Friday, August 26, 2011

Tripping down memory lane

The Dirty Dozen-what a year!

It most certainly doesn’t seem like a year has passed, but as I work on getting the final touches of our annual cluster show done, I vividly remember being exhausted last year at this time.

So here’s a little trip-there is no way to walk down this memory lane as well as updates on the infamous Dozen.

Known as the Space/Sci Fi themed litter though unofficially called the Dirty Dozen, 12 lovely puppies arrived on August 27th via emergeny c-section. Abbey, poor poor Abbey, endured weeks of crate rest and gaining almost 18 extra pounds. Russ is the proud papa offering moral support, though Abbey did request that they not do this again.

10 boys, yes that’s right, 10 boys, 2 girls. 1 mismark black brindle boy, 1 b/w boy and 9 black brindle or dark brown brindle boys, 1 mismark b/w girl and 1 black brindle girl.

There were hours of supplemental feedings, 72 hours of worry about Abbey who was drained, literally. But within 10 days all were eating on their own and it only got worse from there. Imagine 12 puppies escaping the whelping box at once? Or how about moving them to the puppy pen in the study and the noise? Actually the current 4 monsters make more noise J We routinely found 8 or 9 puppies crashed and packed like sardines in one crate, though a few found sleeping in the food dish or the litter pan(Charlie) was more appropriate.

We did manage to find the most perfect new homes for the Dozen.
Here’s a few updates:

The big red brindle boy that everyone wanted-we called him Jr as he was Moose all over again, is now Buddy and living in TN with his water loving Uncle Chopper. Spoiled does not even begin to describe this boy.
Sam, formerly Drew, is now in the SE corner of Iowa being the best bud of our good friend Dan. Never meets a dog he doesn’t like or a human that he can’t bribe a treat from.
Our mismark girl, Beverly is now Anna and her brother formerly Connor is now Tristan, are diehard Hawkeye fans and live in IN. We are hoping to see them this fall when they came back for a football game.
The other pair of Einstein and Percy, run an very successful organic farm, restaurant, event center and market in IL. They have a great family that dotes on them and we go and visit when in the area for dog shows.
Luna, the other girl is now Joria and lives with a very handsome blue merle cardigan named Frankie in Southern IL.
The lone tri colored boy, Walt, is now in the Air Force, and spends time between flying missions from his base in Colorado, at home with his family including wonderful boys who think he’s just perfect.
Adolph, now Gryffin, one of the triplet brindle boys, is happily entering his other cardigan friends in Il with Heather and her family.

Then there’s the other two of the triplets:
Max, who was James, is up in WI with Liz and her family. His ultimate goal is to be the best darn agility dog and get every title under the sun in obedience. But first, he’s got his majors and just needs a few single points to finish his Championship! No pressure now Liz!

Chipster, or Ruffles Jr, the very image of his father, is growing up in MN with Shelley and her herd of corgis. He’s almost ½ way to his championship and searching for majors inbetween being a star on YouTube with his e-collar antics.

Last but certainly not least is Charlie. He chose to stay right here and be mentored by his mom. Not a good thing if you hate barking and running and chasing of the poultry. Charlie is, well, different. The joke is that he hears voices and that sometimes lands him in trouble. In search of his last major, hoping this fall yet, Charlie Bear is a loveable lug who’s certainly his father’s son-man he’s a picky eater!

Photos please for all those who read the blog that are owned by a Dirty Dozen member. Hoping that in the following week that I can show you just how handsome they all are!

Later gators....
C

Monday, August 22, 2011

First and last

Finally, the last "summer" event of the season, but a first for the Ms!




Sunday was the Iowa State 4-H dog show at the Iowa State Fair. First-we love going to State Fair, though it was the last day of the fair. Reminder to self, go the first two days - everyone is super happy, ready to go and not dragging.




The Ms took Moose in Novice B, while Lace's senior butt got dragged into PreNovice B. Her first State 4-H show!




Along with the 4-H show was a local kennel club's annual fun match aka Open Dog Show. That means tons of other dogs there, creating for many kids, their first real dog show atmosphere. During the time when the oldest two kidlets showed, it started out in the overflow horse stalling area, also known as the west end of the sheep pavillion. Then it moved to the east end of the hog building. Over the last couple of years with the addition of the new outdoor arena, tie areas and new barn, the dog show is now in the Pioneer Livestock Pavillion-the original show building. David and I sat in our chairs in the middle of the arena and marveled at how they managed to hold 6 and 8 up draft horses hitches in there for the shows. Now they are over the Jacobson Arena-much better suited.


