Northern California Angora Guild: 11/2/14

Working on Rabbits at Hotel Parking Lot

Carol and I spent all day driving on Wednesday, October 29. We finally decided to stop at Gallup, NM. Early morning before the sunrise on Thursday, we got up and fed rabbits. I found some of my rabbits had poopy bottoms, so I took out the chair, towel, baby powder, ... to take care of the poopers.

Quality Inn gave us a room that is suitable for handicapped occupants. It was very late when we checked in, the hotel did not expect to have more guests.

Carol fed her rabbits at night so she did not take them out on the morning of Thursday, October 30.

Just in case you are curious, there are 45 rabbits, two huge boxes with 45 risers for the convention coops, two large suitcases, two grooming tables, three chairs, two blowers,...plus everything needed for a 9-day trip. It's a miracle that all fit into my van.

My English Angoras are spread next to my van.

Some of the big coated girls need to be cleaned, it's either Franchesca or Fawntasy that is sitting on the chair waiting to be worked on.

I am sitting in my chair cleaning a white senior doe.

These buns are cleaned and fed, they are being put back to my van.

Driving to the ARBA Convention at Fort Worth, Texas

The 2014 ARBA National Convention at Fort Worth, Texas has come and gone. Betty's photos and reports are a little late. Better late than never, hope our readers are still interested in Betty's trip to and from the convention.

On the early morning of Wednesday, October 29, 2014, my 12 English Angoras are loaded into my van. On the driver's side of my van, four of the colored are visible. At the top is Fawntasy, the second carrier contains Franchesca and the bottom two-hole carrier has the colored junior buck on the left and the chocolate tort junior doe on the right.

This is the passenger's side of my van, at the top is Mackie, the middle tier has the white junior buck and white junior doe, the bottom carrier contains the two littermate colored junior does. In between these visible carriers there are three more single carriers that house white buck Jake and white does Jacee and Jannie.

Carol's Fuzzy Lops and Jersey Woolies are visible from the back of my van. The big items such as the boxes of risers and the suit cases are between the English Angoras and the Fuzzies. In front of the Fuzzies are the supplies that Carol and I needed to use during the trip. My van is filled to the top but everything we wanted to bring with us made it into my van.

After driving for several hours, we needed gas and a pee break. We stopped at a Chevron station and opened my van for the buns to have some air.

Here is a side view of some of the buns in my van at the gas station.

Stopping at this location was a big mistake. If you read the gas price on the left corner, the price is outrageous: $4.19 for regular and higher for the other grades. Along the freeway in other places, the price was in the low $3.00 range then one freeway exit later the advertised gas price was $3.05. Carol posted on her Facebook page: "Where is the cheap gas?" Cathy's reply to the post was, "Don't stop at Needles, CA!" We learned the lesson: gas up anywhere but Needles, CA.

News from the ARBA Convention

Betty reports,

I'm sorry that I am not able to upload new photos from the ARBA convention at Fort Worth, Texas. I did not bring my computer with me. Just a quick update of how my English Angoras did in the convention:

I have entries in all eight classes plus the two wool classes. Mines took first place in the six classes plus the two wool classes. Winners including white senior buck Jake, white junior doe BC1Mk, colored senior buck Mackie, colored senior doe Franchesca, colored junior buck BC3CK, and colored junior doe BC1CK. Francesca is the BOV, Mackie is the BOSB, Jake is the BOSV.

The above is a file photo of Mackie in a show.

Since I won't be able to upload photos, I'll take a hiatus until my return to California on Friday November 7.