Catchinig Up

The day we were leaving to go to a rabbit show in Tucson AZ we woke to a late snowstorm. It was so beautiful We had rain or snow the whole trip. It was lovely. Any moisture here is definately welcomed.

We went through Salt River Canyon. The road winds and twists and seems to go straight down and at the bottom the river runs wild. Then it is back up twisting and winding. There was a young man selling jewelry and wire scorpions and spiders. I couldn't resist a purple scorpion. I will add a picture as soon as I get the film developed.

Here is a picture of the canyon from the top.


And here is Anna and my husband at the bottom with the river in the background.



The show was a quad over two days. It was held in the ballroom of a hotel. Nice rooms and a great swimming pool.


I brought my 2 month old french angoras mainly to get some comments. They have great wool for juniors but did not make the weight so they were DQ'd. They were the only french angoras there. I sold one of them to a young girl from Arizona. I kept Jett who is the more promising of the two for my breeding program. I still get excited thinking of starting my own line and she will be bred back to the two bucks. (Not in one breeding of course ;)). I know it will take years but this is the beginning.

Here she is checking out my organic bunny treats that did not sell at all. Oh well, don't know until you try.


Anna brought her Polish doe and was happy to win BOSV and BOSB at two of the shows. It was interesting to see the differences in judges.


My husband bought me a lionhead I had admired. She is named Moonbeam and I will get a pic up of her as soon as they are developed. That he did this touched me more than if he had given me a diamond necklace. She is being spoiled. Has her own little cage inside and I hold her on my lap every evening while I knit. She is just precious. He also bonded with a rabbit. He told me the rabbit must be a reincaration of someone he knew in the 60's.


I also picked up three velveteen lops. One was a bred red doe. One a REW buck and one a broken black doe. I am looking forward in helping with this breed. They are incredibaly sweet. Pics to follow.

I do have pictures of the desert.


And here are the 6 french angorss at 2 weeks. There are 2 blacks, 3 torts and 1 rew. I keep going back and forth on their sex. I think there are at least 2 bucks.


Well, this is getting a bit long so will close here. I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend.

Blessings

The Working Nights Blues

Working the night shift. Need I say more? To those who have worked graveyard perhaps not. To those who have not had the privilege not sure I can convey the feelings.

Oh well, slept a bit since I don't have to work tonight and then woke up. When I work nights I don't see my rabbits as much as other days. My husband and children do the daily chores. Today, I went out and hung out with the buns. Always grounds me and makes me feel peaceful. Did a bit of grooming. My FA babies are almost 7 weeks old. Jett weighs 2 lbs. 14 ounces and Baruka is 2 lbs 6 ounces. Their wool is lovely. I used the blower on them for the first time today. They didn't freak. Then I tackled Obsidian. He has a bare spot on his left side. No evidence of mites, no flaking. Skin looks great and he is growing in some more hair. Then Thor. He was under guard so he couldn't make another great escape. He has lovely wool that is not quite ready to pluck. Had a few matts around his rear area that came out easily.

Then I tattooed the babies. They tolerated it well. I used some essential oils to numb the ear first. They had minimal bleeding and did not scream when I clamped down. Not my favorite chore but am getting better at it.

It is hot here today. 76 degrees in the bunny house. They seem to be doing alright though.

My older daughter comes home from college for the summer tomorrow. It is hard to believe that she has finished one year already. She seemed to enjoy it. My youngest is graduating from 6th grade on Wednesday. She is in a catholic school that only goes to 6th grade so she will move onto public school next year. I worry about her adjustment but I must trust that it will work out.

One of our dogs dug into my knitting bag and chewed up my favorite pair of knitting needles. I am working on socks. Making both at the same time. Luckily, for her, she did not chew the actual knitting...just the needles. She is in the dog house with me.

Well, think I will do some knitting, get supper and relax. Have the weekend off and have a lot of plans for outside.

An Enjoyable Evening

Last night I held a meeting for those interested in starting a rabbit club. I anticipated that no one would be interested and was feeling a little down before the meeting. Therefore, I was so happy when 6 people came to the meeting. And are interested in continuing.

