Sunday, November 19, 2006
Conyers, GA, November 18, 2006
The Conyers show, hosted by the Decatur RBA, was definitely worth the trip. I recommend you put it on your calendar for next year, if you are within driving distance.
I left after lunch on Friday to meet with my friend Linda Norris in Statesville, NC. We met with quite a bit of traffic most of the way and arrived a bit later than we intended on Friday evening. I'm having a deja vu. Haven't I written that somewhere before?
We stayed with Kim and Vickie Roberts. They were wonderful hosts, providing a cool room for me and a warm one for Linda! I tried to make friends with Kim's tiny dog, Itty Bitty. I was only somewhat successful. She is adorable.
It was so weird to have just a 20-minute drive to the showroom on Saturday morning. It was a lovely location. I think it was a community college or something like that. I was basically just following Vickie's bumper, so I didn't look around much.
But it was indoors with plenty of space and good bathrooms. The breakfast and lunch were far above average and a good value for the price. I got far too busy and failed to sample the cobbler, though. That was a huge omission, from the looks of it!
I was hoping we'd get Scott Wiebensohn and Bruce Ormsby. I was willing to accept any of the others for the third. You can't be greedy and ask for all of the good judges. I was hoping that Ray Brewer would be our third judge, but we weren't fortunate in that department.
I have a new judge for my favorite judge list: Scott Wiebensohn. He was very good. He gave each rabbit's its due consideration, seemed to place the rabbits in a reasonable fashion, and gave very descriptive comments. There was not one single, "Good head, ear, and crown," that I heard anyway.
I was in a bit of a quandary about what to show. I had planned to go to Oklahoma to show this coming week but cancelled for that very reason. All but two of my juniors have just turned senior. All but one of my senior does is too pregnant to travel. Andrew just about killed Rio while I was gone to Convention, feeding him just 1 oz. of feed per day. It was Rio who told me he just about died while I was gone. In reality, he just lost all of his condition and a good chunk of his fur. He also told me that he was glad I was home so he could get some grub. Your rabbits do talk to you, don't they? I mean, you talk to your rabbits, don't you?
So, I decided to take a bunch of my solid senior bucks. Six to be exact. A while back, I made the decision to produce my own solid senior bucks. I sold Dandy, Dan, and Brendan. I consciously bred more solids to solids. I produced a nice crop of bucks to choose from and kept my favorites. This last year has been a matter of waiting. Now the first ones are just turning one and beginning to show signs that they are ready to compete with the big boys. (Boris and LaForge are a bit older, but they are retired to breeding.)
I told Linda on the way down that Java was my strongest entry for the weekend. I wanted to see if he was the rabbit of mine who placed the best. He was.
In the first show, under Scott Wiebensohn, Java was BOS. Tim Nix was BOB with an adorable solid junior doe. If she keeps going like she's started, she's going to be something. I've never seen such bone on a small rabbit before. It was outstanding and so is she.
I was extremely proud of Java just for taking his class. There were 19 solid senior bucks. Wizard was second, despite not being in the best of fur, and Lord was fourth.
In the second show, Mercedes picked up her 19th leg with a class win. She peaked back in September and is barely holding on to her fur. She finally consented to be bred, so she'll be back in production soon hopefully. She lost out to a broken junior doe, bred and owned by Linda Norris. Linda had several hot broken junior does this weekend. Congratulations, Linda!
Java took his class again, but was BOB this time. Beauty, a solid doe that just turned senior last Monday, came in second. She's a bit molty, especially on her head, so I probably should just leave her be until January.
The third show was owned by a youth breeder, Kylee Smith. She took five classes and won the BOS with a homegrown doe. Congratulations Kylee. Way to go.
I was very happy to see that MLK, a little black buck of mine that I love, was 2nd out of 21 solid senior bucks. MLK is just ten months old, but has been moving up the table lately. I think his day is not too far off in the distance. Lord was third.
The Nature Trail's Glynis, now owned by Kylee and Paige Smith, was BOS in the first youth show. The Smith's live about an hour from me and ended up buying Glynis from me at Convention! That BOS granded her. Care to do a joint breeding project, girls? Glynis might end up being the one that got away!!! Congratulations on your win.
The Conyers show was one of my less successful shows, at least in terms of meeting my favorite goals. I didn't get any legs that will help me grand rabbits, which is what I like doing most. I am extremely pleased and proud of Java, MLK, and Lord. Mercedes is just like the Energizer Bunny for me; she keeps on going.
It was, however, a great benefit for me because I was able to work with Scott Wiebensohn on the Netherland Dwarf class. Scott was a great instructor and allowed me to really get into it, handling every rabbit, evaluating each one, and getting feedback on my observations (and lack of observation!). I got quite a bit out of the experience.
Thank you so much to Linda Norris and Tim Nix who put my bunnies on the table for me so I could carve out the time to work with Scott. You are the best!
After the show, we had a nice dinner with Vickie and Kim. I spent some time after that in Kim's barn, getting to know her herd. We managed to get an uncooperative doe bred. I hope she took. We did a little sorting and looking through pedigrees. Then, absolutely exhausted, I hit the hay.
