Barbara Takes Little Olivia Home

Betty says,

"Barbara and I have known each other forever. She has had bunnies from me when I was breeding all the fawn bunnies from Bubbling Champagne and her offspring.

Barbara and Kevin do not breed; they enjoy having one or two bunnies as house pets. The bunnies are totally spoiled. They have been members of NCAG since they have their first bunny, that's at least 15 to 20 years ago.

One of their two house bunnies, Oliver, passed away a few months ago. Stanley, the remaining one, has been lonely. Barbara came to me and chose Olivia who looks and behaves like Oliver.

Olivia is going to have a very comfortable life."

Canadian Geese In Morgan Hill

Morgan Hill is an animal friendly town. There are dog parks for dogs to run, ponds for migrating birds to rest and city codes are reasonable for animal lovers.

Instead of migrating, many birds decide to call Morgan Hill home. There are flocks of Canadian Geese freely swimming in the pond, flying in the sky and resting on the grass. Nature and development co-exist harmoniously in this town.

Scarf From Cat Fur

Candy's fine spinning and knitting are not limited to Angora and sheep wool. Here is a scarf that she made from gray color cat fur; she says:

"I made this scarf and little skein from cat fur. This was a custom order. I don't know what breed the cat was. The cat has been gone for a few years, and the customer now has a very nice memento. Surprisingly, the cat fur spin very nicely - a lot like Angora rabbit. I spun it very fine and did a Navajo 3-ply to give it some body. I didn't blend it with anything. It is 100% cat fur. It made a very nice yarn and scarf."

Candy's Angora Craft Booth

Most of the Angora breeders are interested in fiber things. Candy's Angora items are known to be beautiful and well made. She specialized in fine yarn and fine knitting. She has good sales during this past Christmas season. It's very kind of her to share photos of her booth in a craft show; we can all learn something from it. Her story about the felted hat is especially interesting. Candy says,

"The top three photos are of my booth, showing some of my Angora items.

I don't know who the woman in the last photo. She bought this hat I had for sale. I made the hat from 1 ply of Angora and 1 ply of Suffolk sheep wool that I had spun. I dyed the yarn red. I knitted it very large to felt. I didn't know at the time, that Suffolk doesn't shrink and felt - or very little. And Angora is very variable - some felts easily, and some hardly at all. I washed that hat at least 7 times with very hot water, cold rinse, in the washing machine, longest cycle, and dried it in the dryer. I spent an hour needle felting on it. Still it was big and floppy. I put the pin on the front to hold up the floppy brim. I hoped there would be a perfect person for the hat, and there was! She looked so cute in it, I had to take her picture. "

Allen At Home, Part II

While I was in Senegal last year studying, we had a litter of Italian Maremma puppies. This is baby Milan and her brother (now owned by Trina Carlson) last Fall when they were newborns. Trina purchased Milan's brother to protect their San Jose ranch from Mountain Lions, Coyotes, and other predators to their flock of sheep.

In this picture, puppy Milan, now grown up, watches the newborns with a watchful, loving eye.

At 2,800 feet, Black Mountain stays sunny and above the dense Fresno fog. In this picture, fog rolls up the mountain in the afternoon behind the doe and kid pen.

Mama Angora goat with her two "early" or may be "late" kids.

Kids.... Fall? Yes, we have baby Colored Angora Goats this fall on Black Mountain! Last spring, we had several does that did not breed. When we went to the Estes Park Wool Festival for the National Colored Angora Goat show, we corralled all unbred does and ONE yearling buck in a single pen to make feeding easier for our caretaker. Of course, we had no intention of breeding the does with the buck; it was simply a convenience pen for our trip! Well, five months have passed... and while I was in Japan, Randy sent me an e- mail, "You're never going to believe what I found this morning in the pasture: twins!" We were pleasantly surprised with two healthy twins, a brown boy and red doe. The mom is taking very good care of them, even if she is a little early... or is it late? In this picture the kids find a hole that our Italian Maremmas have dug in the ground. The find shelter and sleep in the hole at night with mom by their side. Our "farm dog" Cali (Boston Terrier) looks at the kids with amazement thinking, "A little early?"

Our barn.

Allen At Home, Part I

Our farm on Black Mountain is at 2,800 feet. Fresno has had dense fog,non-stop for the past two weeks nearly. Yet, because of our elevation, we have enjoyed beautiful sunshine! This picture was taken this morning when I woke up. The fog blankets the entire central valley, with just a few peeks from lower foothills emerging from the fog.

Cami is Cali's daughter. She will be one year old in February. She loves to go to shows. Cody Ambrosino is her best friend at the shows!

Cami encore.

Cali and daughter Cami came to watch me taking pictures with their usual curiosity. They paused for a second to kiss. Bostons are always full of love!

We are used to seeing Allen in shows and in foreign countries and places. Allen is providing some of his home photos and captions. Thanks for sharing.

Puffy On Leash

Puffy lives with Thevee in Washington DC as her companion rabbit. She lives a good life as a pet bunny.

She lives inside most of the time; when she's exercising outdoors, she is on leash. The four pictures were taken recently and the last picture was taken when Puffy was a junior.

Puffy is a chocolate English Angora bred by Betty; she has just celebrated her one-year-old birthday.