Friday, finally

This has been an exceptionally long week. First, Rebecca's friend Katie's brother passed away. Rebecca asked if she could go to the funeral on Wednesday. Wow, that was a tough question to hear, but how could we say no? I was working, so Chris picked Rebecca and Nicholas both up from school early and went to the funeral. They got home just a few minutes before I did, and it was pretty obvious it had been rough for them. Rebecca was glad to be there for Katie and I'm glad we were able to help.

Thursday our county health department was having an H1N1 clinic for 1-6pm. Chris picked the kids up early from school, again, and was in line by 1230. Of course the line was 3/4 of the way around the block by then! We heard that people had been in line since 1030am! Obviously they didn't have that many doses and at 107pm they sent away the majority of the line. It is so frustrating to know what your kids need and not be able to get it for them. The flu has been rampant in our schools. Dozens of kids are being sent home each day with fevers and hundreds are absent. We just learned that several of the kids that show rabbits with Rebecca and Nicholas have been diagnosed with it as well, so no show for us this weekend. we are just going to try to stay low and keep healthy!

So I am glad it is Friday and I am off for the weekend. Hooray!

Our first Best of Breed!

Chris took the kids and rabbits to the NCIN RBA show in Nappanee on Saturday. Rebecca won her first Best of Breed in the youth show with Dare Devil! She was on cloud 9. We hadn't had Dare Devil out for a while. He tends to be jumpy and misbehaves on the table. He also had a hole in his ear thanks to a neighboring rabbit. We were going through rabbits before the show and decided to give him another try. We are sure glad we pulled him out! Here is a post-show photo.



Chris always come home from the rabbit show with something new. I was hoping we would just get away with a new hat this time.



But no such luck. Here is our new Holland buck Zoom. It really was a deal you couldn't pass up. A rabbit friend asked Rebecca if she would like to have him. He is a tiny buck and should help bring down the size on a lot of our larger does. He is also a really nice broken sable point or smoke pearl- the jury is still out on that one! All our friend wants is a bunny from him in return. We love having bunnies so that should not be a problem.



On a sad note, Rebecca's best friend Katie lost her brother to a freak hunting accident yesterday. They are both too young to have to learn about death, I'm really glad they have each other.

A Great Day ( and the Boilers win!)

Rebecca won her first Best of Breed at an open show!! Our solid senior Holland buck Dare Devil won in the NCINRBA youth show at Nappanee, IN . He hasn't been shown much because a neighboring rabbit got ahold of his ear and punctured a hole in it. His ear has a scar but no hole so we decided to pull him out and see how he would do. Doesn't it figure? I spend a whole lot of time and money agonizing over the decision to improve my herd, and then a buck I have had for 2 years and not touched comes out and wins?!?

I missed all the fun because I had to work. And work I did! KCH is busting at the seams we have so many patients. I think H1N1 is finally here. I saw masks headed to the nurses and employees got vaccinations last week. next move is to restrict visitors to those over 18, I heard.

My alma mater Purdue Boilermakers finally turned things around today and stomped on Ohio State. Go Boilers!!

Our first ad!

Check http://talkofthetownwc.com out! About half way down the page on the far right side -our first ad! This was a surprise for us from the website owner who is a friend of ours. We are very excited and hope it generates some business.

Casey is now in the freezer. We have had some steaks and some ground beef. It is very lean and tasty. Now I just need to get my kids to stop naming everything we eat Casey! "Is this Casey Chili?" "Are these Casey Hamburgers?" They think it's cute, but I'm not so sure. They sure don't feel that way when I try to get them to eat chicken or rabbit!

Still keeping busy around here. Trying to get ready for winter which sure feels like it will be here soon with these lower temps and all the rain we are getting.

We managed to get all of us vaccinated for the seasonal flu, finally. I can get the H1N1 at the hospital, now I just have to figure out how to get it for Chris and the kids.

The weekend before last our good friends suddenly had two tickets to the PU football game they couldn't use. Thankfully they thought of us, again! Rebecca and I already had plans to go to a rabbit show. Chris took Nicholas to his first "real" football game and to see the fraternity where he lived. It was a long day, but I think they really enjoyed themselves. Unfortunately, Purdue gave away another football game, but it is always exciting just to be in the stadium.

Last weekend we had dinner at a friends house and played cards. Nicholas ran off to box with her son. Rebecca played cards and probably heard more "adult" conversation than she should have, but we had a lot of fun.

We lost a small Silver Fox and a little Holland this week. they are at that 2 week mark where their eyes are open and they are starting to get out of the box and explore. I don't know if they got their little feet caught in the wire floor or if they just couldn't get back in the box and got too cold. There is always something, it is so aggravating.

I'm working this weekend, but Chris and the kids may be off to another rabbit show. There is a Silver Fox Specialty with this one, so one more opportunity for Sterling. We have some really cute Netherland Dwarfs that are ready to sell and some more Hollands.

Beef!

Chris took our first steer to the butcher this week. He crossed the scales at 865. Chris called processor today and the hanging weight is 452. Chris was really pleased at the better than 50% hanging weight. We should be able to have fresh steak by the end of the week! Turkeys are next on the list if anyone is interested.

Nicholas loves watermelon- especially if we grow it ourselves! Thanks, Daddy!



Rebecca's new haircut and her new favorite friend Sophie