looking pretty good, minor slip on coat
Quintessence - looks good, good flesh/fur
Kokomo - looks great, maybe pushing weight, slight slip to her coat
RW5 - looks good :)
Hollister - has one tinnny mat on his but, but he has the best fur condition he's EVER had, pretty good flesh for almost 2 yrs old too!!!!
Habanero - looks great :)
Bridget - still slipping in her coat, but not horrid
Sitch - almost completely molting otherwise looks awesome.

Bringing 4 young juniors to sell, perhaps another junior doe {smoke pearl steel or bkn black} but we will not decide until friday. Our cage space is limited.

Sierra!

It dawned on me the other day my horse is SEVEN years old now. Wow, how time flies. I have been spending a lot of time with Sierra. She's been the best horse for me. Here are some pics I have gotten of her over the years :)

Following 5 pics August 2007 at breakfast time :)

Fair 2005, Sierra and I at the trailer at fair. Was getting her ready for an english class.

Spring time in the upper pasture :)

Sierra at the Jackson County Isola arena. Here she is a yearling, just broke. She did very well in the 4-H program.

taking a break

Just taking a break from working yesterday and today. We have to bring in the hay, which is going to be a chore itself. Last year we had a leak in the barn roof we could not fix, now we have to make some adjustments to the barn before we bring any hay in.

I spent most the week cleaning the horse barn and paddock. The manure trailer has been taken out of the back and now is ready to be dumped.

Since the horses have ate every shred in the pasture {yes, we let it get that bad} now all the rocks are coming up to the surface so we can pick them up easily. We live in the side of a mountain in oregon, rocks or "boulders" are very common to find in the ground. Often they are ankle twisters and for horses it's just horrible. Last year we could not work the horses without the worry of them stepping on one while running. Even if you add decomposed granite to the arena, you will still find rocks.

I groomed some rabbits this morning. A few of them are looking pretty spiffy for this weekends show. Not "perfect" but with the weather we have had, I am just happy they look they way they do!

I am taking 6 or 7 rabbits in hope of sales. These are rabbits I would rather them go to breeders than other means. Usually I don't have for sale stock at shows. I will be busy at Crescent City to say the least. 8 shows means I could only bring one breed. My Satins look pretty good, but more appropraitely will be ready by RVRF. :)

busy, busy, busy

The title of this post does describe how busy we have been lately. I got on here merely to update the site, read e-mails and let everyone know we have not fallen off a cliff.

Fair took a toll on all of us. It was a long week, but we accomplished a lot. Tuesday night I was hit with some bad news that really put a dampner on my winnings and in fair that whole week. It was like I had been detached from my body and was just floating around watching myself compete at fair.

I have taken some time to step back and evaulate my life and what is going on in general. For the most part I am pretty happy, but there are some things that have to change.

State Fair, I was hoping to go. But at this point in time with the news I got on tuesday, I won't be going to many more rabbit shows. I will most likely only go to Crescent City and Grants Pass, *if* I go to another show, it would be Corvallis or Red Bluff in November or December.

I sold Buddy, to a nice lady in Cave Junction. It was pretty hard, being that he was one of the cutest bunnies that ever hopped the earth. But I have to do a major herd reduction. I am being forced to sell many of my best rabbits.

I sent in my CC entry. Here is who I entered:
Miami - SSB
Quintessence - SJB
Kokomo - SSD
RW5 - SJD
Hollister - BSB
Habanero - BSD

Youth:
Stitch - SSB
Bridget - SSD

It came up just under $100 for 8 shows, not bad.

I sent in my Royalty, Achievement and Management applications yesterday. Kind of late on the ball, but I am still not even sure I will be going. I am planning everything as I will be, but our Youth coordinator has not been very.... informing, to say the least. I had hoped to call her this morning but I just got too busy.

I tattooed RW5. She is the only one who didn't get chewed on in her litter and looks nice, so I better knock on some wood so she stays that way.

Still got a few rabbits molting. Stupid weather. And I know when I make the drive over to the coast that will not help either since its always cooler over there. But I am getting excited for CC, just one more week!

Fair re-coop?

No I didn't sleep in this morning after fair. We had horses to be fed and things needed to get done. I got about 6 hours though, which is more than I got the whole week of fair :)

I am working on my royalty, achievement and management applications. I have to get them to Indiana by Sept. 1st, so I have to send them out sometime this week!

