Reorganization

Obviously, I haven't been very keen on writing journals lately. A lot has been happening the past couple months, too.

First of all, I put my two weeks in at Classic the first Friday of this month. I'd been bouncing back and forth from excited to dread because I had to talk to Ralph the entire week. Finally, Friday came, he put up the schedule with my Saturday requested off, and I talked to him. I told him I could work until 23 August since I had school coming up and I just wanted to give him a long heads up since I was manager. He took it better than I expected he would.

Beforehand, I was job hunting. I was (am) sick of Classic Pizza and I was finally going to do something about it. I found a job at a kennel on Craigslist and applied there. I had a job interview there rather quickly. I found out that Amy Creteau works there and put in a good word for me. It really does pay to have connections. I had a working interview scheduled for the following week ... and then nothing. I heard nothing from them in quite a space of time. I applied to Tractor Supply again online, I quit Classic Pizza, and then I finally got the call that I got the job. I bounced around Abbi's house all morning. It was exciting, okay?

The job's not bad, either. Half the time I'm working, I'm playing with dogs. I mean, I have to deal with birds, cats, and a possible assortment of other small animals, but the majority of my time is spent with dogs. The days will probably get monotonous after a while, I feel, but I only have one year at this place. I'm off to Grand Valley Fall 2014, I guess. A year earlier than I was hoping.

I've got a lot to do in this year. I want to get my Associate's at Washtenaw so that I at least have a base in Chemistry to get a job. Since I didn't do well in General Chemistry II the first time, I need to retake it and that puts me back a lot. It means I need to take another - at least - two classes over the next summer.

This semester I have Calc III, General Chemistry II, German I, and Physics I. I need physics ad I'm not happy. I'll definitely be pairing that with a class I enjoy. Y'know, like German. I am so excited for German.

My work load is a lot harder this semester than I initially wished, but it's German that I added on to make it that way. Next semester won't be easy, either. I know I need Physics II, Organic Chemistry I, German II, Linear Algebra, and a prerequisite computer class. I may be able to push physics or linear algebra to summer. Damn it. I also have a couple English classes I'd rather take for less at WCC than Grand Valley that will transfer. Holy shit I don't like laying this out. I wanted a break before Abbi and I left and faced real life.

The plan still is for Abbi to move in with me on her birthday. We still haven't talked to my parents about it, but worst comes the worst, we get an apartment for the last six months in Ann Arbor.

Then come my rabbits. I'm finally happy where I'm at with HuckleBerry Farm.

I have Cashmere, as my pet. That's all he is. I'm hoping, when I move out, my family can continue to take care of him until I'm (or both Abbi and I are) out of college.

My main breed, Mini Rex, has a lot of work, but I have good stock. J will soon be obsolete and be a pet like Caj. He's a milestone rabbit. Laissez has fur. Isis has fur. Lilly and Pixi are for type and color. As soon as I have a promising lilac otter (doe), Lilly's gone. But I told Pam and Sherri I need a tight-shouldered buck. Lilly's supposed to be the rabbit with shoulders and hindquarters. She does lack in the higher hindquarters. Roundness. First, since Laissez has long shoulders, I need to work on those. With Isis, fur shouldn't be a problem. After I have consistently good shoulders, I'll work on hindquarters. Once I have my shoulders and hindquarters, I'll need a wide something with a strong midsection that extends all the way down. My body should be fine then. Or maybe I'll need something for depth. We'll see. That's years down the line. Finally, only after my fur is perfect and my body fine, I'll work on head and perfect lynx color. That will be my line.

Mini Rex are hard.

By next August, I want a buck for fur, a buck for type, and three does. Isis is a staple. I have no idea how I'll narrow them down. I just bred Isis and J again. I'm breeding Laissez with Lilly and Pixi next February. Maybe to Isis again, too.

I have Jillian up for sale, since I can't get anything out of her, but I'm thinking of sticking her with J for an entire day or something to see if I can get a bunny out of her. Because where my does (and I think my buck) lack in the hindquarters, she doesn't. Plus, Jill's got the depth. I freaking love the type on that doe and there's nothing I can do about it. It's frustrating. Hell, I think I'll do that this week. I won't expect much, though. There's not much I can expect. If I can get a litter out of her, though, I'll probably keep the typiest buck. If I can't, I'll keep trying with J until Laissez is old enough, because Laissez has slightly better shoulders. J may have better hindquarters, though. I dunno. I need to study Laissez, J, and Isis for type.

It's amazing how much I've learned about type the past couple of months. I struggled so hard. Like, I thought I had a good idea, but the only thing I really knew was length, width, and depth. There's a lot more to a rabbit's type than that. But the last couple of shows, I've been studying what the judges have been saying, and it finally all clicked at the show in Corunna this weekend. I was looking for a doe or two - in Mini Lop - and suddenly I knew what midsection was and how to judge hindquarters. It did help that in Wauseon, the judge was talking about lower hindquarters. I've learned so much.

