Tie A Yellow Ribbon

In the 20-family neighborhood that Betty and Albert live, there are two families that have members serving during the war.

David Shebib, a 22 year old medic, was wounded in Baghdad, currently hospitalized.

Ken Pattierew is in his second tour of duty in Iraq.

The neighborhood families are displaying yellow ribbons outside their homes to show support.

The top photo shows four families with yellow ribbons in the front. The one with the red clay roof is where David Shebib and his parents live.

The second photo shows the yellow ribbon under Betty's mail box. In case you are curious, Albert created the five-rabbit wooden piece on top of the mail box.

The third photo is the family across from Betty displaying the yellow ribbon and the flag.

A Neck Warmer

With the cold spell, everyone is trying hard to keep warm. Angora is definitely the best product to accomplish the task.

Our MA member Chris O recently completed a project of a neck warmer.

Chris says: "Neckwarmer was made with less than one skein of the thick and thin angora yarn with the silk binder. I think it was 60 stitches on a size 10 needle for 6", then seamed and ready to wear. It is something you can do with a very small amount of angora and looks wonderful. I have received many compliments on this neckwarmer."

It's hoped that these pretty photos will inspire us to make more Angora products; a neck warmer like this definitely will keep your neck warm and comfy.

Domestic Rabbits Goes Full Color

Betty received a wonderful news yesterday. Domestic Rabbits, the official publication of the American Rabbit Breeders Association, is going full color starting the coming issue.

Domestic Rabbits is now being edited at the ARBA headquarter. All editoring and page set up are done at the office. Due to the saving of the set up expense, the magazine could go full color yet keep the cost of printing the same as the previous black and white format.

Betty received an advanced page in PDF with her Best In Show Display of Chu's Fawntana. Betty printed out the PDF and then scanned in the page shown on the left (PDF cannot be uploaded onto the blog). Due to printing and scanning, there is a slight color distortion. The original page is brighter and better than it is shown here.

Fawntana's picture shown at the top is the picture used in the Best In Show Display.

Betty also learned this morning that Domestic Rabbits will be to sent to the printer the first part of next week. We really have something to look forward to: A brand new full colored Domestic Rabbits.

Randy and Allen's Property And Animals

Randy and Allen's new property has two identical barns, a beautiful mountain view and not too far from Shaver Lake. The top photos were taken at the Shaver Lake when Eric S. came to visit. One shows Allen at the lakeside and the other one shows Allen and Eric.

The third photo shows Allen with his Champion White Doe, Arenal, from 2006. She is Randy and Allen's own breeding, and was undefeated as a yearling doe all summer. Randy and Allen are very proud of her.

The orange cat is Sandy, a busy body that likes to get into everyone's business.

The next photo is a far view of guard dog Roman in his dog house guarding the property.

The sixth photo shows Randy and Allen's animal trailer parked in front of one of their two identical barns.

The last photo is a dirt road leading to their property.

Four of the photos are courtesy of Eric S. of PA, three courtesy of Allen. Thanks for sharing.

Chihuahua - Found on the Net

When reading a Chinese newspaper website, Betty found a blog written from the perspective of Nick, a very cute Chihuahua. He writes about his daily life and adventures in Taiwan. It's very funny. Unfortunately, Nick writes in Chinese, it won't do our readers any good to share the URL of this blog. Luckily a picture is more than a thousand words, and there are tons of pictures on this blog. Here is the URL of a slide show of Nick and his friends:

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/play-lifestyle/slideshow?fid=

Sit back and enjoy the pictures.

Allen's Long Drive Across Country

Allen recently drove from CA to CT to visit his family. He reports:

"Since moving to California over three years ago, trips back to the east coast to visit my family are far less frequent than we like. This winter, a unique opportunity to drive across country for my annual Christmas visit was presented. I have driven across the United States five times, and absolutely love the trip. Our country is very beautiful and diverse, and there truly is no better way to see it (if you can stand the ride). I left for Connecticut on December 20th with my very good friend, and excellent rabbit judge, Wade Burkhalter of Missouri. I convinced Wade to drive to Missouri with me, rather than fly back after his trip to California judging the week prior. As a very true friend, Wade agreed... and our journey began. Though Wade got me only to Missouri, his expertise in treacherous snow driving came in handy through New Mexico on our first night. You might think that a once New Englander would know how to drive in the snow, but my blood and driving skills have thinned some since moving to the sunshine state! After leaving Wade in Missouri, I trekked on alone to Connecticut; in total, the trip home took less than 3 full days."

Allen stayed home and then drove back with his sister Stephanie. Allen reports about the return trip:

"Stephanie had never driven across the country, and I could not wait to show her some of the sites I had already seen in my "rabbit travels". She was ecstatic! We drove across Interstate 70 until Missouri, where we once again stopped in Sedalia to see Wade. We spent the night, and he even took us to an annual poker game with local farmers! The event took place in a barn in the middle of an alfalfa field. Some of the men playing owned and farmed 6,000 to 12,000 acres! Though my sister and I did not play, as we were exhausted, the chance to watch Wade play was fun. He won over $100! After spending the night, Stephanie and I persevered on. We stopped in Oklahoma City to see the memorial at the bombing site. This was a somber visit, and a light rain and low fog over the plains made the moments unforgettable. The light prairie rain soon turned to down pours, tornados in Texas, and blizzards in New Mexico and Colorado. Because of the weather, we diverted south through Dallas on Interstate 35 to avoid Interstate 40 which was closed due to snow. From Dallas, we drove all night through Texas to reach Interstate 10, snugging the Mexico border through El Paso. Stephanie was driving at this point, and was amazed at the desolate life of West Texas. Deserts, cactus, and eventually palm trees filled our windshield views on the last day... finally to California! Again, our journey took 3 days, but slightly more miles due to the route change to Interstate 10."

The top photo is Allen and Wade; the second photo is Allen and Stephanie with Allen's dog Cali who stayed with Allen during the entire trip.

Cathy and Kim Visit Betty

Kim called Betty, there're good news and bad news. The good news being their old doe Chu's Dixie gave birth to three bunnies but only one live birth. The bad news is that Dixie seems to be exhausted and not too keen about nursing.

The next morning, Cathy and Kim drove three hours one way to Betty's home to foster the only kit, a black bunny that looks healthy.

After the little black bunny received a good nurse from two mama does, Cathy, Kim and Betty all felt more relaxed.

The top two pictures are Cathy and Kim in the front and the back of Betty's bunny barn.

There is further good news from Kim. She and her love Mark are engaged to be married; their wedding will be sometime in the fall. Cathy asks that our blog be an invitation to Kim's wedding; they plan to have a mini horse and rabbits in the wedding party. The plan is to have a white English Angora as the ring bearer. The third picture shows Kim's engagement ring.

Kim is a senior in college with a heavy load of classes and internship. The fourth photo was taken in a show recently showing her doing home work during a break from the show table; little brother James watches his sister's project with interest.