Well, I finally got the tree that I have diligently been chopping in half for the past 8 months to fall over. A little help from a guy with a tractor was the trick... Then we found a CUTE little baby bunny in the back yard. We basically put him back where we found him and kept the dogs in for the rest of the day, but man was it cute! Sunday we went on a hike with the dogs, but had to cut it short because we thought they both were going to have a heat stroke! Then we finished off the weekend with one of our friend Brian's birthday party at Buffalo Bistro in Glendale, UT. It was not exactly a "Best Friends" endorsed party. The menu included "oysters" coming from the bovine family....... Wild boar ribs, rattlesnake & rabbit sausage, duck sausage, and buffalo sausage. We had a great time! Jennifer took a great picture of a cat while she was working Saturday too.

Outside of our window at work we have bird feeder. The crazy birds fling bird seed all over as the seek out the most savory seeds. The turkeys and rabbits clean up the rest.

Now accepting applications for neighbors! This house is right across the street from us and it is for sale! Not bad for a manufactured home, and you can't beat the neighbors you would have...

Last week we had a two day "retreat" for our division. Here is the photo of the group. Some of the staff lives here in Kanab but a couple of the girls live in L.A., one is fromTN, a couple Canadians, one is from Boston, on is from New Jersey and so on. This group runs the network. Visit it at www.network.bestfriends.org and find out what is happening with companion animals in your state.

What is up with my clothes I am 1/2 Hollywood 1/2 down on the farm~

Happy Birthday Mom!

You deserve something witty but I don't think my brain can
So I'll leave the creativeness to my wonderful man.

Though Mary's now an age not allowed to be told
You can see by the picture she's quite far from old.
Her birthday was spent with family and friends
Dealing with Jennifer's hair missing its ends...

Hello everyone, sorry I have not written in a while. I was in Denver Colorado at a Humane Educators conference from Feb 6 to Feb 11th. It was really nice weather in Denver but it was weird to be back in a big city. Lots of traffic, congestion, retail stores etc. I met some great people and got to visit the Dumb Friends League and Butterfly Museum. I got home on Sunday and hugged Rodeo, Zeena and Daron for an hour straight! I missed them so much. Unfortunately, my time at home was short lived. We had a family emergency so I flew out on Tuesday from Vegas. It was quite an experience - 1.5 hour drive to St. George, 2 hour drive in a shuttle to Las Vegas Airport. Wait 2.5 hours to take off, fly from Vegas to Philly approx 4 hours, Got to Philly and there was snow freezing rain etc. It was 4 o'clock in the morning Kanab time and 6 in the morning east coast time. They announced all flights to West Palm Beach were cancelled for two days. Cue the tears... I was a nervous wreck, anxious to get to the family. Then by the grace of God they got us on a flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Hallaloo ya! It is 37 miles from West Palm and the guy in front of me said his wife was picking him up and they would give me a ride. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers. Of course, when I told my Mom this she wanted me to text her the make and license plate of the car just in case I was abducted. I told her that at this point I was sure the man was way to tired to abduct anyone. We sat on the runway at Philly for 2 hours deicing the plane. Then they announced that it was starting with the freezing rain again yada yada yada and again by the grace of God we were able to take off and 3 hours later we were landing in Florida. Sunny and 80 degrees. Things were looking up on the homefront as well so the 17 plus hours in route were well worth it. Besides driving, flying, walking in the direction you need to go is MUCH better than sitting by the phone worrying. I will be adding photos of my Moms 60 ish birthday celebration as soon as their friends send me the photos.

Daron (who has been here almost a year) and I have not set foot in the only bar within 75 miles of Kanab. So Saturday night we met a few friends at the Buckskin which is located just over the Utah border in Arizona (5 miles away). It was interesting and as you can see from the photos awfully smoky. In fact, I wanted to take a few photos of Daron, who was looking quite handsome, but I couldn't find him through all the smoke! It was nice to meet friends and I actually played one game of pool. I won (ok, the only reason I won was that my opponent accidentally hit the 8 ball in) but regardless I won :) Later that night Daron and I went to the Tavern Inn next door for their filets. I have not yet converted to vegetarianism although now I don't eat Piggies. The next day we went hiking by Best Friends. We had fun and the dogs were in heaven. I think Daron was mentally reviewing his line up for Fantasy Basketball and was anxious to get back home but he knew I wanted him to hike with Renee and I so he hung in there!

Saturday was a great day at work. Rodeo came with me and we walked up to "Feathered Friends" to take photos of the birds for a 5th grade class from New Jersey. I was in a really good mood because it finally warmed up after many days in the teens. Rodeo is looking up at the bird, Jazzy, on my shoulder. He was really good in the bird building. It can get awfully loud in there! The other photo is him trotting down the driveway headed toward the peacock enclosure. I love this view!