So the results after getting up at the crack of dawn to drive to Des Moines??? WOW!

(Doesn't Moose look happy-heehee)

Moose wins high point Novice with a great 194 score!!!! For him, that's awesome and he only got off points on what we consider his normal problem areas-wide heeling on the off leash and a couple tight leads on his figure 8. When your consistent like that-ie, the same issues and nothing new, we're happy!

Now to PreNovice B--48 kids entered! 1/2 the kids scored in the blue range. 10 kids were in the highest bracket with purples. High Point and Reserve only had 1/2 point difference and the top 5 all were within 5 points of a perfect 200. Lace and the Ms???? 195 and 5th place!!!!!! Again, her weakness-she is a crowder when heeling, two points off. The Tall Kid can attest to struggling with that the entire time he worked with her and 3 points off on her recall-slow sit, again, she's got an elevator sit that has to stop at each floor going down, and crowding on the finish.

The Ms? Super happy and really proud of her dogs. She had fun, made some friends, and is ready for next year. Moose-well, once again, he gained a legion of fans and made one special friend.

After showing, it was time to see the sights. First stop, lunch, pork chop on a stick. 2nd stop, DNR building so the Ms could shoot some arrows. In between, we watched a sea of red shirts on Grand attempt to set the world record for the most people doing Stop Drop and Roll at one time. State Farm was putting on the event.


Saw the Butter Cow, all the little concrete cows celebrating 100 years of the Butter Cow and our dear friend Dr Joe, who was manning the Iowa Organics booth in the Ag Building. David had to stop and get the toasted walnuts and the Ms saw some great ideas in the horticulture area for projects for next year.

A trip through the Varied Industries Bldg, Walnut Center and of course the morning was spent by David with some draft horse friends in the Horse Barn. Let's see--oh MY food stand, the favorite from all those years showing horses, is still there!! I feared with the building of the new arena, they would have to move and I'd never find them. Nope! Cinnamon roll in the morning, and of course-funnel cakes for the ride home.


I'm tired to say the least but it was a great time had by all, especially the Ms and her four legged pals. Now how many days till next year?


Later gators....
C

Friday, August 19, 2011

The temp

Like my new temp? Office dog dujour!

Later gators....
C

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Now for photos....squirrel.... of the monsters




And this is why no new photos have been taken, the help can't focus!

Or is it that the puppies don't cooperate? BTW, this is Shorty aka Abbott and he played pudding puppy.

Opps, wait, Dad's gotta get involved now.


Okay, one who's a little more willing, this is Nero. A little scrunchy but he really wanted to help get the ball that was thrown.


A pretty Nero, not so pretty front. He's seriously not that wide but the towel was slippery, my fault. And with fuzzy feet, that don't help at all.

Kinkajou, again, all scrunchy. Seriously, they all have dead level toplines. But he was not about to point his head in one direction, so we got what we got.



BUT.... he is the first with ear lift off! What you can't really see, is his "mohawk". The hair on his blaze, from the tip of his nose, to the tip of his head, grows inward and he has a mohawk cowlick! Super cute

Damn it Eddie, get your fuzzy butt outta the photos!
Jeff Fa Fa. And again, the topline is level, handler error this time as he is a little too stretched out.

Isn't he cute? The current topic of conversation is that dear Jeff might be a cryptic merle! He's getting some interesting markings on his ears, around his blaze and his nose is just finished coloring in, though the inside is still pink.

And finally all, Short Stuff. I was able to get him to work with me for a nano second, then he went all gooey again.

Yes there's a lot of hair there. And yes, I love it! Right now Nero and Kinkajou have great families waiting to pick them up in a couple of weeks. Short Stuff and Jeff Fa Fa are still taking applications for those interested in hiring them for the position of family dog.


Later gators...
C


Monday, August 15, 2011

My version of doing nada

Someone asked me what I did this weekend. I said nothing. And the reply was, seriously, you didn't do anything. Nope, nothing.

