Northern California Angora Guild: 3/14/10

Separated At Birth?

Judge Cliff.

Exhibitor Todd.

At Myrtle Point, we met Todd for the first time. People were astonished at his resemblance to judge Cliff Dick. Todd thought we were joking until he saw Cliff's picture, Todd said, "That's my twin brother!"

What do your think? Twin brother? Father/son? Uncle/nephew? They certainly look alike except for hair length and age difference.

Dawn and Alicia Are The French Angora Winners

Alicia's broken French Angora doe took four BOB out of five shows; the grandma of this young senior doe won one BOB. Dawn is the owner of the grandma and the breeder of the young senior doe that is now owned by Alicia. Two very happy exhibitors. Alicia is wearing a set of hat and scarf made by Betty.

Though Dawn has been working overtime at her job and busy being the superintendent of this show, she had the time to do some antiquing. Look at what she found? A beautiful antique spinning wheel for a very reasonable price. Another Angora breeder estimated that this wheel is worth 4 times of the value of what Dawn paid; that puts a big smile on Dawn's face. Needless to say that Betty is quite envious of Dawn's skill in spotting a treasure.

Ava Wins All Breed Best In Show on Sunday and Specialty Best In Show

Ava wins Specialty Best In Show under judge Josh.

Left to right: Betty with all breed Best In Show English Angora Chu's Ava, judge Joy and Molly with her Reserve In Show English Lop.

Judge Rusty is the breed judge in show D; from his facial expression, he seems to be very happy with the rabbits in front of him.

Judge Rusty poses with writer Vanessa. Vanessa and mom are Mini Lop breeders who will be driving from Oregon to Ohio for the Mini Lop National in May.

Sunday was the last day of the three-day show at Myrtle Point, Oregon. Show D was the final all breed show; Ava won her second all breed Best In Show under judge Joy and a very nice English Lop was pick the Reserve In Show. The night prior, she also won the specialty Best In Show under judge Josh.

Betty says,

"The driving up to Myrtle Point was challenging; as soon as I arrived there, the warm reception just melt away the frigid temperature. Dawn's wonderful hubby specially cooked a piece of salmon for me, absolutely delicious. Just for that salmon, it's worth the trip.

My two tort does alternate the wins under excellent judges from WA, FL, TN and OR. Ava won all breed BIS twice and specialty BIS once while Mesa won all breed BIS once and all breed RIS once. Needless to say, I am very proud of my girls.

My drive home was uneventful, and that's the way I like it. It was dry and sunny most of the way; I made it home in 9 hours and 20 minutes.

There will be more photos posted."

Mesa Wins All Breed Best In Show and Reserve In Show on Saturday

Mesa sitting pretty on her stand.

Judge Josh awards Best In Show to Judy's Rex in show B on Saturday.

Mesa wins Reserve In Show from judge Josh.

Judge Jim is the breed judge in show B.

In show C, Mesa wins Best In Show from judge Rusty.

Tracy's Champagne gets a Reserve In Show award from judge Rusty.

Angora breed judge in show C is judge Vern.

The two all breed shows held in Myrtle Point, Oregon were designated show B and show C.

Chu's Mesa was the big winner on Saturday, winning Reserve In Show in show B and Best In Show in show C.

Ava and Mesa switch places in shows regularly; they are so close that it's hard to say which one is better than the other.

Best In Show in show A went to a Rex shown by Judy and Reserve In Show in show B went to Tracy's Champagne. Pay attention to Tracy, she will be a new judge in CA in the recent future.

Ava Wins All Breed Best In Show in Show A on Friday

Ava on the grooming table.

Left to right, Todd with RIS winner black Satin, judge Jim from Florida, Betty with BIS winner English Angora.

Judge Jacob from WA is the breed judge for show A.

The Myrtle Point, Oregon show weekend started on Friday night, it's designated as show A. It started after the delicious potluck, ended around 10:30 pm.

English Angora tort senior doe Chu's Ava took all breed Best In Show; she has won a Reserve In Show in Santa Rosa in January. This is her first all breed Best In Show.

Reserve In Show went to Todd's black Satin. Todd resembles judge Cliff so much that we all wanted to call him little Cliff! The Satin was born in CA, bred by Rita who graced our blog with her own BIS and RIS many times.

The breed judge Jacob is from Washington and BIS judge Jim is from Florida.

Where Is This?

Where is this snow scene? North Dakota? Wrong, Try California!

Betty says,

"I had such a great time at the show in Myrtle Point, Oregon last year that I looked forward to going again. I had a motel reservation months ahead, and then kept on checking the weather forecast. Up to the entry deadline, weather forecast seemed to be very nice: sunny on Friday but shower on Saturday and Sunday. Then the forecast changed to shower on Friday and Saturday but sunny on Sunday a few days before the show.

Fine, I thought, I could drive in the rain. It's 9-1/2 hours, according to Yahoo map.

Friday morning, it was dry at my home. I got up early, loaded up my rabbits and was out of my garage quarter to 7 am. The first show was scheduled to start at 6 pm on Friday night and a potluck to start at 5 pm.

A few hours on the road, it started raining. I expected that. About 300 miles from home, I looked at my windshield, it did not look like rain and my windshield wiper was screeching. It just dawned on me that it was snow!

SNOW!!! It's no big deal for those who are used to it but I had not driven in the snow; my van is a regular van, no 4-wheel drive, no snow tires with special traction, and I don't carry chains. It got worse and worse; I was freaking out. Should I continue the next 250+ miles or should I turn back to go home? I found an exit and stopped to call Dawn, our fellow Angora breeder and the show superintendent. She said, no snow at Myrtle Point but it's raining. She's driving, could not look up the weather condition for me until about 1/2 hour later. I called hubby at home, he got on Internet to check on the satellite map. There are spots of snow, he said, but it's not all the way. Turning back and going ahead would encounter about same amount of snow, just drive slowly, he advised. Dawn called back a bit later and gave the same suggestion. I went ahead and continued the trip.

I made it to the showroom in 10-1/2 hours, even in time for the delicious potluck.

Was it worth the experience of driving in the snow? Your bet. I had a great time and my two tort does won 4 BIS and 1 RIS out of five shows! Pictures will be posted starting tomorrow."