The Great Alaska Vacation for Randy and Allen

Allen had a great time in Alaska, he reports,

"Randy and I spent a week in Alaska in early August. Randy was hired to judge the Fairbanks Fair, so we decided to make a vacation out of his judging assignment.

I had just spent a week in Connecticut; I flew from Hartford to Alaska, and met up with Randy in Anchorage. After arriving late, we spent the night at a friend's house in Wasilla. The next day, we drove to Whittier, a small, isolated town in the Prince William Sound. In fact, you have to travel through a 3 mile tunnel to get into the town.

We ate delicious Alaska Halibut for lunch on the bay, and then headed to Seward. In Seward, we went on a Halibut fishing charter. I have never fished seriously before, so this was new frontier. Of the 18 people on ship, I caught the biggest Halibut, weighing in at 40 pounds! Randy and I both caught two (the limit), and Randy also caught 2 Silver Salmon.

After fishing in Seward, we drove south to the Kenai River for intense Red Salmon fishing. Randy Cler, ARBA Judge, joined us for two extreme days on the Kenai. Red Salmon were swimming up river to protected spawning areas, and these few weeks in the summer make excellent Red Salmon fishing. For a "non-fisherman", I caught 4 huge Salmon on Day 1 and 6 on Day 2! In fact, I caught my limit of 6 Salmon over an hour before my expert counterparts (Randy and Randy) caught theirs! So, I sat on the bank and admired my catch.

After fishing in the Kenai, we drove north to Fairbanks. The fair hosted three judges, and hired the Butlers from Ohio to judge as well. Working on my license, I jumped at the opportunity to work with veteran Judge #401, Al Butler. Being a Fair, a lot of time was available for slow judging and teaching. It was a great experience, and I got to work with a Belgian Hare with Mr. Belgian Hare, Al Butler!

The remaining days of our trip included a 12 hour tour of Denali National Park. We traveled deep into the Tundra on a! bus, an d saw huge moose, brown bears, black bears, and countless small wildlife. At the end of the tour, we visited Fannie Quigley's cottage. Fannie was a gold pioneer in the early 1900's, and was the first woman pioneer in the Alaska territory. On the last day, before our flight, Randy and I slipped one last fishing experience in at the mouth of the Knik Glacier. It was a gorgeous morning, and Randy caught 2 Silver Salmon.

In all, Randy and I brought home 14 Salmon, 4 Halibut, and 1 Rock Fish. We love seafood, and will be living off our "catch" for years! Not to mention, I have added "fishing" as a new hobby!"

Rose and Her Future Daughter-in-Law

Rose is not a show person, but she always has a rabbit in her home. She has had English Angora from Betty, but the last bunny she had was a French Lop. Recently her French Lop passed away and she is interested in having an English Angora again.

For Rose, it is a natural combination to have an Angora as a pet because she likes spinning and knitting. She would go to Monterey Fair for the wool auction almost every year. This year she went to the Monterey Fair with her future daughter-in-law Rebecca.

The top picture is Rose with Betty and second picture is Rose with Rebecca.

Melania's Acting Role

Chu's Melania was the winner of the Colored Junior Doe class in the 2004 ARBA convention in RI. She won a lot of shows and produced some very nice offspring; her daughter Melea and her sons Mario and Emmitt are all grand champions. Mario won the colored junior buck class in the 2006 ARBA convention in Fort Worth.

Recently Melania has a different role. She now assumes the identity of "Araminta", telling the story of a new romantic book "Silver Master" by best selling author Jayne Ann Krentz.

Melania/Araminta's story telling video is on Jayne's website:

http://www.jayneannkrentz.com/

The video is also on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-I8PdKu74A

For more details of who is "Araminta", go to Jayne's blog post:

http://www.runningwithquills.com/2007/09/jayne-castle-announces-silver-master.html

Jayne used to live in Northern California; she received undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of California, Santa Cruz and San Jose State University. She is a highly successful author whose books are routinely on the bestseller list. "Silver Master" is currently #10 on New York Times list. She and her husband now live in the Seattle, Washington.

Allen Works at the Alaska Fair

Allen sends in his experience of working at the Alaska fair in August:

"Randy and I spent a week in Alaska in early August. Randy was hired to judge the Fairbanks Fair, so we decided to make a vacation out of his judging assignment.

