Thursday, October 22, 2009

Farm Photos Fall 2009

It's greening up in the pastures again with the little bit of rain that we've had in the past couple of days, so I turned the sheep out to let them run around and graze a bit. They're hilarious to watch as they leap up into the air and tear around like little lambs. =:)
I'm really happy about this little black beauty. This is the first "throw-back" genetically solid black penedesenca pullet that has hatched out in two years worth of work. I've been trying for awhile to get anything remotely close to a completely solid black out of my recessive rooster. I usually get the darker crele pattern, which is what her little brothers are beside of her. This pullets grandfather was my old solid black penedesenca rooster "Guapo" who sadly passed away at the very ripe old age of 8 1/2. The mother of these chicks is a bright blonde colored crele hen, and their father is a younger recessive-gened dark crele rooster - (by Guapo out of an older crele hen who is now deceased as well). I will take these younger cockerels back to bright colored crele hens when they get older, and the little pullet will get paired with an unrelated solid black roo in the future.

Crele penedesenca pullets. There is an older silver birchen serama pullet in the brooder box with them too. The serama pullet hatched out kind of weak, and I was afraid that the big surrogate broody hen would accidentally squash her, so she went into the box as well.
-Shannon.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Tri-Cities Fall Classic Live 2009

This weekend (the 10th), I attended the Tri-Cities Fall Classic Live in Richland, Wa. It's a fun little model horse show that brings hobbyists together to showcase their collections of models and compete against one another in a friendly manner. I took several of my various artist resins to show, and was very proud of the placings of my Teke models. Out of all the myriad of different breeds that I have in my collection, nothing gives me more pleasure and pride than to see the Tekes do a great job. "Idoleyz" above won 1st place in his spooky themed Halloween arena trail class.
"Gara Yylan" winning 1st in his native costume class. I didn't get a chance to get a picture of him on the show table, but I got one on the display table before I untacked him.

"Sabellah" winning second place in her light breed halter class.

"Gara" on the Championship judge off table. This was something that I was very proud of. A lot of collectors don't necessarily paint the models that they own themselves - (they can just buy them from someone else who has the talent to give them good paint jobs.) I did the resculpting and paintwork on Gara, and he earned a place on the judge off table next to Minkiewicz, Fraley, and Hutton models - the "creme de' la creme" of the hobby world. He won a second place in his workmanship class.

A full view of the championship table with all of the lovely painted models. What a fun show! =:)
-Shannon.