Yesterday we went to a rabbit show. We've not traveled to one in over 6 months, so I'll admit we were a bit rusty. The basics came back fairly quickly, but I've found that too much time between shows tends to have an impact of the quality of a herd. I'm not necessarily giving it a majority influence, but it really does help to have outside opinions of your ongoing selection methodology. In other words, someone else to evaluate your work in relation to others that are working toward the same goals. It seems like everything in the rabbitry has chosen this particular time to molt anyway, so we took the only rabbits that were in relatively decent fur condition. Even though it meant taking rabbits that were not necessarily the very best in the barn. Those beauties, I'm sorry to say, are currently visiting nestboxes.
So with that in mind, we really were not the best exhibitors in the showroom. It's rather a shame, considering the cost of gasoline to get there and the ever-increasing entry fees. I mean really, $6 per entry per show adds up quickly when you have several animals to bring! We took 2 Havanas and 1 Holland Lop. It's sad though when your best placing was Best Sr Doe (Havana) and when you can say, "well at least we weren't the first off the table!" (the Holland). Honestly, it was actually rather refreshing because there were a lot of new faces, and the old 'winners' were nowhere to be found. That means that the newer breeders and the breeders that don't have a lot of $$$ to sink into buying the top stock actually have a shot at winning the big awards.
I did manage to sell more than half the Button Quail I'd purchased for that reason, as well as several toys and a pint of fig jam. And I picked up a beautiful pair of cream/white Satin American cavies! Yep!! I'm back into show-cavies... on a smaller basis.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
It's spring
It's that time of year again. I traveled north to a poultry swap yesterday. I admit the whole thing was a little disappointing as there were not more than half a dozen or so people there selling. After browsing and browsing I finally settled on a trio of blue Silkie started chicks and also picked up a dozen Guinea eggs for hatching. After waiting awhile a lady showed up with half a dozen laying hens, RIR & red sex-links. So I bargained for 3 of those for a co-worker. They are laying or will be soon. I missed a chance to get a quartet of blue Indian Runner ducks, but I figured it wasn't meant to be, so I'm really not upset. Honestly, I like the idea of ducks more than the reality. I also picked up a couple cards as I am still wanting some turkey eggs for hatching and some adult quail. Next week I'll stop off and pick up some Cornish Rock chicks to raise this year for meat and I'll also be placing an order for some blue Cochin chicks as well. So that will have me set for poultry awhile.
On the rabbit front, Jessi's 3 AFL babies have opened their eyes. Ari's doe and the Havana doe are due Tuesday, and 2 Holland does have finally palp'd positive! So there will be plenty of babies to go around for everyone.
As far as the gardens, I'll be planning to start tilling next week-end. We'll be turning 2-3 large areas, nearly the entire bottom of the yard. I've planted 3 more fruit trees, plus several root crops (asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries) as well as blackberry canes and some blueberry plants. Onions and garlic are up and thriving. Even the swiss chard came back out!
On the rabbit front, Jessi's 3 AFL babies have opened their eyes. Ari's doe and the Havana doe are due Tuesday, and 2 Holland does have finally palp'd positive! So there will be plenty of babies to go around for everyone.
As far as the gardens, I'll be planning to start tilling next week-end. We'll be turning 2-3 large areas, nearly the entire bottom of the yard. I've planted 3 more fruit trees, plus several root crops (asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries) as well as blackberry canes and some blueberry plants. Onions and garlic are up and thriving. Even the swiss chard came back out!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Baby Rabbits
Babies, babies everywhere and all the nests are lined!
Babies, babies everywhere and none of them are mine!!!
LOL
Jessi's rabbit, Reba has 3 babies. Ari's rabbit Lulu is expecting in about another week and a half. One of the unclaimed Havana does is also expecting. So why will none of my rabbits take one for the team already?!?! LOL
Babies, babies everywhere and none of them are mine!!!
LOL
Jessi's rabbit, Reba has 3 babies. Ari's rabbit Lulu is expecting in about another week and a half. One of the unclaimed Havana does is also expecting. So why will none of my rabbits take one for the team already?!?! LOL
Work
I work for a place that find people jobs, I actually oversee our workers with one of the clients. Currently I'm watching over 70 people. That's a lot of heartbeats and activity to keep an eye on every day. My goal is to get it to over 100 people. But the climb is the real stressor. So every week we call people in for interviews, talk to them, evaluate them, decide if they would be a good fit. And every week it seems that our request for qualified people exceeds our actual turnout of them. As if that isn't enough, on top of that I have to deal with the folk already working. If they call out or are late, I'm supposed to administer disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.
The bad part is the place is so unbelievably strict on attendance, miss more than 1 day and you are GONE buddy!! Doesn't matter if you have a note from the Dr, doesn't matter if you were truly and genuinely unable to stand without vomiting, doesn't matter what temperature you or your family is running. Newborn baby? not a chance. Sound heartless?? To some it might, until you really think about it. How can you be fair to everyone, to every single worker in the place if you don't treat them all equally and blindly. Put down a blanket rule, one absence, and stick to it no matter what. And they are told and have it stressed to them right from the start. I don't think they believe it though. Do you know how many time I hear, "but I got a Dr's note..." I even had one guy try to tell me that because he ran his own company for 8 years that the place couldn't legally end him for calling in sick (idiot), which actually turned out really funny since they didn't. I only issued him a warning and he wound up quitting a week later.
The hardest part for me though is having to terminate the good employees who were probably truly and honestly sick. The ones who really REALLY needed work and looked at me as some kind of hope or reprieve from their situation. The ones that fate simply just doesn't seem to want to let alone long enough to get up off the ground and dust themselves off a bit. Those are the ones that have me super-stressed. Not to mention every time that happens, it means more work for me. Because then I have to replace those people as well as find ones for new positions.
It's stressful work. I truly hope my co-workers and I can keep this line going. Though I will admit, working a lot like this while taking it's toll on me personally also tends to have an impact on my computing time. When you spend all day on a computer at work, why would you want to come home and get back on one again!!
The bad part is the place is so unbelievably strict on attendance, miss more than 1 day and you are GONE buddy!! Doesn't matter if you have a note from the Dr, doesn't matter if you were truly and genuinely unable to stand without vomiting, doesn't matter what temperature you or your family is running. Newborn baby? not a chance. Sound heartless?? To some it might, until you really think about it. How can you be fair to everyone, to every single worker in the place if you don't treat them all equally and blindly. Put down a blanket rule, one absence, and stick to it no matter what. And they are told and have it stressed to them right from the start. I don't think they believe it though. Do you know how many time I hear, "but I got a Dr's note..." I even had one guy try to tell me that because he ran his own company for 8 years that the place couldn't legally end him for calling in sick (idiot), which actually turned out really funny since they didn't. I only issued him a warning and he wound up quitting a week later.
The hardest part for me though is having to terminate the good employees who were probably truly and honestly sick. The ones who really REALLY needed work and looked at me as some kind of hope or reprieve from their situation. The ones that fate simply just doesn't seem to want to let alone long enough to get up off the ground and dust themselves off a bit. Those are the ones that have me super-stressed. Not to mention every time that happens, it means more work for me. Because then I have to replace those people as well as find ones for new positions.
It's stressful work. I truly hope my co-workers and I can keep this line going. Though I will admit, working a lot like this while taking it's toll on me personally also tends to have an impact on my computing time. When you spend all day on a computer at work, why would you want to come home and get back on one again!!
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