NEW WEBSITE BLOG!

As of today, I finally put my blog right into my website -  I won’t be posting here any longer.  I’ve migrated all my past posts to the new blog also.

Hope to see you there!  http://www.lopsandcavies.com/

Thanks!

LaReau Lops & Cavies New Website

Finally, I’ve got my new site published – well it isn’t finished and does have some problems here and there, but it is up.

As I look at it closer, I’m slowly realizing I don’t like the looks of it much.

Crazy, isn’t it?  Putting all the time into something and later deciding it isn’t going to fit the bill?

I quess I’ll work on a replacement in my ’spare time’ eeeks

Badger RBA Brunch Today

Today we have our yearly Badger Rabbit Breeders brunch/meeting.  It is the kick-off to start organizing our March rabbit show.

This year will be our 52nd show!  Quite an accomplishment for a local rabbit club.

Our show will be held on Sunday March 8th, 2009 at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, Jefferson, WI.   It is one of the largest all-breed shows in the Midwest.

We have a website too, although I don’t think it is current with this year’s information – nonetheless, you can get some background info from it.

On Saturday, there will be a variety of breed specialty shows to.  I hope you can make it!

Cathy

In The Dead Of A Wisconsin Winter

Lordy, I just plain hate winter.  I am not a winter person; there is nothing fun about being outside, especially when your nose freezes shut or your finger tips drop off from lack of blood.  I especially love it when you smack your frozen finger on a cage door or between the ceramic crock you are trying to de-ice, and the bucket.

I just showed some of my Polish last weekend – only a few, and it was their first show.  Of course they acted up on the show table and wouldn’t pose well – they practically screamed out evidence that their owner hates winter and doesn’t like practicing posing rabbits when it is zero out.   They are right, I’m out there to do my chores twice a day and that takes a fairly long time already – posing rabbits is not on my list when the weather is as cold as its been!

And I don’t even have it that bad!  My building is insulated – in fact, I’ve only had frozen water cups in some of the bottom cages this winter. 

My tales of winter misery and misfortune pale in comparison to my friends’.

Imagine working out in an unheated building for several hours when it is below zero – chipping out frozen water cups two and three times a day, feeding, cleaning cages and trimming nails.  The worst part is that you need your finger dexterity for so much of the work, but of course the gloves don’t allow for it.

Throughout it all, the rabbits laugh at you for being so wimpy!  They are full of vinegar in this weather – their thick fur coats are excellent insulators.  Even so, night has got to be brutally cold and we have all been stuffing cages with hay, straw and boxes to give our beloved bunnies some warmth.

In light of all the pre-speculation about this winter’s weather, I had decided to wait and see what Mother Nature would bring us before deciding to breed any rabbits for winter litters.  I am glad I didn’t breed any, but this also means I don’t have any show juniors for Polish Nationals this coming April.

Almost time for chores again….

Oh, be sure to visit my friend’s new website, we are adding cool things almost daily – Reilly’s Rabbits of Wisconsin.

New website coming soon

I love to procrastinate.

My new website should be published soon. I’ve also switched web platforms from Windows to Unix.

I am almost finished with my current start-up website for a friend – check it out – we’ll be adding content often!
http://www.reillysrabbits.com

Stay warm…..
cathy

Website stuff….

Something got to my websites on the server.  I guess this will spur me into action – I’m having my tech-friend delete my sites, and when I find time (hopefully soon this fall) I’ll republish my new lopsandcavies.com site.  I am not republishing the directory site and had intended to delete it anyways.

Hope summer has been nice to you!

cathy

Hey..Robert – if you read this, email me – been trying to reach you!

Rabbitry Update

Wow.

I can’t believe how fast 2008 is whizzing past me!  All the while I was driving to soccer games, tennis matches and all kinds of high-school events.  I guess I have to throw in work too.  Seems like yesterday that I went to my last rabbit show but actually it was March.

My rabbitry is doing well – my Hollands are are a slow-growing herd – I’ve definately got to breed more often than I have been.  My Polish are doing just fine and I also have a couple of litters that I just weaned. 

My website – well I still haven’t updated that.  I do have my new website almost built enough to use it, but lately I just don’t seem to have the time I need to finish it and publish it in place of my old site.  One of these days I’ll get it done.  

Signing off again – hope the weather has not been too brutal for your rabbits! 

Cathy

Don Neumeier WI Polish RC Show 1/12/08

The first show of 2008 for me, and the first time I’ve attended this specialty show for Polish rabbits. 

