www.newzealandreds.com

www.newzealandreds.com is now posted and operational thanks to my daughter Christina and her boyfriend Oscar. I wasn't sure if I wanted to create a website; my rabbits won't even know that they are featured on the world wide web. But with retirement coming and listening to teachers who have retired, I am beginning to realize that we cannot run away from the world in our retirement. We still need intellectual stimulation and connections to other humans. So, I guess I am trading in my professional career for a new, smaller, more personal adventure.

I still have the need to figure out some new puzzle; play with words to communicate some inner need or feeling, but now I must search out a new community to interact with and share ideas. I find it somewhat ironic that I have chosen the rabbit community. When down and not sure about life at 22, I reached out to the rabbit community in Southern California and in return, I received companionship and a shared interest: the joy of rabbits. With the help of Herb Dyke and June Payne, my brother and I formed H and H Mini Lops and began breeding and showing those flop eared clowns, who loved to stomp their heels and run in my backyard. My brother enjoyed showing; I enjoyed rabbits. They helped me take my mind off of cancer and with their help, I returned to good health and moved on to other adventures in adult life.

Now after family and career, I once again have time to sit in a chair and watch my rabbits run and kick up their heels. But now they run around not at the lake in Lake Lindero, but at Mission Hill Farm, at the base of Black Mountain, in Springville, California.

Now I sit back and watch my New Zealand Reds rather than Mini Lops. I have much to learn; I want to reach out to other New Zealand Red breeders: How do I improve those shoulders? How long should I try to hold on to prospective show rabbits before I turn them into rabbit stew? Have other breeders had any success at selling their frozen rabbit meat at local farmers markets? Can the reds compete with the whites? Should I try to introduce the white's body type via broken reds?

Black Mountain is frosted white; the thirty degree sun is warming the rabbits' cages after a long cold night; and www.newzealandreds.com has witnessed its first sunrise.