AFLRC Board has "Moves"

Club members often wonder what the AFLRC board does. Well here is a video clip of a few of the Board members at a recent meeting. Who would have guessed they were so talented?

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1421993070

Shows, shows and more shows

This past weekend was full of rabbit shows in California. For those who don't realize or actually even think about it, California is a big state. From the northern to the southern most points of the state the distance is 770 mi (for the geographically curious, its ~250 mi wide). As a result, its eady to have more than one rabbit show in California on a single day. Saturday found double shows scheduled in Pomona (southern California) and 540 mi north was a double show in Red Bluff. Red Bluff also hosted another double show on Sunday.

I spent the weekend in Red Bluff, showing and judging, which meant I was plenty busy. On Saturday, my phone kept ringing and I ignored it. Finaally once I could sink into the pillow of my motel room bed, I looked at all the missed calls and realized a "Fuzzy" friend, Shirley Burts, was was at the Pomona show had been calling. It was 8 pm by then and time to catch up on what had happened in SoCal. "Hey Shirley. What's up?" A lot was up! Shirley and her daughter, Kalani, won double Best in Shows with their broken senior doe at the Pomona show. Congratulations!

Nothing quite as exciting to report from Red Bluff, other than we all had a lot of fun. The wins for Fuzzy Lops were spread around a bit so that is always nice. We also had a little gift exchange and gobbled up pumpkin pie from the Hendersons and fudge made by Katie Rodgers. Pictured to the left is Christina G with judge, Josh (right) and her black senior buck, Apple Jax, who won open BOB once on Saturday and once on Sunday. Adam & Carol Green won BOB the other two open shows with two different bucks. Christina also won BOSB in three of the four shows and Mary Henderson won BOSB in the fourth show. In youth Fuzzies, Jenny Henderson won BOB and BOSB in all four. (See photo below).

Keep those letters coming!

It is so much fun to get emails with news from AFLRC members. Just this week, I heard from Diana and Raymond Horne, "Hi, just thought I'd tell you Raymond & I got RIS with our REW doe, Cher, in Duncan, OK on November 24 with judge Cheryl Blackman from TX. We are so excited,YEA!! " Hey we are excited too...Congratulations!

More good news came from Deb Levisay, who had two does deliver bunches of Fuzzy Lop babies this week. OK, maybe that isn't quite as rare of a RIS win, but we all know that every new kit is a potential BIS winner.

Finally, I want to direct you to another blog so you can see what Allen Mesick is doing. Many of you know Allen, as he grew up in the East coast area, won BOB at two Conventions (2002, 2003). Allen is currently in Senegal studying French and working on a project to teach residents to raise rabbits. He has written a long guest post of the Northern California Angora Guild blog about his trip this week, so be sure to check it out at: http://ncag.blogspot.com/

What do we do now that the turkey is gone?

The turkey was digested and the dishes washed, so Saturday, November 24, Calfornia rabbit faithful headed to Lodi, for a show. This show is generally fairly crowded, but that helps keep everyone warm on a cool autumn day. Mary H, Jackie C and Jenny H are still wrapped in jackets early in the day.

Adam G came to California for the Thanksgiving holiday but he still had to study medical ethics between showing Fuzzies.
Christina G and Susie C are loading Fuzzies in the coops between classes and took time to smile for the camera.









No that isn't a Fuzzy Lop! Judges Keelyn H and Carol G pose with Betty C and her Best In Show Angora.