Held in the Richfield Fire Station, which is between West Bend and Sussex, I began the drive worried about the forcasted snow flurries.  The snow did come during the show day, but melted as it hit the ground so my hour-and-a-half drive was not treacherous as I thought it might be.

The building was heated, and had a nice kitchen and showroom area – everyone brings their own batch of chili which is all combined in one large cooker and sold by the bowl at lunchtime, along with other goodies.   There was a nice raffle which the kids always like, and Roger Moeller’s rabbit equipment was there to offer just about anything you needed for your rabbitry.

I only brought 5 Polish rabbits to show – I have more, but since I am only in week 7 of recovery from my surgery, I didn’t want to carry and handle a whole lot just yet.  

There were a lot of Polish there!  Many of the senior classes had more than 10-12 rabbits in each, which is plenty for Polish!  My black senior buck didn’t do well in his huge class, being out of condition compared to the other nice rabbits there.  My broken does only had each other to  compete against in their class – and the judge did not pick the one I thought would do well at this show!

My chocolate doe who just turned senior, won her large class and then won Best of Breed!  I was surprised by this one – she’s got a very nice body and nice coat to her, but to me, her head is not as nice as my pretty little brokens’ heads.  But I am not a judge……and I am fairly new to this breed.

Funny thing about this doe is that twice she was not going to be shown:  I originally planned to take my black senior doe to this show, but she seemed a little ‘off’ in the morning, so I grabbed this chocolate doe instead, and the second time was when I became so tired around 1 pm, that I came close to scratching my chocolate doe so I could leave for home……… but I stayed and this is the doe that won!

The Polish breeders here in Wisconsin are the best I’ve met.  Every single one has been so nice and helpful – and I noticed so many of them offering assistance, advice and encouragement to the youth that participated in yesterday’s show.  This in itself is very refreshing to me- everyone works as a true team to better the Polish in our area!  

If you are pondering what breed to begin with, you can’t go wrong with the Polish – this small breed is delightful to handle and breed, and in Wisconsin you can get quality stock readily and plenty of good advice to go along with!  You will only encounter encouragement showing against the other Polish breeders around here – the Polish are just a very nice breed of rabbit!

Cathy

Almost 2008

I am about half way finished with the redo of my main website.  Learning CSS has not been too bad, although there are just some little things that show up differently in different browsers that I can’t seem to make work the way I want. 

Tables, tables, tables, there will always be a place for tables, despite CSS.  I ended up using a few here and there just because I can make them look the way I want, quickly and without fuss. 

I hope to publish within a few weeks – and then I’ll make a decision about the other directory/information website.  I am not sure if it is worth having that site. 

Well I hope 2008 finds you and your family healthy and happy, and your nextboxes full!

Cathy

December 2007 News

I know, I know…..I haven’t done anything with my blog or my websites – when am I going to get off my butt?

Well I am making good progress on my redo of my main website, LaReau Lops & Cavies – my old site was made entirely with tables – and lots of bulky code.  Although the site looks OK in most browsers – any changes I want to make to the site must be done manually, page by page. AARRGGGGHHH

This is specifically what killed my interest in my other large directory site, The Rabbit & Cavy Directory – that site grew quickly, but I became overwhelmed with requests from breeders to make so many changes, so often, to their listings.

Now, that doesn’t seem unreasonable to the average web designer – in fact, info on a site should remain updated – but that site, like my main site, was designed with HTML pages using tables also.   All changes had to be done manually on each page, and since each breeder listing was on multiple pages, this quickly grew into an unmanageable fiasco!

My redo of my main site will be done using CSS.  As with the HTML sites I had before, I am learning (CSS) as I go.  Sometimes it takes me a while to tackle a specific fix or problem because I’ve got to learn as I go (the hard way….) but how satisfying when I figure out how to make something and it finally turns out the way I want it!

Of course it took me a week to make my first page, but I had to experiment with different looks, styles and layouts before I could decide on one: Now I can use this one page as a template to quickly grow my site!

Once I get my main site finished and working the way I want – I’ll begin working on the new rabbitbreeder.net site – my replacement for The Rabbit & Cavy Directory.  Hopefully I’ll make that entire site using CSS, and also incorporate a database so changes to information can be made in one place and will update on all pages – and of course, I know nothing about databases.

I can’t close until I mention a special thanks to Robert up in Alaska – I could not do all this without your help (and your cool graphics)  If anyone is looking to spice up a page or website with some cool graphics, be sure to visit Light Speed Web Graphics!

My rabbits are doing well – they haven’t even noticed all the dang snow we’ve gotten around here!  I’ve got a couple does due tomorrow and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

All for now

Cathy