Whooo Hooooo Babies, Babies, Babies!!!

TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY!!! AND I REALLY AM!!!

New Sr. girl MG's Calypso, out of Spang's Dijon was bred to Platt's Peter and was due to kindle on Thanksgiving day. She looked promising, but held out on me and decided to kindle her first litter yesterday at 12:05pm on Black Friday, 11/27/09. She beautifully and gracefully blessed me with a small rainbow of 9 Gorgeous kits!
She kindled right in front of me in the barn while I was doing chores. I came in, she was laying down vegging out, she hadn't even started pulling wool yet! She got up, hopped into her nestbox, pulled some wool, popped out those kits, covered them with more wool and was done and out in 15 minutes flat eating lunch and guzzling her water!
I was amazed and felt very honored to be allowed to witness the birth of these kits, this was a special breeding for me. I have wanted to combine Spang and Platt for awhile now and that is exactly what I did with this breeding. I had been calling it on my dry board in my barn, Calypso's Dream Litter. And boy, did Calypso outdo herself! I have 4 brokens, 3 that will be either blacks or Agoutis. 1 that I believe is a tort. 1 chestnut/copper agouti. 1 fawns. and 2 whites.
If I have a white buck he will be retained as a mate for Artanna!!
I may even keep both whites because there are simply no other whites being shown locally but my one white doe.
One of the brokens with really nice even markings is staying and is already named Black Friday, the other two broken black/agouti are lacking even nose markings, one has none, the other has one beauty mark on the side of the nose (I'm calling this one Monroe) so they are not suited for the show table.

This is going to be TOUGH litter to make choices on... Keith asked me last night, "So how many are you keeping from this litter?" and I was like "Honestly, it is way too soon to tell and I have no idea!"

Two more breedings left for this season, Expresso (black) and Raine (blue steel) and then I'm done and I will be waiting on them for a little while longer. I have to work breeding them around when we go to PA for the show. I do not want to leave first time Mom's with young kits with a sitter for days on end while I'm gone... I may wait on them until it's over.

I have started needle felting, HOW FUN!!! I wanted something to do with all this extra Angora wool that I just didn't have time to spin and I wanted to mix it up, so Felting it is! I need to get some finer gauge felting needles for the Angora but I have done some sheep wool Needle Felting on a purse I made for my 4 year old for her birthday and it came out great!
I am HOPING to felt Christmas oranments for the family for this year... We'll see!

Here are some pics, ENJOY!

Kits Growing Up!

My first litter is growing up FAST!

Daphne's lucky 7 as they are called consist of:

2 Opal Bucks (1 SOLD, 1 Retained)

1 Opal Doe (SOLD)

1 Fawn Buck (For Sale $60)

1 Broken Cream Doe (Retained)

1 Broken Fawn Buck (SOLD)

1 Chestnut Agouti Doe (SOLD)

The little Chestnut Agouti doe was bought by my own daughter, Megan Rose, who is turning 8 in late Feb. She paid 25 cents for her ;-) She HAD to pay for her and wouldn't accept me just giving her. She truly wanted her to be HER rabbit and no one elses. She will be her Youth showing rabbit.

Her name is JDV Nutmeg's Tobi. Nutmeg because I sometimes call my daughter Nutmeg and because Tobi is looking a little Nutmegish these days. Here's a picture of Megan of Tobi taken two days ago at 11 days old the day her eyes opened:

And another picture of Megan with Tobi:

Here is a group shot from two days ago, 11/20:

And a close up of an Opal kit also from 11/20:

And the whole litter from today 11/22:

I have a another litter I am VERY excited about due on Thanksgiving day, Platt's Peter (Broken Chestnut Agouti) X MG's Calypso (Fawn) who is out of Spang's Dijon.

Calypso is a SWEET doe who will be a first time Mom, Thankfully I stay home on Thanksgiving day and the few days around it, so I will be be here to keep a close eye on her, she is ADORABLE and has been hopping around her cage for a week like this:

Well in case I don't blog again until then, I wish everyone a very Happy (and safe) Thanksgiving Day!!!

