Long front counterspace, curtained bottom hides 3 large plastic bins of dishes & supplies. On left is large wastecan, clock, chalkboard & bulletin board. On countertop is a radio & 4 drawer container holding slicker brush, clippers, index cards, cage tags, scissors, tape & markers. Above a paper towel holder, phone, inside/outside thermometer. On right is the grain bin, a recycled chest freezer (opened view on bottom of Home page). Large stainless steel sink on left has hot & cold running water. Rubber mat on floor provides safe surface. Photo credit Carrie B.
Looking towards front of rabbitry. This photo is of the front of the rabbitry. Two large windows allow lots of light for bunnies. Between them is a louver vent with fan.
Long front counterspace, curtained bottom hides 3 large plastic bins of dishes & supplies. On left is large wastecan, clock, chalkboard & bulletin board. On countertop is a radio & 4 drawer container holding slicker brush, clippers, index cards, cage tags, scissors, tape & markers. Above a paper towel holder, phone, inside/outside thermometer. On right is the grain bin, a recycled chest freezer (opened view on bottom of Home page). Large stainless steel sink on left has hot & cold running water. Rubber mat on floor provides safe surface. Photo credit Carrie B.
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Yesterday one of those wind-gusting, fast moving, torrential rainstorms blew in. No power outage, no trees lost but sadly a memento gone. At the 1993 Puyallup, Washington ARBA Convention we were given HLRSC Year End awards. They were beautiful thick turquoise green slag glass about 10x6x5, (not a small thing) inserted into a wooden base. On the front was melded a broken black Holland Lop with Mount Rainier above and in the background. Truly beautiful and a nice memento of the place where the award was given. A silver pen inked the winnings across the bottom. I'd meant to see if it could have had a lead frame made around it to hang in the window but the slag glass was so dense the light wouldn't have penetrated it. And it would have been very heavy to hang. It was sitting on the guest bedroom's window sill. A huge gust came in and smashed it to the floor, breaking it into too many pieces to repair.
Well, the award is gone but the memories of that trip are still intact. Last Friday the 24th, we got a visit here at Blackberry Farm from northern neighbors from Canada, Brian and Frank. Brian has several BBF bunnies but hadn't been to the rabbitry. We looked over many of the animals that were related to his. I had decided to go out of the Netherland Dwarfs. Frank purchased the 7 BEW ND's and sports. We are keeping the one retired sport doe Abby.
The Acton Fair show on Saturday went well. It did get pretty warm in the afternoon but only had to use fans on a couple when they came off the show table. Hollands were one of the biggest breeds shown. Cowan's Frasier placed a consistent 3rd in both shows. A few of the jrs from the last show had turned sr and couldn't really compete against the more mature animals. Still wish there was a 6-8 mos. class for those young bucks! Entered a few young unshown jrs and they bombed out in the first show but did better in the second show. It is good to get them out on the table for the experience. Theirs and mine! Was hoping to finish Solid Sr doe BBF's Gemstone but she got squeezed out with a second place. Not sure if I'll hold her back for Cumberland Fair show or breed her. Solid Jr Buck BBF's Thaddeus also placed second with good comments. BBF's Over the Edge hit the top 5. Now that the ND's are gone, it frees up more cages to separate out the last youngsters that will be here for a while. I didn't breed any does for July, August or Sept. babies except for two does. Today Gary got two pickup truck loads of shavings from a local mill. These shavings are for the litter pans and carrier pans. We used bagged shavings for the nestboxes only as they are softer for the babies. We have two large bins that the loose shavings get shoveled into. Another truckload and a half will fill both bins providing enough shavings for a year. At $49. per load and the gas to get there and back is still cheaper than by the bale. It helps too that he doesn't have to load it in the truck, they dump it in there. Because the shavings at the mill are unprotected from the elements, we had to wait for them to dry out from the recent Maine showers. Getting ready for the Acton Fair show on Sat. the 25th. Looks like the weather won't be extremely hot nor any rain. This is a small fair but easy in and out compared to other fairgrounds. Hope the tent is a bit bigger as it is always crowded and open to the public which makes it harder to navigate around.
EMRBA lost a Nov. judge due to job constraints but have found a replacement already. I've made the decision to sell out of the Netherland Dwarfs, except for one retired mom, Abby. Some have wonderful personalities and others are just too cranky for me to deal with. I love my Holland Lop's personalities. Push come to shove for cage space and the Hollands are going to win. Gee Whiz, picked up some Blue Seal Show Hutch Deluxe on Friday and the prices are jumping up already. Why is it that grain that was already milled before the last couple of months' midwest drought has risen in price already? Talk about speculators. I realize there will be higher prices this year, but on product that is already milled? That seems to be premature pricing at best with some greediness thrown in. It was $18.77 per 50 lb. bag. It doesn't seem that long ago we were paying $16.42.
