Monday, March 17, 2008
NCRBA Convention, Mocksville, NC, March 15-16, 2008
What a weekend! I came home last evening and lay down for a nap at 5:30. I didn't wake up until this morning. Boy, was I exhausted.
My weekend started out by working too late on Friday night. I knew there was a big weekend ahead and I simply didn't show the discipline I needed to get myself to bed on time. Preparing for the show was a snap. Anna took two rabbits to show and I took two rabbits to show. I spent the rest of my evening working on Laurie's Cobalt World, my new business.
Up at 4:30 a.m. and out the door by 5:30, we arried in time to unpack and get settled in before check-in started. I had volunteered to help out, so I spent the first couple of hours in the morning writing receipts and making change.
After that, I introduced myself to Glen Carr, whom I would be working with that day. He remembered my face from the Judge's Academy held almost two years ago.
And what a great opportunity it was to work with him. Glen joked that he'd teach me everything he knew about judging in five minutes. Oh, if only that could be true!
I learned quite a bit, both about rabbits, and about how to mentally keep track of what you are doing. It takes a lot of concentration to be efficient and effective. I know that I personally will take much more care about interrupting judges in the future. It's amazing to me, after being on that side of the table, to see judges make it all look so easy.
I have to confess "Laurie's Big Blunder" to you. I think it was my worst mistake of the weekend, but then again, it could have been when I dropped the same Flemish Giant on the floor - twice.
Anyway, we were working with Satins when a color came up that I had no idea about. Satins are shown in black, blue, broken, Californian, chinchilla, chocolate, copper, otter, red, Siamese, and white.
The rabbit looked like a smutty sable point to me, but there was no sable point on the list. I remembered the tricky sable chinchilla mini lop from last month, so when Glen asked me what I thought it was, I weakly said chinchilla? Of course, I hadn't blown in the fur or checked for agouti markings, so I should have just said it looks like a sable point to me.
It didn't look anything like a Siamese sable Holland lop. Nor did it look like a Siamese smoke pearl Netherland dwarf, but it is a Siamese in satin. Another judge was standing nearby and said that in other breeds it would be called a sable point. That only made me feel a tiny bit better.
I think Glen was still laughing to himself at my outrageous answer at the end of the day!
Chalk up another color that I won't soon forget.
Not surprisingly, when I asked Glen at the end of the day what I most needed to work on - he said colors!
It's very funny that I can more easily figure out the five color genes for a rabbit than I can figure out all of the different names for those colors across the breeds.
Janice and Bill Jones kindly put my bunnies on the table for me. I'm very pleased that Lord was BOS to Pandora Allen's BOB. In the second show, he was also BOS under Stacy Easton. Crazy Horse was BOSG. (Their placements on Sunday were not worth mentioning!)
Congratulations to Steve and Joan Polleys who won their first BOB with a homegrown bunny - Benz. They were so sweet to name her Benz in honor of her grandmother Mercedes, just after Mercedes died. Benz' grandfather is Java, who won all four BOBs at last year's NCRBA Convention.
Benz also won a BOS on Sunday while the Polley's continued their streak with a BOB with an unrelated solid junior buck. They were excited to start winning with two different projects within their barn. I have to admit that I lost track of the other winners, not being a the table, but I do believe that Gary & Susan Smith won a BOB, too.
After the show, it was time for the NCRBA board meeting and general membership meeting. That lasted until 10 minutes after the banquet was supposed to start.
The banquet was followed by an auction of baskets donated to support the youth scholarship program. Awards are also given out during the evening. Congratulations to the royalty winners. And thanks to Lisa Young for all of her hard work.
Charles Bryant won the first annual Sandhills Rabbit Fanciers master breeder award. I was asked to take pictures of the winners, so I knew I wasn't in for an award this year. I had won sweeps last year so I decided that I shouldn't be greedy!
In open for the NCRBA 2007 sweepstakes, Pandora & John Allen were third, Charlene Everette was second, and lo and behold, I did win sweeps for the second year in a row. I was surprised. Notice that three Virginia ladies took the top honors!
Of course, I won't be winning any sweeps contests for next year. It's simply impossible to do showing 2 to 4 rabbits per show, no matter how well they do.
After the show, we convoyed to Brenda Smith's house for a gab session that lasted a couple of hours too long. But it was so enjoyable, it was hard to settle down and get any rest. Before I knew it, Brenda was standing over me saying it was time to go. We had to be there early for check in again.