Here's my version of doing nada:
Put up new tent Friday night so we can watch meteor shower.
Start reading a book.
Fold laundry in dryer, but wet load in dryer, start another load in washer.
Chicken and duck chores, move stuff to finish mowing.
Go to Market Saturday
Side trip to garden center-oh oh, another new hosta and daylily
Kick monsters outside.
Work dogs
Continue reading book
Dig potatoes. Pick cucumbers. Dance a jig around loaded butternut sqaush vines.
Piss off duck and take out new duckling.
Duck, Chicken and horse chores
Clean floors
More laundry
Cook dinner-ummm German Potato salad
Sunday-wake up late! Slept with Eddie on my pillow, oh joy
Kick monsters out, Retrieve Click from center of puppy pen and chew her out for jumping in.
Run errands-new screen door, hardware, more plants--they were on sale!
Pre show meeting at Amana
Stop at bakery and get some letters, cinnamon swirl bread and a case of cream soda
Home-oh wait, must get TP-side trip to Wally World for that and of course, ice cream!
Yell at Click to leave the puppies' food alone and remove her, again, from puppy pen.
Laundry.
Chores
Nail trims on puppies and other assorted victims.
Brush molting GSD-okay so I didn't, the Ms did and I watched-it's entertaining, seriously
Take down tent after collie(s) jump on it and break pole.
David finished mowing some where during the day.
Plant stuff, but not all of it.
Finish reading book.
Laundry

And that's how you do nothing for a weekend. I swear there are a few things I missed in that list-like attempt to start cleaning study, dishes, hunt for eggs(darn free range chickens) and stand around debating what not to do this weekend.

Later gators....
C

The three stooges

And now, there are three!!!




Pip has three more eggs in the nest. This latest addition, we think is a female and though you can't tell in this shot, the Ms thinks she's either a silver or lavender! I just love hearing their peeps and quacks coming from the brooder. Later gators....
C

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Quwazy quackers

Here's the newest additions to the Ancona herd! Not sure what color yet as they will change but the cool part is that they have good markings. One is a duck(correct term for a female duck) and one we think is a drake. By the sounds of it that is-those of you in the know with ducks will understand that. For everyone else, and typical of a woman, females quack the loudest, while the males have a low raspy quack. Mom duck, the infamous Pip was none to happy about the Ms stealing her babies for the brooder but it's best considering the other ducks around. Pip is a silver ancona and the sire is the Ms' special lavender drake. Next breeding will be to the black drake and we are also going to try the lavender with the chocolate duck next spring.



Anconas are still considered a critically endanagered breed of duck. At fair we seemed to have a large group of them or ancona mixes. The unfortunate part is that many a magpie duck or magpie mix is mistaken for true anconas. Luck has it we purchased the parents directly from one of the authorities in the breed and a person credited with saving the breed from extinction.

The Ms is on duckling watch now. She was soooo excited when I got home last night to show them to me. Can't wait to see if we get more today-there's about 6 more eggs sitting in the nest.

Later gators....
C

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Break through!

Just got a message from the Tall Kid, and seems Ms Pip is a good broody duck. First two ducklings hatched this afternoon. Purebred Anconas, Pip is a silver hen and the proud papa is the Ms prized lavender drake. But we could get just about any color available.

She's been sitting and sitting and I was just talking today about having to boot her off the nest this weekend and check to make sure they were viable eggs. Doesn't look like I'll have to do that now!

Man I need to get caught up on photos---again, will have those for you tomorrow!

Now I have to set up a second brooder for them. At least it's not blazing hot like it was last week.

Later gators....
C

And the weiner is.....

Connor, well sort of. That's what he said he really wants for bait in the ring now. Took 3 of Alec's five fingers off during groups!

Anyway, I haven’t much time to go over the events of the recent weekend. Take one day off at the worst time of the year and well, it’ll haunt you for days. I’m so behind I think I’m catching up with myself!

I think that I can officially say that I have not spent a more miserable weekend showing in ages. I can handle rain, even 10 inches in flash flooding, followed by the mud it brings. Give me ice storms, 8” of snow and blizzard conditions. But the heat and humidity this weekend not only got to the dogs but the hoomans alike.

Top it off with Alec feeling horrible. Tweaked his back and he’s got a lot of back to tweak. Then it upset his stomach and he was sick most of the weekend. But I will say this, he sucked it up and showed. Only time he pawned off a dog to me was in breed and he couldn’t stand up right. But he did make it to all his groups.