Show results were:
Open Show A (Judge Keelyn Hanlon)
BOB Solid senior doe, Adam & Carol Green
BOSB Broken senior buck, Christina Gillett
Youth Show A
BOB Broken senior buck, Jennifer Henderson

Open Show B (Judge Scott Williamson)
BOB Solid senior buck, Christina Gillett
BOSB Broken senior doe, Adam & Carol Green
Youth Show B
BOB Broken senior buck, Jennifer Henderson
BOSB Solid senior doe, Jennifer Henderson

Fuzzies on the move

It is so much fun to open an email and learn that a rabbit I bred is doing well at shows somewhere else in the country. Deb L wrote today and said: "Just wanted to let you know that AK's Diaphora won BOB Fuzzy at the show I went to yesterday. There were only about 25-30 shown. We had a new exhibitor from SD who bought Fuzzies at Convention. Lindsay won BOS. I only showed Percy (!), Diaphora and the 2 I got from Muriel. The doe I got from Muriel won BOSG, which is very nice also." Last week, Diana H wrote to tell me that AK's Tucker, a buck I brought to her at Convention, won BOB over about 50 Fuzzies. The winning is not all one way though. I got a doe, Towne's Jorja, from Lou T and Nate B, and Jorja won BOB last weekend here in California. She won again this weekend and was in serious contention for Reserve Best in Show. It is fun to win, and almost as much fun to help others win!

Three times the fun

Jennifer Burns and Sandi Meadows both of District 6 meet this weekend

Charlene Everette and Jennifer Burns hold their BOB and BOS rabbits from Show C

Helen Moore (BOV), Jennifer Burns (BOB), Dr. Steve Roush (judge), Ginger Mendat (BOS), Sandi Meadows (BOSV) in Show B

This is District Six reporting in from Conyers , GA where Fuzzies made a great showing in a triple event hosted by the Decatur RBA. There were 66 fuzzies shown, representing 4 states – Virginia , North Carolina , South Carolina , and Florida .

It was great to see everyone again. Because it was a triple show, many of us came up the night before, and then started the day early. We had a long day, but as always, it was great fun. A few bunnies were traded between friends. Shopping for supplies happened in between shows. And, stories were traded about upcoming litters and future show plans. The only downside to the whole weekend was the stay at the host hotel. But even this added to the event because everyone had a humorous tale about their evening. One group had the adventure of being transferred to their third room before settling down due lack of heat or a working telephone. Another reported unexpected guests of the 6 legged type. And still another unfortunately was rooming beside a “working girl’s office”. Oh well, at least we all had something to talk about!!! A long, full day was shared by all of us. After hugs goodbye before the long journey home, I couldn’t help but think that Saturdays like this one reminded me why I all enjoy our hobby so much. Here’s to hoping you enjoy these pictures. My favorite is the one of the four of us!


Show A Mendat/Moore won both BOB and BOS

Show B Jennifer Burns BOB - Senior Broken Doe
Mendat/Moore BOS – Senior Broken Buck

Show C Charlene Everett BOB – Senior Broken Buck
Jennifer Burns BOS -Senior Broken Doe

Fuzzies in Fresno

Pictured above: 1) Jennifer H, Katie R, and Susie C in Fresno; 2) Jonathan W and friend; 3) Katie R strikes a pose; 4) Mary H and her winners; 5) Jennifer H and Oliver.

On Saturday, November 10, California Rabbit and Cavy Shows held a nice show in Fresno. The weather was mild and the Fuzzies were in full coat (finally!).

In both youth shows, Jennifer H's Fuzzies took BOB and BOSB. Her mom, Mary H, won BOB and Katie R won BOSB in both open shows. Congratulations to all of you.

For those who may not have thought about it, California is a big state. Its more than 500 mi from top to bottom and we can have more than one show in the state on any given weekend. The most popular shows though tend to be in the middle of the state, e.g. in Stockton or Fresno, which are both located in the central valley of California near Highway 99 and I5 (freeways that run north and south). Next weekend, we have another show in Stockton and I expect a great turnout of Fuzzies at that show.

The First is the Best

Jacob Durda and his Fuzzy Lop GC Boomer pose with the Reserve Best in Show trophy from a recent Youth show in Berea, OH show. Jacob's mom reports this was his first RBIS and he was very excited.

Every win is exciting and fun, but there is something extra special about a first time big win--whether its your first class win at a local show or Best in Show at Convention (OK, that one might be a little more memorable!). It is especially satisfying to realize that others recognize the hard work that you have put into your animals!

