Handsome Brothers

Chu's Ashka is definitely a buck maker. More than 75% of her kids are boys. Here are three of her very handsome sons, Makisam at the top, Bobbie Joe in the middle and Tyler at the end.

Bobbie Joe and Tyler have already achieve Grand Champion status; Makisam is waiting for his chance to shine.

Queen Bee

We all have heard of the expression "Queen Bee", an expression to describe a dominant female.

The real "Queen Bee" in a beehive is not just a dominant female bee, it is the key to the survival of this hive.

Our favorite judge Eric of PA is teaching us a lesson in bee keeping. He says,

"The queen from the first hive I started with was getting old. I'm guessing she was probably about 5 years old. I noticed a lot of 'drones' in the hive.

A drone is a male bee, drones don't collect nectar or do any work in the hive. They are produced from an unfertilized egg. Since a queen only mates once in her life, after time she becomes unable to lay fertilized eggs, so she becomes a 'drone layer'. Ultimately, this can result in the death of a hive since they need worker bees to collect nectar and care for the brood (babies).

I ordered a new queen from GA, and once she arrived I removed the old queen from the hive. I will be checking on her some time next week to see how she is doing, but in the meantime, I want to give the hive time to adjust.

I've attached some photos of a couple hives, as well as the old and new queens. We've been getting a bumper crop of honey this spring. The hot/dry weather has allowed plenty of 'work time' for the bees to get out and gather nectar and pollen. On wet, cool, or rainy days they are not able to travel far or at all to gather food.

There is one hive where I put a new super (box filled with frames where they build come and store brood/honey) on a Saturday and by Thursday it was nearly full of honey! Everyone around here has noticed a marked increase in the productivity of their crops and gardens since we started maintaining bee hives here."

Eric also says, "2/3 of all the fruits and vegetables we eat MUST be pollinated by bees".

We thank Eric for teaching us about the bees; this is not only interesting but also vital in understanding how our fruits and vegetables are produced.

Eric's Fantastic Mini Rex

Our favorite judge Eric of PA is sharing with us some exciting news about his Mini Rex.

He and partner Michael have been very busy working at their farm. They only attended shows in two weekends in the last two months.

In the Mini Rex National in April, they took BOV castor, 1st, 2nd, or both in all the castor classes. They also had 2nd place to the BOB (broken sr. doe) and 1st & 5th broken jr doe.

At the State College show on June 3rd, they had BOB/BOS, BOV/BOSV castor, and BOV broken in both shows. The show was held at Penn State University at the Ag arena. The first show they had RIS with a castor jr. doe HGF Living Dead Girl (first and second photo). The second show they did even better winning BIS with another castor jr. doe HGF Dragula (the third photo). These does were named after Rob Zombie songs.

They are also very excited about a young broken jr. doe HGF Do It, she's a granddaughter of a doe that they got from Allen and Randy in Monterey (Mesick/Shumaker's Crave); shown in photo number four.

Cyndie Catches the Big One

Cyndie describes the first photo: "Judith MacKenzie McCuin, of Augusta , Montana was the judge for the Wool Show. She was amazing! Such a treasury of knowledge. I really enjoyed listening to her. She has been a textile artist for over thirty years. She teaches in the USA and Canada , her work appears in private and public collections."

Cyndie then talks about the second photo, "When all was said and done, the Grand Champion Fleece was one in the White medium wool breeds (52s-58s) class. A TEN POUND Merino/Border Leicester cross."

Guess what Cyndie did? She bought that fleece! She says:
"The most amazing thing happened to me! I somehow, managed to PURCHASE the Grand champion fleece! It was the THIRD Fleece I looked at! A true story! First I looked at a black Romney, and rejected it for a white Corriedale. Then I turned around and starring me in the face was the Champion Merino cross. It was meant to be. The fleece is so clean it looks washed! About 5 inches. And crimp! OH! I will be sending it to the local 'Klamath River Alpacas' Mill to have it processed with 20 percent Angora and made into roving. Yummy! I love going to Black Sheep!"

Cyndie at the Black Sheep Gathering

Cyndie just came back from the Black Sheep Gathering in Oregon. She had a great time. She is sharing her photos with us.

