Found On The Net: Nothing But A Hound Dog

"You ain't nothin but a hound dog, crying all the time.

You ain't nothin but a hound dog, crying all the time.

Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit,

And you ain't no friend of mine."

We all knew the song by Elvis Presley and we are glad that the hound dog had never caught a rabbit.

Elvis would have been 75 years old yesterday; he is more popular now than ever. Found on the net the dogs are playing Elvis; they are for sure nothing but a hound dog.

Beautiful Laser Cut Paper Art

Here are two images of a beautiful card made of laser cut paper design that shows good luck. The word in the middle means treasure and this card is definitely something to be treasured. We thank Yumiko for sharing this treasure with us.

Fawn And Chocolate Tort Bunnies

Fawn has a golden sunny look, light around the eyes and nose indicating that these will be the white circles around eyes and at the nostril. The two front feet show lighter color than the body color.

Chocolate tort has a honey look with brownish color around the points. No white circle around eyes and at the nostril. The front feet are darker than the body color.

Fawn has light tummy color; when grown, the tummy color is almost white.

Chocolate tort has brownish tummy, darker than the color on the back.

Betty says,

"I received quite a few correspondence asking how to tell apart the chocolate tort and fawn bunnies in the litter. At birth, the chocolate tort bunnies have shade on both sides of the head; in Chris O's words, they have 'monk head' (monks have hairs on the sides but bold on the top of their heads). Fawn bunnies are born pink, very much like the Ruby Eye White (REW); in a couple of days, the fuzz shows that they are not REW.

Clear fawn is the agouti version of chocolate tort; if one sees smuts on the fawn, it's the agouti version of the black tort (also called regular tort or just tort). In order to breed for fawn without smut, it's important to use a mate that carries chocolate gene.

The bunnies in the after Christmas litter are now 10 days old. I took photos of the fawn and chocolate tort and make a comparison above. I hope that will help visually distinguish the two when they are still in the nestbox. To see photos of them when they were only one day old, go to http://ncag.blogspot.com/2009/12/bunnies-are-hope.html"

Carol And Melissa Visit Bird Exhibit In Japan

Water garden.

Close encounters of the bird kind.

Skin eating fish.

Melissa feeding Toucan.

Golden Peasant.

Penguin.

Mardarin duck.

Masako as Owl.

Barn Owl.

Owl.

Carol G. says,

"These photos were taken at a Garden, flower and bird exhibit in Kobe. It was a fascinating place. l have never been so close to so many exotic birds. The owl exhibit was especially fascinating. They had more than 15-20 owls in captiviity and even had a show that taught us about owls (in Japanese of course) while the owls flew very very close to us.

Have you heard of the fish that will eat dead skin cells? They are used for pedicures and manicures in some places! Melissa and I tried it. Its a little scary at first when the fish swin over quickly and start nibbling your hands! There were also beautiful fushias and begonias but I enjoyed the birds the most!"

Fall Colors in Japan

Carol G. says,

"Melissa Magee and I traveled to Japan to judge the Nippon Rabbit Club Winter shows. It was such a beautiful time of year to visit Japan because the trees were in full color. There were bright red and orange Japanese maples everywhere. Two of our hosts, Masako and Koichi stand in front of a forest of colorful trees. We visited the Golden Temple in Kyoto and the garden featured fall color.

Another temple in Kyoto is open and lit at night during autumn so that everyone can enjoy the stunning fall colors."

Shows In Japan

Setting up the showroom, the floor has to be protected.

The showroom is almost ready to receive rabbits.

Ladies in Kimonos, showing or watching?

Carol judging.

It's unusual to see large breeds in Japan and here is a Flemish Giant.

Hiro works with Melissa on his judge's license.

Best In Show Netherland Dwarf.

Reserve In Show Fuzzy Lop in show A, Best In Show in show B.

Hands could be very helpful in communication.

Table help.

We have seen quite a few photos of Carol G. and Melissa judging in Japan in early December. The photos and descriptions came from the exhibitors there. Now we finally got words from the horse's mouth, Carol is giving us the perspective from the judge's point of view. We thank Carol for sharing.

Carol says,

"Rabbit shows in Japan look very much like shows in the United States. But there are key differences. For one thing, the shows are held in the cities and so rooms in nice buildings are rented. Other events are held in the same building, so you may see ladies in kimonos. Since the show is in a nice room, the show committee puts plastic down on the floor. The judging tables are set up nicely with skirts of red fabric and the judges have their names in both English and Japanese. The exhibitors are enthusiastic in their love of rabbits and there are lots of rabbit decorated clothes, even pants!

As the judge makes comments, she pauses so an interpreter can translate. Both Melissa and I found ourselves using our hands a lot to describe the rabbits' faults and good points. The judging coops were set up with a gap where we could pose the rabbit so that everyone could see what we were talking about. Most of the rabbits were smaller breeds. The most common were Netherland Dwarfs, Holland Lops, American Fuzzy Lops, Jersey Woolys, Mini Rex. There were also a few English Angoras and Mini Lops. But not all rabbits were dwarf breeds. There was a wonderful pair of Flemish Giants!

Best in Show awards were very nice. In Kobe, a Netherland Dwarf was BIS, and in Nagoya a Netherland Dwarf and an American Fuzzy Lop won BIS in the two all breed shows. "

A Little Girl's Hat And The Runnaway Bunny

Betty says,


"My rabbits produce so much wool that there's no way I could use all for myself; so I sell my rabbits' wool, I spin yarn and knit hats and scarves for sale as well. In the process, I make friends with a lot of buyers and learn what they do with the wool and yarn.


Becca bought 6-1/4 oz of tort wool from me; she said, I plan to make something for my brothers new baby girl for christmas - and give it to her along with the book "runaway bunny".


She sent me the photo of the finished hat with the book. I googled the book, here is the description:


The Runaway Bunny is a 1942 picture book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. The plot deals with a small rabbit, who wants to run away. His mother, however, tells him that "if you run away, I will run after you". The book has been in print continuously since 1942.


It's so much fun to hear from others, and I am here sharing it on our blog."