Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[SSDreamin]

Mousey guts, now that's a pleasant visual!

I've grown potatoes. Yup, I have. That's about as good as it gets advise wise from me I am STILL experimenting, trying to find the way that works best for my situation. Last years were grown in a 12" deep raised bed. Not great. Ended up going to the pick-your-own and getting 100# (for 15 cents/lb ) . Not worth the 4 hour drive in a 1 ton w/ a 454 in it for this year, so I am going to try above ground straw rows this year. A few years ago I just stuck them in the sand pit I called a garden. Nice big potatoes, full of little worm things. Also did the bag thing. Miserable fail for me. Maybe something's trying to tell me to lay off the taters?!

 

[pinkfox]

well, still no babbits or nest building this morning so under the advice i put acorn in with bigwig, the premise being a doe due to kindle isnt going to let a buck anywhere neer her...well she not only stood for him, she presented for him...lol. she literelly stood infront of him suck her butt in the air and looked at him like "well?! what ya waiting for?"
so after 3 falls i swaped her out for blueberry and well blueberry is a much more agressive breeder, first she humped him and i was about ready to pull her when she stuck her butt in his face and gave him "the look"...wonder if thats bunny dating etiquite for dom bunny females...i hump you...ok now we know whos boss...have fun!.
got 3 falls on her before i put her back in her house. will repeat this afternoon and then again in the morning. if it takes today theoretically they should both refuse his advances tomorrow.

sucks that they didnt take, but im wondering if cindis buck was just a tad too small for my girls (they were twice his size and hes used to being used for ladies of a slightly smaller stature)
it could also have ben the stress of the car ride...or a combination of the 2...
so...if this takes, babbits in mid march instead...*fingers crossed*

the breder for the 3 newer rex finally managed to get the birthdates out to me...shes been having serious computer issues so ill be getting pedigrees as soon as that sorts out but she did manage to pull the breeding recoreds..BbigWig is a little over 8 months, so prime for breeding...
Rowan is a little over 6 months old, so she wont be ready to breed untill April 7th.
and little Blackbery it still a babbit and wont be ready untill early August.
the minis wont be ready untill the beginning of June so theres a little more waiting to do on those guys.

but yeah, that was my morning, turned the heat off last night but i think im going to have to turn it back on again soon, starting to get chilly in the house...

think im going to use today as a grooming day...baths, trims ya know...least for ruby and jasper...Dozer is now officially too big for the sink and i cant get the stupid shower head off to put my new shower head on...the new one has a detatchabel hose based head on it to turn it into a hand held, prefect for giving the monster a bath...but the old one im pretty sure is welded on...any suggestions for looseing it up...i was thinkiing about somehow soaking the whole fixture in CLR or another limescale killer as im sure thats whats got it welded in place, right now when i try to remove it i can actually feel it pulling on the ipe in the wall and the last thing i want to do is damage the pipe IN the wall lol
but ruby especially needs a spa day, shes looking like a right scruff lol.

got word from e-fowl, duckies were supposed to ship out on the 20th...which is presidents day, so instead they are shipping out on the 21st and should be here the thursday rather than the wednesday.
everythigns all set up for them other than a thermoemter, i picked one up from walmart, got it home and its cracked so thats going back and will be replaced with a new one...its just a cheapy but its the principle...i paid for it, it wasnt broke when i picked it up and i made sure it didnt get hit nothing got put ontop of it ect...and despite all that i got it home and its broken....so i want another one...but im not driving all that way just to replace it so gonna wait untill next week cause im sure by then ill need a few groceries and such.
im excited for duckies...im sure the novelty of tiny quacking balls of fluff will wear off pretty quickly as they become tiny quacking balls of fluff that poop ALOT and smell bad lol...but for now the child in me is squeeing over adorable baby ducks LOL.

and yeah...other than doggy grooming day, not sure what the day is ging to bring...probably not much, the ground is much to wet to do anythign outside right now...

 

[pinkfox]

well grooming today didnt go quite as planned, didnt manage to get baths done, did trim and do nails but my clipper blade has gone dull...so i now have to save up another $20odd bucks to replace the blade, ahh the joys of grooming supplies...the clipper is a great set for a cordless, good mid line...but the blades are not suited to be sharpend

one day ill be able to upgrade to the andis A-5 single speed, but its $140...nice set though *drools*

did get nails done...Dozer does NOT like his naisl done...so that was interesting...hes afraid of the clippers and the grinder...so i literally have to pin him and stuf treats into him after each nail...treats are helpfull and we got through pretty quickly lol.
ruby had a few cloged pores along her spine...unusual for her so i think im going to have to do some elimination in the food mix...right now i do a mixed veg...thinking ill go with just peas and carrots instead...and if shes stil haveing some clogging ill nix the veg all togehter. i cant afford to go raw yet but thats the ultimate goal for next year.

i need a transportation device...or to turn my car into the tardis...
someone in town posted a some free chainlink fencing on craigslist...i emailed, we'll see...if its poles and roll i can get it no problem...
if its pannels...not so much with the transportation lol...
its not alot, but enough to make a dent in what i need...

ive made an official public announcment on face book that i wil no longer be trying to stay in contact with the folks from CT...
theres a smal number who i will continue to communcate with as theyve made an effort...the others however, they know where to find me but im no longer going out of my way to try and keep lines of communications open. ive made it clear to all of them i dont know what their work scheduals are like, they have my number, skype info and email/pm details...either drope me your schedual so i can cal you or drop me a call....
nothing in 4 months, so...im done wasting energy on that front. got too much other stuff going on.