Top photo shows Cyndie's loot. Cyndie has more wool collection than any of us, but she still could not resist these beautiful wool rovings. She says, "Of course there was shopping! My new stash of Wensleydale from the Bellwether Wool Company."

The second photo is Cyndie's camp under the oak tree. She went with her spinning group, seven of the group camped on the fairgrounds.

The third photo shows two Cashmere goats on display; the fourth photo is a kid Angora goat.

Emma, A Very Special Puppy

Our favorite judge Eric of PA is sharing with us the pictures of some very special people and animals, especially little Miss Emma.

Eric and partner Michael were looking for a guardian for their sheep. They considered llama or donkey; they eventually decided on a Great Pyrenees puppy named Emma.

Emma is a very special pup. She was bred by Cathy, the ARBA district 8 director. Cathy passed away in early June unexpectedly. Emma was her pick of the litter keeper. Eric and Michael are very close to both Bill and Cathy. Bill wanted them to have this very special pup; her name Emma came from Cathy's middle name. Eric says, "The Patricks' are very dear friends, actually like family. Cathy's passing has been very hard to cope with, so having Emma work here will be like having part of Cathy and Bill at our farm."

The top photo is Michael with Bill when Emma was picked up on June 23. Little pretty Miss Emma is shown in the second and third photos; the last two photos are the black faced Dorper sheep that Emma will be working with.

Remember When: Presentation of Broken English Angora in 2000

After Irene gave up presenting Broken English Angora, there were a few others who took out the development certificate. None of them actually did the presentation until Susan Clothier of PA tried her hand in 2000.

In the top photo, Susan is showing off her four presentation rabbits.

In the second photo, Susan walks off with a big beautiful smile on her face; the judges told her that her presentation was perfect!

There were not a lot of photos taken during this presentation and the lighting was not the best. A third photo of Susan grooming one of her show rabbits in a different show is added here to show her face more clearly.

In 2001, a dog attack at Susan's barn killed her presentation rabbits. ARBA rule requires that at least two of the original presentation rabbits to be used for the next presentation. The loss of her original presentation rabbits coupled with her other personal problems caused Susan to give up the presentation and then went out of rabbits.

Remember When: Presentation of Broken English Angora in 1995

Though many had tried since the 1980s, Irene Burns of Michigan was the first presenter that passed the Broken English Angora presentation in 1995.

Here are some photos of that presentation.

The top photo is the carrier that housed the four presentation animals: one broken senior buck, one broken senior doe, one broken junior buck and one broken junior doe. The photos on the blog yesterday were that of the senior doe and the junior doe.

In the second photo, Betty is helping Irene to weigh and record the weights of the four presentation rabbits.

In the third photo, Betty is helping to groom one of the rabbits just before going on the presentation table.

In the fourth photo, all the presentation rabbits are loaded in the judging coops; judge Richard Gehr opens the first hole to start the examination; Irene is nervous.

In the fifth photo, the judges call Irene into the conference table to tell her the good news: the presentation has been successful.

What happened after this successful presentation? In 1996, Irene's second presentation was rejected due to a disqualification on the junior buck. Though she still had the right to repeat the second presentation in 1997, she decided not to continue the process. She subsequently went out of rabbits.

Remember When: Broken English Angora

There are not as many shows during the summer as in fall and in spring. We are starting a new series titled "Remember When" to share some of the old memories.

The Broken English Angora has been presented many times since the late 80s. Two of the presenters were successful in passing the first presentation but could not go any further.

The two photos here were taken in 1995. The top photo is a broken black junior doe and the other photo is a broken tort senior doe. These two does were in the group that passed the presentation in 1995. The broken black doe's name is Party Girl and the broken tort doe's name is Shelly. Both were beauties.

There will be photos of the presentation in the post tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Casey's New Puppies

Casey has acquired two Basset Hound puppies. The boy is Elvis and the girl Priscilla. One of these days there will be a Lisa Marie!

Basset Hound is originally bred to hunt rabbits. They are also nicknamed as "rabbit dog". Let's hope that Elvis and Priscilla won't hunt for Casey's rabbits!

Casey will be showing these pups when they reach 6 months old. Her showing partner will be Kelly, the breeder of these Basset puppies.

Eggnog Goes to School

Tracy is a wonderful schoolteacher. She is always interested in finding ways to broaden her kids' experience in life.

