Monday, October 30, 2006
Judgment Day
Today really started seven months ago. That's when all of the Holland breeders competing today looked at the calendar and planned their breeding for juniors. We made our best choices, practiced good husbandry, and hoped and wished.
Then we culled and evaluated, picked and repicked. Then it was time to travel. Finally, we were down to grooming and plucking a few loose hairs. It was time.
The most wonderful thing happened today. I got a chance to ramrod for a judge. I had a great time. It was so much fun and it kept me busy and kept my mind off of what was going on, on the other tables.
The judges were Joe Lugo, Joy Eckstrom, Manuel Hidalgo, and Jeremy Watmuff. I worked for Joy Eckstrom. Her first class was broken junior doe. Her second, solid senior doe.
About mid-morning, a friend came by and asked how things were going. He went to check on my bunnies and came back to report that NT499, which is The Nature Trail's Millicent, was still on the table and there were four rabbits left. After he left, I turned to the breeder next to me and told her that I wasn't going to get excited because as soon as I did, there would be a bunch of bunnies in the back in a coop. Two minutes later, my friend was back. "There's a bunch of bunnies still in the back." See, I told you.
But Millicent did come in fourth place after all out of 166. So my friend wasn't wrong, he was just early!
Later in the day, I noticed May in the coops behind Joe Lugo. When there were 15 cards left on the table, I glanced over and saw that both Panache and May were still on the table. I got busy again helping Joy, but later saw Joe Lugo weighing May. I caught the eye of a breeder who held up three fingers to me. I just realized that I should have known that she actually came in third - we only weighed the top five this year - but I refused to believe it until I saw it in writing. May was third and her grand champion daughter Panache was fifth.
Those were my only top ten placements, but I'm quite pleased with them. I also had a 12th with Zeppo, a 16th (I think it was) with April, another May daughter, and an 18th with Quinten. Quinten is Millicent's littermate.
I have no idea whether there was anything else interesting, but I do not believe there were any more top ten placements. I would be happy if another bunny came in 20th or something like that. I do know that my two senior bucks were still on the table when the class got down to 40 something out of about 140. They are still pretty young, so I was pleased with that.
Jenny Poprawski was Best of Breed with the same broken senior buck that won at Nationals. Spanky joins a very short list of rabbits to win BOB at both Nationals and Convention.
Nicole Brockreide and Debra Sandoval won the BOS with their broken senior doe.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
¶ 10:10 PM
Then we culled and evaluated, picked and repicked. Then it was time to travel. Finally, we were down to grooming and plucking a few loose hairs. It was time.
The most wonderful thing happened today. I got a chance to ramrod for a judge. I had a great time. It was so much fun and it kept me busy and kept my mind off of what was going on, on the other tables.
The judges were Joe Lugo, Joy Eckstrom, Manuel Hidalgo, and Jeremy Watmuff. I worked for Joy Eckstrom. Her first class was broken junior doe. Her second, solid senior doe.
About mid-morning, a friend came by and asked how things were going. He went to check on my bunnies and came back to report that NT499, which is The Nature Trail's Millicent, was still on the table and there were four rabbits left. After he left, I turned to the breeder next to me and told her that I wasn't going to get excited because as soon as I did, there would be a bunch of bunnies in the back in a coop. Two minutes later, my friend was back. "There's a bunch of bunnies still in the back." See, I told you.
But Millicent did come in fourth place after all out of 166. So my friend wasn't wrong, he was just early!
Later in the day, I noticed May in the coops behind Joe Lugo. When there were 15 cards left on the table, I glanced over and saw that both Panache and May were still on the table. I got busy again helping Joy, but later saw Joe Lugo weighing May. I caught the eye of a breeder who held up three fingers to me. I just realized that I should have known that she actually came in third - we only weighed the top five this year - but I refused to believe it until I saw it in writing. May was third and her grand champion daughter Panache was fifth.
Those were my only top ten placements, but I'm quite pleased with them. I also had a 12th with Zeppo, a 16th (I think it was) with April, another May daughter, and an 18th with Quinten. Quinten is Millicent's littermate.
I have no idea whether there was anything else interesting, but I do not believe there were any more top ten placements. I would be happy if another bunny came in 20th or something like that. I do know that my two senior bucks were still on the table when the class got down to 40 something out of about 140. They are still pretty young, so I was pleased with that.
Jenny Poprawski was Best of Breed with the same broken senior buck that won at Nationals. Spanky joins a very short list of rabbits to win BOB at both Nationals and Convention.
Nicole Brockreide and Debra Sandoval won the BOS with their broken senior doe.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
¶ 10:10 PM
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Congratulations to you Laurie! It sounds as though you are having a great time! I wish I could be there! I have enjoyed your Convention posts it's almost like being there! I will check in again!
Laura
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Laura
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