Garden State Sheep and Wool Festival

Well, I attended the G.S.S.&W. Festival on Sept. 12th and 13th hoping to save some money so that I could go to Convention in San Diego this year. Sorry, no photos, the camera is still missing in action. I ran the booth myself for two days. It is amazing how really exhausting it is talking to people about bunnies and angora wool. Sadly, it was cold, cloudy with some drizzle on Saturday but Sunday was cool, sunny and just sometimes breezy. I had made chocolate and white chocolate bunny, sheep and duck lollipops that were a big hit. Angora wool was very popular and is nearly gone. My herbal moth repel sachets were a big hit. I did place 6 bunnies, 2 Jersey Woolies and 4 English Angoras which was pretty good considering the only other person with rabbits placed none.
I did not attend this show last year due to the change of date coinciding with the ARBA Convention in Louisville. The year before that we had much better attendance. The slowing economy really was noticeable with people considering every expenditure. I expect people to consider whether or not to take home bunnies but not a bunny lollipop. Usually, I would always buy something, but this year I was trying to save money also. I even brought my lunch from home on the first day. I was surprised to see some vendors had left when Sunday morning rolled around. The hardest thing for me to see was the kids begging for a bunny and the parents saying they couldn't afford it. I saw one single mom on the way out who's daughter had been begging for a bunny but said her mom couldn't afford it. I pulled the mom aside and offered her a bunny for free. She said thanks but she couldn't afford to pay for the food or the cage. I hope the economy gets better for everyone soon.

Bucks Counry Show

Well this is going to be a boring post because I somehow lost my camera. Between taking pictures of Sweetpea sitting on a chair and packing up my car, I somehow misplaced it. This is sad as all my old and new bunny photos are on it. I have been tearing everything apart trying to find it. This might be the start of something heredity. My mother recently lost her reading glasses for about 3 weeks. She searched high and low and could not find them. I got a phone call from her recently letting me know she found them in the vegetable bin of her fridge. This is a scary proposition.
Anyway, I lived to tell the tale of 5 separate shows at Bucks County with 2 different breeds and 4 different judges. Shepherds Lydia, most uncontrolable of all rabbits, in a 14 month old coat and needing just one leg to reach Grand Championship finally got there. Yea! She would not stay in her coop and romped up and down every table that she was placed on like she was a Belgian Hare, leaping over other rabbits much to the surprise of the judges and competitors. Bad bunny, bad, bad, bunny. Shepherds Aslin, who is also uncontrolable in a stressed out, freaked out kind of way, gave up by the second show and let the judge do what she would with him, thank goodness.
But Shepherds Sweetpea was not sweet but was covered with pee. Be careful what you name your rabbits. You might just get what you name them. She proceeded to growl at the specialty show judge who was not happy about that and placed her second. Both Aslin and Sweetpea did grand so that is a relief. Tulamores Caprice won 1st in all 3 junior doe classes and I think she ended up with 2 legs at least.
Jersey woolies did pretty well with CR Blue Skies taking 1st in both shows and little Shepherds Flores taking second out of 8 in show A and 1st in show B for her first junior leg and going on to win BOSG. Shepherds Hydrangea took 3rd in A and 2nd in B out of 8 junior does. CR White Excitement also spent the morning covering his beautiful white coat in pee so he placed 2nd in the senior buck for both shows. I know there were some other placements but I can't remember them now. (Another heredity thing?)
Anyway, it was a really well run show considering how many specialties there were plus the regular shows. I really enjoyed seeing so many old friends, Whitney (new e-mail address please?), Pat, Adele, Lynn Miller and many more. Congrats to Whitney for her winning Belgian Hare! Not that I had too much time to talk and thanks to the jersey woolie breeders that helped to touch up a tatoo and put my bunnies on the table while I was over at the angora specialty. Oh yea, congrats to Alex Stepnoski for winning BIS and Best Reserve in the specialty show with her beautiful English Angora (BIS) and Giant Angora(BR). That is a first for her with 2 different breeds!

If Pigs Could Fly

Shepherds Aslin with his BOS ribbon.

This little piggy sprouted wings.

Can you see the painted hooves?

The reason for the wings.

Joining the other bunny bank.

Even though I have been trying to save for a year to go to Convention, one expense after another has come up. I thought this piggy bank that flys might help me be more focused on flying to San Diego. It is funny and at least it makes me laugh while I have to spend money on broken kitchen appliances and hot water heater parts.

I will have English Angoras and Jersey Woolies for sale at the Bucks County Show tomorrow and I hope to be able to finish a grooming table or two, $65 each. Having a booth at the Garden State Sheep and Wool show on Sept. 12th and 13th should help me to reach my goal. I was even considering taking a few bunnies to San Diego from other exibitors for a fee. If anyone would like me to take a rabbit to show and care for, contact me at my e-mail address Rabbitshep@comcast.net and I will see if it is something that we could work out. I am a pretty good groomer so a long haired bun would be no problem and I would give excellent care.

Getting Organized

Don't forget to take the bunnies.

Everything in a plastic sleeve.

Show catalog, directions and entry form.

