Never a dull moment out here. Friday evening I was planning to have a quiet, relaxing evening as Kent was gone with the band that night. Before I sat down I wanted to burn off the weeds that had grown in our fire pit so I could dig the ashes out of there. I had a large cardboard box that I set on top of the weeds and lit it on fire. Everything was burning nicely when I heard screams coming from the fire pit and saw a baby bunny’s head coming up through some of the charred area. I had to get him/her out of there so reached in and pulled him to safety but still heard crying. I ended up pulling 3 more baby rabbits out of the ash and fire. I felt terrible that I had destroyed their nest but had no idea they were in there. Fortunately their mother had dug fairly deeply or they certainly would have died. They had a couple of singed patches of fur but seemed okay otherwise but what to do with them. Beauty and Gadget the barn cats were already alerted by the crying and stalking around the area where I had laid the bunnies down. I knew they were too little to just let loose outside and I knew not to handle them too much.

I gathered them up and took them in the house, put them in a box with a heating pad and hit the internet to look for help. I knew they needed someone with experience to take care of them. Fortunately I found a link to an emergency vet clinic that said they helped with wildlife rehab. They in turn gave me the number of the Four Lakes Wildlife Rehab Center which was open until 9 p.m. I rushed the baby bunnies in to town and got them to the center before it closed. They applied ointment to their burns but felt the bunnies would be okay. Their eyes were open and they were jumping around when touched. Hopefully the little guys will do fine and end up released back into the wild. Next time I burn anything I’m going to do a thorough check for nests under the weeds or brush!

Classes are half way through for this session. The beginners is full so if you are interested in a beginning agility class later this summer please contact me as I am starting a waiting list. If you are at an intermediate to advanced level you are welcome to drop in the next 3 Tuesdays at 7:45 and join our class. Class is held rain or shine as we do have the indoor arena we can use in case of rain.

LABMED, a 501c3 charity that helps fund vet bills for Labrador Retrievers/Lab mixes in rescue situations so they can become healthy and adoptable, now has a blog. I designed it for them. Check it out!
LABMED’s Blog.

Every now and then you run across a video that is just begging to be shared. This is a video made for Breast Cancer Awareness by a hospital in Portland, OR and is just plain fun to watch so sit back and enjoy the dance.

We pause from our regular blog to say Congratulations to President Obama on his inauguration!!  Fortunately I did get to see the actual swearing in while at work as one of our doctors brought a TV in so we could watch in between patients.  What a joyful day and how fun to watch the coverage at night.   I pray he stays safe and is able to help our country return to its greatness.

The President has a lot more important things to deal with than listening to the HSUS (who is bragging he is  on “their side”).  As someone who is about to choose a dog to add to his and his family’s life I hope he will realize that their agenda to end the breeding of purebred dogs would also impact him and that many of us, who enjoy breeding and/or competing with purebred dogs did support him in his run for president.

Back to the farm…..

It’s a new year and time to get my blog going again.  We get so busy here at the farm that I think about updates but run out of time to post them.

I am taking a blogging class at LVSonline.com so hopefully that will get me inspired to keep up the blog a bit more.

Happy New Year everyone!

No time to post lately — I’ll try to write a bit more often. 

Erica and I went to Florida to spend Christmas with my family down there.  Kent joined us in time for the holiday after a challenging trip down.  We had the best weather we’ve ever had when down there at Christmas time.  70s/80s and sunny every day, most days involved some beach time.  It was very hard to come home although I did miss all of the animals alot.

Having both of us travel at the same time was a logistics challenge since we had to make sure all dogs, cats and equines had someone to care for them.  So Summer went to visit her co-owner/breeder,  Jazz and Cori joined Zamboni at my field trainer’s and Marley went to visit a friend’s boarding kennel.  We then had a housesitter here for the rest of the dogs, cats and equines.  She was great and Kent’s comment on arriving home (he came home 3 days ahead of us) was that everyone was very calm.

Since I’ve been back we’ve run the gamut of weather possibilities for Wisconsin in January and beyond…….snow and fog, snow and high winds (gust of 40 mph), high winds with cold temps under zero, a sunny 30 degree day, 54 degrees, dense fog for several days (and a 100 car pileup on the interstate near us), a thunderstorm with hail (drove to work in that one yesterday) and tornados about 40 miles away yesterday. 

If I could pick up the farm and move the whole thing along with all animals to a milder climate I would do it in a minute!

I have two jobs as an RN — one in a pediatrics clinic, one in a hospital NICU.  Often I am the triage nurse at the clinic so I’m on the “front lines” taking phone calls, answering parents’ questions, etc.  We all get interesting phone calls and of course with HIPPA laws I can’t be too specific but I could write a book about some of the calls I and the other nurses get. 

For ex — This summer one of my co-workers answered a call from a parent who was on a family camping trip out west.  They called for a refill of their child’s antibiotics because a bear broke into their supplies and ate the child’s antibiotics!  That was a call we talked about for quite some time wondering how the bear liked the strawberry flavored medication, if it upset their stomach, etc.!  Yesterday I got a call from a parent asking if we could write an excuse so their child didn’t have to wear part of a school uniform.  Just when I thought I’d heard it all……I’m sure there are many more interesting calls to come. 

It isn’t Thanksgiving yet but I have something important to be thankful for today.  Sixteen years ago today I had major back surgery.  It took me 9 months to recover and I still have pins and rods in my back BUT I can walk fine, I am not in pain and I can ride horses again!  Although the memories of the pain before surgery and the long recovery are tempered by 16 years I am very thankful to Dr. Zdeblick at the UW Hospital for his skill that day when he did my surgery.

……..of writing in the blog……..I haven’t had time to write anything as the last week has been pretty hectic.  I was on the committee for the annual Wisconsin Dog Fair, an event that has gotten larger and larger each year.  This year we moved to a larger venue and as vendor chair I had 100 vendor booth spaces taken and their occupants to take care of.   The Dog Fair was 11/4 and I think it was a huge success since I have not gotten a single complaint from my vendors!  

 Friday (11/2) I was interviewed on the noon news program on Channel 3.  They said bring a dog and with all my reliable Lab girls in season it fell to a Pug to participate.  Sprite was as good as could be, sitting nicely on my lap for the entire interview.  Then the Sunday a.m. at the Dog Fair Channel 15 was doing a “live remote” with interviews from the Dog Fair as it was being set up.  I had brought Summer, my 1 year old Lab with to be a representative for our breed so she got her 3 minutes of fame as I was interviewed during that broadcast.  I saw the show on their web site and fortunately the cameras focused mainly on Summer while I was being interviewed.  Now if I was not at a dog event on a Sunday a.m. the last thing I would be doing was watching TV at 8 a.m. but apparently half of the population of this area was doing just that as everywhere I’ve gone the last few days someone is telling me they saw me on TV.    I wasn’t nervous because partially I thought no one would be watching!