Congratulations Jacob and enjoy your win.

Scandinavian American Fuzzy Lops???

Time to heap the congratulations on Those Norwegian Girls, Diana K and Muriel K, whose blue Fuzzy Lop, Nils (also Norwegian, ya know), won Best in Show yesterday in Oregon. It was Diana's first BIS ever, so it brought out a few tears of joy! The judges were Nita Boatman and George Germaine. It was a first for Nita too, who said she had never selected a Fuzzy for BIS in 30 years. Nils was also selected best in a Master Breeder class. Ahhhh what a handsome Fuzzy!

Have you noticed how well Fuzzies are doing on the Best in Show table?

Showing Fuzzies again

There are a lot of rabbit shows in District 2, especially in California. For example, last weekend, on Saturday, Oct 27 there was a youth only show in the southern part of the state and on Sunday, Oct 28, there was youth and open show in the northern part (Napa).

Congratulations to Jennifer Henderson who won BOB with two different broken senior bucks in the youth show "down south" (See one of her winners in Photo 1). It was a very good showing of Fuzzies from the youth. It was good to see Dylan B there with his nice Fuzzies (Photo 2 is Dylan with the "hair" and his friend). The show was held in the gymnasium of a school.

At the show in Napa, all Fuzzies were shown in open and the numbers were relatively small. The quality was good though! A broken senior buck Fuzzy Lop owned by Adam and Carol G won Best in Show in show A. Reserve in Show was an English Angora owned by Betty C (Photo 3). In show B, Betty C took BIS with the same rabbit, while Melissa M won RBIS with a mini satin.

Have fun at this weekend's shows and send the results so we can post next week.

AFL auction in Louisville

Ok Shari made the comment that she thinks we should do this again.
I'm very open to it.
I need to be reminded how we do this. Do we give a percentage to the owner and part to the club?
The last one I remember was in Portland in 1998 and it was kind of a bust if my memory serves me.
However things have changed alot.
Do we also limit the number we have in the auction? There were so many in that JW auction I had to give up! Do we replace the raffle trio with the auction or have both?
Comments???
Muriel

Louisville theme

Thanks Lindsay for letting us know the theme.
"Outta the gate in 2008"
Ok so do we all picture little bunnies with numbers on racing down a track? Yes it will be in every booth.
How many of you looked at the booths this year in Grand Rapids? Some of them really were something and I believe it was the Californian booth that won 1st place?
I didn't see that one.
Maybe we can get together in Colorado and see if we want to go all out in Louisville just for the heck of it?
I thought our booth was GREAT this year Sherry did a bang up job with our decorations look at the pictures on this blog. We should have been in the running. We should have won a prize!!
I hope the talented people like Sherry start identifying themselves so we can use you!
Still need a booth chair!!
Kay Pettengill has volunteered to do the banquet for us.
Muriel

Good to see Chris

Chris Schell looks really good in those pictures. We sure miss her!
Thinking about Louisville I need a booth decorator? You get a whopping big 150 bucks to do the job.....
Now Ginger you are retired? What do you say?
Remember we also have the two big AFLRC table cloths.
We didn't use them this year because Sherry had used the lights and stuff.
Sherry is such a good artist and the booth was in a perfect spot too.
Does anybody know the theme for Louisville?
Muriel

Great Weekend for a show in North Carolina

Footnotes Fall Festival is an annual event in Shelby, NC and many Fuzzy friends were in attendance last weekend. Charlene Everette, Jennifer Burns, Chris Schell, Rose Garrison & Ginger Mendat were ready for the challenge. Judges Brian Hartzell & Josh Humphries were ready for them! Chris Schell's "Chuckie" even brought his blanket along for some extra security! With 56 Fuzzy entries it was quite an event for southern Fuzzy breeders. Congratulations to Mendat/Moore who won BOB in both shows with a solid senior buck and BOS in the 1st show. Charlene Everette won BOS in the 2nd show with a junior broken doe.

oops a bag of potatoes

I can't believe how my fingers don't work sometimes....
The dogs ate a bag of potatoes!!
Time to go to bed....
Muriel

Fall coats....and other stuff.....

