Back in Richmond

I arrived home from Pennsylvania earlier this afternoon. The first order of business was to catch Calvyn AGAIN. The little brat had been hanging around the front yard eating treats from my brothers' hands all last week; she was rather surprised when I grabbed hold of her after offering her a papaya tablet. Cal is still fuming in the empty stacker in the garage, and I'm looking at different housing options for her in the future that will keep her both safe and happy.

I was ecstatic to see all the bunnies [and my puppy and kitty too, of course!]; the rabbits seemed mildly irritated by interruption of their afternoon nap, and Smokey Cat is, of course, having nothing to do with me [until supper time, that is :P]. I think Tess is the only one who missed me!

I have so many stories and pictures from these past two weeks, and I hope to do some website and blog updates soon. For now, I only have updates on what went on with the bunnies while I was away.

Tris' tumor biopsy came back, and the result was... benign! I am so pleased that my girl is fine and healthy, though she did give me a major scare! We believe that the tumor was injury caused, so there is no worrying about genetic issues.

Despite showing many signs of pregnancy, Sparta never did take, and I do not believe Tristynn is pregnant either. I want to try one last time to get Sparta bred in the near future, and then I need to reconsider what is to become of my rabbitry as I enter my final and most serious year of high school.

That's all for now; hopefully, I'll have some pictures to share on the blog soon!

Heading Out

For the next two weeks, Beau and I will be living the country life out at my aunt's place in rural Pennsylvania. I'm not sure if Beau will approve of the trip, but I'm pretty excited.

I will be pretty much unreachable until I return mid-July. Hopefully, I'll be able to update then with some fun pictures, stories, and news of Sparta's (hopeful!) litter!

EDIT: While I'm thinking of it, Tris' biopsy results have been delayed; I hope to have more information this coming Monday. She's doing very well, although she is not pleased with being cooped up in her carrier all day. She has begun to put some weight on her foot, and she tries to make a break for it every time I open the carrier. Good to see my girl is back to her troublesome self. ;)

Waiting Game

Tristynn was rushed to the vet early Wednesday morning after she very suddenly began limping the evening before during her outdoor play time. Her back right foot had swollen and she couldn't put any weight on it. While that didn't quite warrant any sort of emergency, the fact that it was so sudden scared me; she had been out playing just hours before with no problem whatsoever. I figured that at best, it was a strain, and at worst, an abscess.

Nope. Tumor on the toe.

Tris went into surgery Friday to completely remove the toe; we should hopefully have the biopsy results back this Wednesday. She made it through surgery fine, and the pain meds seem to be keeping her comfortable.

The vet and I talked for a bit Friday morning about options and what this means for Tris' future. I worry about many things: The possibility of this being something genetic, of it popping up later in Sparta or in one of her sisters. I worry about the possible kits Tris may be carrying, about how they may be affected by the anesthesia and drugs in Tris' body, and whether or not they'll survive. I worry too about Sparta's possible litter, and if this is something I need to consider when selling to show/breeding homes. But most of all, I worry about Tris herself: about her well being, her future health, about how she really doesn't need a litter stressing her out while she's sick, and whether or not this is something that's going to come back and affect her again years from now. Tris is a very special girl to me; she was my very first English Lop, bought more as a pet than anything. She and I share a close bond; she's my heart rabbit, and I don't want to loose her now while she's still so young.

Unfortunately, neither the vet nor I have any answers to my many questions just yet. When the biopsy results come back, the vet will be able to help me make decisions regarding taking care of Tristynn, and I'll be able to start making some tough choices about the future of my rabbits, my herd, and my hobby as a whole. Till then, it's a waiting game.

I'll be holding my breath until Wednesday.

Seriously? And babies.

So, today, Calvyn learned how to escape from the puppy pen.

I'm going to murder that rabbit if I ever catch her again. Ugh.

Anyway. Concentrating on the good fun stuff now.

Remember Molly, the little runty girl from last year's litter I sold as a pet?

She's now living very spoiled in her pet home... who now has a few new additions. I wanted to share a few pics, since they're so cute.

First, the two younger show girls:

Truffles and [my favorite!] Dirty Socks!

Next, the proud mama:

....I can't spell her name. :P Nancimund? Nacemen? Whatever, she's cute, and such a sweetheart. ^.^

Annnd, the seven babies!

We're guessing these two are peanuts. See the domed head? You can't tell from the picture, but they're also very small compared to their siblings.

Yep, they're Jersey woolies! Pfft, dunno why anyone would choose fuzzy dwarfs over English Lops. ;)

It was so nice to play with these little guys today, especially since it's been a bit over a year now since my last litter was born. They are so much more active and vocal than my loppies were at that age; it'll be interesting to see how they differ from the Lops in their development.

Speaking of English Lop babies... I took Tris for a date with Steve today; cross your fingers she took! She's been out of breeding for so long that I'm skeptical whether or not she'll ever kindle for me again. It's too early to tell with Sparta, but a week in and there's been no significant weight gain or personality change. Guess I'll have to wait and see.


