Juniors are Hope

 

Matt is holding his young white English Angora and looking forward to its bright show career.
 

Betty is showing off her baby English Angora doe, hope to be a big winner next spring.


These photos were taken by Carolyn at the Stockton show on September 19, 2015.




 

Betty Grooms White English Angora

 

Betty grooms a white English Angora.
 

Is this the same one or a different one?

 

English Angora are so docile that they accept grooming standing up or laying down.

 

After grooming the tummy, some more grooming on the back again.

These photos were taken by Carolyn at the Stockton show on Sept. 19, 2015.  

 

Barn Cleaning 2015, Part II

 

 

 

Betty says, It's so nice to see a clean and dried barn in the morning.
 

The clean barn from the other side, the swamp cooler is the lifesaver during the summer.

 

The barn is clean and dried but there are still more cages to be flamed and power washed.

 

And the trays, ...
 

... the feeders, ...

 ... and everything need to be moved back to the barn.

 

Poor rabbits have to stay in the carrier for one more night.

 

Finally on the morning of the third day, the cages are moved back, trays slide in, water bottles hung, feeders in place, ...   After a long stay in their carriers, rabbits are ready to be moved back to a totally cleaned residence.  

A big job done with the help of hubby, I feel so relieved.



 

Barn Cleaning 2015, Part 1

 

 

 

Betty says, my empty carriers are in the garage, what does that mean?  It must be the annual big cleaning time.
 

My rabbits are occupying the carriers waiting for their residence to be flamed and power washed.

 

No matter how much I tried, the wool and hay are attached to the cages.
 

It feels guilty to use the power-washer during the drought but nothing could clean the barn better than the combination of a blow-torch and a power-washer.

 

It's all dark outside, there's not enough time to complete the cleaning of the cages and the barn.  It's not comfy but my rabbits will have to stay overnight in the carriers.

 

At least the barn has been flamed and washed, now waiting for it to dry out overnight.





 

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival

 

 

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival is held on the last weekend of September each year.  This year the Angora rabbits have a great presence due to the promotion from the NWARA. 

 

 

There is a big sign outside the Angora barn.

There are nice display of all four breeds of Angora with descriptions.
 

There is a bowl of wool ready for touching.
 

Some nice mill-spun Angora yarn for sale.

 

The NWARA club members made a big blanket with all four breeds of Angora wool, it's to be raffled off at the ARBA convention at Portland.

 

 

In addition to the rabbit and fiber display, there are two Angora specialty shows with 105 rabbits entered in each show.  Here is judge Autumn examining an English Angora.
 

These are the Best of Breed and Best Opposite Sex of Breed Satin Angora.

 

Judge Kelli awards the specialty Best In Show to Tammy's Giant Angora and specialty Reserve In Show to Heather's English Angora.


We thank Allen and Heather for supplying these photos.






 

Betty Lands on Front Page of Local Paper

 

 

 

 

Morgan Hill Times is the local newspaper for Morgan Hill, CA.   Franchesca's Guinness World Record lands Betty on the front page.
 

 

Cameraman Joe and reporter Scott visited Betty and rabbits for a couple of hours chatting and going through the trophy cases and the two barns.      Pictured with Joe and Scott is Donnica.

For an on-line post of the interview, go to:

http://www.morganhilltimes.com/news/community/record-setting-rabbit-raised-in-mh/article_c3da7acc-623a-11e5-b3fd-6b2ca7d8a6de.html





 

Mid Autumn Festival 2015

It's the Mid Autumn or Harvest Moon Festival today, the 15th day of the 8th month of the Lunar calendar, it falls on September 27, 2015 this year.  

Today is the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, more commonly known as the Harvest Moon Festival by people outside China. It is on the 15th day of the 8th month on the Lunar calendar. It is a festival celebrating harvest, similar to Thanksgiving in the US.

The 15th day of the 8th month on the Lunar calendar is the day with the brightest full moon during the entire year, thus this festival is also known as the Harvest Moon Festival.This Festival has a legend that includes a rabbit. Not as common as the other names, once a while it is also called the Rabbit Festival.

Thousands of years ago, there were nine suns that scorched the earth day and night continuously. The earth was in a plight of severe drought. A "hero", Hou-Yee, who was proficient in archery shot down eight of the nine suns, as a result he was crowned the king. Then Hou-Yee became a cruel dictator, wanting to live forever. He had miracle medicine made, with the help from a rabbit, for him that he would ingest and then he would live forever. His queen Churn-O, the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, did not want the people to suffer. She ingested all the miracle medicine, became very light and started flying. She took the rabbit with her and landed on the moon. The rabbit, Chinese referred to as "the Jade Rabbit", continuously make medicine in the moon until today. Churn-O and the Jade Rabbit live in the moon happily ever after.

Many years later, a tradition of eating "Moon Cake" was added to this festival. Here is a drawing of flying Churn-O with the Jade Rabbit on a moon cake advertisement.