I do need to thank Sheryl for letting us stay with her for the weekend. Her suggestion too. It was great to see Annie and Phil orders a great take-out pizza! I’m still rolling over her offer in my brain but until the roof is taken care of, I can’t figure out a way to take her up on it.

Saturday was the most brutal. We spent it alternating between the gym with the A/C and the big fans ring side. Joke in the GSD ring was that it was a wet tshirt contest. All the guy handlers abandoned their coats and ties, but still soaked through their shirts. Kent was the only brave one and needless to say all the handler’s clothing was headed to the dry cleaners Monday morning.

Connor managed to take BOV 2 out of 3 days. You can ask me about day 3 later—to say the least, I won’t be showing to that judge unless I have a great class bitch to take to her. Thescelo took BOB all three days and had a great showing in the groups. Charlie was RWD two days and won his class all three days, though the major broke. Editorial note: sick child, dying parent, car accident, broken leg, or dog is ill, that I can use as an excuse for pulling an entry. There have been a lot of entry pulls recently, having left me to consider that losing the day before is also a valid excuse for screwing over others. Therein lies another problem, a few exhibitors are now getting an untrustworth reputation-will they come, will they stay? From my point of view, if you come you come, but I most certainly won't count on you to stay. And as Kim noted, at some point, you're going to reap what you've sown.

Back to the recap. The Ms and Charlie were a good team one day in juniors, the other two we dragged Fred out from under the Chick Chalet, dusted off the wood shavings and they looked good. Seriously, the old dude did good and other then having to be bribed with steak on Sunday, he done good! And yes, we really did bath and groom him. He just preferred that we hadn’t.

Though, I must make another editorial side track. I think the AKC should require that juniors judges have a grasp of all the AKC accepted breeds that might be presented before them. Such as hand stacking of most herding breeds isn’t as correct as a free stacking dog. Or that a cardigan’s feet can turn out slightly and attempting to correct that for the junior on the table is an insult to the junior as well as possibly hurting the dog. Too many recent judges have point blank told the Ms that she would have won the class if she had corrected her dogs feet to be straight!!!!! Give me an F’in break! Three years running, our 4-H showmanship judges have known that a cardigan can have a slight turn out and they aren't AKC juniors judges! Email sent to judge’s ed for the CWCCA to send information to a handful of juniors judges.

Since I’m on a roll, attitudes ring side and ring etiquette seem to be extremely lacking. I’ve ranted on this a dozen or two times. If your dog doesn’t win, don’t have a hissy about it and then wander around muttering about crappy judges, crappy dogs and crappy people. I hate losing as much as the next person, but I know my dog isn’t perfect and like the judge on Friday told us, he liked things about each boy, Michael and Charlie, but different thing so he had to weigh what he didn’t like. Am I upset that I lost, nope. Did I throw a hissy, nope. Did I berate other’s, nope. Now getting beat by a dog with distinct structural faults, that’s so different. Wide fronts, train wreck rears, crappy movement, those irritate me.

Man, a few editorial side bars today?

As I am waiting for a photo from Rhonda, the only other happening this last weekend is that the Ms spent the weekend socializing the most adorable and outgoing and delicious rotten red puppy. She got to play in the fun match with Stormy, spent her own money to by her a new toy and well, signed on the dotted line. Photo will explain it all and no, it's not living at my house....yet.

So now it’s time off until our local show. I’m rolling up my sleeves for the final prep. Eye Clinic, herding instinct tests, fun match, ugh. I’m getting excited though. Nothing to show this year, so that makes it a little easier on us all. No week old pups to deal with, much easier. I’m looking forward to going home in the evening, doing chores and then sitting around the campfire with toasted marshmallows, then dropping off to sleep in my own bed.

later gators....
C

decisions, decisions

I had this long post about breeding, gambles and hard decisions, but I threw it away. Plain and simple, we have decided that Jeff and Shorty are now available to good companion homes.

Just because you breed, doesn't mean you have to keep a pup and have to show it. I think too many people aren't honest with themselves. You have to look at what you have, where you want to go and figure out what you need to do next. Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of the opposite lately. If it doesn't have what you want(and I guess that means you have to know what you want first), then don't keep a pup just to keep one.

With that said, I'm not unhappy with this litter. Just didn't get what I wanted to go forward with. Granted Jeff might be just the right pup for someone else, and that's fine. But for me, I need something else that he doesn't quite have.

