New Years Eve Show

Another year almost history. Wow it went by fast. We celebrated New Years Eve at the Clinton County Fairgrounds with a rabbit show. Garnet won Best of Breed in Satin Angoras; Rupert won Best Opposite of Breed. Scott Vance and Lisa took the honors in French. Maureen and John were there to visit and Amy and her beau (visiting from England) came to pick up Amarantha. We had a nice time. Me and Andrew with Garnet and Rupert

Judge Kevin with Garnet and Rupert

Me and Lisa with our "red haired" girls.

Greyson's Hat

Every now and then a plan comes together. A) When I decided to knit Greyson a hat I had no idea what size or color. B) I wasn't sure Greyson would be excited about getting a hat (he's four). Good news-it fits, it matches and he was delighted with it. He's so sweet anyway and always very gracious about the gifts he receives. His parents are raising him right and he is a joy to spend time with.

Wine Time

This past October when we went to Kentucky we helped our friends get some wine started. Here is some of the final product along with the label we made yesterday. Each flavor is going to get a different colored label with a different photo of the farm. We think it turned out nice.

Greenway's Trail at Darby

We had company this weekend. Our friends, Randy and Becky from Kentucky, who raise Mountain Pleasure horses, were here. We decided we needed to go for a hike and Andrew suggested the Greenway Trail at Battelle Darby because it leads to a horse barn and he thought they might like to see it. The barn, formerly a part of the Darby Dan Farms (now owned by the parks) is round and has an enclosed training track with about 48 individual stalls. John Galbreath, founder of DD, in his hey day bred and owned two Kentucky Derby and an Epsom Derby (England) winners! It was six miles from the parking lot at Cedar Ridge out to the barn. We made a stop to check out the prairie seed's that Andrew harvested this fall for next years planting. Lot of work there. My feet are killing me.

Some sunshine on the trail.

Checking out the barn.

The round indoor track

The "courtyard" inside the barn complex.


Native grass seeds waiting for next year's planting.

Mom's New Scarf

I knitted mom a scarf for Christmas and she got it this morning so I can finally show it off. It's 100 % handspun BFL. The pattern is called "Wavy Lace". It's suppose to be done with lace weight yarn which I don't have the patience for so I used sport weigh and I like the way it turned out.

Dyed Mohair

This is some mohair that I dyed today. Both of the color schemes remind me of Lake Huron in the summer. The top one is 2 ply. The bottom one is 4 ply.

Merry Christmas

Novelty Yarn

These are BFL locks (blue) spun with BFL/Angora blend (gray) to make a novelty yarn. I'm in the process of spinning up all my roving from last year (08) so I can get my roving from this year spun.

Nutcracker

Andrew's mom and dad made this 4.5 foot nutcracker out of a log. The thing weighs a ton. LOL How cool is it though?

Turkey's Along the Creek

It's amazing how well the wildlife has adapted to living in close proximity to humans. These turkey's (about 30 in all) were photographed along Big Walnut Creek in Columbus.

Chicks and Wine

Martha Stewart would be proud.
Our group.

Glasses ready to fill.

Sirrius and Gryffn join the festivities.

Homemade cookies.

Decadent desserts.

Our wine group met last night. We had a fantastic time. The hostesses out did themselves with wonderful food, cookies, and atmosphere. We all brought wine and enjoyed each others company. The unique thing about this group is the age range of 24-84 (all of us with the college in common). I am blessed with wonderful friends.

The Problem with Ice

..is that it is a pain when it is in your rabbit water bowls. I just got all new bowls for my rabbits. Since water bottles freeze solid and can't be used in the winter I use bowls during that time period. I had these nifty plastic bowls that fit into holders. I could bang them against the rabbitry and break the ice out of them. Problem was that the rabbits would use their noses to flip the bowls out of the holders and spill water everywhere and then proceed to play with the bowls. So I bought new bowls with holders that fasten to the cage; the bowls have a slot on the bottom of them that fits into the holder and you turn it to lock them down. So far they are working very well although I haven't had to deal with ice in them yet. The dealer told me they would withstand banging on the cage to remove the ice.

Selene

Grooming and cleaning today. Selene (this was the name of a Greek goddess of the moon) is finally starting to get some even wool again. She has a heck of a body. I'm hoping she does well at some upcoming shows.

Red Rose Rabbit pellets

Stopped off at the feed store today to get some things and the owner, Dave, had to show me the newest addition to his feed bag collection. A Red Rose Rabbit feed sack. Wish I could find a rabbit feed sack that is still in this kind of condition. I have some Red Rose advertising booklets at home. They were dad's from when he raised rabbits in the 70's. Dave asked me to trim Charlie's toenails. Charlie is the resident mini Rex. He is generally good natured and didn't give me any problems but his nails sure were long.

Ice Crystals

Try to enjoy the beauty that winter has to offer. If you look close it can be found in a lot of unusual places. Bear this in mind as you enjoy the weather that is coming through the midwest over the next couple days. This image was taken by Andrew at the creek on Sunday. Wish I could claim it. I was too wimpy to venture out.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Our friend sings in a local choir and they had their concert tonight along with the affiliated orchestra. It was very nice and we all enjoyed the music and festive atmosphere. Afterward we went out for a quick dinner. I'm really tired. This was a busy weekend.

Lovely Ladies All in a Row

We put up the tree and decorated around the house today. I decided to get out my Christmas dolls this year and put them on display. Here they are all lined up in our room.

Knitting Up A Storm

I knitted 5 hats last week while I was off for Thanksgiving break. I have a bunch of odds and ends yarn that I am trying to use up before I get busy spinning up a bunch of new stuff.

Hat for charitable donation-BFL, Merino/Tussah silk, Angora

Aunt Cathy's hat - BFL

Elisha's hat-Alpaca, Angora, BFL

James' hat-BFL, Angora/mohair

Emma's hat-BFL, merino/cotton, bamboo

Zanesville RBA

A change of plans found me traveling to Zanesville this morning for a double rabbit show "extravaganza" at the Muskingum County fairgrounds. It was a nice day and I spent my time prior to the shows knitting and visiting with friends. Sienna won Best of Breed and Rupert won Best Opposite of Breed in both shows for the Satin Angoras. (Sienna has now attained her Grand Champion status). My friend Lisa won Best and Best Opposite in French Angoras in show A and in show B my friend Tina won Best of Breed and Lisa won Best Opposite of Breed. Colleen took Best and Best Opposite honors in English Angoras.
Eric Stewart (Executive Director of the ARBA) gives Sienna the final once over before awarding her Best of Breed in Show A

Here I am in Show B with Sienna, Rupert and Judge Randy.

A beautiful felted angora rabbit that a fellow rabbit breeder made.

Topper Dale of the Dawn Series

I made a fantastic find at the antique show today...a 70's Topper Dale from the Dawn doll line! Since she was in mint condition and only $12! I snapped her up and redressed her in this original Dawn costume (she was dressed Dawn's signature blue and white dress and not her own). I have four of the original dolls from the Topper line from when I was a kid and several from the Checkerboard Toys remakes of 2000.

Hairpin Lace Shawl

Andrew's mom made this gorgeous shawl (which the photo doesn't do justice to) using the pictured contraption and vintage pattern. I want to learn how to make these.

How About A Kiss?

I bought Elisha and James "Lip Pops" for Thanksgiving. As you can see they are enjoying them! (The pop part is Watermelon flavored).

Thanksgiving

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~Melody Beattie

Watchers in the Woods

While I was in Lancaster yesterday Andrew was busy doing photography at the creek. These yearling bucks (probably brothers) were watching him while he worked.