How about some blue otter?

This is HBB's Abe. He turns 1 year old tomorrow and is a cobby typey blue otter fuzzy lop buck. Deb Levisay graciously saved him to deliver to me at Convention this past October. Boy am I thankful! He is a nice addition to my otter project. I can't wait to get some babies out of him. He is all settled at home now and I'm planning on some does for him. He did just start getting a loose coat so I have plucked the poor guy practically bald. He looks verrrry silly. Now it should come in nice and even once the new coat grows in. The first photo is recently after I acquired him, and the second is by Deb before I purchased him.

Remember, otter is not an accepted showable color in American Fuzzy Lops. Marilyn Kohler from Blue Hills Rabbitry is the current COD Holder for the Otter Fuzzy Lop (which includes black and blue otters). Otters failed their first presentation this past Convention (KY 2008) but are to be presented in California in 2009. We are very excited and are proud to support Marilyn and her efforts. I know there are many breeders excited for this new variety. To see more photos of otter fuzzies check out this post in the AFLRC Blog.

Are you working on otters now, or are you waiting for the variety to be accepted for showing? Shoot me an e-mail, as I'd love to hear from others working on otter.

Fresno

After about an hour drive the next morning, Sunday, we were at the Fresno show. Well, sorta. See, I'm REALLY good with directions. I pride myself on my sense of distance and directions. Well, this time mapquest failed me and I was definitely lost. I ended up on the other side of the freeway looking for the fairgrounds. I've been to this show before so after driving around 7-8 miles out of the way I knew something was wrong. The issue was the fog. Yes, the central valley gets lots of it, and it's thick! You didn't know which way was up, down, if you came from that way.... If there was no fog I probably would have noticed we were in the back 40 in the farm fields! And to make matters worse, some person had 2 large german shepherds in their yard chasing cars in the fog. I wasn't going fast, yet they brushed against my car. Scariest thing ever! Too bad some pet owners have to be so irresponsible. Not only was it deadly for the dogs, but for me and my friend in the car. Anywho, after that we stopped at a gas station and figured out where we were going and made it to the fairgrounds. Turns out we weren't the only ones mixed up because of the fog. We made it on time but many others didn't. Rather to be safe and late than not safe at all, I say!

Rachelle was there (Wroyal Wreign Lops) with her English Lops (see one of her gorgeous bucks in the photo above) and a few Fuzzies. She is so sweet! I'm so happy she got back into rabbits again and have a great friendship with her. She is so funny and makes shows so fun. She has made me love English Lops so very much. Enough that I think she has me convinced to take home a show quality baby once she has one! ::grin:: We got to see Michael (Silent Springs Rabbitry) which was great! Yay! I love his beautiful COLORED Mini Lops. Their fur was so plush and vibrant. He is such a kick to be around. Amy was also there (Amy's Bunny Barn) with her Jersey Woolies. She is such a nice girl and has some great woolies. We all had Taco Bell for lunch. Yummm! I wish I could have taken more photos, but the lighting in that building isn't that great. But as always, you can view more photos from shows (I only post a couple here on the blog) at my Photo Album section of my webpage.

The results were great today, but I'll post just my top two:

Show A- Judge Allen Mesick

Lil'Bit Farms Harmony (SSD)- 1/3, BOV, BOB! HONORABLE MENTION IN SHOW!
Lil'Bit Farms Nova (SJB)- 1/4, BOSV, BOSB

Show B- Judge Randy Shumaker

Lil'Bit Farms Harmony (SSD)- 1/3, BOSV, BOSB
Lil'Bit Farms Nova (SJB)- 1/4, BOV, BOB! HONORABLE MENTION IN SHOW!

Took 4 more legs home this show. Nova... wow! He is going to do great things as he keeps getting older. I was so happy for him to win BOB at the second show.. and an Honorable Mention during BIS judging? Holy cow! That is a great honor for a buck that just turned 5 months old. I posted a photo of Nova, below, hamming it up during the show.

After another very long day we were back on the road again. We stopped for some In N Out on the way home (and I'm sick of fast food at this point!). We dragged on to Stockton, where I met Susie's mom to drop her off. Another 45 more minutes and I finally made it home. The bunnies were happy to be in their own cages for the night and were demanding some hay before bed. Ok ok, they deserve it!

I'm sure there will be another adventure soon!

Road Trip to So Cal!

On a whim, Susie (Wooly World Rabbitry) and I decided to go for a long rabbit show road trip for the weekend. We were planning on going to the Fresno show on Sunday anyways, and why not make a few extra hours trip down to the Pomona show on Saturday too. Both of us had never been to a Southern California show, so it would be a new adventure! (not like we haven't had many of those or anything!)

The drive was surprisingly nice and easy. I picked Susie up in Stockton and we drove down to Modesto to grab a bite to eat. The mall was very tempting, but we had to get back on the road. I was trying to show her my favorite restaurant, BJ's Brewery, but it was an hour and a half wait for dinner. That would put us wayyy behind. So we settled on Wendy's instead. LOL. More driving... we ended up staying in Tulare for the night, so we were around 3 hours left of driving in the morning. The city was lit up and had lots of places to eat and stay. We loaded up on goodies for the weekend and hit the hay.