I also have to have Crescent City entries in by the 29th. So 10 more days {if I send them by e-mail}. No one is really in condition to show, but I CANNOT miss this one! So.... we either will have to hope the bunnies miracously turn around, or hope they are good enough to do well even with a fugly coats. It has been the weather - it rained today! sheesh!
Who could I show?
For Satins, no one is really ready. PJ is molting and the other 3 are too young for their coats yet even though they have good flesh and bodies.
Cloey, Kaluah, Gigi, Blue Bijou and Peppercini are on litters. Renee is still wiped by her litter. I just bred MAD, so she's out. She was in no condition after round robin and fair to go anywhere. She's meant to be a mom now.
Honey is motling, Jenie is past her prime. Hollywood and Boomer are motlting. Sunset is too big. Renee's litter there is only one in there I could fathom showing. Quintessence and Hannah are too gwaky to be showing. Stitch, Kokomo, Miami and Hab I could show... they have slipped their coat from a stressful fair and the weather, BUT, they hold good flesh and have awesome type, so I think they could hold their own. Hollister I swore I had retired, but he looks so nice now! who else..... we'll that's all I have... so I really don't have a lot of options.

I bred MAD to Miami today. Should be a *REALLY* nice litter. Both are RGC's with 4 legs at big shows. They compliment each other so nicely!

I will meet up with Katie this afternoon to drop off two Mini Lops that are going down to Cori of Buckskin Bunny Co-Op in Salinas.

Crescent City and Upcoming Breedings

Crescent City entries are due next thursday I think. Either way we have 8 shows to plan and I need to get on it! We will post some ideas early next week of who we may show and sell.

We have many does that need to get bred.... so I think.... we'll probably do 4 now and 4 in september.

*Bridget
*Honey
*PJ x white, blue or black buck
*MAD x Miami
{we are stressing using Miami and Quintessence, since they will leave the barn, we want plenty of their blood before they go}
*Jenie
*Kaluah
*Renee
*Sunset

County Fair....

Really a summation of what has happened this week. I am too tired to fully explain everything, but will after fair I am sure.

Open Show:
BOB : Habanero - 7th leg
BOS : Miami - 4th and Sr. leg to grand
BOSV [solid] : BBLH1 - Blue Jr. Doe (Going to New Hampshire in October)
*Hab was mentioned, just didn't have the appropriate finish to her coat.

Showmanship:
Champion Sr. & Grand Champion Showman (w/MAD)

4-H Conformation:
Champion: MAD
Res. Champion: Hollister {he actually looks really nice now that he's in coat!]
*MAD was 3rd in show
**all other rabbits recieved blues except for a BSD entered as a BJD who was in turn overweight because of the wrong class. oops.

Judging:
Champion Sr & Grand Champion overall. 480/485 pts.

Master Showmanship:
Reserve Grand Champion..... lost by a few points. :)

Auction is tomorrow with awards ceremony being in the afternoon. We hope to get PJ bred on Sunday :)

Gearing up....

Holey guacomoley! I cannot believe county fair is already here!
Tonight we take the rabbits into the barn and put them in their appropriate coops, feed and water them for the night. Fair starts tomorrow, 6:00 bright and early.
Last night I got all my carriers off the shelf. I removed the waterbottles since it's only a 15 minute ride out to the fair grounds and they just catch on everything when trying to get them out of the truck. Most of the carriers still have hay in them from Yreka.
I counted how many rabbits I'm taking and I still come up two carriers short. Don't know how that happened, lol. I guess I will just use a small cage for some juniors I can throw together for a short time.
This morning after I watered, I set up one of the cage sets I haven't sold. Not like I want to, they have always been good cages for us :) I removed Renee's juniors from her cage, I put the three bucks in one cage and the two does in the other. I fed them and gave them plenty of hay to chew on. I hope that their coats will improve in 2 months for Convention. I'd REALLY love to take three of them :)
There are 5 babies I'd like to sell immediately from Peppercini and Kaluah. I can only keep one doe from Kaluah. I like them both so that will be a big decision I have to make. There are 4 bucks in Peppercini's litter. Will they be as nice as Boomer? Sure there is one chin buck in there that looks superb, but I just cannot keep another buck. I like ALL four of Gigi's babies. I mean, WOW. The quality that this doe throws out is just amazing! Her kids have picked up 3 legs each in limited showing, her daughter winning BIS and hon. mention and her son having an hon. mention as well! That was with Stitch. I like Boomer just as much.
Cloey's litter is doing well. There is a cute chestnut in there... But the Opal buck and Bkn Opal doe still seem to be the most massive with awesome head/crown/ear set ups. I cannot wait to see them a bit older so I can work on thier posing. They should be ready after fair.
What else is new? The Satin's are looking good. I am becoming more and more fond of the blacks because they are SO typey! The broken doe Bounce, is a cutie. She's coming along very nicely as well. My doe PJ is big enough, and mentally mature enough to be bred, in my opinion. Larger breeds generally take longer to mature, thus forcing breeding times back. BUT I have no doubts that Peppercini will do good on her first litter. I am hoping one of my Satin friends will have a self buck I can use :)
I have to groom some rabbits to perfection before I take them on out to the fairgrounds. Stitch is doing a petite molt, Hollywood is molting, Honey... wow I am not even sure if I want to take her! She looks like a big fluff ball! The others look generally okay. Boomer is a bit crusty as him and his neighbor decided to have a spraying war. One rabbit I wish I would have entered is my REW Holland Lop buck. A couple of weeks ago he looked like a huge cotton ball with red eyes, now he is perfect! If I wasn't so hard up on space I'd probably keep him, and I'm not going to just sell this guy to anyone, he deserves a perfect home. So if he doesn't sell, oh well :) He's like a lil' mascot for us :)
enoguh rambling. I will post whenever I get time off from fair, if available :)