We got home from dinner this evening the the basset hounds had eaten a bad of potatoes! I don't know what that will do to a dog but OH WELL. Nobody seems to be sick from it.
When I was down at Alameda Fair Carol and I bought English Budgies. I named mine "Dr Bob" after the guy who belongs to the Budgie Association and sells these at the fair. While I was gone Dr Bob got out because his cage opened fully in the front. I finally bought him a new cage this evening . If you have ever seen an English Budgie they are HUGE. I call them keets on steroids! When I brought him home and put him and his cage next to my parakeets they were looking over at him thinking "that is one big brother" ......
I was looking at the pictures Carol just posted. Deb and I look like a commercial for AFL outer wear!
We have one more show this year and then we are done till the big show that our local club does in January. This show is always a challenge because people have been cooped up all winter and they either attend happily or grumpy. My show partner Diana was the superintendent one year and she had to settle a half hour dispute over the placement of a chair....
I was out grooming and I noticed that NOW my rabbits have pretty awesome coats. Late fall around here is when you see the best of coats on the table.... But then I can't complain we showed 3 whole bunnies in Grand Rapids and placed two not bad odds I guess.
I thought this year was very very competitive! Wow there were alot of nice rabbits this year.
Even the rabbits that placed out of the top 10 were good.
And how bout that Jersey Wooly auction? Did you ever see so many rabbits in an auction in your life? We used to do an AFL auction and people have asked about it. Does anybody think that might be worth trying again? We do the trio now every year but would an auction be beneficial?
Muriel

More fun when we do it together

Rabbit shows and especially ARBA Convention are for competition, but shows are also a time for friends and people. Below are some of the great teams I saw at this year's Convention in Grand Rapids.

This is the #1 team of this Convention! They are the breeders and owners of the minisatin that won open Best in Show. You may know that at ARBA Convention all breeds are divided into four groups and the best of each group is selected by four different judges. Then one more judge selects the best of the four groups winners. This young couple were also the owners/breeders of a black havana that won its group as well, so 50% of the group winners on the table for ARBA Convention Best in Show were theirs! This is going to be a Convention that will be hard to beat for them! (Sorry I didn't get the name but they are from the mid-west).

Here's Deb L and Muriel K on show day at Convention. They were the team keeping judging on track with Jeff Jewett, one of our judges. I missed getting a photo of the other team, with Greg West. Kathi C, Margaret W, and Kay P worked hard with him all day to get the Fuzzy Lops judged.

Here's a team that works well together--Dennis and Cindy D. Cindy shows the rabbits and Dennis clowns around! Actually he does a lot more than that. One morning at Convention, I saw him cleaning rabbits coops for Cindy while she was taking care of other things. You gotta love a man like that!

Rob and Paula G are a true show team. They have been showing Fuzzy Lops from the "beginning" or close to it. And they have served AFLRC in so more ways--as officers of the club, sweepstakes chair, webmaster. In fact, its rare to get a photo of both of them together like this--look they're relaxing! Thanks for everything, Rob and Paula!

Pictured below are McKenna and Janice F, a mother-daughter team from OR, with Morgan T of WI. There is something extra special in my mind about parents and their kids together at rabbit shows. My rabbit habit started out as a 4-H project for Kendall, then spread like a bad cold to Adam, and soon the whole family was traveling to shows all over. For the Frantz family, Mckenna does the work, but Janice (who placed great in the youth contests by the way) provides the support and gas money to go to the shows. By the way, Morgan is another youth whose parents are as committed to the rabbits as she is!

ALSO and Finally.....

