Global Warming? Really? Not here!

So I've been thinking... where IS this global warming we've been promised? It certainly wasn't evident in the -18 degree temps that we had earlier this week... It hasn't actually been evident at all this winter... Perhaps because it doesn't exist? Hmm... now there's a theory!!

Anways... I finally got an address from my fiance so that I can send all the letters I've been writing... I sent one letter this morning, it was more of an encouragement than a letter... I have to stop at the post office and see if the big envelope is still gonna go with only one stamp... I'm not sure!!

Puppies are growing!! Snickers is eating anything and everything I give her!! This morning it was ground venison, a whole egg, and some chicken... She's been having a little bit of "digestive issues" (ok, she had diarrhea last night...in the living room...stupid dog!) so I'm hoping that the ground venison w/ bone I just bought has enough bone in it to help stiffen things up a little... I think with the whole chicken, chicken liver (she NEVER eats chicken liver, all of a sudden she's picking it off the top!!), and 5 placentas from delivery she hasn't really had a whole lot of fiber the past couple days and it finally caught up to her... Oh well, should be good by tomorrow... Hopefully!!

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For those of you who are still in shock about me giving the dog venison and (oh horror!) BONES!!  Let me tell you right now...
I feed all my dogs a raw diet.  That's right, totally raw.  They get chicken, chicken bones (raw not cooked!), venison, beef, pork, basically any raw meat that I can get my hands on.  Working on getting some goat next...

Look it up, a raw diet, complete with meat, bones and organs is a totally safe, cheaper than "good" kibble, and nutritious way to feed your dog.  Since the bones haven't been cooked they are still soft instead of dry and brittle so they simply digest in the dog's stomach (dogs, by the way, have MUCH stronger stomach acids than we do).   The organs are included to make sure that the dog gets all the nutrients that they need (for instance, liver has vit A).  I follow a simple raw diet, 80% meat, 10% bone, 5% liver, 5% "other" organs (spleen, lung, brains, etc).  For the cats I like whole prey in the form of mice, rats, etc. and I've tried whole prey chickens for the dogs... that was pretty much a no-go... We'll try again this summer after the dogs have had more time to get used to the way things work (basically, you eat what I serve you 'cause that's all you're gonna get!).

I'll post more about the raw diet either later today or perhaps tomorrow but in the meantime if you've got any questions or comments feel free to comment!!

A Title and PUPPIES!!!

Exciting news in these here parts!!!

Yesterday Twig and I squeaked out our last Novice Standard Q so we'll be moving on to Open Standard.  We're still in Novice Jumpers With Weaves (JWW) and FAST though for a little while (only one Q out of 3 each). (Check out my videos on youtube, look for CrestedTern)

And Snickers had her puppies!! She had the first one at a little after 5am this morning, had the last one just before 7am.  There is 1 buff female, 1 reddish/apricot? male, and 3 of the reddish/apricot females (4females and a male!). Working on getting pictures up!

Success!!

Twig and I had our first qualifying run today in AKCs FAST(fifteen and send time) class tonight!! It was a beautiful run. The send was send to a jump (10feet away) then a left turn and up the teeter.  It was actually really nice and worked out beautifully.  Tomorrow we've got a standard run, hoping for our third (and final) qualifying run in Novice A Standard so that we can move on to Open Standard!!

I also got 6 eggs from my chickens today!! 5 brown and a green... Still no letter from Timothy...

Over and Out!

School and Waiting... two things I hate

Sooo, had my 8th day of school today... that basically means we've had at least one of every class and lab... I think I'm gonna have a really good semester.  Lots of cool classes most of which with even cooler profs....

Vertebrate Zoology + lab --> Dr. Ropski
Invertebrate Zoology + lab --> Dr. Phillips
Physics 2 + lab --> Dr. Conklin for lecture, Dr. Hoch for lab
Financial Accounting --> Prof. Lui
Theology of Marriage --> Dr. Rivera
its a full 18 credits but still I don't think its gonna be too bad workload wise....

As many of my followers (do I HAVE any followers??) probably know, my fiance is currently away at BCT.  He left for Fort Benning, GA on January 4th 2011 to train to be an Infantryman.  Since Fort Benning does OSUT (One Station Unit Training) he won't have a graduation between BCT and AIT.  That's both good and bad... good part is I don't have to see him leave twice... bad part is he's gone for 15 straight weeks.... 9 for BCT and 5 for AIT (and 10 days for processing).  He called Saturday the 15th to say that he had mailed his address to his mom... but she still hasn't gotten it... I HATE waiting!!  I've written at least once a day since he left... twice a day the first few days... oh and I guess I did miss two days....