I will post photos of the boys tomorrow, my camera was at the 4-H meeting last night, or should I say, in the truck at the meeting.

Both boys are available on neuter contracts, with approved references and returned questionnaires. Again, more on both tomorrow.

Email me at fogebotom@yahoo.com if you want more information.

Later gators...
C

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Midlife crisis

Beyond other items, we are currently picking on the Hubby about possible having a mid-life crisis. No it's not the powder blue prius that makes a sound as it goes by..... never mind-unless you know who Walter is and his opinion on such subjects, ask me later.

Anyhow, we are now in possesion of a lovely red convertable. It's sitting in the barn.

Wind in my hair? Not on your life-this thing maybe clocks 25 mph at a hard trot:)

Yes, indeed, the show wagon made it's way home this weekend. It toured the country side as Hubby and Dad showed it off to those in the know.

Plans are to take the girls out some time in the next couple of weeks for a road test. It needs a little polishing on the chrome as well as getting the old farm name which includes the words Belgians, off the side.

So what do I need for my mid-life crisis?

Later gators...
C

broken and fixed?

So we(Moose and I) decided that a little work out in the heat was in order.

Then we decided, no, we could work inside. Much better idea and less sweat involved.

Alec in one of his boredom induced dog training moments(those are always the worst) taught a certain oversized brindle dog how to play dead. Let me remind you that in another boredom induced training session, he taught his collie how to shake hands, even how to alternate which one he asked for. He's sort of, or should I say that I sort of regret that as she offers that behavior when she's in a pissy mood now. Add in a snark along with the deadly paw and well, it's annoying.

Moose has always had a great down. It's typically flat on his back, feet waving at the ceiling and yes he holds it for 3 mins in novice and a whole 5 mins in open. But add in the pointed finger and a bang, it's even more dramatic. So last night....

We start working on his "around"-swing to the left. He defaults to the "heel" swing to the right and I'm working on getting him to wait for the correct command and not anticipate. Part of this is also working on his left pivot so we can work on RA and RE signs. Moose has no clue where his rear is, my fault in not training pivots on the rear early on. But with a suggestion from a training friend, he's sort of found it again. His left pivots are starting to come together and we use that a lot when working on other things as he loves left pivots and it keeps him up in the ring.

His "around" was hilarious as he was bouncing to the left and then swinging to his butt back to the front-I'm so not sure what he was thinking but I gave in and shot him dead. Mistake. Because next we worked on sit-stand-down-sit. Sit-got it. Stand-he cocked an ear, swiveled an eye and went "seriously?" and feigned a mock stand. Down-oh shit. Yeap, he went down for the count, even putting his paws over his nose in an awesome over the top play dead routine. Do you think I could regain control of the situation and get him back to a sit? Not on your life, he was dead and that's where he was staying.

Of course the collie just looked at him like he was an idiot, came up and said, dude, if you seriously want to quit, just give her the paw---which is what the EBD did.

Later gators...
C

Monday, August 1, 2011

Going raw in a 'round about way

I feed several of my dogs a partial raw diet. Charlie mostly because he just does not eat and raw seems to work best to get him to eat.

Pete and Fred has decided that since it was good enough for Charlie, it was good enough for them. Though they failed to tell the chef and went about it themselves.

Any chicken or duck(return back to the Fred and the Duck Head incident) or turkey( that's another past post) that ventures into the main front yard, has taken their lives into their own beaks.

Friday night. Call in the hooligans from the front yard. Tuli. Phoebe. Moose. Wait, back track, Tuli what is that on your rough? Phoeobe, why do your feet look red(other then where she licks them)? Moose-okay, you're good. FREDERICK!!!!! Licking his chops all the way with blood on his rough, his feet and drooling out the side of his mouth.

PETERMAN!!!! PETE!!! and so on and so forth until her pointy little head comes around the corner and she makes a dash for the door. Screach to a halt in the kitchen, wags her tail and then I see it. Her pointy little head is covered in blood. So are her feet. Rough too.

"David, I think we have an issue." So we gather the flashlights and find a flurry of feathers and one almost non existent carcass of what appeared to be a red star cockerel. First off, that's okay, it was cockerel. 2nd, it was bound for the processors in a few weeks. But 3rd, I was planning on eating that one!

