Ray and His Better Half

Ray is waiting to judging the next breed. Theresa is busy working on her laptop.

Theresa is in the graduate program of Education at California State University. She is teaching and working for her master's degree at the same time. We could see her being with Ray in shows but working really hard on her school work.

Mystery Subjects?

Grand Champion white English Angora buck Chu's Callaway and his future wife took a Continental flight to join well-known mystery writer Susan in New Mexico. http://www.susanslater.com/

Susan has had experience with raising and showing Rex in the past; now that she has retired from one of her jobs, she will have some time to start raising and showing English Angora.

Will we see a mystery book with a smart English Angora as a helper to solve a crime in the near future?

American Fuzzy Lop At the Fair

At the Monterey Fair, American Fuzzy Lop had a good showing.

In the top photo, Ray judged the all breed show. From left to right watching the judging are: Jenny, Carol G., Christina G, Mary and Tausha. Carol G.'s rabbits took Best of Breed and Best Opposite Sex.

In the second photo, Randy judged the specialty show with Allen working alongside. Carol G. took comments. Carol G. took Best of Breed and Christina took Best Opposite Sex. The third photo is mom Mary and daughter Jenny, a team in their rabbit habit.

All had a great time at the fair.

Sandy Remembered

Sandy was a stray in the animal shelter in Taiwan over 10 years ago. Though she was dirty and sickly, it was love at the first sight for Raykun and hubby Yung An when they visited the animal shelter.

They adopted Sandy and nursed her back to health. A few years later when they moved from Taiwan to California, they flew Sandy with them to their new home. Sandy was their constant companion and loved more than any animal could have ever received.

Sandy passed away on Sunday but she lives in the hearts of Raykun and Yung An forever. The top photo is Sandy, and the second photo is Raykun with Sandy in December 2006. Raykun is wearing a hat and a shawl made from Sandy's hair.

Monterey Fair 19 Years Apart

Betty has been going to Monterey Fair for more than 20 years. Here are two photos taken 19 years apart.

The top photo was taken in 1988. From left to right are: judge Bobbie Meyer, Allison Z. with her Reserve In Show winner French Lop, judge Doug Tschantz, Betty with her Best In Show winner English Angora blue junior doe Chu's Jessica Venus.

At the very left corner with a Netherland Dwarf is Shannon B. who was the ARBA Dist. 2 director for several years in the 1990s and at the very right is Charles, the show superintendent. Shannon B. is no longer in rabbits and Charles had since passed on.

Bobbie has retired her judge's license a few years ago; Allison is now in her 30s and married, not keeping rabbits herself but her mother Chris Z. is still actively showing and judging. Doug is still judging and Betty is still actively showing. Jessica Venus won the Best of Breed English Angora in the 1988 ARBA convention in Madison, Wisconsin three months later.

The second picture was taken this year in 2007. From left to right are judge Ray, Betty with her Best In Show rabbit English Angora choc tort senior doe Chu's Sevenah and judge Randy.

How much is the change?

Karla's Twenty-One Year Service at the Fair

Karla has been working and volunteering at the Monterey County Fair for 21 years. She is pleasant, able and helpful. We are very fortunate to have her.

In the top photo, Karla and Randy are talking about the breeds that Randy is going to judge in the early morning. In the second photo, Karla is posing with Nancy and Richard, long time Jersey Wooly breeders.

In the third photo, the show is winding down. Karla and two other volunteers work on the paper work after the show.

Without volunteers like Karla and others, we would not have such an enjoyable experience at the county fairs.

Randy Teaches Allen to Judge English Angora, Part III

Here are a series of photos of Randy and Allen trying to decide the Best of Breed and Best Opposite Sex of Breed among the four top place rabbits.

Two of them went back and forth, went through each rabbit over and over. They compared the fine points of each rabbit on their body, density, texture, evenness, finish, ...

Finally they decided on the colored doe as the Best of Breed and the colored buck as the Best Opposite Sex.

After a long 2-1/2 hours, Randy and Allen finished judging 27 English Angora. It is believed to be a record: the longest time for 27 rabbits to be judged. In a regular show, Randy could judge these 27 rabbits in about half an hour. He took 5 X time to do the teaching.

In the top two photos, we could see Allen smiling with a big grin after the winners were picked. Allen will be a terrific judge for English Angora with such an intense and thorough lesson.

Randy and Allen proceeded to work on Satin Angora and American Fuzzy Lop. They worked on these two breeds thoroughly as well. Allen used to be a breeder of American Fuzzy Lop; he won the Best of Breed in the ARBA convention in 2002 and 2003 with the same doe. Though he is now a breeder of Netherland Dwarf and Mini Rex, he is quite familiar with the American Fuzzy Lop.

The colored English Angora doe that they picked as the Best of Breed went on to win the Best In Show.