With a new show season starting, I have vowed to be more organized this year. Usually, I keep show catalogs, entry forms and directions in three different locations. That means the night before the show or the morning of, I am running around like a crazy person looking for the directions and who I needed to pack in the car. I would keep my directions on an index card because we all tend to go to the same shows every year. Never fail, the index card would be lost along with my hand written notes about mileage, exits, hotels, time it takes to drive, good restaurants and quicker back roads. I would usually find them somewhere under the seat when I cleaned out the car, which was not helpful at all.

This year, I took a bunny binder that I had out grown and filled it with plastic sleeves. In each sleeve, I put in the show catalog, map quest directions with any hand written notes and a copy of my entry form. The entry form has any notes I needed like who had to be registered, who was for sale and the person interested in them and any supplies that I needed to pick up at the show. After the show, I would list the placements of the rabbits if there were no comment cards given. Who purchased which bunny and any waiting list people were also added. When I am ready to leave for a show, I would remove the plastic sleeve and put it in my show bag and put that into the car the night before the show. After the show, I would take the plastic sleeve and put it to the front of the binder. When the show report comes, I would put it with the rest of that particular show information and move that sleeve to the back of the binder. This helps me to see what show reports may be missing and the contact person to call. By the end of show season, the sleeve for the first show of the season will have moved to the front of the binder.

Being able to just take this sleeve out of the binder , put it in the car and then put it back in the binder after the show has been so much help to me, I thought I might share this idea with everyone.

All nice and tidy, ready for the next show.

Show Season Starts

Alex Stepnoski won Best 6 Class Youth with her Giant Angora.

BOB English Angora Shepherds Sweetpea.

BOB Jersey Woolie CR White Excitement.

Mid-Jersey Showroom during judging.

Show season started off for me with shock and awe. This show was one of the few time showing Jersey Woolies and I was looking at it as a learning experience. Much to my surprise, the white senior buck and the white senior doe were put in coops behind the table. When some of the breeders said "Dru, you won BOB!" I thought they were joking. He is a handsome buck from CR rabbitry but I still am in shock. Not expecting to do well but hoping for some judging knowledge to help improve my Jersey woolies, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I had high hopes for Shepherds Sweetpea as I thought she looked really nice (don't judge by my bad photo just when the wind started to blow). She went on to win BOB. It was a learning experience trying to chase around two breeds up for BIS at the same time.

The Mid-Jersey group always put on a great show, in the middle of the hustle and bustle of a large local fair, with people from all over attending. Many people had questions about the Angora rabbits and it gives all the rabbit breeders a chance to promote their favorite breeds.

Alex Stepnoski went ahead and represented the Angoras by winning Best 6 Class Youth with a beautiful Giant Angora. She does such a great job with her bunnies, she really deserved to win. Alex is major competition to the Open breeders and gives us all a run for the money. We all better watch out as she is 18 this year and soon will be no longer able to show in youth. We will all be trouble then. Congrats Alex.

Dog Days of Summer

Boy, it is hot.

I still like to sunbathe though.

Am I tan yet?

Just had to put this one in for cuteness sake.

This has been a really miserable summer weather wise. It has rained or been cloudy almost every other day and now is really, really hot. The Jack Russells seem to enjoy it as they are always cold. But the rabbits are another story. They do not enjoy morning temps that start out at 80*. I have tried a variety of cooling methods this year including frozen bottles, frozen ceramic tiles and a misting system plus the usual fans going non-stop. Yesterday, I pulled out a bunch of large ceramic feed dishes, filled them with ice and sat them in some of the cages. These were enjoyed by all and when they were done laying by them, playing in them, then they drank out of them. Mind you, I only gave these to bunnies who were clipped down for the summer otherwise we would have a a big felted mess. They also enjoyed a light spray of cool water from a spray bottle during the heat of the day. I don't often use air conditioning in my house but the bunnies in full coat are in cold storage with the a.c. running full blast. They share a room with two very old house cats that have been flat out all summer. Monday we are supposed to have a break in the weather, so here is hoping.

Bunny Beauty Parlor

Shepherds Hailstone, broken blue junior buck.

Shepherds Fern, broken black junior doe.

Shepherds Hydrangea, blue junior doe.

Shepherds Flores, black junior doe.

Shepherds Thumbelina, broken blue junior doe.

Woolie grooming day at the Bunny Beauty Parlor. They are so different from grooming an English Angora. Being so small with very easy care wool, I can groom 21 of them in 2 hours. They are not so cooperative though and spend alot of time climbing up the bamboo curtain, sitting on my shoulder for kisses or spinning around standing on their hind legs like a monkey. They will sometimes try to leap off the grooming table for no reason or try to put themselves into my apron pocket. I try to keep a hand and my eye on them at all times. Jersey woolies are much faster and more inquisitive that the angoras.

Many of my blue and broken blues come from GC PP's Tom Thumb, the "King of All" and they look so much like him. Many have his startlingly blue eyes. I used a variety of blue does with him to see who would turn out best and so far all of his litters have been very nice. The funny thing is that all of this babies have been does except one. That is Hailstone, above. He looks just like his dad. They are still a work in progress for me but I think they are starting to show some promise. There may be some of my juniors showing up on the show table this season. I hear one of my junior buck that went to a lovely new home in Maryland won BOS at the fair for his new owner. Congratulations!