We got up early and started home. We made a small detour to get hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts (damn those "hot doughnuts" signs!). I arrived home about 48 hours after I left, happy with my weekend.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 4:34 PM
I left after lunch on Friday to meet with my friend Linda Norris in Statesville, NC. We met with quite a bit of traffic most of the way and arrived a bit later than we intended on Friday evening. I'm having a deja vu. Haven't I written that somewhere before?
We stayed with Kim and Vickie Roberts. They were wonderful hosts, providing a cool room for me and a warm one for Linda! I tried to make friends with Kim's tiny dog, Itty Bitty. I was only somewhat successful. She is adorable.
It was so weird to have just a 20-minute drive to the showroom on Saturday morning. It was a lovely location. I think it was a community college or something like that. I was basically just following Vickie's bumper, so I didn't look around much.
But it was indoors with plenty of space and good bathrooms. The breakfast and lunch were far above average and a good value for the price. I got far too busy and failed to sample the cobbler, though. That was a huge omission, from the looks of it!
I was hoping we'd get Scott Wiebensohn and Bruce Ormsby. I was willing to accept any of the others for the third. You can't be greedy and ask for all of the good judges. I was hoping that Ray Brewer would be our third judge, but we weren't fortunate in that department.
I have a new judge for my favorite judge list: Scott Wiebensohn. He was very good. He gave each rabbit's its due consideration, seemed to place the rabbits in a reasonable fashion, and gave very descriptive comments. There was not one single, "Good head, ear, and crown," that I heard anyway.
I was in a bit of a quandary about what to show. I had planned to go to Oklahoma to show this coming week but cancelled for that very reason. All but two of my juniors have just turned senior. All but one of my senior does is too pregnant to travel. Andrew just about killed Rio while I was gone to Convention, feeding him just 1 oz. of feed per day. It was Rio who told me he just about died while I was gone. In reality, he just lost all of his condition and a good chunk of his fur. He also told me that he was glad I was home so he could get some grub. Your rabbits do talk to you, don't they? I mean, you talk to your rabbits, don't you?
So, I decided to take a bunch of my solid senior bucks. Six to be exact. A while back, I made the decision to produce my own solid senior bucks. I sold Dandy, Dan, and Brendan. I consciously bred more solids to solids. I produced a nice crop of bucks to choose from and kept my favorites. This last year has been a matter of waiting. Now the first ones are just turning one and beginning to show signs that they are ready to compete with the big boys. (Boris and LaForge are a bit older, but they are retired to breeding.)
I told Linda on the way down that Java was my strongest entry for the weekend. I wanted to see if he was the rabbit of mine who placed the best. He was.
In the first show, under Scott Wiebensohn, Java was BOS. Tim Nix was BOB with an adorable solid junior doe. If she keeps going like she's started, she's going to be something. I've never seen such bone on a small rabbit before. It was outstanding and so is she.
I was extremely proud of Java just for taking his class. There were 19 solid senior bucks. Wizard was second, despite not being in the best of fur, and Lord was fourth.
In the second show, Mercedes picked up her 19th leg with a class win. She peaked back in September and is barely holding on to her fur. She finally consented to be bred, so she'll be back in production soon hopefully. She lost out to a broken junior doe, bred and owned by Linda Norris. Linda had several hot broken junior does this weekend. Congratulations, Linda!
Java took his class again, but was BOB this time. Beauty, a solid doe that just turned senior last Monday, came in second. She's a bit molty, especially on her head, so I probably should just leave her be until January.
The third show was owned by a youth breeder, Kylee Smith. She took five classes and won the BOS with a homegrown doe. Congratulations Kylee. Way to go.
I was very happy to see that MLK, a little black buck of mine that I love, was 2nd out of 21 solid senior bucks. MLK is just ten months old, but has been moving up the table lately. I think his day is not too far off in the distance. Lord was third.
The Nature Trail's Glynis, now owned by Kylee and Paige Smith, was BOS in the first youth show. The Smith's live about an hour from me and ended up buying Glynis from me at Convention! That BOS granded her. Care to do a joint breeding project, girls? Glynis might end up being the one that got away!!! Congratulations on your win.
The Conyers show was one of my less successful shows, at least in terms of meeting my favorite goals. I didn't get any legs that will help me grand rabbits, which is what I like doing most. I am extremely pleased and proud of Java, MLK, and Lord. Mercedes is just like the Energizer Bunny for me; she keeps on going.
It was, however, a great benefit for me because I was able to work with Scott Wiebensohn on the Netherland Dwarf class. Scott was a great instructor and allowed me to really get into it, handling every rabbit, evaluating each one, and getting feedback on my observations (and lack of observation!). I got quite a bit out of the experience.
Thank you so much to Linda Norris and Tim Nix who put my bunnies on the table for me so I could carve out the time to work with Scott. You are the best!
After the show, we had a nice dinner with Vickie and Kim. I spent some time after that in Kim's barn, getting to know her herd. We managed to get an uncooperative doe bred. I hope she took. We did a little sorting and looking through pedigrees. Then, absolutely exhausted, I hit the hay.
We got up early and started home. We made a small detour to get hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts (damn those "hot doughnuts" signs!). I arrived home about 48 hours after I left, happy with my weekend.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 4:34 PM