We had a few scheduling problems with get worked out, so I was a little late getting to the show table and a bit flustered, too, as I arrived. But Allan Ormond set me to work right away.
I really appreciated his pushing me hard. It was a grand opportunity and I didn't want to miss a minute of it.
I gave comments, too timidly at first, but with more confidence as I went along. That's such great practice. Of course, he made sure that he added or corrected any comments that the exhibitors needed to hear.
I am still struggling with evaluating wool. Hopefully, that will get better with time.
As the day wore on, I wore out, but I tried to stay as alert as possible. I'm sure you are dying to hear about the Flemish I dropped - twice. He was a bad boy who kept backing up - at an angle. Once 1/3 of a Flemish goes over the edge, there's no going back. And I'm not going to start grabbing pieces - a sure way to break a leg. So down we both went to the floor - almost in slow motion. And then back to the table we went. Again, he started rapidly backing up on me and down we went again. I actually have a lot of comfort dealing with the Flemish - more than that little dance shows. But when they have a mind to do something, they have a lot of muscle to do it with!
The competition was tight among the Flemish, so Allan spent more than the usual amount of time running them. I got a chance to really stand back and see the bodies in motion. It really is a thing of beauty to see the powerful bodies flowing up and down as they lumbered across the table. It really made an impression on me.
I learned that I no firm mental picture of an English Spot. Allan challanged me to give comments, but I just couldn't get my mind around anything except a marking DQ, pattern congestion, spine markings, and evenness of markings from side to side. I will be seeking out some opportunity to see and evaluate more of these animals. Charlene Everette had commented something like, "now things are going to get hard for you," and she was absolutely right.
I will thrilled to get the opportunity to give comments on a himalayan. I have a lot to learn there, but at least I got a start.
After Allan was finished and had to leave to catch his plane, I took the opportunity to work with Stacy Easton on Harlequins.
I could have left then, having won no BOBs and no need to wait around for Best In Show. But my daughter Anna had won BOB with her Phunny Pharm buck Whiz Bang, so we stayed until near the bitter end.
That brings us all of the way back around to my 5:30 "nap." What a weekend! It simply could not have held anything more.
Laurie ¶ 6:03 AM
My weekend started out by working too late on Friday night. I knew there was a big weekend ahead and I simply didn't show the discipline I needed to get myself to bed on time. Preparing for the show was a snap. Anna took two rabbits to show and I took two rabbits to show. I spent the rest of my evening working on Laurie's Cobalt World, my new business.
Up at 4:30 a.m. and out the door by 5:30, we arried in time to unpack and get settled in before check-in started. I had volunteered to help out, so I spent the first couple of hours in the morning writing receipts and making change.
After that, I introduced myself to Glen Carr, whom I would be working with that day. He remembered my face from the Judge's Academy held almost two years ago.
And what a great opportunity it was to work with him. Glen joked that he'd teach me everything he knew about judging in five minutes. Oh, if only that could be true!
I learned quite a bit, both about rabbits, and about how to mentally keep track of what you are doing. It takes a lot of concentration to be efficient and effective. I know that I personally will take much more care about interrupting judges in the future. It's amazing to me, after being on that side of the table, to see judges make it all look so easy.
I have to confess "Laurie's Big Blunder" to you. I think it was my worst mistake of the weekend, but then again, it could have been when I dropped the same Flemish Giant on the floor - twice.
Anyway, we were working with Satins when a color came up that I had no idea about. Satins are shown in black, blue, broken, Californian, chinchilla, chocolate, copper, otter, red, Siamese, and white.
The rabbit looked like a smutty sable point to me, but there was no sable point on the list. I remembered the tricky sable chinchilla mini lop from last month, so when Glen asked me what I thought it was, I weakly said chinchilla? Of course, I hadn't blown in the fur or checked for agouti markings, so I should have just said it looks like a sable point to me.
It didn't look anything like a Siamese sable Holland lop. Nor did it look like a Siamese smoke pearl Netherland dwarf, but it is a Siamese in satin. Another judge was standing nearby and said that in other breeds it would be called a sable point. That only made me feel a tiny bit better.
I think Glen was still laughing to himself at my outrageous answer at the end of the day!
Chalk up another color that I won't soon forget.
