Today's Bizarre Adventure

Believe it or not, I spent this afternoon at the Pennsylvania State Rabbit Breeders Associations Show. That's right, a bunny show. At the Lebanon Valley Expo Center. Admission is free and it's continued tomorrow in case you want to go too. Why? Well, why not?

Actually it was pretty cool. Over 6000 entrants. All shapes, sizes, and colors. The rabbits ranged from 2 pounds up to 20. Yes, a 20 pound rabbit. Calamatiy here is a Flemish Giant. She weighed in at 18 pounds and is waiting to be judged. How'd you like to stand around holding her all day?

Steve is an English Lop. He was a real sweetie. Friendly and into being petted. The owners I spoke to were all very helpful. I knew next to nothing about rabbits before today other than they are cute. Now I've learned that bucks are better tempered than does, home bred ones are generally friendlier, multi-colored bunnies are referred to as broken, and rabbits really do come in blue. This picture of V isn't all that good but you can see the blue tint to his fur. He's a Holland Lop and weighs about 4 pounds.

People came to show their rabbits from all over the east coast. There are lots of shows. Within the next two months, there are two more local shows, in Leesport and Hamburg, in case you can't make it tomorrow. But in the spring, there is a national show in York, if you want to attend a major one.

If you're interested, lots of attending rabbitries have bunnies for sale, both show quality and pet quality. This is Bruno. He's placed in several shows. Isn't he handsome? And he was so friendly too. Prices I noticed ranged from $10 to $85, depending on the breed and quality.

It was amazing to walk in and see cages upon cages filled with cute and fuzzy bunnies. Some seemed curious, twitching their little noses as if looking for attention. Others were sound asleep, like they were old hands at this show business.

While judging the rabbits are placed in open wooden boxes, several in a row. I couldn't believe it when they all just stayed put. I had imagined they'd hop all over the place if you did that but most didn't. I saw a few trying to hop out to visit the bunny next to them but a hand hanging over the side of the box was all it took to discourage them. Rabbits are judged on all sorts of things, including flesh, crown, and breadth of shoulders. They go through an elimination process, with the last remaining in the boxes being the best. The top 5 spots earn ribbons plus there's a point system that I really haven't mastered yet. At the end there is a best of show category.

All in all it was a fun day but let me tell you, it you're allergic or not an animal lover this isn't the place for you.