Merry Christmas

 Pandoro cake

Christmas outfit. 

Fluffy wreath. 

Christmas cracker kid.

I hope everyone had a very happy Christmas and enjoyed family and friends. We had a very quiet Christmas this year as everyone went to Florida early. It was fun and relaxed. I even put up the fluffy wreath, because everything at my house has to be fluffy.

We tried to get some Santa photos at the mall. Liam would not sit on Santa's lap at all this year, with much crying when I tried, and even bribed him with a ride on the Mickey Mouse car ride. I knew last year was a fluke, everyone in my family is alway scared to death of anyone in a costume. My Christmas Pandoro looks nice but no one liked it except Liam and I am sure he was going for the whipped cream and strawberries that was served with it.. Back to the stand by pumpkin pie again next year.

We have English Christmas crackers at our house because it is a traditional treat in England, where my husband is from. You get a crown and a prize. Liam is enjoying his crown and whistle very much and seemed to enjoy his toys and gifts. Everyone was tired by the end of the night from too much Christmas.

Brokens Grow Up

 4 Weeks old

 Nice broken markings.

 Looks like 2 little girls

The Prince and the Pea.

The broken angora babies are getting big now and starting to look fluffy. They have very nice markings. Looks like two little girls, a tort and a lilac or blue tort. It's nice to see that the color looks to be nice and dark and there is quite a bit of color. The Mom has only a partial butterfly so I was not expecting such perfect butterflys. They already have personalities, the tort is very shy and the lilac is more outgoing and comes to the cage door for pats. Liam was playing the prince and the pea by bringing all of his blankets out of the bedroom. I layered them on him in the recliner so he could lounge, eat his cereal snack and watch Disney Junior. What fun to be young, humans or bunnies!

Richmond Show

 Shepherd's Iridescence

 Best of Breed Show A

 Shepherd's Iris Best of Breed Show B

 Youth Skunk and Reindeer costume

 Open Skunk costume

 Open Stink Bug costume

 English Angoras waiting to show

Very big and well filled showroom.

The Richmond show was fun as always but in a new location this year at the Richmond Racetrack. It was a much bigger building then the Firehouse, so there was lots of room to spread out. I did miss the ladies that cook such great Southern food at the Firehouse. There was no food in the showroom so everyone was going across the street to McDonalds. Not quite the same. Better weather then in past years, but that bring many more exhibitors and a much later show. Very tired but I di get to take photos this time. The costume contest was so cute, especially the 2 skunks and the agouti Netherland Dwarf dressed as a Stink Bug. I think the Stink Bug won a prize. It didn't look real happy about winning though.

Donna McGraw was missed at the show but I was able to bring her beautiful bunnies and show them for her.  Her black buck won BOS at both shows with very nice comments from judges, Stacey and Sue. My senior doe sisters shared the day with Iridescence winning BOB in show A and Iris winning BOB in show B. Didn't really have to use the blower, just sat them on the grooming table and let the wind do the work. I also was lucky enough to win BOS Jersey Wooly with Shepherd's Polka Dot Bikini, broken senior doe, in show A and Shepherd's Belladonna, self senior doe in show B. Took a few best of varieties and best opposite of varieties in self and broken classes. A nice way to finish out the show year!

Brokens, Can They be Fixed?

 Cute Luke makes everyone smile.

New Babies in the Nestbox. 

Pretty Lucy with her Beautymark. 

What's not to love?

Sadly the brokens did not pass their second showing at the ARBA Convention this year. What a shame as they would be such a boost for the English Angoras in order to increase their numbers on the show circuit. Anyway, in order to get the judges and the public more used to seeing these guys and to get comments on improving them, I have started to bring them to shows as an exhibition. This means that the judge can give comments and get their hands on them. It lets the judges know we are serious about the variety, that we want them and we want to improve them for competition. Some of the judges have never even seen one or put their hands on one.

Besides, they are just so darn cute. Who doesn't love that cute spotted face? The rabbit breeders at the show went crazy over them and everyone thought they were really adorable. I have always loved them and have had them off and on for 15 years. It is very exciting to have 2 broken babies in the nest box with my Best in Show, Grand Champion buck, Wyatt for the dad. They look like a broken tort and a broken chocolate, both with plenty of color and full butterflies on their faces. I hope they turn out as nice as their mom and dad. So look for the broken english angoras at a show near you and let me know what you think of them.

Halloween

 Gnome Liam all dressed up.

Liam with Mother Gnome, Justine 

On to the next house.

My daughter has a "thing" for Garden Gnomes. A really big thing, she even has them tattooed on each foot. So when she found this children's Gnome costume on sale after Halloween last year she was so excited. We all couldn't wait for this year to see Liam in his costume. Justine even dressed up as Mother Gnome. They were so cute and Liam really picked up on the treating part. He did try to give some of his candy back to people, at their door, after getting some from them. It was very sweet.

Bunny Body Type

 Shepherds Iris

 Iris is very round

 GC Shepherds Uptown

Smaller but also round.

Round balls of fluff live at my house, some are larger and some are smaller. English Angoras and Jersey Woolies should always have a round look when groomed up. They should not look flat or have a part down the middle of the coat. The fur can hide some faults underneath but can not hide all of them. If the bunny is flat on top, narrow or pinched, this will show. Body type is still very important under all that fur. It gives the bunny a correct look when they sit and pose. You can certainly feel the body when you groom and the judge always feels the body when judging.

