An Upset of Power

That's Kaptain Kitty to you!

I like a home of well-behaved animals. Most of the time, my animals comply. 

However, this Christmas we got our youngest daughter a cat from the local shelter.  They were having a kitty special so for $20 we got a spayed, vaccinated, microchipped gift of joy.  

She was a quiet, unassuming little black kitty that was an easy keeper...or so we though.

Exhibit A

After a couple of months, kitty settled in and the overthrow began. She ignored the silly dogs continuous barking to alert us of the intruder. 

She rode one dog around the house like a cowboy on a bucking bronco. Afterwards, poor Athena would huddle under the computer desk to avoid further humiliation. 

Kitty also paid no mind to our other dog's previous dominance at drinking time. She just pulled herself right on up to the waterbowl, bewildering a speechless Dan-Yell...not to mention that no animal was safe from her aerial assaults. 

Kitty also never did the normal "cat thing" of running away from the dogs. They tried their best to rid her, but she just stood fast, waiting for the right time.

Exhibit B

Then came her takeover...She gathered her troops and began to organize.  She unzipped my mobile yarn bag and deftly extracted my latest sock knitting project. With a flip of her paw, she gifted my entire ball Zauberball sock yarn to the dogs. I found Athena looking innocent with the spaghetti pile of yarn wrapped around her rabies tag. 

Later that day, the feline commander leapt atop the kitchen trash can, tossing bacon coated waxed paper to her now eager minions.

Obviously, her confidence, like all good leaders, is contagious. Today, those two dogs retrieved my favorite rabbit grooming brush atop my grooming table (which they previously respected as the "forbidden zone") using the scaffolding from our house remodel project. Unless us humans can mount an equally effective counter campaign, takeover is eminent.

I can't say for certain who did it, but while away from my computer, I mysteriously left a post on Facebook that read "==========-9989".  

The Many Faces of An English Angora

Happy Cricket     

We're not one to play favorites *wink, wink*....but, Cricket is just a doll right now.  We took a million pictures of her the other day...just because she was being cute.  And....she wins this week's award for easy keeper Angora.  Her brothers are such slobs. 

Curious Cricket    

Shy Cricket    

Bored Cricket    

Feel Like Someone's Watching Me Cricket    

Grooming Day

Terri's Stonewall Jackson (black pearl EA)         

Kelfla's Kingfish (black EA)       

We've spent the last few days grooming rabbits. Some might find this as a chore, but I LOVE grooming days.  

I wish they would pay me to run my hands through angora wool all day because I'd completely make that my career. 

The rabbits seem to enjoy it, too.  It's probably because of the dried papaya chips and tender dandelion leaves.  

A clipped Terri's Princess Grace       

Here are a few pictures from our day.

Angora 101 Webinar July 14th

www.texasangorarabbitclub.weebly.com

The Texas Angora Rabbit Club's webinar entitled Angora 101 is set for this Saturday, July 14th from 9:00am to 10:30am. Everyone has been working hard to make it a success. Our presenter will be Sasha, our current TARC President.  Sasha shows English and Satin Angora rabbits here in Texas and nationally.  She was very instrumental in helping me get started showing rabbits.  I always learn something when she's around.  

The webinar is designed to help people who do not have an Angora rabbit yet, but would like to learn more about them...and also those might already have an Angora rabbit, but are new to Angoras.  They do have a few slots left, so it is still possible to to sign up.  The webinar is free to TARC members.  There is a $5 fee for non-members.  It's only $5 to join TARC so just join and get any of the future TARC webinars for free. Click here to register. 

Juniors

Oh yes, it's hot outside, but the boys (and the one little girl) keep growing their wool inside our cooler bunny room. The kits have changed so much.  They are now 11 weeks old.  I really like how they are developing, but as with everything else rabbit. ..it's always a work in progress. 

I still haven't found our camera bag from our, now not so recent, move.  I haven't completely given up hope, though...so I refuse to buy another charger just yet.  Although, I really miss the great pictures I get when I have that camera.  For now, I have to settle for mediocre camera phone pics. 

