I'm still alive

Busy. An underestimated word of my life, currently.

The rabbits --

I am getting Zeus back on Friday. :) Also on Friday I am picking up a junior buck from WA.

Got 2 Martens and a ML due next week.

Decided to head to the Kennewick show the Saturday after spring break. So I'm currently excited for that :)

Got a lot for sale to send to Ohio Mini Convention or West Coast Classic in Reno, Nevada.

Travel here, travel there

Seriously, this term is FULL of traveling. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it ... but sometimes being gone every weekend is stressful, especially after a long week of busy school. Not to mention, calving starts soon, as well as lambing -- so my weeks will be stressful with lack of sleep!

My calendar:

1/14-15 - Coeur D'Alene, Idaho - rabbit show

1/20-22 - Pendleton, La Grande, Baker City, OR - cattle conference

1/28-29 - Saint Helens, OR - rabbit show

2/1-6 - Denver, Colorado - cattle conference

2/11-13 - Home :)

2/18-20 - Scottsdale, Arizona - rabbit show

2/25-26 - AQ competition

3/5 - WA - rabbit show

3/12 - dead week; studying for finals

3/19 - WA - rabbit show

So hard to imagine that I am only on the first weekend of the term, and that I have many more to go before I can relax for spring break!

This weekend I am showing Wall E & Badger... There will be some Silver Marten competition, which I am excited for, even if Badger is still young. Wall E, I am somewhat not sure, because I feel judges see her differently than I do -- however she is in great condition. 2BT2 is going to Sara, I am getting a chocolate chestnut and a REW daughter from Melinda x Stitch breeding. I also have 2 of Jill's Dutch and 2 of her Thrianta's... so I have a full load :)

So if I don't post much...I'm just busy -- however I hope to keep up to date with my travels :)

Getting back to "normal"

One week of school has kickstarted me back into gear. Thoroughly enjoying this new term, I am just so happy!

Probably does help that I dropped the Holland project, and I sold my Checkered Giant pair. I was searching through my "spam box" and read an e-mail that shouldn't have been sent there. It worked out the lady's friend was up in OR at the time and was willing to bring them back for her. So I lost a cage and a carrier in the mix, but i have my two big cages back and now I am down to just the Mini Lops and my small Silver Marten project. It feels so good to be back to normal!

I am down to just 14 rabbits:

Stitch

Hank

Brianna

Lila

Montana + 6

Lettuce

Rylee

Nemo

Wall E

2BT1

Badger

MGD

Maddy + 7

Pyro + 8

Certainly a more manageable number for these busy times!

Coeur D'Alene, Idaho show next weekend! I'm showing 2 rabbits... making the 16+ hr RT trip just to work with an out-of-state judge :)

2011 Goals

I said I would post them... so here goes:

*Obtain my judges license

*Start showing & raising Silver Martens actively.

*Attend atleast 5 shows

*Reduce on numbers, getting back down to the bare minimum

*Apply for graduation

*Raise my GPA (I have a set number in mind)

*Pass Repro & Advanced Repro with atleast a B

*Payoff the loan I'm taking out

*Get a good summer job/internship

*Find a career goal by June

annnnnd that's it for now. All of them are pretty obtainable I suppose :)

Much over due

I can't believe I haven't posted since convention!

At any rate, I finished fall term. Longest 10 weeks of my life... ever!

Went to Red Bluff... I worked Saturday and Sunday. 3300 rabbits.... great people, great show! I don't exactly know my results, but I do know my martens took BOB all 4 shows, and Wall E won BOSV in show D. Also got some 1sts in the other shows.

Litters! After the recent catastrophes with the birthing problems, low numbers and does missing, I now have some on the ground and on the way!

Silver Martens:

Maddy & Badger - 7 on 12/26

Pyro & MGD - 8 on 12/26

*have 5 or 6 blues, rest are black

Checkered Giant:

Robin & Bruce -- due today :)

Mini Lops:

Montana x Hank Tank - due 12/29

Lettuce x Hank Tank - due 12/29 or 1/18

Brianna x Casper - due 1/18

Rylee x Casper - due 1/18

Lila x Zeus - due 1/21?

Have less than a week of vacation left. I return to school on Saturday. I won't be bringing many up to Corvallis. Don't have much to show and everything else is bred or on a litter.

CDA is coming up on 1/15. I am making the long trip to work for my license. Will have to flip a coin to decide who. Good lineup! I will probably only show 3 rabbits, I will have others showing for me so I want to make it easy :)

After CDA is a road trip for the Or cattlemens assc, then St Helens rabbit show, then going to Denver, CO for a cattle convention... after that I'm not sure whats on my calendar but I do have march shows planned. Just not sure which ones yet :)

Going to establish some 2011 goals... I didn't really set much last year and this year surprised me... in many ways. :) Will get them posted as soon as I figure it out.

Convention Purchase

I've always sold for conventions, I've never purchased.

Back when I thought Maddy & Pyro were bred, I figured to purchase a buck for later use. So I decided to purchase from either Tex Thomas or the Riddles, but I discovered I had plenty of Riddles lines in my does, so I went with Tex Thomas.

