Delmarva Show

Two pretty angoras and two very hot and tired exhibitors

GC LW Contessa sitting pretty.

Judge Dennis Holcomb did the choosing.

What a hot, hot day at Delmarva! They promised cooler temps but it just didn't happen. The angoras seem to handle it fine but the exhibitors not so well. There was one point where I was standing at the front of the writers table. I was trying to write for the judge and bring my bunnies up at the same time, when I thought I would go down for the count. I got some water and things seemed better. The poor Judges really seemed to feel the brunt of it as sweat poured over the bunnies being judged. The angoras had a great day! Donna McGraw won 2nd Reserve in Show A with a beautiful Lilac English Angora Doe. I believe that Tia won a Reserve in Show Youth with a REW English Angora Buck. I won a Best in Show B with GC LW Contessa. This was such a surprise as I have won BIS B at this show for the last 2 years. With 3 years in a row, this must be my show! They give beautiful directors chairs as a prize. Everyone was teasing me that I needed just one more chair and a table and I can host a nice dinner party.

My Jersey Woolies did really well also. GC Shepherds Divine won BOB in show A and BL Froggie won BOS. In Show B, BL Epic won BOS and BL Drizzle won BOB in the JW Specialty show. So the wins were spread out over all three shows. It was a very hot and happy day!

South Jersey R&CBA

BL Epic wins BOS "A" and BOB "B"

GC Shepherds Bouquet wins BOB "A"

GC Shepherds Amber Pearl wins BOB "B"

GC LJ Contessa wins BOV "A" and "B"

Mullica Hill is a close show and a double so I always try to make it if I can. Numbers seem to be down this year as it was less crowed then in previous years. The two breeds I show were in different building so it made for some running around. The judges were very patient and Judge George Long was training a new recruit. She seem to like the "hairy beasts" so that is a good thing for the future. In show "A" GC Shepherds Bouquet, a Sweet Pea half sister, won BOB and GC LJ Contessa won BOV white. In show "B" GC Shepherds Amber Pearl won BOB and Contessa continues her wins with another BOV. In woolies, a beautiful blue buck owned by Bunny Turley won BOB and BL Epic, my REW junior doe, won BOS. In Show "B" she won BOB for her third junior leg. My black senior buck, RH Michael Jackson, won BOS for his first leg. I think they are coming along nicely. What a nice cool breezy day enjoyed by both bunnies and humans.

Liam Update

Still Very Tired.

Holding Hands with Grandma.

Not yet awake.

Loves his Toys

On Mondays my Grandson, Liam, goes to his other Grandma's house. She also watches Liam's cousin Emily. They must have a rocking good time because he doesn't get much sleep. On Tuesday, I get to watch Liam. He is always very tired and we both get to catch up on our ZZZZZ's. He is always in a good mood even if he is tired and we have fun playing with all his toys. He also likes reading the "Meow" kitty book which is red, his favorite color. Liam is fun.

Sheep and Wool

Much Bunny Hugging.

Tons of beautiful yarn.

More Bunny Hugging.

Cute baby animals.

The Garden State Sheep and Wool Festival has been a fun place to participate in for many years. It has always had plenty of traffic and a good place to sell bunnies for spinning pets. Besides bunnies, I usually bring wool, herbal sachets and chocolate bunny pops. Sadly, this was a very slow year due in part to the economy, a rainy Sunday and two other festivals in surrounding states. Why do they host these festivals all on the same weekend? Luckily, I was able to share the price of the booth with my friend Amanda and her daughter Madeline. we had so much fun and laughed all weekend. We took turns walking around and we could get a lunch break, so it worked out great for both of us. The baby animals here were just so adorable that my husband wanted to bring them all home. Lucky for me the Alpaca he wanted was $15,000. :-)

Jersey Wooly Sweeps

GC CR Conspiracy Theory (following photos by Donna McGraw)

GC CR Blue Skies with her Best Reserve.

GC CR Blue Skies official photo

GC CR Ice Maiden and GC CR White Excitement

What a whirlwind year. I always said I would never show more that one breed because of the devotion needed to be the best at it. After having angoras for 20 years, I just felt I wasn't progressing. Being somewhat discouraged with the angoras and watching newer breeders excel way past me, I needed a boost or a new interest. Jersey Woolies have been in and out of our lives for some of those years and I thought that it may be time to bring them back again. Teasing that they are my retirement bunnies as they are small and much more portable, I started working on them about 3 years ago but never showed them. I wanted them to be the best that they could be before I brought them out in public. Billy Miller came along and helped me with my dream. He always had the most beautiful woolies and was selling out alot of his show stock. These are some of the bunnies above that came to live with me and made my first year of showing woolies so successful. Winning a Reserve in Show with Blue Skies put the icing on the cake. I was also happy with my own lines, much to my surprise, granding 3 and winning many BOB with home grown stock. The final JW Sweepstakes report is out and I couldn't be happier with the results considering this is really my first year of showing woolies.

#20 Overall (out of the 156 listed)

#7 in District 9 (with some of the top breeders in the country)

#17 in Herdsman points ( Not sure how they figure this out)

#20 in Awards of Excellence (BOB & BOS points out of 114 listed)

#18 Rabbit of the year (with 8 of my rabbits listed out of 467)

This has also helped me with my angoras somehow, by putting a fire under me, and they did very well this year also. These are two of the sweetest breeds and I just adore both of them. I am much more of multi-tasker now running from table to table and with much help from my bunny friends, thanks, you know who you are.

Speed Grooming

LJ Contessa sits patiently.

Shepherds Amber Pearl is dozing.

What's that blur?

Just me, little LJ Kaolin trying to avoid both the brush and the camera.

You have to take advantage of any little drop in temperature to get the bunnies groomed. My front porch serves as the shaded, usually breezy, grooming area. It is still not cool enough so I quickly speed groom the tops and work on the bottoms inside in the "cold storage " area. It has truly been the hottest summer that I can ever remember. It is amazing that any rabbits have any coats on what so ever. This show season should be interesting as so many people are ranting that every bunny they have has molted. Who is to blame them? If I had any fur, I would certainly shed it off. It is hard to even have clothes on as I sit here at 9 PM and it is still 84* out. Most of my retired angoras are clipped down in May and this will keep them cool and they will have a coat on in time for Fall. The year, I am already clipping them down again for a second time in order to keep them cool. In 20 years of raising rabbits, there has never been a second clip in summer. Every single person I meet says they can't wait for winter, just picture last winter though, do we really want that again? I guess humans are never happy.

Mothra

Looked dead to me.

Starts to flutter.

It's Alive.

Coming through the long hallway to work, I looked down to see this huge moth on the ground. It was as big as my whole hand and was not moving. I thought it came in the dark cool hallway to rest and must be dead. It was so beautiful sitting against the dark blue wall, I had to take some photos. When I leaned over to take the picture, it started to flutter. I was glad to see it was alive. By the time I left work later, it was gone. I guess it came in to enjoy the air conditioning and then went back to it's regular habitat. Every creature must be feeling the heat and this one learned how to adapt pretty well. This proves that you can enjoy nature anywhere, at any time.