A week from today!

Exactly one week from today my bunnies and I will be in Minneapolis attending the ARBA Convention!

There is SO much left still to be done.. carriers need to be prepared, all the bunnies need to be test-fit. I need to pack my bags, prepare for the farm sitter, get my homework in order.. I even still need to tattoo some of the juniors.. yikes I better get going on all these things!

Pumba's neuter was a huge success, he is recovering in the company of his canine siblings!

2 more weeks to go now

ARBA Convention is only 2 weeks away now! I am so excited and distracted by its rapid approach I'm having a hard time concentrating on my college work... I guess since its the event of the year for bunny people like me its hard not to think about how much it will be!

I have a pair of charlie Rhinelander bucks for sale to pet homes. I'm giving them 2 more weeks til I will have to process them. As sweet and playful as they are I don't have the space to keep them around when they won't be part of the breeding program. Here's a photo of the one I've nicknamed Pasta. (I'm always thinking about food..) He's a bit more orange than his brother and does have an almost complete spine marking and cheek spots. He likes laps and chewing on cardboard.

In goats news, even though no breeding is taking place this year I am still busy with their care and maintenance. The three baby goats were improperly disbudded as infants so they all have horn/scur growth. Fly season is almost over so all 3 will have their horns surgically removed once I'm certain flies are no longer an issue that could cause infection. All 3 are a little flighty, they're friendly with me but not interested in strangers most of the time.

This is Oreo my little cutie with a mustache! I can't wait til those naughty horns come off, although I'm sure he won't be thrilled. He is covered in hay dust in this photo.

Joy and Banjo are the smallest goats in the herd. Banjo of course is tiny because of his congenital heart defects, his twin brother Fiddle is nearly double his size! Joy is just naturally petite, and such a sweetie. These two like to hang out together, I suspect its due to their similar stature.

Well that's all for now!

Looking Back

I don't normally blog too much about the more personal parts of my life on here, I try to keep it mostly rabbits, farm critters and tid bits from work and college here and there. This post is about my daddy who passed away 9 years ago as of tomorrow.

The photo above is of my mom and dady on their wedding day! (Hope you don't mind too much mom that I put you on the blog.)

My dad passed away after a lifetime battling chronic illness. I was very much a "daddy's girl," and the loss was devastating. We shared many interets including computers, hobbies, the outdoors, and science fiction. I have mostly fond memories when I look back on the time I spent with him.

Now, so many years later its hard not to imagine how life would have been different if he was still here. I wonder if I would be living my dream on my farm. I wonder if I would have pursued a different career path, or how the decisions I have made could of been altered from his influences. I think he would be proud of my sister, my mom, and me; the whole family. I don't know if he would have predicted where we are today but I'm sure he would be supportive.

After my dad passed away I got my first rabbit, Ezra, who brought me out of a depression and opened the door to where I am now with bunnies. It certainly has been a journey these past 9 years.

I miss my dad every day but am thankful for the time I had with him and hope to live my life to the fullest in honor of his memory.

Rainy Day

It's raining.. its pouring so here are some sunnier photos..

I've been spoiled this week since Monday was a holiday, two of my labs that usually meet this week did not giving me some extra time off from school. I have a Microbiology test looming early next week but otherwise class is going well overall.

Things on the farm are in the usual holding pattern. Convention is only 3 weeks away now! I am very excited, I'm nervous to fly so many rabbits but can't wait to see all the bunnies entered and the rabbit folks too of course. One of my favorite things about Convention is seeing all the different breeds of rabbits together in one place. I plan on going trigger happy with the camera and dedicating several blog posts to my Convention experience so don't worry there will be plenty of first hand reports!

I've been pose training the hares as often as I can spare and am seeing lots of improvement which is absolutely a good thing. I posted my sales list without photos and at this point will probably not post photos since I just don't have time, its very difficult to get good photos of hares by yourself and photos don't do them justice, they need to be seen in person. So if you're interested in buying or are already on my waitlist please see them in person at Convention. I have been getting alot of what I consider to be rude e-mails and messages asking to buy hares, I will IGNORE those requests, please use common sense when inquiring to buy a rabbit...

I'm still here

I keep going back and forth with my plans with the rabbits but so far I'm happy with my decision. The hares will still be moved out at Convention, I'm keeping some older stock as pets and will see where things go from there. I've done some heavy culling with my recent problems and things *knock on wood* are stable at the moment.

My 16 Belgian Hare entries have been submitted for ARBA Convention, all will be for sale, I may substitute rabbits closer to the deadline for changes on the 25th. I am hard at work on my sales list with photos at the moment. All prices will start at $115.00 and go upwards, most will be around $150.00. All sales will be conducted in person, no pre-sales, although first pick goes to my waiting list.

I am having a terible time getting posed photos of the sales list. Since I haven't shown in ages, I have basically let the hares frolic and haven't worked on posing them. They are unbelievably unhappy with all this posing nonsense especially the juniors. I'm working on it, and they're improving, good thing we have a month to master posing skills! I have a photo below of Imagination's Gus who is a perfect example, his natural pose is beautiful and his "forced/trained" pose makes him look like an overgrown petite! We have quite an uphill posing mountain to climb, that is for sure.

The Rhinelander does from the post below are all pending sale, just working on transport at the moment, both bucks are still available at this time.

Not much else to report, college and work and farm stuff are keeping me incredibly busy. I am suspending breeding any of my nigerian dwarf goats for spring kiddings since I know I'll be slammed when they would be due and don't want to neglect their care or attention during their gestation/due dates. I hope to be able to breed for some fall 2011 kiddings instead next year since I don't plan to enroll in the fall semester so I should have much more time to dedicate to them.

Pumba the pot belly pig is growing like an absolute weed, he is bulking out and is hilarious, harness training is going a bit better, he gets neutered in two weeks which I'm thankful for, intact male pigs are absolutely gross and he's way too interested in the dogs for all the wrong reasons. I'll try and get some updated photos of him soon.

That's all for now, here are some photos, excuse the terrible poses/horribly appearing bodies, they are so much nicer in person!

Two of Emmer's kids

Gus, gorgeous right? now look at his photo below.. lol

I am petite, hear me ROAR! This is why teaching hares to pose is so important, a nice rabbit can look terrible if he doesn't know how to show himself off..

Heart, her coat is rough but she's got okay type, lacking extension, once again her posing needs much more work as she's leaning backwards and not fully extended.

This is one of the juniors going to Convention, her arch has not "popped," yet but she shows promise. She is leaning back and not extended either. Practice. practice. practice.

Poor Ariel, she's def. got booty, such nice HQ but she has gone so broody up top, she does lack extension, color is nice not too dark.

Oh Valentine.. here's another posing issue, standing too upright without extending the HQ also making him look petite like, see that tucked in tail? He is a very nice buck when he poses naturally, I can't wait for him to get the hang of it.