BOB, BOS, and First Legs!

Yesterday was the Waltham, MA show. It was a double, plus a pet show, and there were 600 rabbits there yesterday.
To think we didn't know about the show until two days after the Taunton, MA show on the 15th, THE DAY OF CUTOFF FOR ENTRY, is shocking now considering how well we (I) did yesterday!

Show A Open I entered Artanna my REW Jr. doe and Leo my Fawn Jr. buck.

Keith entered Rain, our Steel Jr. Doe.

We did the following:

Artanna was best white as she was the only white there LOL

Nancy Platt's GORGEOUS chocolate Sr. doe did BOB and my Leo took BOS, I practically LEVITATING I was so happy.

Rain did best colored Jr. Doe, which was nice!

Show A Youth my kids were the only ones there with FA. So naturally, they did BOB with Courage, Tort Jr. buck (Megan showed/groomed him) and BOS with Expresso, Black Jr. doe (Alex showed/groomed her).

Pet class, Woogie my little nearly 4 year old daughter did 4th place and got her very first ribbon, a green one. She kept saying "It's so beautiful!" Adorable! She has gone to the barn twice today alone (it's barely 11am) to see her ribbon hanging with the others.



Show B was my shining moment though.

Judge Jim Rowland picked my Leo for BOB against a darn good amount of Nancy's rabbits and another womans, and little Artanna did BOS.

I was so honored. Nancy Platt has been breeding and showing FA for A LONG TIME. She is well known and has truly beautiful animals.

My kids obviously did BOB and BOS again in Youth.

Courage got a second look for BIS for Show A, but the judge ultimately picked someone another breed, which I cannot remember.

Leo got a second and third look for BIS for show B and my heart almost stopped in my chest but the BIS was a Netherland Dwarf buck, and Best Reserve was a Mini Rex doe.

All in all, it was an amazing day. I got my first legs for Leo, and now he needs one more as a Sr. to be GC. He weighs Sr. weight but wasn't in what I thought was the proper coat to compete with the Sr.s so I put him in Jr. since he's not 6 months until Dec. 1. Man, I should have entered him as a Sr. with how well he did. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. I have no doubt I will finish him he is just a very nice rabbit indeed.








Here is a pic of my BOB rabbit NB's Leo:

It's funny, when you have something from the time it is small and you see it everyday, you can miss that it's grown up. I find that with my children, people will see them for the first time in a few months and say "My how you've grown!" and I don't see it! This is how I felt about Leo. To me, he was still the little Jr. I saw for the first time in August :

But to look at him yesterday at Waltham taking BOB, he looks VERY grown up in the head and all that. What a little man he's becoming!

He's shy though. Nancy's BOB show A Chocolate Doe kept whispering sweet nothings in his ear and was very forward about her desire for him, and he just kept slinking further back into his hole. LOL It was a good laugh. She was practically grooming him and crawling into his hole and he was like "Help Me!"

Here is a picture of the loot we brought home from the show yesterday. 10 Ribbons in all. Boy do they look good in my barn :-D

The yellow is not from Waltham, but from my first show in Fulton, NY and little Artanna earned that for 3rd place.
Every judge that puts their hands on her loves her, yesterday in show B the judge called another judge over from their show to feel Artanna's body and she told us that she hadn't felt such a nice French body in a looong time. That was jusge Stacy something, long last name she had flown up from Florida just to judge at yesterdays show. I will get her last name off my remark cards.

I talked to tons of people and gave out nearly 70 Buisness cards yesterday.
Nancy and I talked on and off throughout the day and she is such a nice woman with only words of encouragement and advice for everyone. She kept giving me big smiles and telling me congrats.

Looks like we are heading for the Lebanon, PA show now! Can't Wait!

We're OFF to see the judges, the wonderful judges of MA!