Some of the people are non verbal but had communicated their interest to the person who was taking care of them that night. We had brought some very friendly, personable rabbits with us and to see the delight of these gentlemen touched my heart. A woman and her grandson also attended. They have a house rabbit and wanted more information on how to take care of him. They asked great questions and had information on how they take care of their pet to add. We have set another meeting for a month from now and will go over grooming and what are good plants and foods for rabbits. After the meeting, my son, daughter and husband all commented on how good they felt after the meeting and expressed happy anticipation at the next meeting.

I am happy to say that my Chizzi rabbit is no longer Chizzi. Just skinny. And such a beautiful color. I am looking forward to seeing their wool grow out. Three are sort of honey/golden colored, two are black and one is white. They will be a week old tomorrow.

My older babies are now 7 weeks old. One weighs 2.5 pounds and the other is 2.1 pounds. They are so cute and friendly.

I am working on the outside pen for the rabbits. I have no more room in my barn. We have a dog pen I used to use for the rabbits and ducks before I got the barn and fenced in part of the yard. I am putting up a bamboo shelter thing since I couldn't find the slat things for chain link fences. I believe I will move the boys out there. It is a nice shady area that gets a good breeze. Will put up a sunscreen over top of the pen. The goal is to have another barn by next fall.

Am planning on going to a rabbit show in Tucson AZ over Memorial Day weekend. I will be getting 3 velveteen lops to add to my herd. I am not really ready to show french angoras and would like another breed. Anna has dutch and polish and I am drawn to the velveteen lops. Have been since I first saw them. I am so excited.

Well, I guess I need to do some cleaning up in the house. Would rather just work outside but can't always do what you want.

Chizzi Rabbit

In the Navajo language Chizzi means rough, scaly. And here is my chizzi rabbit:




Today most of the flakes are gone. Someone suggested that it was the amniotic fluid that had dried on it. This could be. I am just glad that it is coming off.


Here are the Dutch on parade:



They look like they are playing follow the leader.


Our ducks are growing too:


We brought some of their eggs to a local health food store and they bought them. We have free range stickers and the federal food label on the carton. I thought they might just stock them and see if they sold and then pay us some of that but they said they would buy what we have. So, the egg money has started and next time we need to buy some feed will use that fund.


And last but not least here is our latest kitten. S/he is about a month old, is black with the prettiest eyes.



Has been a busy week between work, kids, rabbits, ducks, building a new porch. I guess I do get some sleep in there too.

I hope all the mothers out there had a blessed and happy day with their families.

Finally

I have been so busy the last few weeks and am only now finding time to post.

On 5/7/09 we had two more litters. My daughter Anna is breeding Dutch and the brood doe she purchased in early April gave birth to 9 babies. I was out in the barn feeding and playing and noticed that my angora mix doe was pulling fur. I had bred them both on the same day so I put a nextbox in each cage at about 1130. At 1300 my husband came in to tell me that Raina (Anna's dutch) had just given birth. By the time I got out there (all of 5 minutes) Peaches had delivered too. Peaches had 6. They both used the nest boxes and I was certainly relieved to have no kits on the wire.

Here is a picture of Raina's babies:


One of them still had the placenta and membranes over its head and by the time I realized it was too late so, 8 have survived so far.

Here are Peaches babies:


One of them was born with shiny skin (the one on the right) and it seemed like no fur. Today, the skin is cracking and some areas on the head and nape of neck and in a triangle down the back have regular fur. I will try to get a better picture of it.

My other babies are growing in leaps and bounds. Here are pictures of them. I find them hard to tell apart. They will be seven weeks old on Sunday. I plan to tattoo next week.

baby one


baby two.


This past weekend we spent in Phoenix watching the Mets play the Diamondbacks. I have been a Mets fan since I was 13 years old. Many moons ago. I was a fan when Rusty Staub and Willie Mays still played for them. I love going to the ballpark and Chase field is wonderful. I have to admit though, that I find it disenchanting that all sports areanas are named after companies.

I will leave you all with a picture of America's pasttime