On Tuesday, Tracy brought Eggnog, the rescued English Angora, to school for the kids to see.

The top picture is Judy with Eggnog. Judy has arrived in the US from Korea not too long ago; this is the first time in her life that she holds a rabbit.

The second picture is Hannah with Eggnog; and the third picture is Nathalee who was a little reluctant to hold Eggnog but warms up quickly to Eggnog.

The fourth picture is Lindsay with Eggnog. Lindsay thought Eggnog was a stuff rabbit.

The fifth picture shows a few kids with Eggnog.

The sixth picture is Eggnog with Drew and the last picture is Eggnog in Ryan's Fort.

Sister Act

Carrie and Sevenah are together for a photo session. The two sisters are enjoying the chance to do some girl talk .

Holly's Happy Family

Holly loves animals. She loves her rabbits and dogs. Glenn, Holly's husband, is more of a dog person.

At the top, we see Holly with her bunnies. In the second picture, Glenn is seen with their Golden Retriever Hunter.

In the third picture, Hunter and puppy Treever are relaxing in Glenn and Holly's kitchen. The fourth picture shows a slightly older Treever in the same spot at the kitchen.

A big happy family.

Demo at the Fair

Betty and Casey were invited to do spinning demonstration at the San Joaquin Fair on Saturday.

At the top, Betty and Casey are spinning. On the table, there are samples of Angora wool, Mohair, sheep wool, Llama fiber and flax fiber for people to feel. There are also yarns and scarves. On the grooming stand, Betty's white buck is sitting there to be viewed and admired.

In the second photo, Betty's white buck BC8CE is sitting patiently on the stand. He is just six months old, yet to be named. He is definitely a good boy, not making any fuss about having to sit still for a long time.

In the third photo, judge Dani comes by to visit and has a picture taken with BC8CE. Dani says, "Be quick, my eyes are burning!" Dani is known to have severe allergic reaction to Angora. She does not judge any of the wool breeds in shows.

The fourth photo shows Mike and Dolores relaxing in the Home Art building. Dolores is in charge of the exhibits.

The fifth photo is Casey in front of kiddie pony ride. The pony ride is just outside the Home Arts Building.

Rock Steady Goes Naked

Casey's Llama Rock Steady is wearing his summer hair style now. Casey has a wonderful fleece for spinning and Rock Steady is feeling relieved to be out of his winter coat.

Top picture is newly naked Rock Steady and the second photo is Rock Steady with his fleece on during the winter.

More Show Scenes in Japan

Here are four more pictures from the show in Japan.

The first photo is judge Doug from California seriously examining a Netherland Dwarf.

The second photo is judge Jeremy from Michigan judging an English Angora.

The third photo is judge Julie from Japan judging Californian.

The fourth photo shows the exhibitors and their rabbits.

Doug in Japan

Our handsome judge Doug was invited to judge in Japan again. The show was held on June 10, just a few days ago.

Our friend Yumiko took a long trip to go to the show without her famous English Angora. She has some beautiful English Angora bunnies but they are too young to show. She went to the show to visit and took a lot of pictures to share with us.

The top picture is Doug with Yumiko.

The second picture is Doug with the show A Best In Show winner American Fuzzy Lop. Exhibitor's name unknown.

The third photo is Doug examining a Netherland Dwarf.

The fourth photo is Doug with Julie who is the only ARBA licensed judge in Japan. Julie also translates for Doug when he gives his thanks to the exhibitors and breeders in Japan.

Adam and Carol's Volunteer Misson

From previous posts, we know that Carol G. was out of the country for a while. She and Adam were in Dominican Republic doing volunteer work. Here is her report about their volunteer mission:

"Here are a few photos from our trip.

Somos Amigos Medical Mission is a group that has been traveling to and serving El Naranjito in Dominican Republic for more than 10 years. When the program first started, there was no actual clinic building and only one doctor came. Now there is a clinic with several examination rooms, dental area, pharmacy, and clinical laboratory.

This year, Somos Amigos will make 3 visits to the area, bringing about 30 volunteers on each trip, including doctors, dentists, translators, and others. This group works closely with the local community, and residents of El Naranjito consider the medical mission their own service project, preparing food for the volunteers, giving us housing for the week, and supporting the mission by organizing the patients.

