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.