Happy Lunar New Year

Northern California Angora Guild wishes everyone a Happy Lunar New Year.

On the day of Lunar New Year, people say, "Gong Hay Fat Choy". The phrase means "Wish you have a prosperous year". These are the four words on the red fire cracker next to English Angora tort buck Chu's Armando. NCAG says Gong Hay Fat Choy to all.

The Year of the Rat

Lunar New Year poster with a cartoon rat.

Lunar New Year poster showing the "Year of the Rat"

Jade rats sitting on gold.

Fish signifies abundance, a favorite
symbol for Lunar New Year.

An abundance of Lunar New Year treats.

More Lunar New Year treats.

The Lunar New Year falls on February 7 this year. It's the beginning of the Year of the Rat. Rat is the first animal in the 12 Chinese zodiacs. Legend has it:

The Jade Emperor called for animals to line up to be considered as signs of zodiac. The cat wanted to be the first and told his good friend the rat to wake him up in the morning. The rat decided not to wake up the cat and went by himself to the line up. Unfortunately the rat did not make the first in line; the Ox was the first. The rat jumped on the Ox and people yelled, "What a big rat!" The rat convinced the Jade Emperor that he should be the first sign instead of the Ox because no one said the Ox was big but everyone said the rat was big. He got his wish and became the first sign of the 12 zodiacs; the Ox had to settle for the 2nd place.

When the cat finally woke up and found out what the rat did, he and the rat became enemies and such dislike for each other lasted for generations and generations.

It's So Cold!

Forty five degrees below zero, that's what it looks like at Holly's yard!

We got to go pee, but let us in, hurry, we are freezing!

A few days ago, the temperature at Holly's town in Canada went down to 45 degrees below zero, 50 degrees below with wind chill.

Holly's dogs Treeva on the right with her sons, Bo-Bo on the left & Tuffy in the middle had to go out to do their thing. Within a few seconds, they begged to get back in.

Two First at Stockton

Allen judging and Danielle writing

Allen judging a broken Havana.

Four broken Havana exhibitors.

The broken Havana classes in the judging coops.

The Big Valley RA shows at Stockton claimed two first: Allen's first time of judging an open show in California and the showing of Broken Havana.

Allen was in Africa for three months. Though we saw his photos and read his reports, we were still in shock when we saw him in person. His hair is a lot longer and he lost a lot of weight, and he has a dark suntan. He judged an open show in Oregon last week but this is his first open show judging in California. One of his breeds is Havana.

Broken Havana was accepted as a new variety in the 2007 ARBA convention in Grand Rapids, see http://ncag.blogspot.com/2007/10/broken-havana-accepted-as-new-variety.html. It became eligible for showing on February 1, 2008. The show at Stockton was held on February 2, the first show that the broken Havana is eligible to earn legs.

We have here photos of Allen judging and the exhibitors of the broken Havana.

Shows at Stockton and English Angora

Big Valley RA put on a wonderful show again at Stockton. Weather is not the best but we still have fun.

Tort doe Avonah took Best Opposite Sex in show A and Best of Breed in show B; white buck Bucky took Best of Breed in show A and Best Opposite Sex in show B.

Melissa and Cindy alternate the judging of Angora in show A and show B; they did a great job.

Bunny Burrito

Six English Angora bunnies, one Angora sweater sleeve, add little poops and pees to taste. A wonderful bunny burrito is made.

Allen Guest Blogs - Memory of Gambia, Africa

To enter The Gambia, we drove through south central Senegal, with a ferry ride over the massive Gambia River into the country's capital, Banjul. People, grain, and even donkeys make the journey of export/import from Senegal to The Gambia!



After giving a 20 minute presentation to the Rotary Club of Fajara, Gambian Rotarian Omou Tall took me to a delicious dinner of Barracuda. Omou is rather famous in The Gambia, having personally pioneered and raised money to vaccinate over 250,000 Gambia children from Polio. Her story was highlighted in the internationally published Rotary magazine this past December. It was a true honor to sit hear her story over dinner. She is an amazing woman.

Most might think rabbits or goats are my favorite animal; but my true passion was fulfilled with feeding peanuts to Green Monkeys at the Ambuko National Reserve in Banjul, The Gambia. Now I understand the thrill of kids in petting zoos!

Since returning to the US, my mind is endlessly filled with memories of my study in West Africa.

During my last week, I took a journey with my host Senegalese family to the smallest country in Africa, The Gambia. The Gambia is almost completely surrounded by Senegal, except for a small coast on the Atlantic.

The Gambia was an English colony, a contrast to the French colonized Senegal. Though the two countries have been independent for several decades, they have had their share of struggles in development. In fact, in the 1980's, Senegal and The Gambia formed as one country, called "Senegambia". The union failed in 1989, and today the countries remain separate. Being an English colony, English is the business and official language, with Wolof again being the native tongue. It was strange only traveling five hours by car to a land where my own language was spoken! Actually, it was quite comforting.

While I was in The Gambia, I gave a presentation to the Rotary Club of Fajara on my idea to introduce rabbit farming as a means of feeding people in developing West Africa. Too, I snuck in some last-minute gift shopping, sampling of Gambian foods, like Barracuda, and of course, beaching!