All of the juniors are so laid back. I just love their little personalities.  The doe is particularly sweet...too bad she's not a recognized color. Although, I have thought about keeping her for my pearl line. Time will tell.  I've been working with all of them...getting them used to the blower, etc. I am excited about the fall shows.  Here's to hoping that everyone keeps on developing well!     

Summer Clippin'

Little Sun looking a bit like a Sky terrier 

Defiance checking out mom's new hairdo 

Looks like summer is here! It will be 106 degrees today and 108 degrees tomorrow.  Yuck! The Angoras are all in their climate controlled rabbit room, but a clipped down rabbit is a happy rabbit around here anyhow.  It's just too hot for all this wool.  

It usually takes me a few days to clip down each rabbit.  Most others can do this job pretty quickly, but my hands do not always cooperate. I take my time and do it in phases since my hands usually give out way before the rabbit's done.  This allows me to have a bit of fun, too. 

My rabbits humor me by parading around like little pups for a day or two while my hands recover. I've thought about getting shears to speed up the process, but then I wouldn't get to have all this fun :)

Harvesting Hershey

Hershey in coat

Patiently waiting for me to finish...sort of.

I love her round body. 

Well, I've been holding off on removing Hershey girl's coat because we have a couple of shows that I really wanted her to make.  However, Hershey decided that her coat has had enough so it was time to clip her down. I usually take a couple of days to do it as she is super dense and my hands can only take the "clip, clip" of scissors for so long before they start crying.  She was super patient as I clipped her down.  I got the top of her today.  Tomorrow I'll take off her underside wool. It gave me a chance to be reminded about how wonderful a rabbit she is underneath all that wool.  AND, gave me new motivation to negotiate a deal with DH to breed her a wee bit earlier than I had originally planned....since she's already clipped down and all.  That would give me some nice convention babies....bwhahahahahah :)

By the way...Hershey produced 5.4 ounces of yummy fiber from her top side.

Everyone Loves Chocolate

Our chocolate senior doe Hershey is once again growing wool like mad.  I'm a little worried that she will peak before mid-January when we head to Waxahatchie, but I'm not too terribly upset.  She's just so darn beautiful to me.  So just in case she blows her coat, we'll head to Cleburne to see about getting her pretty self registered.

There are eyes under there...

Hershey is a low maintenance girl.
Quick go-over with wide tooth comb and pet blower, once a week.
That's it...and she looks beautiful.  

All done.
I'm outta here!...Where's my parsley!

A Nice English Angora Grooming Resource

A partially clipped Little Sun, looking a bit like a Valley Girl.    

So far, my project has an excellent feeding program with which I am very satisfied.  Housing plans are in the developmental stages, but I have a good idea of where I am headed.  I have what I feel is a good start in regards to a breeding program and foundation stock.  BUT, if there is one area where I could use improvement, it is grooming bunnies.  I try...but one look at my hair on any given day, and you can tell that primping is not one of my priorities.

Armed with a Metro pet blower, steel comb, DoggyMan slicker brushes (in two sizes), a grooming table, and a rotating pin rake...I, at least, look like I know what I am doing.  I have been lucky to have a few more experienced folks take time to help me get started with hands-on grooming help (Thanks Sasha, Margaret, and Sara!).  I could be a top-notch "pet" angora groomer. As far as a "show" angora groomer?...I am a work in progress.  Even though my rabbits do well on the show table, there is a lot on which I can improve. I want to do right by these rabbits (and myself), so I am always on the lookout for more info. I have a grip on the basics.  It's the little things (four of them to be exact - LEGS!) that get me.  Luckily, I have nice, patient rabbits that put up with the learning curve.

I've gotten some excellent tips so far.  I use them! However, I am constantly on the lookout for more grooming tips.  I found this blog the other day.  It was on the 3rd google page for "english angora grooming secrets." It should have been on the first.

http://englishangorasareawesome.blogspot.com/

This blog, although short, does such a wonderful job of explaining grooming guidelines for the different ages of English Angora coats.  Information is clear and succinct. Plus, there is some genetic information that I found really interesting. I wish the author would write more. Maybe she could write about EA body type? That would be awesome!

That is why I like these English Angoras.  They give me a chance to work on something that I am naturally not so good at AND feed my affinity for all things fluffy.