In the midst of all the sadness that has happened here, we have also had a lot of excitement.  After many misses I finally gave in and bred pretty much every doe.  Which really isn't that many here, but it still gave me anxiety.  And wouldn't you know, they all took!  
Belle who had been very stubborn and not willing to breed for over a year, finally gave in.  This was our first line breeding using son to dam.  Belle is our largest girl, and yet she is a true dwarf.  She carries our largest bone and biggest head out of the ladies.  We are thrilled to have two torts and a sable to grow out and hopefully show this fall.  She also produced Rudys last buck.  
Honey, one of our older homegrowns has never been a big producer.  We had 2 litters out of her, but nothing that we felt helped our herd.  She however has some nice features that we did want to utilize.  Before retiring her we decided to try her a few more times.  She had delivered her last litter a week early and none were developed enough to survive.  I feared she was nearing the end of her production time.  The last round she delivered 2 peanuts after a difficult labor.  I was sad to not have a baby from her, as I had hoped for a doe to carry her line.  The following day I went out and she was busy pulling fur in her nestbox.  What do you know, one healthy little tort doe!  
Clover, my favorite doe in the herd, kindled 2 cuties.  A black buck and a tort doe.  This black buck is thee widest baby we have ever had in our  litters.  He has a massive head, short and wide body and I can not wait to see him mature.  
Moonshine, my difficult girl... has a habbit of kindling on the wire.  I was lucky to save her littler of blue points.  I wasn't so lucky with her other litter.  Well day 31 came and went and she did not attempt to kindle.  Then I decided to go check her at 1 in the morning and sure enough, kits on the wire.  I began to clean them off feeling sad to lose an entire litter again.  As I peeled one poor little baby up, yes peeled, because it was literally stuck to the wire... I felt movement.  I hurried and got it in and warmed it up and cleaned it off.  I spent the rest of the night cuddling it to keep it warm against my skin.  By morning it was warm and I let it reside with Honeys little singleton.  I was hoping for a blue, however I still honestly can't tell you what he is.  In pictures he looks siamese sable according to all the smart rabbit people.  In person... he still  looks blue to me.  So I guess time will tell.  Regardless of color he has a massive head and is really really cute.  Lots of growing to do, and reality is... Siamese Sable or blue isn't known for having the best type so I'm trying not to get too attached.
On top of the baby boom, Quinne had her other litter of torts who are all looking very very nice, thanks to Little Rascals.  And we have a littler of brokens who are getting hit hard with the uglies so we have some time to tell if we have any show hopefuls.  But it looks like this fall the girls will have a few rabbits each to finally show!

Well our sad times didn't end with Buddha.  I had not even quite digested the fact that he was gone and our breeding program had to rely on his offspring, that we lost another buck.  This time it happened to be the most special buck we had bred.  Not that his type was the most exceptional, however he did throw some nice babies.  His personality was one in a million.  He loved to be loved.  He lived in an outdoor pen.  It had a flat roof on it for shelter.  He would jump up on top as soon as we came outside and await his love.  If you ignored him he would stand on his hind legs and sit upright begging.  He even got my husband in on the love.  He never went without noticed.  He spent a solid year in his pen with the full option to run free had he chose to.  But he didn't.  He was happy with the obstacles and safety.  Then one of our last big storms, something happened.  Not quite sure what enticed him to leave his pen but he did.  Sadly our puppy was elated to go out and find a friend to play with in the yard.  The bounding 65 pound puppy love was too much for Rudy to endure.  
I sit and think back, I never should have kept him outside.  But then I think he was so happy out there.  Then I think I should have kept a solid roof on his pen.  But then I think, he couldn't have jumped up and interacted with all of us like he did.  He was able to have such a fun relationship with us.  All I can do now is be thankful for that time and hope to meet another as sweet and amazing as he was in my lifetime.  The only consolation is that we have a darling Rudy junior buck growing and 3 Rudy does.  He has also left us with Vader and Hooch who both have very darling personalities.  As far as letting them express themselves in an outdoor pen I've decided nobody gets free time quite the same anymore.