just need to figure out how to make some more friends in this area...gonna see if theres a local SCA/Renny group, im not truly an SCA person but if theres no rennies ill take SCA lol.
need to see what kind of social groups are semi local, if anything...agricultural, dog related or crazy people related would probably work...
got to get my butt in gear and start going to zumba too, i keep saying it but i gotta actually do it...mabe meet some folks that way too.
its hard ot meet new people when your riddled with SA and mildly agoraphobic lol.

lots of brain activity tonight...some good some bad...think its just seasonal affective going on, been dull and grey and soggy the past few days so my body is probably craving sun.
going to call around tomorrow and see if i can find a new psych (been meaning to get around to that since i moved here) and i need ot call my regular doc to book my early march shot apointment and discus my lower back pain.
need to get the focus back and look after myself a little better again...i always slack during the winter.

 

[pinkfox]

well put bluebell back in with bigwig this morning and boy was she having words, grunting squeeking and generally none to happy about it, so i removed her imediatly, hoping this means shes got some buns in the oven this time.
acorn just avoided him like he had the plauge, so she too was imediatly removed and now the fingers are crossed. will palpate on the 2nd and see if i can feel anythign different this time, least im getting my practice in lol.
BigWig wasnt quite sure what to make of this sudden turn around in behaviour and the moment bluebell started having words about the situation he ran over to the fron tof the cage and looked at me like "what i do?" i gave him ear scritches and removed her (dont need any injuries)
hes a very personable buck...very interested in what your doing whats going on...not a fan of being picked up (what bunny is?!) but hes very interested in all the commings and goings and likes his head scritched.
itll be interesting to see what we get out of these breedings...
genetics says all broken castors...but bunnes dont realy like to listen to science.

geneticlaly speaking, using bigwig (black otter) as the buck
bluebell (broken opal) = Broken Castors
acorn (broken castor) = Broken Castors
Rowan (self black) = Black Otters
Blackberry (broken Black) = Broken Black Otters

so id definatly like to get a blue or opal (or blue otter) buck into the rabbitry too...i just need to find one...i swear its like trying to find hens teeth...
right now if i cant find a suitable blue based buck by June ill try breeding Bluebell to Thistle my opal mini rex boy (he wont be old enough untll about then) if i then keep back the biggest buck out of that litter, it should give me a buck on the smaller end of the rex standard, but of the right color to work with...

today is quite bright and sunny and not all too cold so i think i need to make the most of it, get outside, fix those veggie beds who are refusing to screw properly, finnish the last one so i can get the wood i havent used out of the way and mabe finnish shaping in and tilling the rest of that front flower bed
February is Dragging, it always does i gues but still...i need this month to be over so i can re-figure out the funds and get my butt back to being semi productive...

 

[CheerioLounge]

Fingers are crossed Did I read on BYH something about using the same buck for multiple breedings that they may shoot blanks after the first or second covering? Was curious to know what you thought?

 

[pinkfox]

ive never heard of problems on smaller scale...i can definatly see not using the buck multiple times a day for more than a small number of does though...
Some folks have had isues, others seem to have no issues using their buck on 4-6 does in 1 day...itll be interesting to see what happens...
i could definatly see it being an issue in warmer climates/seasons thoug as verility drops.
and think of it this way, cindis buck bred both my girls and her girl, my girls first and her girl last and it was her girl that got knocked up...LOL!

what i did with this one is i placed acorn in first...then gave it 15 mins and placed bluebell in.
then around 5pm i placed Bluebell in first, then acorn...so in the morning acorn got the "good stuff" and even if he was slightly depleted by the time bluebell was put in, 7 hours should have been enough to recoup to give bluebell a good chance too.

after that though i wouldnt breed him to another doe for at least 24 hours...i only put the girls in this morning to see if theyd accept him...and they didnt so im hoping thats a good sign.
i am still experimenting with this though, ive helped others with their buns but never done all this myself...
So well give this breeding chance to take and bake *giggle* and see what the numbers are like...
then when bluebell and acorn are ready to breed again ill breed acorn one day and then bluebell another and see if it makes a difference in litter size.
itll be like science class

ive known many breeders have sucess with quickfire matings, and others not so much...i think some depends on breed, temperature, lines and even the doe involved too...
all we can do now is wait. if i only get 1 litter...well thats better than no litters lol.

 

[CheerioLounge]

What a great science experiment! And a great learning experience for all of us! I can't wait to start doing the same with my goats, If I ever get them!! :/

 

[rathbone]

It sounds like rocket science to me (genetics, not mating bunnies). The colors sound mysterious and beautiful.

 

[pinkfox]

lol, the genetics is pretty much japanese to me too, i get the very basics...but beyond that...and rabbits never follow the rules either lol.

well was going to go to the flea market in crump tomorrow...but its supposed to rain all day...so thats a no go...sundays on and off rain too
so im not sure what im going to do instead, rain means inside stuff...mabe ill try and get some trim painted and do the touch ups on the paint in the livingroom like i keep telling myself i should...
i might also break out the sewing machine, got some fabric id like to turn into pj's at some point so that might be worth working on...

 

[BarredBuff]

Hope you have a better turn out the next round!