Somos Amigos serves approximately 1000 Dominicans, many of whom have no other source of medical treatment. We arrived on a Sunday, traveling by buses about 3 hr from Santiago, and first set up the clinic.

By 7 am on Monday, patients had already gathered and signed into the list for the day. We worked 12-13 hr days and in the 3.5 days the clinic was open, 635 patients were treated in the medical clinic and approximately 200 in the dental clinic. Adam's job was to help with the movement of patients from the waiting area (outside under the trees) through registration and to the doctors. I worked in the pharmacy. One of the photos that I am sending of the group coming down the hill in the morning after breakfast, where you can see that patients have already arrived and are waiting for us. The location was beautiful, the people were friendly and warm. It was a fantastic experience and both Adam and I want to return again."

Carol also says, "the group is always looking for donations (money, equipment, medications) and volunteers (medical professionals and others), so if anyone is interested they should contact me and I can put them in touch with the Somos Amigos organizers." Carol's e-mail is hoploppitry@yahoo.com

The description of the eight photos from top to bottom are:

(1) Adam and Carol.

(2) Group of volunteers.

(3) Carol working.

(4) Adam working.

(5) Morning trip.

(6) Beautiful view.

(7) School boys.

(8) A Dominican Republic cow.

Two Pretty Girls

Betty is sharing pictures of her two pretty girls Carrie and Sevenah.

These two pretty girls are littermate sisters. They look very much alike, just like two peas in a pod.

They have been doing very well in shows, alternating wins from show to show.

The top two photos are Chu's Sevenah.

The third and fourth photos are Chu's Carrie.

Melissa and American Fuzzy Lop

In the Gridley show B, Melissa had a great time judging the American Fuzzy Lop.

The top photo is Melissa with the Best of Breed and Best Opposite Sex winner.

Though Melissa picked the senior doe and senior buck as the top winners, her favorite American Fuzzy Lop on that day was the broken junior doe. She thought the junior doe was very cute and full of potential. Two photos were taken of Melissa and this cute AFL junior doe.

Top Rex Breeders Cathy and Kristin

In the Gridley show, when judge Cathy was waiting for the rabbits to get on the table, Kristin came by to visit.

Both Cathy and Kristin are top breeders of Rex. They are usually competing for the top honor but they are also are good friends. It is the most wonderful thing to see top competitors that are also good friends with each other and appreciate each other's effort.

Cathy is the president of the national Rex club. Both Cathy and Kristin are frequent winners of Best In Show. Kristin's rabbit won the BOB in the ARBA convention in Texas last year.

Louise and Andrea

From left to right are Louise and Andrea.

Louise is the long time vice president of NCAG. She used to be very active in showing English Angora, routinely showing between 10 to 20 rabbits per show in the early to mid 90s. Her life changed around 1996; these changes caused her to be inactive in showing. Eventually she stopped raising rabbits. However, her love for rabbit friends does not stop, she continues to offer her service as a show secretary for many shows.

Andrea used to be active in French Angora. Her main focus now is in Mini Rex and in dogs. She still shows, just not Angora.

Both are still close to Angora people. Louise continues to be the VP of NCAG and Andrea continues to be a director of NCAG.

Tracy Visits Pat in So. California

It has been a long time since Giant Angora was shown in the No. CA. shows.

Tracy has decided to get some Giant Angora for show and for wool. In late April Tracy took a trip to So. CA. to visit Giant Angora breeder Pat. Pat has been a breeder and exhibitor of Giant Angora and French Angora since the 1980s. She is known to be a reputable breeder and a talented artist.

In the top photo, Tracy, Pat and Marie-Paule posed in front of Pat's rabbitry. Marie-Paule is holding a Satin Angora that she purchased from Tracy. Pat is showing off her three Giant Angora in front of her rabbitry in the second photo. The third photo is a closer look of these three junior rabbits.

Jocelyn Shows Off Her Scarf

Jocelyn is a new member of NCAG though she has been in the show circuit for a while. She is more well known as a cavy breeder. She is very artistic in creating beautiful craft items. It is a natural progression into Angora rabbits.

She has a pair of Satin Angora and now has three little ones from the pair.

