An update

We have had several e-mails asking us if we got home from our Christmas night flight after pulling the sleigh and delivering all of the presents.   The Reindogs did the delivery trip and all was well on Christmas Eve.   Bella and I both slept for a couple of days.   Santa took a whole week off, then he went back to the toy shop to start getting ready for next year.

Meanwhile, our Paw Challenged One took a full time job.    He was retired but  boredom, a pay check and a friend that was running for re-election made him do it again.  .   He accepted a position as a staff Aide to our friend at the Colorado State Capital.    He thought it was a part time thing, but it turned into a very full time thing in just a few days.  He is currently at the Capital before 8, and seldom leaves before 6.   It is almost an hour commute each way, so he is not at home as much.   Then there are the meetings almost every night in the district.   When he is home, he has duties you know.   Dogs to play with, balls to throw, treats to hand out, heads to pat, tummy's to scratch.  

When it is cold and snowy, instead of walks or runs for us, its tennis balls and the back yard.  Too many tennis balls, and Bella came in with a limp.    The Vet said it was "Tennis Shoulder".   Too many tennis balls.   So now, we only get a little exercise.   But Bella's shoulder is much better.  

Lets see, we had three cats, Murry, Buddy and Mini.   Murry died, soon after Murry passed away, Buddy passed away.  Mini was enjoying being an only cat.   Then when our cousins moved, we took in Sarah so she would not have to endure the trip from Denver to Tampa in the car with three golden retrievers.    Then Sarah got lost.   She could not be found, they searched the pounds, posted lost cat adds, even flyer's in the neighborhood.   Then after 3 weeks of being gone, Sarah suddenly emerged from the basement.   She had been hiding out, eating Mini's food and keeping totally silent.   

But while they were looking for Sarah, they found another stray, now named Tiger.    Tiger had been hit by a car, and was pretty skinned up.   The problem is that in spite of having a chip, and in spite of having a phone number, her owners did not want her back.   Apparently there is a rule that once you rescue a cat, you can't unrescue them.   So once again we are a two golden house and a three cat house.
  
The Paw Challenged One is regretting that he set up as many aquariums in the basement as he did.   He has tank after tank (over 20) of rare, endangered and even some "extinct" fish, extinct in the wild at least.  Several of them are part of a bio-diversity program, they are taking excess rare fish out of the big research insitutions and farming them out to people so that a given gene line is not concentrated in one place where a misteak could cost an entire species.  He set them up before he took a full time job, and now he can't get rid of them in a hurry as they are controlled, he has to report on some of them, even get a permit to take them across state lines.   So that too takes time, there is water to change, tanks to clean, fish to count.  

One of the more interesting ones just arrived are Marmorkrebs (Procambarus fallax f. virginalis).  They are not terribly rare, but very interesting.   All Marmorkrebs are female, they reproduce by cloning.   All the offshpring are exactly alike, right down to the markings.   They are in demand for acientific research in cloning, how did they become self cloning to begin with?   How did nature decide to use cloning as a reproductive method? 

The Paw Challenged One wanted to take in some more fosters, but his working hours have been such that he would not be home to take care of them.   The legislative session is short, so he will be unemployed again in April.    So we may be pretty quiet until then.    We hope to bring another foster in as soon as time allows.  

Mogley G. Retriever