Updates

I've had the flu for what seems like forever, but I think I'm starting to be on the mend. I have to keep taking advil to keep the fever at bay, which makes for some sporadic work. I did get a picture of my agouti baby this morning with its eyes open. I think it is a doe, but that is probably just wishful thinking, so hard to tell at this age. If it is a doe, when it is old enough I'll breed it to Danny who I know carries chocolate. I've rebred Sunny (tort) to Nimbus to check the color he carries. Nimbus is one of Suzanna's boys and thus my primary line to add size to these new colored pure germans. Thunder's father Edison was quite large, but Thunder is not that large. I've got several bucks that did not get much size, seems to be a common problem in the germans as well as the giants. Not the problem with Suzanna's boys though as all of them are 10lbs! I think Suzanna may have taken with the last breeding I sure hope so, I need a doe out of her. Poor Lola miscarried, I guess she is not meant to be a mother. Well back to work, trying to catch up a bit.

Baby Update

New pictures of Zephyr's litter, still 7 although the choc agouti is smaller than the rest, I'm giving this little one some extra mommy time each day, but doesn't seem to help much. I would move it to the other litter, but I'm afraid those big kits would push it out as well. Better to let nature take care of itself sometimes. The fawns are showing some nice clear color, I'm anxious to see how they mature.

Also posted are pictures of April and her growing litter of 4, she has the very protective instincts of her grandma Windy, she is all gruff and no bite though. Does make you a little more alert when checking the babies I have to remove her or she jumps on top of them to keep me from getting to them. Zephyr on the other hand is like her mommy Snowy and doesn't mind at all if I mess with the babies. April's litter is pure german, I'm thrilled there is a chestnut in the litter. This is the first non black pure german I've gotten out of my german black buck Thunder.

I tried to test the color genetics on one of Suzanna's boys, but she didn't take so I'll have to try again this spring.

Off to the real job, more updates later

Projects and New Beginnings

Well finally the weather man has good news, although it is snowing again it is not going to be the storm predicted and will be off and on snow showers rather than the 4-6 inches predicted. The weekend was spent is home projects. On Saturday the wind was howling and 30 + below wind chills were predicted. I knew I couldn't keep the bunny barn warm enough so two expectant moms came inside. This resulted in the dogs getting kicked out of the basement and the bunnies moving in.

Well, moved them in just in time, on Sunday Zephyr delivered. A nice sized litter, she had eight, but the runt didn't make it, so there are seven left, looks to be mostly a colored litter with the possibility of a couple of whites, but definitely some fawns and I think one choc agouti. Should know more of the colors in a few days. If this litter wasn't in the house they would not have survived. Poor Zephyr is a first time mom and for the last two weeks went off her food and had trouble moving her bowels. I used all the tricks I know, feeding her by hand lots of greens and giving her small amounts of oil and sugar water. Her belly was huge with kicking babies and being a small sized doe I guess the growing babies took up all the room. She scattered them on the wire, but I gathered them up and put them in the nest box with the wool I had clipped from her. After she had rested, she did feed them and now seems very attentive. Best news is she seems to be eating heartily again, she has some catching up to do. Here is a pic of the babies, I'll take one every few days so you can watch how they progress.

I also spent the weekend on the tri loom, a yarn of shetland and alpaca that I spun in December. I think I weave two triangles and put them together for a nice sized blanket, depends of if I have enough of the yarn. On the spinner is a beautiful kid mohair in a faded red color. I plan to also spin a single of red satin angora for plying, pics to come later of that. Bye for now, off to the real job, sigh.

Snowy day and Loom for Sale

Yesterday was quite the snow day, we had a foot of snow! I was supposed to fly to Portland OR for a business meeting, but the airport cancelled flights early so I didn't even try to get out. One perk of our electronic society is that I could work from home on the laptop, so that is what I did.

I also finally came to a decision to sell my 4 harness loom. I've had this loom for over a 1 1/2 years, but I've yet to even warp it. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day and since I've never done this it would take even longer. Plus we are moving back to the farm this summer and unless I want to park it in the garage, there just isn't room in our small house. So I'll stick to the smaller looms for weaving and maybe someone will want to give this one a new home. I'm asking $500 or will trade for a traditional style spinning wheel or a tapestry/navajo style loom. Just send me an email to atlantisranyan@yahoo.com if you are interested, it must be picked up in Wisconsin, too big to ship.

Tribute to Snowy

Sadly I lost my D'Lynn's Snowy Lady (top photo). Snowy was a sweet gentle rabbit who taught me so much. She and her sister Misty will always hold a special place in my heart. They were my first rabbits purchased from Donna in Indiana. They were 50% english/50% german, and excellent import bloodlines on the german side. Snowy had a wonderfully matt free but yet very soft coat. Generally she sheared around 270 grams, not as much as a german, but since her coat was much finer and softer the volume was still the same. She passed away last night, still investigating with the vet to determine the cause of this mysterious illness that seems to only attach my does after shearing. I've lost 4 so far in the last 6 months, but Misty had the same symptoms about a year ago. If I knew the cause maybe I could do something to prevent this.

Anyway I still have Snowy's daughter Storm Warning's Zephyr who is a chestnut agouti from a fawn french father. Zephyr has her mother's disposition and coat. I've bred her to the choc agouti buck in my last post, I'll be saving some of these babies. I'm finding I prefer this type of coat for my own spinning.

Cold again this am, I don't think I will ever get used to these temperatures. The bunny barn was down to 35 this am, the little heater just can't keep up with 15 below zero and 30 below wind chills. I had to dethaw of few of the bowls in the bottom tier of cages. The rabbits don't seem to mind the temp, the ones who have been recently sheared have coats on and the rest are growing out nicely.

Here is a picture of a buck I sheared last weekend. Noah is a chocolate agouti whose father is a 1/2 2006 import german and his mother is a nice fawn doe who is only 47% german. Noah never got to be very large, but he still has wonderful spinning fiber and has good depth of color. He is bred to a chestnut doe who father was also fawn. Looking forward to having some nice fawn/agouti babies in early February. These will not be high percentage german, only 50%, but I'm love their texture for spinning. It is softer than german, but still matt free and both parents have been extremely carefree. This babies should make really nice spinners bunnies. I plan to keep a fawn for myself, but the rest will be available if anyone is interested.

Bye for now

Bitter Cold

17 below zero this morning, and so far we have only gotten up to 6 below. Had to go run errands though, we all have to eat, but boy the wind sure does cut right through when it is this cold. I'm spending the weekend spinning and reading. My copy of Ravenshade has arrived. My friend C.S. Marks has written this fantasy series, and it is hard to put down. This is the third book and the last in this trilogy. I sure hope she writes some more though. If anyone is interested you can find more info at the website www.elfhunter.net.
I finished the merino/alpaco roving and I've now started on a little bit of pygora in shades of purple/lavender. It is a lovely fiber and glides right through the fingers. It was expensive though and I didn't purchase much I'm not sure yet what it will become after spinning. Sometimes I just get pleasure out of trying a new fiber.
Bye for now