Fire and Coals

While camping, we all saw an interesting phenomenon, so I took the time to attempt to photograph it.  Keeping in mind it was full dark in the National Forest.  Meaning almost no ambient light on that moonless night.  Here is what we caught with the flash on the camera:

Then I tried various different settings on my camera to see what it could do.  Here's the same shot with a different setting (can't remember the actual settings though)

This, I think, was simply without a flash.  I have no idea why it came out purple like that, since what we saw were the brilliant red-hot coals in the night!

Again, a different setting, took away the 'aura' that seemed to show up in the previous photo.

 Then I tried another setting, which came out black-n-white.  A neat effect.

Yet another setting, this shot finally showed a little of what we were seeing with the red of the coals, only in the dark that was ALL we could see!  None of the rest of the fire.  It was a fun experiment with night shooting!

Destiny or Fate

I am not a religious person.  I don't believe in a higher being.  I do, however, believe somewhat in fate or destiny.  Not in so much as a sentient creature controlling my future, but more in that there is a certain order to the universe and if one chooses to pay attention, it can lead him/her down a path of self-contentment.  Today I experienced this very phenomenon.

I had several choices available as to my week-end excursion.  There were 2 poultry swaps and 2 rabbit shows.  Each having a major and a minor.  The major swap and minor show were about a 3 hour drive away, the minor swap 20 minutes (but I go every month), and the major show 2 hours away.  I chose the major show.  This was the first step on the path.

I went to the show with the thought of looking around to see if there would be any Hares present.  Being a rare breed it's not often you see them at nearby shows.  Especially with certain breeders no longer raising them.  I poked around at the show and much to my delight, there was 1 exhibitor with Hares there and he had a nice big buck for sale!  He was a little scruffy, but the body type was very nice.  The price, however was a little steep.  Too steep for me today, perhaps this isn't the path after all.  I made a counter-offer (more of a suggestion) on the price, he declined.  I figured he would.  So with some regret, I put him back in the carrier and accepted the breeder's information so that I could contact him at a later time to purchase stock.

Fast forward a little to the raffle pull.  I had put in tickets on 4 rabbits, 3 Mini-rex and a Thrianta.  I'm not sure what I was really thinking at the time with regards to the Thrianta.  Anyway, I won the nicest of the Mini-rex, a young blue buck with some potential.  I figured now I needed a doe for him, so I went looking around the showroom for a decent broken to go with the little guy.  I immediately went to a well-known breeder, but the one I wanted to choose was a little high on the price scale for what I was wanting (not that she wasn't worth every penny being asked!).  So I kept looking around and finally thought I'd found what I needed.  A broken lilac doe with nice color and an awesome looking coat for a great price!  I found the breeder and asked to have a look.  I flipped her to do a cursory DQ check and when I went to check the front nails, I was stopped dead.  One of her feet had matted fur on the inside of the ankle, further checking revealed some mucous from the nostrils, but the one eye on the same side as the paw was also matted around and below.  I held her up to my ear and detected a wheezing when she breathed.  I was utterly devastated.  The breeder standing beside me was equally surprised.  While it could just as easily have been caused by dust and stress, I couldn't afford to take the chance.  So I handed her back to him, borrowed his sanitizer, and thanked him for letting me look (he did pull her from his sales list, just in case).  I didn't see any other available animals of real interest in the room.

Just as I had resigned myself to going ahead with the first ones I'd looked at, the breeder of the Hares came over to me.  He apparently decided an empty cage was worth more to him than the difference between the price he'd set and the one I'd offered.  I bought the Hare in that very instant (before he could change his mind).

So this is how this particular string of events occurred, and could occur in no other way: 1) we chose to attend that show instead of any of the other events. 2) There was an actual Hare breeder at the show who just happened to have an available animal.  3) Even though I won a MR, I couldn't locate a suitable female at the time.  4) The one MR I found that I liked turned out to have some kind of respiratory issue, eliminating it from my consideration.  5) The Hare breeder decided to sell his available rabbit to me at my lower asking price, making it affordable for me.  If any of these things had changed, I wouldn't have the Hare!  That rabbit is essential to my continued herd improvement.

See... fate.

Rabbit Show

Today A2 & I attended a rabbit show together.  These days, costs being what they have become and age creeping up on me, I don't get to as many shows as I usually do.  I do, however, make a strong effort to get to the ones that are the closest and biggest.  This was just one such show.  I'm very glad we went too.  I had multiple objectives: find A2 a decent doe for her Dutch buck, move out the hairy abomination that's been parasitically living in the rabbitry for too long, find loving homes for the kittens, and look for Hares.  This was A2's first official rabbit show.

We arrived in good spirits, unloaded the car and cheerfully walked the long distance back to the showroom and set everything up.  I helped A2 clean up her boy (Boo Blue) and trim his nails.  She then spent the better part of the show morning walking around with him cradled upside-down in her arms introducing him to everyone!  Turns out he really is the PERFECT buck for her!!  After maybe 15 or 20 minutes a group of youngsters came over and mentioned they had some Dutch rabbits available.  A young man brought over a nice, semi-young (about a year) black doe who just happened to have been bred by the same person from whom A2 picked up the buck at the previous show of this venue.  The price was right, the doe was a good match, and the original breeder agreed to forward the pedigree to A2 next week.  So the exchange was conducted and "Angel" was added to the carrier. 

Things went fairly smoothly for most of the morning, registering rabbits, tagging young Sugar (the jr cavy I was showing) and getting everything setup.  I helped A2 make sure she got her rabbit onto the table... but so did about 3 or 4 other people too!  It's always nicer when others help out.  I learned a great deal about judging Dutch watching the 3 shows today.  I hope A2 learned some as well.  A2 walked away with 2 BOSV wins and 1 BOSB!  A very good result for her first show.  Interestingly a different rabbit won BOB in each show.  I find that to be a very bad indicator because it means each judge felt that different aspects of the rabbits was more important.  It makes it harder to learn what exactly to look for in the show animals when the judges wish-wash like that.

By the end of the show day, we had won 3 items from the raffle (a Comfrey plant for me and a blue Mini-rex jr buck, a pair of dream catchers for A2), found the doe for A2, each won in our show classes (I won BJOB in both cavy shows), I sold one of my hats, re-homed 2 of the kittens, put the fluffy abomination in the raffle, and found someone in the showroom with Hares!  A good day in all... tiring, but fun.