Betty's Barn Reconstruction - Part I

After two full months, Betty's barn finally is taking shape. Here are six photos showing the work in the first month from mid June to mid July.

In the top photo, Betty's very talented hubby Albert is taking off the roof. The right side of the barn had a patio like roof that has already been take out. There are two trees in the picture. The very right one is inside the patio area of the barn. Yes, it's inside the barn, the roof was cut to allow the tree to stay. The original plan was to replace the roof only; the roof was damaged by the rain storm and the falling tree branches during the rainy season in the winter.

After the roof material was taken off, Albert tried to include the tree in the new roof but just was too difficult to do so. After much consideration, a tree service was called in to remove the tree. It was a very small tree when the barn was built in the 80s, now the tree was about 40 feet tall with fragile branches. Though it provided shade for many year, it had become too big and too dangerous for the rabbits living next to it. The second picture shows the tree service person doing the work. All the greens on the ground are the parts of tree after being cut.

The third picture shows that the roof material are taken off, the tree and the debris are cleared.

Albert decided to raise the roof to (a) accommodate a new and bigger swamp cooler, (b) increase the air circulation. The fourth picture shows the frame for the new roof.

The fifth picture shows all the support beams for the roof and plywood being installed on the frame. Albert also reinforced all the vertical support beams, at some places there are two beams next to each other. When the "Big One" hits California, this barn will stand.

The sixth picture shows the black felt placed on the plywood sheets. This is the progress up to mid July.

More photos to come tomorrow.

Emilia Gets a Hair Cut

After well into her 18th month coat and won another Best of Breed and the 42nd leg, Chu's Emilia's wool is finally harvested off her back.

The top picture is her last picture taken before the clipping started. Still gorgeous and complete.

The second picture shows that she still have a pretty face but her long show coat is hanging on her back.

The third picture shows her coat from the back side.

The fourth picture shows the wool from her back, not including the tummy and side wool.

The last picture shows her wool being stored in large tissue papers and made into a roll.

Christina G.and Mom

Angora and American Fuzzy Lop breeders in our area are very friendly with each other. We usually sit with each other and even have specialty shows together.

Christina is one of the top youth American Fuzzy Lop breeders in the country. She does very well in shows, winning Best In Show and Reserve In Show with her home bred bunnies regularly. In the CRCS show at Monterey, Christina's broken Fuzzy took Reserve In Show in youth show A. The top photo is Christina and mom Tausha. The dog may look a little familiar to our readers. She belongs to Randy and Allen and has been featured in our blog in the past. Second photo is Christina and her winning rabbit with judge Jamie.

This is Christina's last year showing as a youth. Open breeders be on alert, the competition is coming soon.

Holly Wins Four Best In Show

Our Canadian member Holly brought wonderful news: Her two English Angora does won four Best In Show out of four shows!!!! This must be a first for anyone.

Here is her report:

"I have some wonderful news. Oh Betty, I can't believe that this even happened to me! I was at a Rabbit Show in Edmonton Alberta for the last four days.

Guess what my Bunnies did Betty! The show had four Judges ... Jeff Albright & Jacob Kuntz & the two Dapper sisters. Well I took my first BIS ! I was so excited I cried and all over the place. It gets even better than that! I went on to take BIS on all four tables!!!! I also won the Breeders cup trophy. I swept the entire show with my English Angora.

My Tort doe HHR's Andromeda, who is from YOUR wonderful Chu's Vance and my doe HHR's Rogue, took two BIS wins under the Dapper sisters. Then my very newly turned six month old doe HHR's Avalanche, who is out of the gorgeous Chu's Terena and HHR's Rue, who's father is Vance, lol. Avalanche took BIS from the men Judges, Jeff Albright and Jacob Kuntz.

The breeders cup was a new things our Alberta club did this year, judge Jeff Albright had the standard out and point scored to the letter all the rabbits from a group of four which all the breeders entered.... we had over 240 rabbits in the show and breeders came from Washington and B.C. For us this is a large show, lol. The person who got as close to 400 points would win the Breeder cup. I entered 3 angora and one fuzzy into the cup and won. ... they had to be of your own breeding and contain your rabbitry name at least twice in the pedigree.The judges were very happy cause they felt like the standard works according to points cause I was the four time BIS winner for the weekend & I was the only one with no DQ's in the cup and came as near to the 400 score.

I made a fool of myself crying and kissing my bunnies each time I won BIS, lol. I hugged all the judges and everyone else, everyone was screaming for me, even Ruth Dapper the judge was crying a bit and said I guess I picked right? I took pictures and will send them later, I told the Judges that I hope Betty will be proud of me. At our awards dinner they gave a little speech to me to say who well groomed my EA's are and about all the time I spend with them, I was over whelmed! They even bought me a huge cake! We are training a young man from Alberta for his Judges license and he said he's seen EA's with matts before but was unable to find any on my bunnies, LOL."

The top picture shows the Breeder's Cup trophy, the four Best In Show crystals and the rosettes won by Holly's rabbits in one weekend.

The second photo is the BIS winner in show 1 and 2: HHR's Andromeda.

The third photo is the BIS winner in show 3 and 4: HHR's Avalanche.

The fourth photo is our happy mom Holly.

Four Best In Show out of four shows probably is a record. Betty has had three Best In Show out of three shows, but had not heard of anyone winning four Best In Show out of four shows.

Great job, Holly!!!!!!!

Cyndie's Visit

Betty got a pleasant surprise today. She received a call in the morning from Cyndie who lives in Montague, far north of CA. Cyndie said she's visiting her parents in Aptos and could stop by to visit.

Cyndie and her son David came over in the early afternoon. She toured Betty's barn under reconstruction and took a picture in front of it. She also picked up a few pounds of wool from Betty for her own spinning and for resale. Here she is with David, she is pointing to the "fleece roll" that she got from Betty.

People at Monterey

Those who go to Monterey Fair regularly will find the faces here very familiar.

The top photo is Karla with Betty. Karla has been in charge of the rabbit division at the Monterey Fair for as long as anyone can remember. She does not seem to show rabbits herself but she's always working with 4-H kids and fairs, both for youth and for open exhibitors. She is efficient, kind and courteous. Can't ask for a better person to work with.

The second picture is John and Sherrie. They were active in the Salinas Valley club until it ended, and then worked very hard with the Monterey Fair. The fairs have rules that anyone who either works or volunteers cannot show his own animals. John and Sherrie decided recently that they would like to show, so they have to stop being the official volunteers. However, they are always there to help anyone who needs it. They have very nice Flemish Giants that do very well in shows.