Yreka Double Open August 11th

We made the hour trip down to Yreka, CA for the Siskyou Golden Fair. A Double Open by SRCC was held. I took Stitch, Miami, Kokomo, BBLH3, Habanero and Hannah. I also took along Black Pearl (pre sold) and Buddy.
Show A: Show A started well under Tom Keyes. My Satin doe was in the wrong class. oops. Mini Lops went well. I won BOB with Mr. Miami and BOS with Kokomo. I also won BOSV with Hannah and Swimmer (which I sold to Lacey Jackson) won BOV. Miami was mentioned in show.
Show B: Started around 1 o'clock under Armondo Cabreara. I do not know how my Satin doe did or what was said on her because I was busy showing my Mini Lops. In the end, Miami won BOV solid and Habanero won BOV and BOB :)
We didn't stick around for BIS. In the meantime there was an issue which dragged the show on. I left when the Mini Rex juding started. There were a lot of them, so I knew it was going to be a while and we had to get home.
Overall it was a nice day :)
Today we hang coop cards at fair and prepare for bringing in the rabbits tomorrow evening.

baby love

Just thought I would post two of Gigi's babies. The top is a buck and the bottom is a doe :)

Showmanship doe and litters

I love my showmanship doe. She is a homebred doe, she granded this spring, 3 legs for BOB and 1 BOSV. She is a phenonomal doe. Deep, wiiiide, awesome head/crown/ear and has a cuteeee bkn pattern. She was a natural bred showmanship animal as her mom was my last years showmanship animal. MAD is truly a stunning animal. She is almost done molting, she may be ready for fair ;)

Our litters are coming along fine. Cloey x Stitch, WOW! I am impressed with all of them, not a weak one in the bunch. I have had my eyes on the opal buck and bkn opal doe though. Such wide heads! Kalauh's two does are coming along fine. I am not a fan of blacks, and I have soo many chin babies... so we will have to see which one is better. I can only afford to keep one. BB's litter is looking fine. I am taking the smoke pearl steel doe to Yreka in hopes of selling. The bkn blue looks like she will head to Monterey with BBCR. I am keeping "Fiona, Fifi, Fi" a real classy junior! WOW! Her brother Buster, has won our hearts and he has the type to stay in the barn! Renee's litter have nice type. But they had a chewing war. I had intentions of taking three of them to National Conventoin with me. We'll see. Peppercini's litter, the lil bkn chin has always come to strike me. She's a doe. So if she has the type she will stay. Gigi's litter, I like ALL of the bkn chestnuts... I especially like one of the bucks, but they are all promising! WOWZers! Classy kids I must say.

We will be doing some breedings around August 20th. We will post a list after fair of who will be bred. :)

I give up....

Okay, so Renee & BB's litters would be beefy 4-5 month old juniors for convention. They were looking good. Really, really good. So I thought in my head a possible entry for Michigan and I must have jinxed my bunnies, because not but a couple days later, did both litters decide to chew on each others fur. It's pretty bad and it looks like crap to me. Now what?

Not only that, I entered Honey at Yreka because she was in good condtion. We had a couple colder days and I go out to the barn today and poof.... She is molting. Her coat is now open and ugh... she was so pretty just a couple of days ago!

On a more positive note, I hope to get PJ bred soon. I know she's still a young doe, but she has the size and maturity to carry her through. I think she'd do just fine :)

More cleaning....

Spent the rest of today cleaning. Have a lady coming out tomorrow to purchase most of my equipment. I should only have 2 cages left for sale after that, but whatever I do have left I will take to Yreka with me.

I only have 25 holes left in the barn. It feels pretty empty with out the extra cages but all the cages I have are full. I figure if I have less cages, I will have to keep less rabbits. Prove to be more selective, right?

Anyways, I have plans to cement the floor... so it's level, we'll see about that.

Royalty has been delayed again, but it looks like Oregon will be sending one team of 4.

Crescent City catalog is out. Getting excited... and for this saturday's show... which I need to get my stuff ready for.... Have a 4-H meeting wednesday. Fair starts next monday!!!

