Brian's Rabbitry

A website has been made to help disperse most of Brian Hartzell's AFL and JW rabbits. Please see http://www.briansrabbitry.homestead.com for available stock.

There is a page on the website showing Fuzzies that will be at Convention. All will be for sale so if interested in some on Brian's beautiful stock, check it out.

Sherry Hartzell is also donating one of those rabbits to the AFLRC trio. The other two animals are donated by Jennifer Burns and Lindsay Brinson. This will be the trio to win! Tickets will be available at Convention for the trio, but are also in your latest issue of Fuzzy Tales. You can also buy tickets if you are not attending Convention. Send tickets and money to Paula Grady. Be sure you have identified someone to pick up the trio and transport for you in case you win.

Good luck to all!

Longest Day of the Year

I bet you think the longest day of the year is the first day of summer. Well for 2008 you are wrong! This year the longest day was Monday, October 27, first day of judging at the ARBA Convention in Louisville.

Fuzzy Lops were scheduled to start judging, both open and youth, at 8 am. So the show room was buzzing by 6 am when it opened. At least those of us with wool breeds were there early. I got up at 5 am because I had so many rabbits to groom before starting to judge. But it was a case of hurry up and wait, when we learned that no judging tables had been assigned to Fuzzies. We had to wait until 500+ Jersey Woolys were done. Yikes!


It wasn't long until we all felt like this guy--let us get on the show table! We came here to show rabbits! Around 2 pm we located an empty judging table with 12 coops and no holding coops for youth Fuzzies. Far from ideal but the kids, rabbits, parents, helpers and judge were all ready to go. Around 4 pm, judging tables were available to start judging of the open Fuzzy Lops.

Some gorgeous broken senior bucks have been placed in the holding coops. These guys ended up in the top 5 of the class. Lookin' good guys!

Melissa M (CA) and Scott W (CO) are comparing the class winners to select variety and then BOB and BOS. By this time it was past midnight. The judges are looking pretty happy considering the hour, aren't they?

The youth winners pose with their judge. Pictured: Jamie F and her solid junior doe (BOSB), Carol G (judge), and Jenny H with her broken senior buck (BOB).

Open winners pictured with smiles (are they happy to win or glad that the day is finally over?). Pictured: Dawn G with her broken senior doe (BOSB), Melissa M (judge), Scott W (judge), and Brian H with his broken senior buck (BOB).

Show day was long and tiring but it was still a fantastic experience. I have never seen such a hard working, even tempered group of exhibitors. Everyone pitched in and worked hard to keep the rabbits carried to the table and the show running smoothly. Thank you to everyone! Great day....now get some rest!

Convention Day 2

OK, so I admit the title to this post lacks creativity. Well the second day (Sunday) that I was at Convention was a day for re-grouping. We reconnected with old friends. Below is Amy Arata and her son Jake, along with Marilyn Kohler. They are sitting in the AFLRC booth which was fabulous! Jennifer Burns planned and put it together, along with help collecting old photos from Ginger Mendat and Helen Moore. Wow! What a great job!


It was a day for selling rabbits and talking to Fuzzy Lop fans from all over the country and world. Yumiko from Japan bought the cute sable point buck and they both pose with me for a photo.


It was a day for getting the rabbits settled, getting all our entries fed, watered and groomed. Brian brought his second group of rabbits to Convention on Sunday and starting grooming as soon as they were all cooped. No one can claim he doesn't work hard on his rabbits. More coming tomorrow. If you have photos from Convention, please send them to me by email. I would love more pictures of week to share.

Off to the Races

This is the story of traveling from California to the ARBA Convention in Louisville, KY. I doubt that a major military invasion requires more planning than this trip. Months ago we started checking flights and airfares looking for the best deal. Tickets were purchased and crate space for rabbits was reserved and paid in March. That turned out to be a brilliant move because the price per crate increased from March to October when we flew from $150/crate to $275/crate each way!


Several of us left San Francisco on the same flight to Atlanta. In total we had the rabbits for at least 6 exhibitors on our flight. You can imagine how happy the Delta staff were to see us when we showed up at the airport ~3:30 - 4 am. Now you know why Jenny, Susie, and Katie look so sleepy in the photo below (plus there was some story about noisy traffic that kept them awake but I bet they were just excited!).