Well.... I had Physics homework to do tonight... it wasn't actually that bad... didn't take too long... I only went through two cups of coffee instead of my usual 4... I'm sure I'll finish it before the night's over though!  Tonight on my way out of my room I went to turn off the light and the lightswitch cover is off 'cause my room is waiting to be painted... and I must have stuck my finger into the cords or something and zapped myself.... I think I can honestly say I've never done that before.... I did it like 25 minutes ago and I still hurt....

Ah, my chickens laid three eggs today... and one of them was midget sized... like, not just small, this egg was TINY.  I'll try and post a picture of it but I probably won't get around to it for a while.... I'm a very busy... very lazy person....

Found a better website to keep track of what I eat... it is WAY faster than the other one and it automatically figures out how many calories I need to eat in order to gain a little weight... I only ate like 1500 calories yesterday... I think I've got a few more than that today... not sure though.... I shall write more.... later.... maybe....

Food and Exercise... Watching calories at work...

Anyone who know me probably knows that I don't really watch calories and I don't really need to watch calories... I've never been the type to just haphazardly gain weight.  In fact, I can't remember a time when I actually needed to pay attention to what I ate...

Recently it occurred to me though that if I was going to start exercising (and obviously burning more calories) I'd probably need to start watching what I ate.  Not because I'm worried that I'll gain too much weight because I'll be hungrier, but so that I can make sure I am eating ENOUGH.  I'm typically on the low end of my "ideal weight" anyway (ok, I'm UNDER my ideal weight by 3-5 pounds; go ahead, be jealous! :P) and it'll be impossible for me to gain any muscle if I don't start eating a little more.  I found this great website that has been REALLY cool so far.  It lets you put in what you eat and how many of it, if you can't find the item its really easy to add a new item as long as you know the nutrition info on it.  It also has a tab where you can put in how much "activity" you did that day and then you can click a button to have it show you your calorie balance!! For me its been nice the past few days 'cause I can look at it and maybe have another glass of milk or some peanut-butter toast.  I've used it for the past two days and I've still got a calorie deficit... a bad thing in my case... I'm currently working on finishing a pepperoni and cheese container from Docs Landing... its pretty good... I need to start carrying my own snacks though, this whole eating thing has potential to get expensive!

Starting Out....

So, I've decided to start blogging.... mostly because, being a full-time college student, active agility competitor, sibling, and horse owner I've got tons of extra time... Ok... maybe not....


I guess I wanted to start blogging to track improvements in what I do.  I compete in agility competitions with my awesome mixed breed (excuse me, "All American) dog (Twig); I own 5 horses and a flock of chickens; I breed both mice and rats (fancy and feeder); and I'm a full-time college student working on her second to last semester of undergraduate studies.  I also happen to be engaged to a United States Soldier who is currently going through BCT.  When he left I decided to make goals for my life so that I could stay focused on the important things and stay away from getting depressed.  One of my goals was to get in better shape... how to do this in January? Well, we have an elliptical machine... I'll do that.... apparently I'm not in as good a shape as I was a few years ago... I'm sure that there was a time in my life when I could have run a mile in 10-12 minutes and not broken a sweat... I can't anymore...yesterday I managed to squeak out a 24minute mile... for those of you who don't run, that sucks.  I know people twice my age who can run for 5-6 miles and end up with an average of 9minute miles... Anyways....


I've got an agility trial this weekend, I've got an agility class tonight, first one since before Thanksgiving.  I was totally going to walk across to the campus rec center but its a full 5 blocks away from my parking garage (did I mention I have a 45 minute commute to school every day?).  I find the prospect of a 20minute walk to the rec and then a 20minute walk BACK detracts from the attraction of working out while there... Maybe someday I'll think it is worth it... I doubt it, but its possible... Its also only about 20 degrees out today... 


So yeah, running... I can't physically go out and run at present, three summers ago I managed to bash up both ankles pretty bad and they are doing a lot better but not as good as they used to be.  I also got kicked in the knee by a horse last summer so my knee is bad... Two bad ankles and a bad knee makes it REALLY hard to get motivated to work-out.  Theoretically working on the elliptical for 30-40 minutes a day with a knee brace will strengthen the knee to the point where it doesn't bother me anymore.  The ankles are fine as long as I don't roll them, good sneakers has prevented that so far.


Well, I need to work on a paper... I'll be back.... someday...