So now, I do have two more does from Corunna. I have Bee and Whopper, my bucks. I can't wait for Whopper to grow up. He's going to be a beautiful buck. Then I have Dalilah and Amelia, my does.

I got Amelia from Sue first. She owed me a rabbit since she gave me Owl and Whopper instead of Whopper and a doe. She showed me a broken black first, and she put it on hold for me, but a couple hours later when I brought the rabbit over to my space, I found out that he wasn't a doe either. I was so disappointed. That was a nice ass rabbit. Beautiful. So then I picked up the silver-tipped steel doe, whom eventually got the name Amelia.

Sue also had another baby doe with her, but I decided to look around at the plethora of other Mini Lop breeders before I decided on her. Sue said she'd dock the price from $45 or whatever she was to $30 for me, but I already had a very young one from her, and two of my now three rabbits were hers. So I did look around. I went around to the youth barn and found a broken chinchilla doe. I literally bounced up to the table and told them I had to see the rabbit. The youth had a hard time posing the doe, but she quickly stepped aside and let me handle her. And ohmydear she was beautiful. Her body was perfect. I'm not a big fan of her head, but she is a doe and I guess it's expected for her face to be a little long and thin. I hope Whop's head can even out hers next year. As much as I wanted her then and there, I still looked around in circles before I eventually came back and got her.

So for Mini Lop, I'm going to work with the four rabbits I have and make the best rabbit I can out of them. I don't think I've had a judge say much of anything bad about Whopper yet, and they all love his head. Bee isn't the greatest, unfortunately, and I think I'll replace him with one of his offspring once they're old enough to judge type. I think I'm positive that I'll breed Bee and Amelia this November, and then I'll figure out whom I can breed to whom next February when I breed my Mini Rex. It's just ... I don't have a path I can follow for Mini Lop. I have much better stock in Mini Lop than Mini Rex, and I'm pretty sure I have everything I need to make the perfect rabbit. Amelia is short and has a promising head. Whopper's gonna be my perfect buck (he's too young to say much anyway right now). Dalilah has outstanding depth. Crazy depth. Bee's just kind of there. A little narrow in the head, a little long in the shoulders, and bit pinched in the hindquarters. I kind of want to keep him just so that I have more than two lines. I may need to go out and get a wide rabbit from someone eventually, but I don't think I need to buy another Mini Lop until I'm on my feet again after moving out. Unless I find a Frosty with a good body. That will be mine - buck or doe.

While I have a plan for my Mini Rex, my Mini Lop are a bit tougher. All I know is that I've bred J and Isis again for September. I know I just said I'll breed my Mini Rex in February, but I don't like that idea right now. I'm breeding Laissez to Lilly and Pixi the beginning of November. Which means they probably can't come to Lansing, but that's okay. We'll see. Maybe I'll breed them right before the Mason show. I'm breeding Bee and Amelia in November with the Mini Rex, and then the rest of the Mini Lop stuff will be figured out in February when Abbi breeds her Dutch.

Which, by the way, Abbi has a pair of now.

We picked up her first Dutch in Wauseon. I found a breeder, asked if she could tattoo Lilly since she didn't have a tattoo yet, and she ended up registering Peaches and Bee, and then selling Abbi's Typhoon to her. Typhoon has snuffles, we quickly found out, but he's got nice markings and he's not bad in type.

Then, in Corunna, we walked so many circles in the search of my Mini Lop and Abbi's Dutch. We talked to one breeder, who told us what kind of doe we should be looking for to balance him out, and then we found another breeder that also had blue Dutch. We had our minds pretty much settled on her big, huge, wide doe, but we had to go back to the open barn for my rabbits and their shows. When we went between the two breeders again, looking at the first's senior does, and then back to the second breeder we talked to on Facebook, Andrea suddenly decided that she wasn't selling the big fat doe. So Abbi pointed to some unmarked juniors and asked if they were for sale. Andrea pulled them out and plopped them on the table, and I looked one over, quickly set her aside, and then posed the second one. I think Andrea knew she was in trouble when I posed her and didn't want to let her go. She was beautiful. We ended up buying that doe. Andrea went $40 on her, and she looked slightly happy when we debated over it, but I quickly handed over a ten to Abbi and we bought the doe off of her. She didn't look too pleased. When we came back about an hour later after the doe's show, Andrea was even less pleased when she announced that the doe won a leg.

Keep in mind, this doe is two months old and she already has a leg. Her first hour in our technical possession, and she's already a milestone rabbit due to winning a leg.

Needless to say, Abbi's a bit excited.

Funny thing is, I don't have much else to say. That's been my life. School, rabbits, work. Nothing else. Well, Abbi, of course. She's a constant. Always there. Wouldn't want it any other way, either. I don't want to think of what it'll be like next week, when she starts school. We've been inseparable all summer, and then ... school. :(