Tomorrow we go to show! I am bringing my 9 year old son, Alex and his black Jersey Wooly Jr. buck Morphious (also from Tina, Nutty Buckeye! lol).
I am bringing 8 rabbits, TO MY SECOND SHOW! My mother and husband think I'm crazy.
I can't see anything crazy for all the Angora wool stuffed in my ears.
My motto: GO BIG OR GO HOME!
I figure it's the last show of the 2009 season, and I want remarks on all of my Jr.s, a few of which will become Sr.s over the winter and will be bred, and I want body remarks on a Sr. buck I have who just blew on me but still has the 1.5" on him to go to show. I plan to use this buck (Platt's Peter, broken agouti) for a whole generation of breeding's this winter, so I want to make damn well sure he has a nice body on him before I do that.
So, going to show are Peter, Artanna, Rain, Expresso, Leo, Courage, Trinity, and Morphious. I am MAKING SURE I have no empty holes in my carriers to bring home more rabbits, though I could use another JW doe to breed with Morphious (Shhhh! Don't tell Keith).
And Keith is not coming. It will be just Me, my Mom, and Alex. He is showing his rabbit in the JW speciality.

I might just be jinxing myself but for some reason I have a good feeling about this show. Going over Artanna yesterday, she oozes type and she has a rocking body. Her guard hairs are right 1/2 above her underwool in clear sight and they are abundant. Her butt is to die for. She poses perfectly. She is destined to be a star, I can see it. I have known enough animals to know when they have they look about them. The BLOOM. For a Jr. she is young, but she is top of her game for a young Jr. right now. I literally cannot wait to see what she does as a Sr.
Both judges in Fulton told me she was one to watch and was a "keeper".
I could see the look on Ms. Helen Bose's (the judge) face when she had my doe in her hands, she saw it too! She winked at me when she gave her back!

Anyway, New Englanders, you better watch out! Joie De Vive is coming to show and we are going to win!
Okay maybe not, but the optimism never hurts right?

And my motto again, GO BIG OR GO HOME!
Well I'm going big baby. Let's see how we do!
Updates tomorrow. Hopefully pictures!

I HAVE A LITTER!

My first French Litter is here!
Gay's Daphne became a Mama to lucky 7 on 11/9/09, THE DAY SHE WAS DUE! What a good girl!
This doe is a superb mother and so laid back. The litter can be seen in my blog header pic and below :-)
I got two brokens from the mating, a broken fawn and a broken cream who is staying right here and it looks to be a doe at first sexing but I will keep either.
The name will be JoieDeVive's Creme Brulee.
I also got 3 Opals, a self Fawn, and what looks to be a chestnut or copper agouti.

Here they are, Daphne's Lucky 7!

Day one.




Day Two:
All my buns in a row...

Opal :-)

All three lights, Top to bottom:

Fawn, Broken Fawn, and little Creme Brulee :-)

More coming, blogspot is acting up on pic uploading.
NOT a shabby color assortment at all for my first litter, Thank you very much Tina for putting this mating together for me and making it possible for me to bring home this lovely doe!
I will be retaining the bkn cream, one opal, and the chestnut/copper agouti who is destined to be my nearly 8 year old daughter Megans youth show rabbit, JoieDeVive's Tobi, who looks to be a doe right now.

That girl is going to be something I know it. She will be 8 in Feb. and while she DRIVES ME ABSOLUTLY INSANE on a daily basis with her attitude problem she would make someone an awesome barn manager in the future.
She could run my rabbitry with no help, I would trust her completely to fullfill the duties of feeding/watering/haying, etc. She knows exactly who gets what feed on what day, with which supplement, and how much hay. Keith doesn't even know that.
She knows how I like my cages cleaned, how I like my barn swept out, how to groom and blow, etc. And she has no problem delegating duties to others and telling them how to do things. In the rabbitry she is a machine. I just wish she would clean her room!
When I was a little girl I was horse CRAZY. By the time I was 15 I was managing a 30 stall farm and teaching riding lessons in English. I was in charge of ordering inventory, making sure the places were kept in pristine condition, hiring farm hands and grooms, exercise riding horses, leading public trail rides, organising shows, etc. I have always been very mature for my age, we'll just say that.
So, when I look at her and I see that kind of leadship and raw talent, I know exactly where she got it from and I have a feeling that if I start my kids in the rabbit world early on, they will be able to do great things for it as they get older.
She also happens to be horse crazy and would love nothing more than to have her own pony (I'm working on it, shhhh).
I can see this becoming a whole family hobby, which I would love.