In these two pictures, Jocelyn is showing off a scarf that she is making. The yarn is a blend of Satin Angora and Texel cavy. The spinning is very fine and the scarf is lacey. It's a beautiful piece of work.

In her professional life, Jocelyn is a music teacher in No. CA.

Two Lucky Rescued English Angora

Franco reports:

"We have an English Angora buck that we picked up from a re-home/rescuein Washington State. His name is Eggnog because he was born in the Christmas season. He is Tortoiseshell color.

- - - -

But he is such a goofball. Unlike many of our other rabbits who prefer

to sit and be admired, this little one is tearing across the vinyl flooring like a mad wooly ice skater.

- - - -

We have a English Angora REW Doe named Lily who is also a re-homebunny. There was a third bunny, a senior buck that went to a friend.

- - - -

We haven't had English Angoras before and these two seem to be extremely friendly, curious, and not at all afraid of the dogs. If these are examples of the temperament of the breed, then it is small wonder so many people find these rabbits endearing.

- - - -

Have a good day!"

Blizzard Shows Up A Storm

Due to some glitches with the fair rule, Satin Angora was being put into the "Other Four Class" category. There were Netherland Dwarf, Dutch, Rhinelander, Florida White, Polish, ... in the same classes.

- - - -

Tracy's Satin Angora certainly was competitive with all the other breeds. Her white junior buck Blizzard stirred up a storm for being the best typed and finished animal and won the Best of All Other Four Class and her red junior doe took the Best Opposite Sex of the All Other Four Class.

- - - -

The top photo is Blizzard; the second photo is judge Brooke posing and giving comments on Blizzard; the third photo is pretty little red princess Lacey.

French Angora Winner at the Fair

Carol has been doing really well with her French Angora lately. It was no exception at the Contra Costa Fair on Saturday, her beautiful chestnut doe took Best of Breed again.

- - - -

The photo here shows Carol and judge Brooke with the French Angora Best of Breed winner.

Carrie Wins Best In Show at the Fair Show

Summer is the fair season. There are two fairs in this area that hold one day carrying cage shows. Contra Costa Fair at Antioch is one of the two.

The all breed show judge is Brooke, one of our favorite judges. Brooke is very selective of which shows that she accepts because she is very busy in her professional life as a recruiter. We were very happy to see her as the judge at the fair.

The fair was well attended, weather was cool, people were friendly, and the greasy fair foods even tasted good.

Betty's English Angora Chu's Carrie won all breed Best In Show. Carrie is a 6-1/2 months old chocolate tort senior doe; she is as beautiful as her namesake Carrie Underwood.

Carol G.'s broken senior buck took Reserve In Show. Carol G. is in Dominican Republic with her son Adam doing volunteer work. Her buck Purdue is being held by judge Brook in the pictures.

It was a fun day at the fair.

Casey's New Bunny and Yarns

Casey shows off her new yarn and new bunny at the Gridley show.

She has been showing three white junior does. One of the

three is consistently doing better than her sisters and the judges absolutely love this little girl. Casey is showing her off in the top photo.

In the second photo, Casey shows off her new yarns. She has Angora rabbits, Angora goats, and sheep. By putting together these three types of wool, she has a very nice collection of blended yarns in light beige, dark beige, rich brown, and different shades of gray. The Woodland Mills did a wonderful job in blending and spinning. Casey is now offering these yarns for sale at a reasonable price. Contact Casey at angoracj@gmail.com if interested.

The third photo shows the collection of the yarns.

Ann's Wonderful Weekend at the Shows

Our new Oregon member Ann has good news, she says, "Well the biggest rabbit event I have going on is WHITES in the nestbox, finally! I had a litter of seven and three are whites. Attached is a photo. They are now two weeks old and it looks like I have at least one doe in the whites. The colors are going to be very dark chestnuts which I also love. Even as young as they are the satin sheen is very apparent."

Ann received her Satin Angora stock from Tracy a year or so ago. She did well when she came to the Monterey shows in April. She was in the Portland show last Saturday and her red senior doe Marion Jones took Best of Breed, picture at the top. Her buck won the Best Opposite Sex. Same results in both show A and show B. Her American Fuzzy Lop also took the Best of Breed and Best Opposite Sex in the same shows.

It was a wonderful weekend for Ann.