After over 20 years of raising rabbits, I am still learning about body type. The Jersey Wooly should look like a cupcake with a small orange sitting on top, I read somewhere. This is a cute description but not really accurate, I keep thinking about the swirly icing. It should feel more like a small cantaloupe with a small orange on top. Equal in width and length, with a smooth, round rise over the top. The English Angoras should feel like a basketball with 1/3 of the bottom cut off, sitting flat side down on the table, with a little larger orange for a head. The best way to learn about body type is to keep looking at different bunnies, posing them and feeling the shape. This will help you to learn what you like in your bunnies, a round ball of fluff.

All Dressed Up

 Shepherd's Iridescence

 Looking Fluffy

Sweet Lilac Face
So we are all dressed up and no where to go. English angoras have a limited time span in which you can show their coats. Many breeders time the coats for certain show events during the show year. If it doesn't work out that the breeder doesn't get to attend the event, you have a very beautiful animal and no place to show her. No other shows are timed during the ARBA Convention so that everyone can attend. Very sad to miss the ARBA Convention again this year. It seems like the heavens colid and I never get to go. I think Shepherds Iridescence would have been a good competitor.  Oh well. Hope everyone else has a fun time.

DeMarVa

 Judge Joe with Shepherds's Peony

 DelMarVa was lots of fun.

 Shepherd's Peony

Another view.
Well, as always DelMarVa was lots of fun. I was able to spend time with rabbit friends and friend's rabbits. It seemed like everyone won some kind of prize. Katie won a Reserve in Show with her beautiful REW Jersey Wooly plus a few BOBs and many BOGs. Alyssa won a Best in Specialty show and a BOB with her handsome English Angora buck. Regan won some BOS awards with her Jersey Wooly buck. Donna won some Best writter awards. I was luck enough to win a 2nd Reserve in show award with Shepherd's Peony plus BOS in show B and a Best in Specialty show with my REW Jersey Wooly doe, Shepherd's Uptown. Well run show and we finished both open shows and many specialty shows by 4 o'clock. My favorite show of all.

Best in Show

 Shepherd's Iridescence

BIS Shepherd's Peony and Judge Josh

BIS Shepherd's Peony

What a way to start the Fall show season! Shepherd's Peony, tort senior doe, wins Best in Show at the Mullica Hill, NJ show this past Saturday. It was really a surprise for me as judge Josh didn't give her a second look and never really looked in her direction after he gave her a once over. He looked at a few other breeds a second time and there were some beautiful animals there. Sitting on the wool table with the Giant Angora, the French Angora and the English Angora was little Shepherd's Uptown, REW sr doe Jersey Wooly. She looked like she had been shrunk in the wash next to the bigger wool creatures.
The Reserve in show was announced with the beautiful broken black Mini Rex owned by Piper and Barbara Smith. Next he announced the Best in Show was the English Angora. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I was a perfect day for showing wool, cool and overcast but no humidity. Just a bit of a breeze to keep the wool fluffy, she did look nice and has a pleasant temperment for showing unlike some other torts I have at home that growl at the judges. Iridesecence did well almost beating out Peony but the judge said she needs to grow up just a bit and her sister Iris also got some very nice compliments coming in third.
My woolies did really well with Shepherd's Uptown winning BOB, Shepherd's Divine winning best of group broken and Shepherd's Ring my Bell, 1st place self jr doe out of 7 or 8 jr does. The self boys came in 2nd, 3rd and 4th I believe, and the broken boys came in 2nd and 3rd. So very happy with how the show season has started out, just saying!

Liam and Grandma have a Fun Summer

Went to the Beach.

Enjoyed Cherrios for the First Time.

Only two allowed on the spoon at once.

Started his Artist Training.

Liam and I had a very fun summer. He is getting so big and of course, I think he is the smartest child in the world. We had a fun time at the beach after the tourists went home. He is very particular and will not allow any shells in his bucket, only sand. We learned to eat cherrios out of the bowl with a spoon. Same thing, only two cherrios are allowed on the spoon at any time. We are always telling him eat small bites and he really listens. He also like to color on paper and had a fun time with paper and pen. Jackson Pollack, anyone?

Sheep and Wool Festival

Cute Booth with Yummy Wool.

Happy to be here.

Lots of fun Baskets.

Very Old Wagon.

My computer has been broken so lots to catch up on. Had my usual booth at the Garden State Sheep and Wool Festival which is always lots of fun. Strolling musicians, yummy wool, good food, lots of fun fiber friends and this year the booth next to me had "BASKETS"! A big mistake as far as I was concerned, since I spent most of my time sitting in my booth trying to not buy any. I did end up with only one but it was a close call for a truly basket addicted person. I did resist buying wool since I am still working on my wierd triangular scarf for a year now.

Met some really nice people inclucing some of my Blog fans, you know who you are LOL. Now I feel like I have to step up the blogging content to a higher level. Didn't really think anyone ever read this thing. Who knew? I have really slacked off this summer but will hope to have some better content this coming Fall and Winter.

Hurricane Distractions

Shepherd's Peony

GC Shepherd's Sunflower

Small round ball of fluff.

GC Shepherd's Drizzle

Pretty bunny photos distracting me from Hurricane Irene. Tried to groom for awhile until part of my chimmney fell off. Very strong wind and tons of rain pelting down. We still have power but it probably won't last for long. There are many big trees in my yard and here's hoping they stay up. There are still some laying in the yard from the snow storms this winter. Try to get a landscaper to come cut them up while working 50 hours per week.

What is it with you Mother Nature? Us humans must have done some really bad stuff to be pelted with all this weather. Hope it is over soon. Bunnies don't seem to be bothered by any of it. They are tucked up warm and dry with their little raincoats on. There goes more of my chimmney, better go take a look. Wish me luck.

Beautiful Images from france

A cart holding the lunch menu.

Soft colors and flowers.

Lavander as big as Me.

Palest of Pinks.

Here are some more quick images from France. Been really busy so not much time to blog.