No jail break but I think that what ever chicken it was, that flew over the fence and landed similar to the turkey, in the middle of a pack of wanna be raw eaters. We found another one in the yard in the morning--this one was still wandering around so must have flown over after the chaos. The Ms did do a quick scan and found Polly safe and sound on her roost.

Needless to say, two dogs didn't get any more dinner, two got 1/2 rations and the last one, good dog Moose, he knows they are for herding, not eating, at least when alive.

So now on the hunt for bulk chicken backs and such. I've turned the corner of concern since they seemed to have proved that indeed, raw is the way to eat.

Later gators....
C

Quantity vs Quality

I'm wrestling with a lot of things right now. Not sure if it's the too much on my plate or the fact that my plate is 1/2 empty at this point allowing my mind time to wander?

Dogs have been taking some time off from work. First off it's been hot. Second, "my" dogs that I've been working on obedience with have been reassigned to the Ms for the summer. As 4-H kicked into high gear, though we both work with the dogs, I'm hands off unless there is a problem. So Moose and dreams of his CD this summer are on hold till late fall. Same with Pete but funny, she decided she really didn't want to do any thing and went in season. I tinkered with taking Fred back in the ring to play with his RA, but again, the kid took precedence and off to the juniors ring they went. Of course Ms Merlot spent the summer in the whelping box and Eddie-he's got his RN, might be a stretch to keep his attention for a BN but CD? Hello, Mr Center of Attention? Not a struggle I want to deal with at all. Besides, I have Eddie Jr in the wings who has a much longer attention span at 8 weeks then his daddy has at 4 years.

But the show season is heating up again. So if I want to be more then Alec's bucket bitch, I better get a dog ready for something, since I have nothing to show right now! Charlie is on the hunt for a major, so if it's not one, we'll donate our entry to the club. After that, and waiting for a dog to come back in coat, my plate is almost empty. I guess that means I have time to work the new horse?

As I look at it, with working full time, juggling the Ms' other activities, it's not the quantity of time I put in to working the dogs, it's the quality. How much do they get out of it? Do they need a strict 1/2 hour work out or can I do it in 5 min spurts and make it intense and rewarding?

My other struggle with this quality vs quantity, is creeping up with the loss of another one of our oldie moldies this weekend. Clairee went peacefully in her sleep in June. I wrestled with this for awhile. She had great quality of life and we spent most of the days we had doing things she enjoyed and wanted to do, not knowing the quantity of life she had left. After her passing, I had a struggle as to the quality of life for her other 1/2, Topaz. A year older but a life long struggle with the after affects of being almost a "refuge" dog. She never had a permanent place in life until she came to retire with us. 4 or 5 different homes over 6 or 7 years. She at times seemed distant, as though wondering where her next stop was. She never had to worry about it here. Most of her last years were spent cuddled up with the Ms, sharing space on the lower bunk bed with Clariee and the cat. Making sure her adopted pup, the stuffed panda, was with in sight. But as with all senior dogs, life crept up on her. She became incontinent, due to an emergency spay. She started having issues with storms, getting lost in the back yard. Dementia and what not.

For the last month, I struggled deeply with the thoughts of am I doing her any good with the quantity of days I'm giving her vs her quality of life she's living in those days? She decided to make the decision herself. After what we believe was a stroke, Topaz went to wait for us with Clairee at her side. I am deeply grateful for having such a wonderful vet who talked me through my decision making calls yesterday and my hubby for taking her into the clinic. I know she's not in pain but my struggle still continues.

How do we know when it's time? Did I do the right thing by giving her more time or was it selfish of me to want more? This is the part I hate the most. I once listened to a vet who prolonged something way too long, I know I have to forgive them at some point but I refuse to believe they did it in the best interest of the animal. I've had a rescue who lived a life of luxury for the three days I had him, only to have to send him to the bridge because of an uncaring shelter system and a vet who refused to do more for him earlier on. Makes me love my current vet all that much more. She's honest and helps me along those roads. We've had our share of cries and hugs.

I hate second guessing myself. That's my struggle now. Did I do the right thing? Do I ever do right by the animal? As I sit and look around me at all the four footed creatures, I realize that part of life is letting go. Man that's the hardest part. That's where you always second guess. What I need to do is remember that they are here really for a short time only, we need to put the quality above the quantity.

Later gators....
C