After offering my help a few times, the National Silver Fox Rabbit Club (NSFRC) asked me to take over the sweepstakes entries, which were at the time six months behind. So, I became a member of the NSFRC Sweepstakes Committee, which also included the president, secretary, and webmaster of the club. It sounded simple enough to do because of how the webmaster had set up everything online with a database. It is a simple data entry process, but it is also easy to make mistakes. To explain how the sweepstakes work, the show must be sanctioned by the ARBA, which involves a fee payment, and a number will be assigned to each show. Exhibitors all talk about going to a show, but some shows actually are doubles or triples, which is two or three shows at the same venue on the same day hosted by the same club but two clubs can have shows on the same day at the same venue as well.  Once the show secretary has the ARBA numbers, the requests for specialty sanctions can be made as well. The n

Just when you think you have about seen it all with rabbits, they show you something new. Zinfandel's kindle has been one of those experiences. It took some time to track down exactly what was going on, because it is rare to happen but not unknown to at the same time, but I finally found my answer. When I first looked in the nest box I found a couple, one worse than the other with this pinkish skin with dark areas on the heads. At first I thought they might be torts! And while I do have a desire to help with the Alaska Red Fox project (another breed that Walter Garland was developing after his Silver Fox), I have absolutely no space or desire to take on that project presently. However, when their fur began to grow in, it was black...well, sort of. The color was off but certainly not tort. All the fur was tipped with white more like a steel chinchilla would be, but they were not steels either (besides the fact that they just should not be) because the coats were too

I went to an two-day show with my friend Hannah in Virginia at the end of September, while it was still particularly hot and our Silver Foxes still had poor fur because of it. We picked up two rabbits to be shown from a Tennessee breeder on the way and there we met up with some of the best Silver Fox breeders in the country. I did not expect my rabbits to do as well with the competition that I believed would be there because some of the Mid Altantic breeders were also there, but I was pleased in general. My two senior bucks were in the top five out of six and seven, but GC Carrot Garden's Astro Man was the one who caught the eye of three judges, who placed him in first place and one even awarded him with Best of Opposite Breed. This brings his leg count up to ten. There were many senior does at this show and the breeders all commented on the higher numbers which ranged from nine to twelve depending on the show, but it was because no one was able to breed due to the heat.