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6 am (and it did by the way. Yeah Delta!), but we knew we needed to be at the airport extra early to be sure everything was done on time. When you fly with rabbits as excess baggage, there are extra forms to complete and lots of stickers to go on the crates. The agents at the Delta desk are nearly always pleasant, but still hassled. Some of them know what to do with the rabbits and some don't. Plus it is necessary to get those rabbits through security and they don't just hop through the scanner. There is just no way to predict exactly what will happen and how long it will take. When you fly with your rabbits to a show, everything works out in the end 99% of the time. But when you fly with your rabbits, something you didn't expect happens 99% of the time!

The punch line to this story is that we made it to Louisville on time with all the rabbits. Some of the rabbits were heat stressed when we arrived which hasn't happened before in my experience (that is the thing that fell in the 99% unexpected). We are talking to Delta about that. All of the rabbits recovered and there was no permanent effect (remember 99% of the time all ends well).

More on Convention tomorrow.....

You will want these rabbits!

Convention raffle trio is donated this year by three "pairs" of exhibitors who all live in the west. These three Fuzzy Lops should work together very well for someone who wants to get a start in Fuzzies, take their lines in a new direction, or just bump their game up a notch.


First this pretty girl is from Muriel Keyes and Diana Keefe from Oregon. The doe has one junior leg, very nice body and head.

Next up is a solid doe donated by Nate Burbidge and Lou Towne of Utah. This is Burb's Karma. She also has one junior leg and her sire is from the Greens so she is definitely a good match to the buck.

And here is the man of the house, AK's Cody from Adam and Carol Green. He is a really gorgeous solid sable point buck. This photo is a couple of weeks old and he has bloomed since it was taken. Wow the wool on this guy is beautiful!

Be sure to look up our trio at Convention and buy plenty of tickets, at $2/each or 15 tickets for $20. The winner will be selected at the AFLRC Awards Banquet to be held next Wednesday in Louisville.

See ya soon!

Sold! To the woman with blobs of wool on her shirt!

Its time to show your colors this year at Convention (and I don't mean "red" or "blue"). Your club, AFLRC, is only as good as the members, and that is you! We need your support at our Convention fundraisers.

First, we are raffling a gorgeous hand sewn quilt to start a scholarship fund honoring Lois Trump. We are probably a few thousand dollars away from awarding a scholarship, so please buy tickets to help us get this worthy cause off the ground.

Next we will be holding a rabbit auction, proceeds split 50/50 between AFLRC and seller, although you can certainly decide to donate the entire amount to the club. These auctions have been enormously successful for other breed clubs. Last year, I watched the Jersey Wooly club have a great time with their Convention auction. Dawn Guth told me that she donated a lionhead to their club auction once that sold for more than $1000. Whooeee!

Deb Levisay generously volunteered to organize our silent rabbit auction. She has planned the procedures which are briefly outlined below, but if you have other questions, please contact her and ask.

If you want to donate a rabbit:

• Come to the AFLRC booth at Convention and complete an Auction Seller's Sheet, which asks for information on the rabbit and its care, coop number, and the starting bid ($50 is recommended but the seller may specify higher or lower)
• Turn in the seller's form, completed sales slip and the rabbit's pedigree, which will be placed in a binder at the booth for buyers to peruse.
• Pick up a auction tag and place it on the rabbit's cage.
• Rabbits may be entered in the auction from the start of Convention to end of the day Tuesday.
• A bid sheet will be prepared for each rabbit entered in the auction and these will also be kept at the AFLRC booth.
• Seller must transfer the rabbit to and from the examination area for the actual auction on Wednesday afternoon.

If you want to buy a rabbit:

• Review the pedigrees and Seller's Sheets at the AFLRC booth
• Do not remove a rabbit entered in the auction from its coop without the owners permission prior to the completion of judging on Monday. Open examination time will be held Wednesday afternoon.
• Wednesday, immediately following the Awards Banquet, the auction rabbits will be moved to judging coops by the seller and will be available for examination. We expect the time for this will be ~3 to 4 pm, but check the club booth for up-to-date information. Bidding will close at 4 pm.
• Winning bidder must pay AFLRC treasurer, Paula Grady, immediately at the close of bidding. Paula will be available at rabbit auction area to collect. Sellers will receive their money within one week of the auction by mail.