Our Barn

I had to upload this pic to blogger because I wanted to show my barn on a rabbit message board. I was seeking advice on automatic watering systems and with stackers that seemed a lil more challenging... so I myswell just keep it up here... why not. Right side: 1st three cages I use them for brood does on litters or non-active rabbits. The next 2 cages are brood cages, the next two are brood or non-active and the 2 in the back are for non-active rabbits. Left side: first 15 cages are for non-active or show rabbits. Next three, the bottom two are for growing out juniors and the one on top is a brood doe cage. The next 4 are for non-active rabbits or for growing out young stock. Door is in front, window in back. Presto :) My barn... ha ha.

Cleaning.... and a stupid rabbit

This morning while it was relatively cold out (like 80 degrees) I decided to do some barn cleaning and bunny managment before fair, which starts next saturday.... Gave all the bunnies hay, seems like 3/4ths of my rabbits are molting, so I want to make sure if they groom themselves, the hair can pass through safely. Groomed a few rabbits. Even Stitch is molting... *sighs* I sure hope the heck he is done molting by CC triple! And Kokomo, she's about ready to blow. Honey and Hab are holding out okay *knocks on wood*

I bought some feeders from Grange in March, they were having a clearance, Bass and Little Giant feeders, for like $1 - 1.50 each. That's a steal when they are usually $5-7!! They have been on the floor in my room since then.. yep.

I wanted to attach them to the outside of my cages, the ones that don't have them (about 1/2 my cages) It will make it easier for my parents when they are feeding my rabbits when I am off at school and unbearably busy.

So I was cutting the hole in Jenie's cage, I had good luck so far on all the others. But of course, she has to be Jenie, not one of my favorite tempermented rabbits... She jumps out of her cage and onto the ground, and continues to reek havock running through the barn lightning fast behind and under all the cages.YIKES! She finally settles in the back of the barn. UNDER Black Pearls cage, in her drop pan. Not exactly sure how the hell she got in there, since there is only an inch clearance between the cage and tray. So she is stuck and cannot get out. I have to take apart my stacking cages and move them to get her out. What a chore. I put her back in her cage and she seems fine, although pissed that she got caught! I then had to reassemble the cages.

That's where I stopped cleaning. Got feeders one cages I needed to. Have about 3 more holes to cut. But I need a couple more feeders... Maybe. Or maybe I just need to sell some rabbits!

Anyways, I came up with a huge list of equipment I'd like to sell, frankly I just do not need it, even though most of it's in great condition. I have a 4 hole stacking system w/legs and trays, carriers, show table, scales, crocks and dishes just to say the least. E-mail me for a complete list if interested. I will be brining everything but the large cages to Yreka with me next Saturday!

More!

"Buster Blue" - Bkn Blue Junior Buck

"Fiona, Fifi, Fi" Bkn Blue Junior Doe

Both these are from Blue Bijou and GC Lil' Hollister. Too cute!

Piccy's!!!!!

Wow, I realized I had not put up picture posts in a while, so here's some of our babies!!!!

Velotta's Stitch (RGC Chestnut 7 legs) x Milkhouse's Cloey (Reg. Bkn Opal)

This litter should be really nice! Pictured are an opal and bkn opal, the "colored" guys of the bunch. The rest are chinchilla and chestnut babies.

Velotta's Boomer (RGC Bkn Chestnut) x LHHR's Kaluah (Reg. Chinchilla)
Black doe pictured, there is also a chinchilla doe. We will most likely keep the better of the two, and put the other one up for sale.

Velotta's Boomer (RGC Bkn Chestnut) x LHHR's Peppercini (Reg. Chestnut)

The only broken in the litter, so I have my eye on her. There is also a chestnut buck and three Chinchillas!

Velotta's Boomer (RGC Bkn Chestnut) x LHHR's Lil Gigi (RGC Bkn Chestnut)

Been callin this guy "Halfpipe", don't know why.... and maybe it's a doe... I really forget. I do know there are 2 bucks and 2 does in the litter, ha ha!

Another Bkn Chestnut from Boomer and Gigi. Tooooo cute!

Summer Time

Had to take the nestboxes out today, the lil ones weren't even really using them to be honest. Kaluahs two are both does, Gigi has 2 bucks and 2 does, Peppercini has a buck and doe, and I didn't check the other three. Whops. Should be able to tell on Cloey's soon.

Will be breeding many does after fair. The weather will cool down a bit and we have 2 bucks we'd like to use excessively. Mr. Miami who will be going across the country in October and Quintessence. QT is a nice buck, but I don't think I'll hold out to keep him. I'd sure like some litters from him though.

Got my Convention catalog. It's real weird to plan all these details. Still got people interested in rabbits, but have to have everything wrapped up by the Redmond show, which I do hope to attend :)

Just a lil over a week until Yreka, sure getting excited :)