It was an easy ordeal, I simply put in my reservation, paid the rest for convention and a few days after convention ended I traveled north to pick up my buck.

Keep in mind this picture is after he traveled over 2500 miles, but hes in great condition, just didn't want to be messed with that much! He traveled well, eats good & I can't wait to get him home to get my black doe bred to him!

Hopefully we will have some Marten babies on the ground when I go home for Thanksgiving, Pyro is due 11/24 to MGD.

Yelm, Convention & more

Yelm show was a BLAST!

I did not work for my judges license, I transported sale & convention rabbits, I hung out with good friends, and I came home with a ML doe.

Hank Tank won BOSB in Show B, 4th leg. Rudolph's MGD won BOSB in A & B.

Jill's Black Dutch doe won BOB in A, and honorable mention in show.

Terisa & Jeff won BOB with their Checkers in A & B and RIS in show B.

Melinda & Lea Ann left with Shonna Ausborne to go to Convention. From there they are going to Tennessee.

Theodore left with Scott to get shipped out to go to Vermont.

Convention!

Started today.

Melinda won 5th of 88 BSD's. Keep in mind she is 4 years old, has had 4 or 5 litters, 2 this year, and got weaned off her last litter on 10/23. She's a doe, that's for sure. But best wishes to Amy Terry!

Velotta's Twitch got 3rd of 69? BSB's. We have some good offspring of him, so congrats Nicole!

Other than that, school is just rollin on by. Week 7 started today. I am registering for my next terms classes soon and have it all figured out, figured out that I will have NO life.

I am missing the Monroe, WA show next month, so my next show wont be until mid December unfortunately.

I have Pyro & Lila due on Thanksgiving. I hope to get a bunch of other does bred then as well!

The story of the Uglies

~ 8 weeks... Looking good right?

8/16 - He was a JERK to pose. The whole inability to pose was the sole reason I almost didnt decide to keep him.

8/2 - Here he stopped posing at all, and I was only able to get a head shot.

9/12 - Hank refused to pose in show A, but show B, the judge worked with him a little bit and got a glance of him. He won BOSB under Kevin Stanford.

His head shot at 4.5 months :)

10/15

LHHR's Hank Tank looking good! This was the night before the show.

In A he won 1st of 8 under Roger Hassenpflug, and in B he won BOSB under Tracy Gouette.

He is now an RGC in just 2 shows. The shortest GC earned for me in quite some time. I am just so proud of my new little herd buck. I would have never imagined the Kitsemble's Melinda & LHHR's/Velotta's Matthew cross would turn out so good :) I can't wait to get some does bred to him!

Albany ... success

Hurried to the barn Friday afternoon after my test.

1200 Entries. 8 specialty shows each with pleasing numbers. LOTS of out of state breeders, GREAT quality rabbits. Success? Very much so :) Huge kudos to TCRBA and Jeff & Terisa Silbernagel for running a SMOOTH show, no problems!

I worked with Jeff Jewett on Saturday. Thanks to Sara Marshall/MoonWillow Rabbitry for showing my Mini Lops for me :) Hank got 1/8 in A, and BOSB in B. He picked up his 2nd & 3rd legs to Grand! Lila got BOSV in A for a leg.

I dropped off Madonna. I picked up Casper, my new Holland Buck General Lee, and a new Silver Marten buck. The Marten buck is especially docile, and I am very happy to breed that into my does.

Headed home on the 22nd to breed some rabbits, pick up some convention sales & transport animals.

The Rough times

I already miss home, school is life, and the bunny life is rough. Plus the disgusting weather is creeping closer, yielding for some sour moods.

School. Hate my classes, dislike my professors and there is nothing to "look forward to" for the next 9 weeks. Week 1 was rough, and this weekend was much appreciated.

The herd reduction is doing alright. I am down to 18, with some sold, and some bred. Most sadly, the Martens failed to produce, so now I am stuck with 2 open does, neither of which I can breed back, nor show. So I'm pretty depressed, ready to give up.

Mini Lop breedings, Lea Ann is due on the 9th, to Dominic. Brianna is due on the 12th to Twitch maybe. And for upcoming breedings, Rylee will be bred to Zeus and Lila to Theodore on the 23rd. Lila will go home, Theodore will head north. As far as other sales, we have one possibly pending, and one pending. If Lea Ann failed to take, I will be parting with her as well. The other juniors that will head back with me on the 24th trip are Wall E and Nemo, who are Rylee & Melinda jr does. I also have space to bring up 1 or 2 more, but I will keep them open for now.

I am transporting for reputable breeders to the Convention pickup. I am not advertising my trip because I only need to cover my gas, which isn't that much because I'm only traveling 4 hours. I may also be traveling with a friend, which will cut gas expenses in half.

My next show is Albany, OR on 10/15-16. I'm not exactly sure what I am doing with the show just yet, whether working and showing and whatnot. Either way, its in my backyard so I have to attend, and I have no other commitments for that weekend.

That is about all of the rabbit news... except that I am brining home an addition on the 30th :) I don't want to jinx anything, so I am keeping my mouth shut for now!