I also think it is interesting that Carol got the puppy reference like I did.....
The Angora's create a huge double take......
I was traveling with Mckenna Frantz with her Angora's and Carol was with Betty Chu and her Angora's. The AFL's apparently look like puppies (has to be the ears). As to the Angora's people don't know what to say! One other FAQ is HOW MUCH DO THEY COST?
We were also in two different airports and got the same reactions.......
Interesting.......
Muriel

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaccckk

Ok computer seems to be fixed so will tell you about our exciting trip home from Convention ...well not really.
We had to drive into Detroit with the enormous fear of getting lost. Janice (Frantz) was reading the reverse of the mapquest directions that we used to get to Grand Rapids. It was a little trickier than anticipated but we made it!! Plus this silly storm was looming and all we wanted to do was get out of town.
Rabbits were piling up in the airport and we were pretty close to the first ones there so were able to get ours through before the workers started getting annoyed. As Carol said it is a circus because people stop you and talk and point and laugh and ask questions. When we were coming in on Friday one lady pointed to my kennel and said "look at all those puppies!"
When we finally got home it was a relief that the bunnies were with us that is always a huge sweat.....
There is a cool gift shop in Salt Lake City and I had time to shop so that was also a plus.
I always say I'm never flying with rabbits again and then I do it the next year!
So we will see if I stick to my guns.
We have our last show of the year on November the 3rd so already this morning I had bunnies out and going over them. Boy I think I'm sick of looking at rabbits!!
Muriel

Grand Rapids Convention Best in Show

In the past few years, each Convention group has tried to top the last in presenting the best in show. Prior to the 2002 Convention in San Diego, Best in Show was a "stand around the judging table, with the awards on a trash can" sort of affair. But in San Diego, best in show was turned into an Event with a capital "E", including seating and judging set up for all to view.

The Grand Rapids convention aimed to really go over the top this year. They hired a professional entertainer, an illusionist and motivational speaker, to be the announcer, which was a nice touch. (Although once or twice, we wondered if the illusionist could make the motivational speaker part of himself disappear!). Video cameras were focused on the judges and projected the rabbits on huge screens so everyone could see. The breeds were divided into 4 groups and then the youth and open BOB winners were judged at the same time, one group at a time.

The photo above shows the English Angora and American Fuzzy Lop, open and youth winners waiting outside for Best in Show judging. From left to right: Colin (NY), Betty (CA), Sarah (OH) and Brian (OH). Colin's beautiful English Angora was selected for youth Best in Show. Congratulations on such a prestigious win!

The open Best in Show rabbit was a Mini Satin. Thank you to Betty C for the photos.

Its over except for the unpacking

Thursday was check out day from Convention--always a sort of controlled chaos, as everyone tries to vacate the building at approximately the same time. I had to leave early to make a 1:30 pm flight from Chicago. Apparently the show committee had some problems with electricity and check out packet printing the night before, so things were just a bit more chaotic than usual. But Betty C and I made it out with all our rabbits and arrived in Chicago ~2 hr early. We had a bit of a tussle with the Delta ticket agent who thought he needed to charge us both a excess baggage fee for the kennels and a "pet fee" which would have caused us to pay twice for the rabbits! Fortunately (for the Delta guy), a more experienced agent convinced him that our receipts indicating we were fully paid were correct.

There are so many memorable images from Convention. Photos of the class winners will soon be posted on the AFLRC website and published in Fuzzy Tales.

Be sure to comment if you like the blog. By the way, Muriel's computer is currently in "intensive care" so you are stuck with me, until she gets back online.
Carol

The bar has been raised

Banquet time:Photo 1, Sarah Hardy and Amy Arata; photo 2, Ginger Mendat and Helen Moore; photo 3, Muriel Keyes, Janice and Mckenna Frantz with Public Museum (site of banquet on other side of river); photo 4, Morgan Towell and Dad; photo 5, Molly English and Kay Pettengill; photo 5, Carlos Iglesias.

Enjoy all the pictures at the banquet.....we had a beautiful setting and the sun was shining so it was a little bright for us crossing the bridge!!