First Litters On Their Way and Fulton Show!

My first two French Litters are on their way, due in 7 days! I'm so excited!!!
Hot Rod Chevy and Daphne on my site.
http://www.joiedeviverabbitry.webs.com/

Stay tuned for pics :-)

Chev is a firecracker, she's been doing the nesting dance for several days now, hopping around in an elegant bunny ballet with great mouthfuls of hay tufting out both sides of her mouth. Adorable.
Daphne is big as a house. Can't wait to see how many she produces. We're taking bets over here. She is so calm. No nesting on her part yet!


I did my first rabbit show. I jumped the hurdle and hit the ground running. I was scared to death and when I put my Jr. REW doe on the table for the very first time Keith said I turned a shade of green and he was right behind me rubbing my back and whispering in my ear that everything was OK.
I was right on the cusp of either puking or balling my eyes out. I had visions of everyone hating me for upchucking on their rabbits and being tossed out for ruining all of that wool.
But then the judge grabbed my little doe and the sick feeling went away like it had never been there and everything in the universe was perfect for just that moment. It was like Nirvanna. I got a taste and that was it, like a fine drug I was hooked after my first sample.
My cheeks flushed and I was revitalized. I had a burst of energery. I was giggly. I was high. I made it threw the entire day without a single Kolonopin. It may not seem like much to anyone else, but when you have severe Social Anxiety Disorder, and Depression, and mild Agoraphobia and struggle to even call and order a pizza or check your own mail or answer your phone or put your trash out, doing a rabbit show and literally having your animals judged in front of you is the scariest thing you could possibly do, not to mention meeting all those new people and battling the "New Kid In Town" feeling. I'm not one to brag, but shit, I am PROUD of myself!!!
It didn't matter ONE bit how I placed that day. I rode a high that no one could have brought me down from. I did get my first ribbon with my Jr. REW doe in the Angora Speciality, she placed 3rd. You would have sworn someone handed me a publishers clearing house check for a million dollars. My yellow ribbon is displayed proudly as a marker of just what I overcame that weekend.

I want to Thank my freakin' AMAZING husband Keith without whom I could have never gotten over that fear, his constant reassurance was the main reason I went and did it. I love you so much Keith, more than you'll ever know. You are such a patient soul. You give me strength.
You are the Peanut Butter to my Jelly, and the Fruit to my Loop. My soul mate and better half. We've been together 10 years now and I hope we make it at least another 10 more without killing eachother. It's been an adventure babe.

I also wanted to say Thank You to Tina and Scott Vance from Nutty Buckeye Rabbitry in OH who drove 9 HOURS ONE WAY to come to the Fulton Show and show by my side. That is a true friend if there ever was one. You two will never know how grateful I am for coming out here to hold my hand through my first show. I know I wouldn't have gone if you hadn't come. Who knew that back in July when I first e-mailed looking for FA to buy that I would meet someone who could turn out to be such an amazing friend in such a short time?
I really adore you.

The outpouring of support from my husband, Tina and Scott, and my Mom who also came with us and knew how important it was for me to jump this hurdle- was so overwhelming that when we got back to our hotel room I completely broke down in tears for a long time. I have felt s0 tossed aside and forgotten so much in my life that I simply didn't know what it felt like to have so many people actually give a crap about me and want me to succeed at something.

When we drove back to RI on Sunday morning I left NY with my heart warm and full and our truck stuffed to the gills with rabbits and goodies. It was such a good trip for me, it did me a world of good.

And now I cannot wait for my next show on November 15th :-D

Who knew rabbits could be so healing?