Convention Updates

Entries:  Today, October 18 is the last day to enter the ARBA Convention, either as a new exhibitor or add on to your entries.  Yes, the deadline was extended.  Isn’t entering on line wonderful!  I got my entries in by the first deadline, but the offer to allow me to add more was just too tempting. 

Also, mark down next Monday, October 25.  That is the last day to make free changes in class and ear number to your Convention entries.  You can change everything except breed.  Again, love the on-line system!

Banquet:  A very nice banquet at a very reasonable price is planned for Convention.  Be sure to order your tickets for the AFLRC Awards Banquet by October 30.  Its $20 per adult, children under 12, $10.  Send to Deb L.  Her address is in the newest Fuzzy Tales. 

Don’t forget that we are holding an auction during the banquet.  This raises money for the awards at the spring National show.  So please bring items to donate and be prepared to bid (high!).

Convention Fundraisers:  Due to local laws, raffles are not allowed in Minnesota.  Its considered gambling…this makes our normal fundraising activities a bit more complex than normal but never fear!  There will still be items at the AFLRC booth, which will be in a silent auction rather than a raffle.  We did this at Nationals in Ohio and it worked very well.  Please bring donations for the table silent auction.   More updates later in the week……start packing, here we come Minneapolis!

Better with age

Some breeds of rabbits are shown only when they are young. Once they get older or have a litter, they just don't have the same flesh condition. English angoras are generally competitive only until their first coat is removed; subsequent wool is never quite the same texture. Tans tend to have a very short show career, as they lose the "racy" body type as they get older (don't we all become a bit less "racy" with age?).

But some breeds like Fuzzy Lops and Holland Lops, can be shown for several years. In fact, the bucks often aren't competitive seniors until they are at least 1.5 - 2 years old; it takes that long to get a great head on a buck.

Here is a picture of me, Judge Brooke and my doe, AK's Faith after she won Best In Show at Santa Rosa, CA in October 2007. Faith was about 8 mo old and looking very pretty (note she doesn't seem to care much for being held and posing for a camera).
And here we are again, Faith and I with Judge Doug K in Watsonville, CA, yesterday. Faith hadn't attended a show for at least 1 year. I thought she looked good sitting in her cage, so I entered her. Good move....Faith was selected Reserve Best in Show. (note same cranky look on her face, while I look just a bit older with longer hair.).
Here is Faith in a better mood sitting in the sun today. Thanks old girl, keep up the good work!

Oh the things I saw in Ohio

Banquet at the Spaghetti Factory. Yum.

Adorable awards!

Jamie and Jacob

Dawn, Laura and friends

Kathi smiling the day after Nationals.

Congratulations to all!

Oh Oh Ohio!

AFLRC National Show

Hosted by Great Lakes Fuzzy Lop Club

Columbus, OH

Youth:
Best of Breed, Broken Senior Buck, Jamie Fry
Best Opposite of Breed, Broken Junior Doe, Chase Lowe

Best Wool, Jamie Fry

Best Display, Chase Lowe

Best Solid, senior buck, Stephanie Miller
Best Opposite Solid, senio doe, Jamie Fry
Best Broken, senior buck, Jamie Fry
Best Opposite Broken, junior doe, Chase Lowe

Open:
Best of Breed, Solid Senior Buck, Kelsey Stover
Best Opposite of Breed, Solid Senior Doe, Allison Minger

Best Wool, Nicole Schmitt
Best Display, Dawn Guth

Best Solid, senior buck Kelsey Stover
Best Opposite Solid, senior doe, Allison Minger
Best Broken, senior buck, Kelsey Stover
Best Opposite Broken, senior doe, Dawn Guth

Snapshots from Nationals

More tomorrow.......

Just sit still, will ya?

I have a "crop" of young Fuzzy Lop bucks growing up in my barn and decided it was time to take a few photos. The camera was charged, the little boys groomed (well as good as little boys can be groomed!), and I was ready. Below are the best of about 50 pictures that I took. Those little guys are fast!

AK's Keenan hunkers down to the table, sure that I am going to do something awful to him.

AK's Bryce strikes a pose (good boy!).

AK's Reno shows us how its done.

AK's Flyboy revs up his motor and gets ready to wing away...put those ears down kiddo.

It really does take two people to get decent photos of junior Fuzzies. Good luck at the shows and good luck with your juniors.

Silent Auction

AFLRC will be holding a silent auction at the National show, in Columbus, OH. Please bring your donations and "bidding pencil"!

I have heard that entries are coming into the show secretary and the hosting club is making the last minute plans for the show. The National show and a specialty show will be help on Saturday, May 1 with a double all breed show on Sunday May 2.

How the world goes round

I hate to throw away useful stuff. Like Fuzzy Lop wool that comes off during grooming. Of course the trick is--figure out what it is useful for! One day while knitting I realized how much I liked angora yarn. Where do you think that comes from? Rabbits, duh! And I have a whole barn full of them, molting all over the cage wire. Now if I could just get them to molt into a bag. Well that didn't happen; the bunnies still molt everywhere rather than in a neat pile. But I started collecting the wool. My friends started collecting the wool and soon I was spinning wool int yarn and knitting it into useful items, like gloves and scarves. Bingo! I turned something I once threw away into a valuable product. (see http://www.etsy.com/shop/JustASoftie).

So just a short step down this line of crazy talk was the purchase of a drum carder. This is a simple machine used to process the wool before spinning. A carder helps fluff out the wool and blend with different fibers, like sheep wool or alpaca. Or the carder is used to mix colors of fiber, making a different color in the final wool, than the original.

Below is my new Fancy Kitty Kitten Carder (http://www.fancy-kitty.com/carders1.html). The carder is being loaded with two different colors of dyed Fuzzy Lop wool (dying will have to wait for a later post!). You should be able to see both fushia and purple fiber.


The handle of the carder is slowly cranked and the fiber is picked up by the small licker drum and deposited on the larger drum shown here. Pretty, isn't ?

Here is a shot of the small licker drum feeding fiber on to the larger drum.

When finished with the process, the end result is a batt. The one shown below has about 10% natural Fuzzy Lop wool for the fluff factor, mixed with suri alpaca (white), bamboo (blue) and merino wool (pink). The batt itself is gorgeous and hand spinners love to work with these materials.

This batt spun up into a pretty small skein of yarn too, that has a nice "angora" halo and a very soft feel. Don't try to tell me that Fuzzy Lops aren't useful! Well gotta go groom my bunnies--to keep them looking great and to collect wool for spinning!