The fair hosted three judges, and hired the Butlers from Ohio to judge as well. Working on my license, I jumped at the opportunity to work with veteran Judge #401, Al Butler. Being a Fair, a lot of time was available for slow judging and teaching. It was a great experience, and I got to work with a Belgian Hare with Mr. Belgian Hare, Al Butler!

I did not know Al too well, but was anxious to work with a veteran Judge. Not to mention, Al is from the midwest, and opening my eyes to a regional views of rabbit judging is helpful. Al Butler has raised many, many breeds; but, he is most famous for his Belgian Hares and Tort Dutch. You can imagine how excited I was to find out that one Belgian Hare was entered in the show! Al worked with me for a long time, teaching me different methods of posing these delicate, beautiful rabbits. Learning how to properly handle Hares is far more important than pretending to look like one can pose one! My time with Al was outstanding, and I was honored to have worked with him. Al and his wife are retiring their licenses at the end of this year."

Allen's Journey to Becoming A Judge - Working in MA

Allen started working on his 8-show requirement in late July. By Labor Day, he has already completed 7 of the 8 shows. In addition to his speed of working on the requirement, he had the opportunity to travel to different parts of the country to work under different judges. Here is his experience working in MA in August:

"I spent a week with family in Connecticut. It was my first summer trip back to New England since I moved five years ago! I had a great time! While back, I took the opportunity to work with an early mentor of mine, Judge #238, Paul Jergelonis from MA. Paul got his license when he was just 15 years old, and has been respected nation-wide for decades. Seven years ago, while still in youth, Paul disqualified 9 of my 12 American Fuzzy Lop entry at a show for too much ear control. I was FURIOUS, and spent the next 8 months ignoring him at shows. Nevertheless, I knew I had a problem with my rabbits. Though at the time I did not want to admit he was right, I culled hard for poor ear carriage. One and a half years later, I took four Fuzzy Lops to the Convention in Peoria. This was my first year in Open. Of my four, three won their class, and I took BOB and BOSB. A year later, I took BOB at the Wichita Convention as well. I respect Paul for having the strength to disqualify my entry, and the instinct to trust that I would look beyond a bad day, securing a strong future in the hobby. Paul was honored, and probably surprised, when I asked to work under his supervision at the August 4th show in Topsfield, MA. It was an awesome experience."

Holly Wins All Breed Best In Show and Reserve In Show

Great news from Canada: Holly just came home from double all breed shows and her English Angora won all breed Best In Show in the first show and Reserve In Show in the second show.

The top photo shows the winners: HHR's Porscha on the left and HHR's Noel on the right. Porscha won Best In Show under judge Sheri Wenzel and Noel won Reserve In Show under judge Mark Fronning (in the second picture). Porscha and Noel are littermate sisters; their parents are Chu's Vance and Chu's Eqadora. The third picture is three-month-old white buck HHR's Romeo who won Best Opposite Sex in both shows. Though there are plenty of other bucks in the shows, Romeo won hands down for his excellent type. Porscha also won the "Breeders Choice" award.

Highwayman Remembered

Lorena says,

"I just wanted to let those that knew this incredible character, Highwayman, that he died on Friday evening of unknown causes. Highwayman was the '06 RH of the Year, BIS RH Nationals and was on the cover of Domestic Rabbits in June '06.

Highwayman was just a month short of 2 years old. One of his best features was his great bone and leg extension, but did not give the appearance of being heavy bodied. A RH doe that runs the table well runs on her toes, I remember that as a young junior I always though he was a doe because he ran on his tippy toes and not flat footed like the other bucks.

He had 9 legs that are hard to come by for a Rhinelander, 3 of those were won in AZ and 1 in WA. He was the 2006 Open Rhinelander of the Year and BIS Open Rhinelander Spring Nationals; his points alone probably contributed 2/3 of my points earned to win Open RH sweepstakes in 2006.

His mother is the RH pictured in the new ARBA standard. He had such a powerful stride that in his 30" deep cage, he would take one hop and skid into the front of his cage when I walked into the barn, he just wanted his face scratched.

In addition to his show career, he sired many show winners with his partner in perfection, Sparrow."

The top picture is Highwayman; the second picture is Lorena with his daughter that won Best of Breed at the 2006 ARBA convention in Fort Worth.