Over the deep end...
Jennifer and I have finally completely lost it out here. We had a professional photographer come out and do some shots of Z and Rodeo. In our defense, we did not have to pay for it and the photographer is her boss's husband. He was very nice and even showed me how to unfreeze our pipes that had cut off all water to our house for 2 days! Clay spent probably 2 hours with a propane torch melting at least 10 ft of frozen solid water supply pipes. He is my new hero! Since, I have insulated all of the pipes I can find, and have even taped on some kind of electrical warming tape to the pipes. Rodeo had ABSOLUTELY no time or concern for this whole "glamour shot" thing as he maintained pretty much the same stoic (bored) gaze or had his eyes shut completely... Zeena was feeling quite pretty and inquisitive during the process. I would swear that she actually posed a few times for Clay. Anyways, here are a few interesting shots... The one of Rodeo (You'll know which one...) sums his day up. I love that one!

Beautiful Babies from Lebanon.


Daron and I took "Lucky" and "Freida" for an outing (aka. home visit). These two dogs survived a war in Lebanon, a plane ride to Las Vegas from Lebanon, and a 4 hour car ride from Las Vegas to Kanab, Utah. They are all so affectionate and happy to see people. The only shelter in Lebanon was becoming over run with animals when the war broke out and people were forced to leave animals behind. Luckily, the Lebanon volunteers were able to offer sanctuary to some of the homeless animals. Best Friends offered to take 150 dogs because the shelter had damage from a bomb and the farm area they fled to weren’t happy about the noise. In fact, they threatened to poison all of the dogs. So we said we could take 150 dogs and they quietly asked if we could take 150 cats. Yikes! Best Friends ran a fund raising campaign specifically for the dogs (and now cats!) to come to America. The dogs have been in outdoor dog runs with shelter and hay and toys since August. The problem now is that it is cold. Lebanon dogs aren’t used to the cold plus Best Friends believes dogs should not be kept outside 24/7 (all of our other 600 dogs have indoor/outdoor runs with heated floors in the winter and AC in the summer). The dog caregivers have been putting all 86 dogs into separate kennels overnight. The first time they did this it took four hours. Now, they have it down to about two hours. Needless to say, they are looking for people to take the dogs on sleepovers or at least outings. I remembered Freida from a previous visit to “Little Lebanon” nd was drawn to her. She looks like a coyote because of her markings. I asked Kristen about her and she said Freida was tortured. I couldn’t believe it she as so brave, friendly and outgoing. Her skin looked like her entire body had been doused with acid or set on fire. I didn’t want to know so I didn’t ask any further. Her kennel mate is “Lucky” and he is dashing. Tall, thin, smart and as Daron and I found out a pillow biter and blanket puller! He definitely has been a house pet and he had begging in the kitchen down to a science. They spent a lot of the time sniffing all the corners and furniture (our dogs Rodeo and Zeena were kept outside during the visit). They LOVED the raw hides and both settled next to one another to chew chew chew. Freida’s little tail started wagging and they didn’t growl or guard their treats at all. We hated to take them back to “Little Lebanon” although they are well taken care of there nothing can take the place of a warm loving home. Little Freida sat in front with me on the way back and would touch me with her paw when I stopped petting her. I looked in the review mirror and saw Lucky stretched out on the back seat – eyes closed. Within those two hours they were starting to relax. If anyone would like to adopt Lucky or Freida let me know. We do make travel arrangements for our dogs. I would love to adopt them but Kanab City Law only allows TWO dogs per household. Criminal isn’t it?

Mom and Dad visit Lisa's new digs




Lisa and her two "babies" Chase and Nala welcomed Mom and Dad to Kentucky. Prior to their visit Lisa had installed a new kitchen faucet and bought a new refrigerator and stainless steel stove. Fancy! Unfortunately, I am just about the only one who hasn't seen her new house in person. Regular visitors include Dan,of course, and Antonio, Karen, various Texas folk, Juliette and Pam from Best Friends and sooner or later ME! I think I am waiting for it to get warmer... From what I hear it is "Zen, beautiful, welcoming, calming and fantastic" I hope I can see for myself very soon. Lisa was able to introduce them to some new wines and they visited wonderful eateries and shops just steps away from Lisa's neighborhood. Looks like Jill, Dad and Lisa took the dogs for a walk in the beautiful KY countryside.

I LOVE these two cats!

They may have been born without eyes but OH MY GOSH can they move! They love attention and greet you first things when you walk into Benton's House. They live in the lobby of Benton's House so they are greeted by many many volunteers and staff a day and they soak up the attention. I would adopt them if Rodeo and Zeena could find the love!



For the whole story on these two check out http://news.bestfriends.org/index.cfm?page=news&fps=1&mode=entry&entry=02D487EF-BDB9-396E-9922361BB992CAD9

I am sad to inform everyone that Zeus passed away. He arrived at Best Friends from Miami, Florida on September 8th and was calm and peaceful as he went over Rainbow Bridge on Sunday, January 7th. He was an amazing mastiff that was a big ol' teddy bear and he touched many hearts here at the sanctuary. We will miss you Zeus!

Daron and I started off the New Years right. We went on a hike with the dogs and it was beautiful!

Happy New Year ~ 2007
We were lucky to have Shannon and Rob drive up from Las Vegas. We went to the Rewind Diner for dinner and had a wonderful visit. They stopped by Best Friends for lunch then headed up to Brian Head to Snow Board. Daron and I went to Howard and Marissas for a New Years Party and I got to visit with the baby! Gabriella is growing. She is 14 pounds now! Rodeo and Zeena donned new blankets from Lisa. They love them.