The morning driving to Pomona wasn't really that bad. With a friend in the car time seems to fly by. I would have taken some photos of the BEAUTIFUL sunset over the Grape Vine, but driving + taking pictures = nothing good. LOL. I know Susie got some good ones though. It was gorgeous! The colors were amazing. It wasn't really too cold when we got to the L.A. area, which was great. The show was located at the Expo center in the very large parking lot. There is a nice covered area used for other venues, which made a nice ventilated spot for a show. I guess some exhibitors told us things are done different usually, so we all enjoyed some different things this time around. No comment cards, for one! Honestly, I didn't find it to be a bother whatsoever. It made it more important to watch your bunnies be shown so you can keep track of placings. The club provided an entry sheet and we used that to write on. It was perfect!






Our awesome friend Amber (Wonder Woolies Rabbitry) drove down to do the same warrior driving weekend that we did. It was great seeing a familiar face at the show. We also got to meet Sarah (Sarah's Mini Lops). We have been friends online for a long while now, so it was great putting a face to a name. She is such a sweetheart! And she did great with her Mini Lops!

Susie and I did awesome at the show. I know she won BOS both shows with her woolies, which is great. Here are my results:


Show A- Judge Joey Schults

Hobbs Eoin (SSB)- 2/3
Lil'Bit Farms Harmony (SSD)- 1/4, BOV, BOB, HONORABLE MENTION IN SHOW!
Lil'Bit Farms Nova (SJB)- 1/6, BOSV
Starlite's Jamba (SJB)- 3/6
THF Saynora holland doe (BSD)- 1/?, BOSV


Show B- Judge Scott Williamson

Hobbs Eoin (SSB)- 1/3
Lil'Bit Farms Harmony (SSD)- 1/4, BOV, BOSB
Lil'Bit Farms Nova (SJB)- 1/4, BOSV
Starlite's Jamba (SJB)- 4/4
THF Saynora holland doe (BSD)- Missed the class

Susie and I switched BOB/BOS each show with my doe Harmony and her GORGEOUS broken orange buck Twin Elm's Independence Day. See photo above with Judge Joey Shults!

I took home 5 legs at this show. They were the first two for Nova. This was his first weekend out besides being entered at Convention with a moulty baby coat. What a great day.

I loved meeting new fuzzy friends in Southern California. Everyone was so nice and warm and welcoming. I really wish I would have got the chance to chat with Pam some more! She is a doll! I see great success with her and her BEW fuzzies she is working on.

Susie, Amber and kids, and I packed up and followed each other to find some dinner. After getting turned around in L.A. quite a few times, we settled on a feast at Dennys! Perfect. Afterwards we all headed back up North to prepare for Fresno the next day. We ended up driving up to Tulare and stayed in the same hotel. I wanted to get as close to Fresno as I could as I knew we would be dragging the next day. Zzzzzzz.....

The end to a great week

The goodbye photo from Kentucky, while in the airport waiting for our departure flight. Sad that the week went by so very fast. But so elated to remember all of the fun I had during the week. I have made so many friends and memories to last me forever. Time to start thinking about San Diego, California in 2009. This time we wont have to fly, which will be great. I'm really looking forward to another Convention adventure!

Conv Photos- AFLRC Banquet

Ribbons for 5th- 10th placings
Bookbags for 1st-4th placers, and the plaques for BOB/BOS.

BOV and BOSV will get T-shirts mailed to them. The auction prizes. All proceeds went to benefit the 2009 National Show in Salt Lake City, UT

Conv Photos- Fuzzies in Coops

Some random photos of fuzzy lops in their coops.

(a Blue Otter in the Presentation coops!)

Conv Photos- Rabbits!

Lionheads playing.

Thiranta

A lazy Mini Lop

A vienna marked Jersey Wooly. Not entered, but for sale. Adorable!

A chunky siamese sable Jersey Wooly

Broken English Angora. This was a COD Variety up for presentation

A Belgian Hare

A gorgeous Jersey Wooly doe. I know this one actually... Dilemma!

Conv Photos- Friends

Susie C., Kristen D., Amber D., and myself after trying out Big Boy!

RH Meetup! Awww I love these guys!

Kristen and me cheesin' it up!

Susie and I waiting for fuzzies to finish judging.

Ellyn, Susie, and I. Ellyn makes the famous Rabbit Smarties!

Conv Photos- KY Derby Museum

Scenes from the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs. This was one of the best museums I've ever been to! There was loads of things to do and play on (lol). There was tons about the history of the sport, art, photos, etc. We even watched a short flick about horse racing that made us all have goosebumps and tears welling! Great great place. One of the best put-together museums I've ever been to.

Conv Photos- Churchill Downs

Our group took a backsides tour at Churchill Downs Race Park. I have always wanted to visit this place in person, so of course we had to go! To see these magnificent race horses up front and personal was amazing. And the race park itself.. every photo I took of the stands and track looked like something on a postcard. The camera could do no wrong. It's just beautiful. We got to see the stalled areas of some of the most famous race horse trainers of all time.. including Bob Baffert. Awesome! We also had an apportunity to visit the Kentucky Derby Museum. Photos of that soon!

Conv Photos- Showroom & Judging