Today was hectic with last minute bunny buying and selling .....the booth had to be completely taken apart today so on top of everything else it had to be packed up by 6PM.

Anyway back to the banquet, it was a dandy with a free tour of the museum for those who could stay. Michigan has raised the banquet bar and it will be hard to top this one. The food was also very good. After we ate we went into a little theater to do the auction and awards it was so wonderful to not have to move through tables. We had a podium and microphone so everybody could hear and see what was going on.

Carol had some knitted socks that went for 50 dollars so it was a lively auction.

The next National show will be in ....drum roll....Pueblo Colorado the last week end in April.

Muriel and Carol

We Live!

Sorry for missing a few days of posts. We ran into those elusive "technology problems" and lack of time.

Judging of Fuzzies was Monday. Pictured are the BOB winners--Brian Hartzell with a solid senior buck in open and Sarah Hardy with a broken senior buck in youth. Congratulations to both!

Open winners

SSB Brian Hartzell, BOV, BOB

SSD non member

SJB non member

SJD Brian Hartzell. BOSV, BOSB

BSB non member, BOV

BSD Dawn Guth, BOSV

BJB Brian Hartzell

BJD Rob & Paula Grady

Youth

SSB Morgan Towell, BOV

SSD Sarah Hardy, BOSV, BOSB

SJB Alex Schutz

SJD Bradley Hicks

BSB Sarah Hardy BOV, BOB

BSD Taylor Bailey

BJB Jamie Fry

BJD Taylor Bailey, BOSV

Its Sunday

Sunday the long day......

The final entries came in today the coops are full and we were told we will have only two judges instead of 3 tomorrow. This will mean getting the rabbits accross the table at a more brisk pace and killing the runners. So this will be another long day but tomorrow night we will post the winners for y'all so you have something to look forward to!!

So goodnight from Grand Rapids and enjoy the pictures the one is of Carols and my room.

Muriel

Sherry is half lit

Remember how we told you its a pain to fly with rabbits? Here is the pile o' angoras and Fuzzy Lops at the Chicago airport, while Carol waits for Betty with the rental car. There was an endless stream of questions "Is that a dog? How many puppies do you have in there? What are you doing with them?" I just kept smiling.

Yes, we made it to Grand Rapids, rabbits, people and all. Friday night Team Muriel (McKenna F, Janice F, and Muriel K) got the rabbits tucked into their coops and then checked into their own rooms by 1 am. Team Carol (Betty C of angoras and Carol G) was a bit later. I was under the covers around 3:30 am. What a looooong day! We slept in this morning, fueled up on coffee and set out for the show room. The day has been one long hike--to the showroom back to the restaurant, then to the showroom, off to the garage, back to the showroom, oops back to the hotel. You get the picture.

Most exhibitors are getting in tonight and tomorrow, so watch for more people pictures tomorrow.

Speaking of pictures:

Sherry C is assembling the AFLRC booth and her string of purple lights were not working (see post title!). Admire the new family next: Shari, Sam and Hunter A. Ahhhh! What a cute kid who looks just like Dad.

So flying rabbits is right up there with a colonoscopy and I recommend it highly. (by the way it is Muriel typing now). We got to the airport on Friday morning and the price to fly a kennel had gone up so it cost 300 bucks round trip. My airfare was not much more then that! I guess next year I will stuff myself in to a kennel and go. We were on the peanut run this time. Remember the old days of getting a full meal on the plane? Well now it is peanut butter crackers or peanuts or a cookie to last you 4 hours.


I sure hope these pilots are getting more than a cookie while flying this plane.....
The venue is beautiful. The Gerald Ford stuff is right by us so we will see all that when we have our banquet. The showroom is very nice and the booths are on the outside of the showroom in an area that has lots of light and right on the river. We are really enjoying our room at the Amway Grand in the Victorian Section of the Hotel. We will send pictures of the room next time around so we are going to go to bed and get some sleep since we are all goofed up with the time change. We are both on West Coast time still.
Stay with us for the next few days.....
Carol and Muriel