Week of Oct. 26, 2008

We have not posted for some and there's no excuse other than lack of time. It was a busy summer for all of us. The months flew by preparing for our second open house on 9-7. We planted a lot of new flowers, painted and groomed the pastures. Everyday there was something new to do. Finally, on 9-7 the open house happened. We had a lot of people visit again and the money taken in from donations and the sale of Open House t-shirts donated by the Genesee Vally PennySaver doubled our intake from last year. Next year, we are still going to have an open house but it will be much more laid back without all the planning. We won't have a band as Chris and I always get stuck with the cleanup.

On Sept. 11, Chris had her fifth back surgery and she is still recovering from that. Once she is a little stronger I will have my surgery which may involve a shoulder replacement. Now the left arm is acting up and I don't get much sleep at night. Usually just a series of naps so I am constantly tired.

During the summer we did place little Rain and her mother Cloud with some friends in the Buffalo area. They are doing well in their new home.

In Sept. we were advised by Animal Planet that Chris was one of ten finalists in the Animal Planet Hero of the Year contest. Here it is the 28th of Oct. and we still haven't heard anything so we have to assume that we didn't win. It would have been nice to get the $10,000 first prize but there a lot of deserving people. It was an honor to be selected as one of the ten finalists but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

Obn Oct. 4th, I attended a workshop in Alleghany County at the sheriff's dept. on anmal cruelty. Although designed more for law enforcement I got a great deal of information out of the workshop to apply against future animal cruelty cases. On Oct. 4th, Chris and I attended a seminar on domestic violence and I was asked to speak although domoestic violence is not my specialty. I did present what we do and why and there was interest from the audience and we have been asked to speak again which we will gladly do if it helps break the cycle of violence.

Right now, we are hunkering down for the first blast of winter weather that is due today and tomorrow. I hate cold weather and am not looking forward to a long winter. I should get more time to keep up with this thing as going out in the cold is not my idea of fun.