Doesn't this sound like fun! Please be sure to donate a nice rabbit. Also do your part to help the youth of AFLRC--Bid high and bid often!

Ready Set Go to Louisville

Two weeks from today, the ARBA Convention will be underway, with judging starting Monday morning. Fuzzies will be one of the starting breeds. There are many other activities in addition to showing our animals so here are a few things to remember as you are packing to attend the Louisville convention. Details on the membership meeting and Awards banquet are on the AFLRC website http://users.connections.net/fuzzylop/. Fuzzy Tales, Autumn 2008 is also in the mail and you should receive your copy this week.

Meetings and Banquet

• General membership meeting on Tuesday, 10:30 am, followed by meeting of Youth and their supporters
• Awards Banquet, Wednesday, 11 am. Tickets are $20/person. Send payment to Paula Grady. See club website or Autumn 2008 Fuzzy Tales for details

Auctions and Raffles--Not Rabbits

• Raffle at AFLRC booth--plan to bring a donation for the raffle
• Quilt raffle. This beautiful quilt was made to start a youth scholarship fund in memory of Lois Trump, who was a great supporter of youth participation in the rabbit hobby. Tickets can be purchased at Convention or by mailing entry to Paula Grady.
• Auction at the Awards Banquet. This event is always a huge amount of fun, if only to watch Brian H perform as auctioneer! The moneys from this raffle are used to buy awards for the spring AFLRC National show. Please bring a donation for the auction.

Auction and Raffle--Rabbits!

• Raffle trio. We have a fabulous trio donated. Early next week, I'll post photos of all three rabbits--there is a broken doe from Keyes/Keefe, solid doe from Burbidge/Towne and a buck from the Greens. This looks like an amazing trio. So far both does have won GC legs. The buck is still busy trying to grow wool so hasn't attended a show yet.
• Rabbit Auction. This year we are holding a silent auction for rabbits with sales price split 50:50 with AFLRC and the seller. Sign up to sell a Fuzzy at the AFLRC booth. Bids will be accepted throughout the week with the final viewing of the rabbits immediately following the Banquet on Wednesday. Bidding will close mid-afternoon on Wednesday. This is a great opportunity for you to take home some wonderful rabbits if you don't win the trio!

Its a Numbers Game

The numbers of Fuzzies entered at this year's ARBA Convention in Louisville have been posted. I love numbers (sorry if you don't share my enthusiasm for math), so I started wondering how this years entry numbers compare to past years. Remember this is the 20th Convention at which Fuzzies have been shown as a recognized breed. So below are the numbers (unofficial because they were collected from old Fuzzy Tales and the Guidebook.).

20 Years of AFL Shown at ARBA Conventions

You can see that the number entered in open is up at the top with Indianapolis in 2005. That makes since since Louisville and Indianapolis are only ~100 mi apart so similar numbers of exhibitors should make it to the show. The peak in numbers for youth in the past has been around 200 Fuzzies and has occurred at the Conventions held in Indianapolis (2005), Louisville (1999), and Columbus (2000). I'm surprised and disappointed to see the low youth entries for this year as a result.

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

Countdown to liftoff

Rabbits are groomed, carry cages are labelled, clothes are washed, suitcases are packed, the cat is ready......huh? Yes, Oscar, the cat, seems to think if he lays on top of my suitcase I won't go. Yesterday, I made the mistake of leaving the suitcase open, so you will recognize me in Grand Rapids. I'll be the one with black and white cat fur, mixed in with Fuzzy Lop wool all over my clothes.

I have been waking up earlier and earlier every morning this week, thinking that if I do that maybe it will be easy to get up at 3 am tomorrow morning for the trip to the airport. HA! Actually I will be waking up every 30 min or so all night long, to make sure I don't oversleep.

So my advice to all who are traveling to Convention--take it easy, get enough rest, plan for the worst, expect the best, and I'll see you on the other side (of the Rockies).

Carol