rabbit show

Today John and I went to a rabbit show. I was not looking forward to going as it was quite cold when I got up at 17 degrees:( Fortunately, the barn was heated and with so many people in the barn it wasn't really that bad. Bruno, my older white buck took best opposite sex of variety which was thrilling considering I was only using him as a filler rabbit. It was nice to visit with fellow angora breeders.

Judge Mike Adams going over a pretty red Satin Angora.

John and I enjoying the show.

Lisa, Annette, a Satin Angora exhibitor and Annette's mom intently watching the Satin Angoras.

Mike going over an English Angora.

Patti Boston at the far end of the table and me.

This is a neck cozy that I knitted and dyed using lemon lime Kool-Aid. I donated it to the auction. I hope whoever won it is enjoying it.

My crappy yarn

My friend Betty is very frugal. She encourages me to get the most use out of my fiber, including that which I would normally throw away. I decided to save my 'second' cuts which is mostly the matted lower portion of the rabbits and spin it into what I will now call 'crappy yarn.' Turns out, this could be my new favorite yarn! It has a lot of character since it is thick and thin in various spots and it spun up very quickly. Pictured is 160 yards waiting to be washed and dyed.

Trouble

We have an office cat named Trouble who came with the kennel when we bought it 12 years ago. She is a very dramatic but loving cat who doesn't get in 'trouble' nearly as much as she use to. I found this picture to be quite funny of a cat resting her head on a mouse on a pad with a picture of a dog! The dog is now deceased but he and Trouble were very good friends back in the day.

Happy Valentine's day!

For Valentine's Day I was lucky enough to be treated to John's homemade meatloaf. Isn't he cute when he cooks? He also gave me a lovely bouquet of roses and carnations. And for dessert I made a chocolate cake from scratch, no less. I get impatient and frost too soon which led to the top sliding off the bottom but it was all fixed with more icing. It tasted pretty good!

New mittens!

Last year I had an obsession with knitting socks. Seems this year it is mittens. Mittens with angora no less. These lovely pair of mittens are an angora wool blend. The purple cuff is commercial yarn (gasp! I had a weak moment for purple angora), the darker purple contrast is commercial wool and the grey stained glass portion is from my grey rabbit Sweet pea.

A work in progress

For Christmas I received a few ounces of lovely bay black baby alpaca which is now in the form of this ball of yarn morphing into a hat. Words cannot describe how very soft it is.

How to groom a puppy

Ask any dog groomer how well they like to groom a puppy for the first time and they will probably say, "Not at all!" Puppies have the attention span of a gnat and it is like grooming a moving target. I often wonder to myself, " How in the heck am I going to make this dog look decent?" when I get a new puppy to groom. Fortunately, 13 years of experience and determination on my part get me through and I usually amaze myself that not only does the dog look good but nobody got hurt. And that's always a good thing. These are pictures of my new Bouvier puppy friend Andy experiencing his first big boy haircut.

Andy is a wiggle worm.

Andy is behaving.... For the moment.

We can be friends, can't we?


Andy is done with my services.