No doubt hay will go up this year as well but that basically gets priced as it is produced. If you wait until late winter to buy it becomes a supply and demand issue. That is more understandable. Check out the New Owner Poem I posted under the More..... tab for the article titled, "Please Treat Me Kindly". It is a poem I found long ago and had hung it in the rabbitry for new pet owners. As long as you credit the author, you might want to share it with some of your own new pet owners.
Rabbit Clock Found this plain white clock at Marden's and thought it might make a good rabbit theme clock for a future award/prize or raffle table item. Dressed it up with some decals and this is how it came out. It would be great for a writer's raffle. Ignore the photo date, darn camera, I did this yesterday. You can click on photo to enlarge. All I can say is WOW!!! The bunnies did great at the Topsfield, MA Midnight Madness Show on 8/4. This is a nighttime show that started at 6:30 p.m. It was still very hot inside the building, nicer outside where I kept the bunnies till they went on the show table. I took fans and ice with us and used only the former when needed. I don't go to MA shows very often so this was a good chance to get more competition as classes were well filled with exhibitors from several states.
First show had 107 entries, mostly solids for everyone as well as for me. Last year I had a lot of brokens, this year mostly solids. Looking at the carriers of 14, only 2 were brokens. Last year and this I've had mostly bucks but now starting to get does... finally! Best part is I really like the ones I'm getting too. Here is how they did: Solid Sr Bucks - 1st and 3rd out of 17 (Cowan's Frasier) Solid Sr. Does - 1st, 2nd and 11th out of 17 (BBF's Rozalynn) Solid Jr Bucks - 4th, 6th, 10-12 out of 18 Solid Jr Does - 1st and 3rd out of 11 (BBF's Over the Edge) Broken Sr Bucks - 1st and 2nd out of 12 (BBF's Hot Button and BBF's J.T.) SSB took BOB, SJD took BOSG and BSB took BOG. The SJD, "BBF's Over the Edge" was just shy of 4 mos. and 2nd place "BBF's Penny" just shy of 3 mos. BOB was Cowan's Frasier who also took Reserve in Show out of probably 26 breeds that were up. He won for us a handy directors chair in a bag with club logo and RIS spelled out on the back. Show B had 87 entries, jr classes didn't change much in #'s. Solid Sr Bucks - 2nd and 5th out of 12 Solid Sr. Does - 1st, 4th and 5th out of 11 (BBF's Blue Sapphire) Solid Jr Bucks - 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 9th out of 18 Solid Jr Does - 1st and 2nd out of 11 Broken Sr Bucks - 1st and 2nd out of 9 (BBF's Hot Button & BBF's J.T.) SSD was BOSG. No higher wins but glad to leave at 1:30 a.m. and not wait for BIS. Grand Champed out two Sr does. Now will probably breed 2 of them and show the also ran another time. The same jr doe got 2 legs first time out, so a great start for her. To me showing the juniors is the most fun. The Srs you pretty much have in your mind exactly what you think of them, usually no surprises. This was the first show for some jrs. Considering that, the heat and commotion in a busy, crowded showroom they did very well. Both judges were able to pose them well and that sure helps. Got home just before 4 a.m. driving thru the fog, but at least little traffic at that hour. Put everybunny to bed and a late supper for them. BBF's Golden Boy chilling with his gal pal. Found this in some old bunny photos. This was a special little rabbit named, "BBF's Golden Boy". He was a really nice looking orange Sport HL buck. A sport is a mismarked rabbit that carries the Vienna gene for Blue Eyed White. He was orange with a white dot on his forehead, barely discernable but I knew it was there. He loved laying on his tummy with hindlegs outstretched flat behind him in a "frog pose". He also must have been very nearsighted and thought this plastic rabbit was his "Hey Big Mama, whatchadoin, going my way? true love." One summer Glen Carr was judging a HL specialty show here in the garage at Blackberry Farm, I placed Golden Boy in the holding coop with a mass of post-its notes stuck all over him. Glen picked him up and said, "What the heck?" The post-its were printed with, "Hey Sport", "I'm a good Sport", "Are you a good Sport?" etc. The joke was on us as Glen explained the term Sports in his Checkered Giant world meant a totally different thing. Anyway, it was fun. Golden Boy lived out his "Golden Years" in Marylouise Cowan's huge aviary cage with a retired brooddoe. They chased each other, played and built a burrow underground like their wild ancestors. They had a great time for many years. |
AuthorHoping to share the rabbitry happenings & thoughts. Also HINTS that I hope will help you and your rabbits.
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