Not surprisingly, when I asked Glen at the end of the day what I most needed to work on - he said colors!
It's very funny that I can more easily figure out the five color genes for a rabbit than I can figure out all of the different names for those colors across the breeds.
Janice and Bill Jones kindly put my bunnies on the table for me. I'm very pleased that Lord was BOS to Pandora Allen's BOB. In the second show, he was also BOS under Stacy Easton. Crazy Horse was BOSG. (Their placements on Sunday were not worth mentioning!)
Congratulations to Steve and Joan Polleys who won their first BOB with a homegrown bunny - Benz. They were so sweet to name her Benz in honor of her grandmother Mercedes, just after Mercedes died. Benz' grandfather is Java, who won all four BOBs at last year's NCRBA Convention.
Benz also won a BOS on Sunday while the Polley's continued their streak with a BOB with an unrelated solid junior buck. They were excited to start winning with two different projects within their barn. I have to admit that I lost track of the other winners, not being a the table, but I do believe that Gary & Susan Smith won a BOB, too.
After the show, it was time for the NCRBA board meeting and general membership meeting. That lasted until 10 minutes after the banquet was supposed to start.
The banquet was followed by an auction of baskets donated to support the youth scholarship program. Awards are also given out during the evening. Congratulations to the royalty winners. And thanks to Lisa Young for all of her hard work.
Charles Bryant won the first annual Sandhills Rabbit Fanciers master breeder award. I was asked to take pictures of the winners, so I knew I wasn't in for an award this year. I had won sweeps last year so I decided that I shouldn't be greedy!
In open for the NCRBA 2007 sweepstakes, Pandora & John Allen were third, Charlene Everette was second, and lo and behold, I did win sweeps for the second year in a row. I was surprised. Notice that three Virginia ladies took the top honors!
Of course, I won't be winning any sweeps contests for next year. It's simply impossible to do showing 2 to 4 rabbits per show, no matter how well they do.
After the show, we convoyed to Brenda Smith's house for a gab session that lasted a couple of hours too long. But it was so enjoyable, it was hard to settle down and get any rest. Before I knew it, Brenda was standing over me saying it was time to go. We had to be there early for check in again.
We had a few scheduling problems with get worked out, so I was a little late getting to the show table and a bit flustered, too, as I arrived. But Allan Ormond set me to work right away.
I really appreciated his pushing me hard. It was a grand opportunity and I didn't want to miss a minute of it.
I gave comments, too timidly at first, but with more confidence as I went along. That's such great practice. Of course, he made sure that he added or corrected any comments that the exhibitors needed to hear.
I am still struggling with evaluating wool. Hopefully, that will get better with time.
As the day wore on, I wore out, but I tried to stay as alert as possible. I'm sure you are dying to hear about the Flemish I dropped - twice. He was a bad boy who kept backing up - at an angle. Once 1/3 of a Flemish goes over the edge, there's no going back. And I'm not going to start grabbing pieces - a sure way to break a leg. So down we both went to the floor - almost in slow motion. And then back to the table we went. Again, he started rapidly backing up on me and down we went again. I actually have a lot of comfort dealing with the Flemish - more than that little dance shows. But when they have a mind to do something, they have a lot of muscle to do it with!
The competition was tight among the Flemish, so Allan spent more than the usual amount of time running them. I got a chance to really stand back and see the bodies in motion. It really is a thing of beauty to see the powerful bodies flowing up and down as they lumbered across the table. It really made an impression on me.
I learned that I no firm mental picture of an English Spot. Allan challanged me to give comments, but I just couldn't get my mind around anything except a marking DQ, pattern congestion, spine markings, and evenness of markings from side to side. I will be seeking out some opportunity to see and evaluate more of these animals. Charlene Everette had commented something like, "now things are going to get hard for you," and she was absolutely right.
I will thrilled to get the opportunity to give comments on a himalayan. I have a lot to learn there, but at least I got a start.
After Allan was finished and had to leave to catch his plane, I took the opportunity to work with Stacy Easton on Harlequins.
I could have left then, having won no BOBs and no need to wait around for Best In Show. But my daughter Anna had won BOB with her Phunny Pharm buck Whiz Bang, so we stayed until near the bitter end.
That brings us all of the way back around to my 5:30 "nap." What a weekend! It simply could not have held anything more.
Laurie ¶ 6:03 AM
