Spring is Here!!!!!

Well it seems like Spring is offically here, which makes everything busier.  Spring is great because it is a time when you start to do your 'deep' cleaning, however that always means more work.  :)   Out here it always seems like there is 'another thing to be done' with all the animals and just stuff in general.  

Ella enjoying herself

Champ is falling asleep!

Jewel is getting her bath, although she always looks clean and pretty.

My mom braided Champ's tail.  Isn't that cool?

Misty standing after a bath so she doesn't go and roll.

Louis is Hot!  Trying to cool off in the shade under the car.  Do you think he knows there are plenty of other shade places other than under the car?

Looking pretty...And CLEAN!!!!!

Still all wet.  :)

Goldie started to get a bath but she was to spooked so we let her go and she went and rolled and all the dirt stuck because she was somewhat wet.  Needless to say she is dirtier after we tried than before. 

Waiting and pictures of 'little squirts'

Princess is killing me with waiting for the babies.  I felt them jumbling around last night.  There has to be atleast two.  I am sooo excited for her to have them.  Here is a picture of Princess

And here are some pictures of my little squirts.

From left to Right.  Romulus, Black Beauty, and Remus.

And my Beautiful Blizzard.  I think she is Gorgeous.  I am planning on showing her when she gets older.

A Bug's Life- Memoir of a Bug

One of my chinchillas that I bred passed away yesterday afternoon.  Bug was a Standard gray chinchilla born to my favorite chinchilla Pepper that I have owned for 7 years, and Bernard.   He was supposed to be Pepper's last baby because I wanted something to replace her if anything ever happened to her but unfortunately it seems like Pepper turned out to be Bug's replacement.  I do not have an exact prognosis for why he died but I soon will.  I tried hard to save my little guy but you can't tell God He is wrong for his descisions. 
Bug was born on October 2nd, 2010 and he was one of the cutest babies because he had huge eyes and even bigger ears!  I was planning on taking him to a show for fun and to get comments on him even though he was just going to be my pet.  He was the cutest thing and I had been training him to sit on my shoulder and do other things.  He would do ANYTHING for a treat.  :)
I am glad I had him while I did rather than not ever owning him at all.  Although it is hard, everything that happens at my little ranch is a learning curve.  I have learned many things through trial and error, hazards, accidents, and in tragedy and confusion, but in the end I have learned from it to change or do things differently or what a symptom could be and how to treat it. 
I loved Bug and he is not forgotten. 

I will get pictures of him soon as the computer with all the pictures needs to be fixed.

Surprise!!!!!

Some really nice friends of mine got me a few things at the National Show. 
Here is what I got.

A rocking horse with chinchilla fur as a mane and tail.

A note book with chinchillas on the cover.

And a place mat-on the right is a breeding chart and on the left are all the members of ECBC (Empress Chinchilla Breeders Cooperative, empresschinchilla.org)

There is my name on the list!  Number 21.

Spinning....or atleast trying

Tonight I tried to spin....needless to say it didn't go as well as I would have liked.  Here are some fiber pictures.  :)

English Angora and Chinchilla fiber salad!

Spun Chinchilla

English Angora and Chinchilla....Half spun. 

Knit Chinchilla

I will post more soon......

More News-

I got my business cards today so I wanted to share with everyone what they look like.   I am so excited about them.  Also, I have put several females in breeding in the last two weeks.   I put Rex (Standard), Lilac (Standard), Daisy (Standard), and Cloud (Standard) with my White Male that I bred (YEAH!) -Diamond.   To my Ebony Male Bear,  I put Hazel (Tan), JC (Tan), and Muffin (White).  -Bear also has Panda (TOV Ebony) but she has been with him for several months.  And to my Standard male I introduced Sassy (Standard).   I usually try not to do so many Mutations (especially Mutation to Mutation) but I am currently re-arranging things so that I can get some better Standards going and this is just the way it kinda turned out until I can get my Standards going more.   I do put allot of time into who I pair.  When choosing the pairs I usually look at the flaws of the particular chinchilla and find a chinchilla that will make up for those flaws. Takes alot of time....but I love it!
Anyways on to the pictures....

Picture DAY!!!!

I took some pictures today (sorry they aren't the best pictures) at my little ranch here in Northern CO.   Let me know what you Think!

My work area.  :)

Here are some pictures of my pretty tan females!

JC -don't ask how she got that name.  :)

Hazel

Here are some new pictures of the Triplets.  Their names are Romulus, Remus, and Black Beauty.

And Finally- My carrying cage.  I hand painted it this past January (January 2011).