Behold, Mah Bunny

Meet Quicksilver. He's a French Angora rabbit. He's adorable.

        The night before my birthday (so on Thursday), my parents told me they were giving me present early. My mom brought in a cardboard box wrapped up, but with the top slightly open, and when I saw it, I jokingly said, "It's a bunny". (It's an ongoing thing in our family that we make an outrageous guess as to what our presents are going to be - I didn't actually think it was a bunny. But then I opened the box and saw all this fluff and a little nose and ears and exclaimed, "IT'S A BUNNY!" Yeah. It was not my most dignified moment. 

        Our rabbit hutch finally has a permanent tenant! We don't have things entirely sorted out yet, because I apparently have another one still at the farm. I get my pick out of a litter once they're sexed, and I'm pretty sure I'm getting a 'pearl' colored one; very light gray. In the mean time, though, I'm having a blast with my little Quicksilver. And yes, I did name him after this fellow. Because he deserves it. You did not see that coming? *SOBS*

         Anyway, I'm now going to bombard you with fluffy bunny pictures. You're welcome.

Blessings,
Reyna

Sheep Shearing

        We were invited by some friends of friends to come watch their sheep shearing, and to take home some of the fleeces. I, being the fiber junkie that I am, was all over that, so this morning at 7:00, we drove out into the valley to the small ranch where the sheep were. Here are some pictures that I took while watching. It was really funny to watch because when the sheep were flipped onto their backs, they basically just gave up and stopped struggling. It was funny to see a 200 lb animal on its back, legs up in the air. :)
        The sheep were contained in a small barn area usually used for birthing, in preparation for the shearing.

 

        Here are some pictures of the actual shearing (various sheep):

         They were given a shot of antibiotics after shearing:

         We gathered up the fleeces and rolled and bagged them - we were allowed to take as many as we wanted:

         After the sheep were sheared, they were let out to their pasture again:

         Here are some pictures of the lovely wool I brought home:

         The barn where they were shearing was pretty neat. They had a nice hay storage area - I think I would sleep in there tucked up with a Mexican blanket. :)

        Oh, and look at the hay picture. Notice the truck in the corner? ;) The man who came to do the shearing had a gorgeous Chevy pickup! I was drooling, and discreetly snapping pictures whenever I could. You don't think I'm weird, do you? I couldn't help myself.

        After he finished with the sheep at the first place, we drove over to another ranch where they had a few sheep as well.

         It was a pretty place; we have driven past before many times.

        As well as sheep, they had three emus, two pygmy goats, one Nubian, and what looked to me like two mini Alpines.

         The Nubian and pygmies were very sweet!

        I am really looking forward to cleaning the wool, although there is a certain weed this year that is all through it. That will be a pain to get out, but oh well. It will be so fun to spin, so I am motivated.

         I should stop here before I put more pictures in and the post takes forever to load for you. I hope you enjoyed this!

Blessings,

Reyna