On a completely different note, I'm hoping to get a new layout up within the next week or two. "Hoping" being the key word here. I have no idea what the actual layout will be like; hand coding is becoming increasingly annoying. I've been playing around with photo editing programs; this is all that I've got so far:

I like it, except that it's pretty unreadable. Grrr. Oh well.

Edit: I got bored with the old layout. :)

An Exciting Weekend!

I finished my SATs on Saturday just in time to race home, frantically pack the van, load up Sparta, make a quick impulse decision to bring Tris along as well, and head on my way to West Virginia. Unlike the last Charles Town show, when we drove through crazy storms and hurricane warning weather, the drive up was gorgeous and sunny. One of my favorite things about rabbit shows is the country side drives; I'm always fascinated by the rolling green fields and the like.




Charles Town was a lot of fun. Per usual, I showed in youth, as there are never any open English Lop exhibitors at that show. Tris got a 2/3, and Sparta ended up taking the breed! :) Other than the exciting placement, the rest of the night was pretty uneventful. I had fun playing with Whitney's gorgeous hare babies, and watching the 3 Rhinelanders being judged was pretty neat. After the English Lop judging, we left without sticking around for Best in Show to drive up to my aunt's place in Pennsylvania to spend the night.

We were on the road again early Sunday morning for the State College show. I couldn't believe the amount of Rhinelanders in the showroom! There had to be close to 20 of them. Many of them were just babies for sale, but still. It was so cool to see so many of such a rare breed in one place.

Baby Rhinelander love!

There were also a few Checkered Giants at the show; one of the bucks kept puddling for head rubs whenever I walked by. <3 I so want a Checkered.... sigh.

Tristynn was the first off the table in her class, but I wasn't really expecting anything from her this weekend. Sparta won her class of 3, with the judge commenting [and I quote] "I'm gonna steal this bitch." Hahaha. She got some amazing comments, and went BOS to Matt Hoffman's awesome broken buck. Matt and I actually bred the two later that day; I can't wait for babies out of them!

I didn't stay for the second show; instead, we drove to my grandparent's house over in Altoona to visit for a bit. I was able to hang out with my cousins whom I hadn't seen in a few years, so that was really nice. :) The bunnies enjoyed their time outside the carriers to loaf around on the porch.


I went on a walk with said cousins, and we snuck up on a wild bunny to snap some photos.



All in all, a very satisfying weekend, and a great close to the show season. :)

So, am I a senior now? :)

School is over! Well, techincally. I still have two exams next week, but today was my last full day at school and boy am I relieved. It's been a pretty hectic year, and I'm so ready for break.

With summer's beginning comes the winding down of the show season until fall. Tomorrow I'll be leaving around 2pm to make it up to the Charles Town show, and that night I'll be driving directly to Pennsylvania to enter in the State College show in the morning. It's a bittersweet sort of show weekend. While I'm excited to show Sparta one last time before before breeding her, I can't help but to think about how this would have been Tamale's debut since his DQ in March. Either way, it's going to be one busy weekend; the fact that I have SAT testing tomorrow morning doesn't help much. Groan.

I'm off to clean up a carrier for Sparta, and to get packed for my overnight journey this weekend. Hope to see some friendly faces at the show tomorrow!

And, just for fun/for your viewing pleasure... Tristynn! Taken about a month ago. I love her kissy face. :)

What the Hail?

Stupid Richmond weather... Today started out as a typical early summer day in Virginia: Blindingly sunny skies, 80+ degrees, and nasty 90% humidity. I spent much of the day outdoors with Tess and a friend at a nearby park, ignoring the darkening clouds forming waaaay off in the distance, and the ridiculous tornado warnings interrupting my favorite radio station.

Tess and her friend, Buddy, chilling at the park.

A few hours after our outing ended, thunder began to ripple overhead, the wind lured in the once distant ominous looking clouds, and the sky exploded with an onslaught of cold rain and smooth, glass-like hail.

The view from my front porch; everything was distorted by all the rain and hail coming down.

I've seen hail maybe a handful of times in my life, so it was a cool experience for me.

The collection of hail pellets by the porch.



More hail pieces, moved together from rain pouring out of the gutter.

One of my biggest concerns was how my herb plants would fair in the freak storm. During a brief lull when the hail quieted down for a few moments, I rushed to pull back all the porch plants and herbs closer to the house, in hope that they would be more protected. As for my small, newly planted parsley and cilantro plants, all I could do was cross my fingers they wouldn't be crushed under the falling ice.

Some of the potted plants covered in hail.

My pathetic mint plant.

The storm finally ended late this evening, leaving a depressing scene of a dark day fading into an even darker night.

New and improved view from the porch.

Cloud retreating overhead the willow tree.

And the good news is... My herbs survived!

The parsley! A little flattened, but still kicking. The cilantro was in the same condition.

Two hours without power plus an ample number of photo ops makes for one interesting evening. Let's not do it again.