May 2, 2009

littermates and parents

This is Pookie's father. He is a chinchilla colored lop.


This is Pookie's Momma.
Isn't she beautiful? She is around 12-15 lbs.


One of Pookie's 4 brothers.
This one has quite unhappy being picked up.


Another brother and Pookie...
we were trying to decide between these 2 pretty boys.
The 5th brother was kept by the breeder for show and stud use.

welcome home Pookie- the rabbit


Pookie was playing chase and exploring the house today.
He decided under the coffee table was a good nap area




This was taken just after put in his new home for the first time.
Isn't he cute?!



Behind his name- My late father-in-law, a professional pilot for 20+ yrs, loved aircraft and built his own RV-6A. He firmly believed that everything wrong with a plane could be fixed with either A: a bigger hammer or B: some 'pooky' which is a nasty tar like stuff that seals and bonds just about everything. My girls were just little things when he passed on but have grown up on stories of "Pawpaw and the great pooky escapades." So in trying to 'remember' Pawpaw they decided on "Pookie" before we even knew what sex or color the rabbit would be.



April 30, 2009

Time to get the cage

Well, I woke up this morning and decided swine flu or not we will make our trip to Aggie land and get the rabbit(s).

I am laying in bed trying really hard to not wake up and it hits me.
WE ARE BRINGING RABBIT(S) HOME TO NO CAGES!

uh oh.

Guess I need to get out and get some things today.
We won't be back in time tomorrow to pick stuff up.

So off to clean house and get the kiddos loaded up for a trip to town.

Now what all does a bunny need...

April 29, 2009

Swine Flu *PANIC* uh not

Texas is going nuts over the 'swine flu'.

Yesterday our local schools shut down and moms were seen running with child in arms from the buildings. Several schools are closing down for a least a few weeks. Sports are canceled. Cinco De Mayo is canceled. Springfest is postponed til June. Walmart had a run on hand cleaner and is sold out. Hosp staff are wearing face masks at all times.

I just don't get it.
The 'flu' kills 35,0000 in America every yr and 'swine flu' has killed how many exactly? The numbers keep changing in Mexico. 1 confirmed death in the US but the poor toddler was from MX and was sick when he crossed the border.

Why is the Gov going nuts over this flu?!

My answer...
more government control!
Panic in the streets calls for martial law. They are already wanting people to line up for 'shots' that might prevent this flu from spreading. Maybe.

It also helps President Obama in his little socialist plan for National Health Care...after all not everyone can afford the 'recommended shots' so well the big ol' nice gov will step up and provide...just don't notice the tax increases to pay for it...after all it is 'free health care'.

And we all know the Gov is just here to help.

April 28, 2009

Home School Field Trip...aka "RABBIT DAY!"

Or as my girls call it "RABBIT GETTIN' DAY"!

Yep, we are taking a field trip Friday down to College Station to fetch home our new pets and stopping for some adventure on the way. Loading up the SUV with my 2 girls, my great friend, her son and 2 daughters and myself of course as driver and taking a 3 hour trip south.

This is sounding a bit like Gilligan's Island...a 3 hour tour...and the weather might be rough...oh boy!

Planning a picnic lunch and a long day of sight seeing. So many sites to see and so little time.

Might go here...
www.naturalbridgecaverns.com/

or here...
www.longhorncaverns.com/

will definitely be stopping here for a tour of the creamery and some taste testing
www.bluebell.com/

if we have time we might check out
www.tamu.edu/

Hubby said we must stop by a steak house in Aggie town with steaks bigger than the plate and cheap prices. I think he just wants us to bring him some left overs. I am debating bringing a cooler and stocking up with meat at the butchering class on campus. The SUV will already be at near capacity with just the people, let alone the bunnies and picnic stuff...but I do have a hitch platform and some tie downs...hmmm how redneck can we get?!

and yep, this counts as home schooling ;)

April 27, 2009

Swine flu...1976

Swine flu 'debacle' of 1976 is recalled

The episode triggered an enduring public backlash against flu vaccination, embarrassed the federal government and cost the director of the CDC his job.

By Shari Roan
April 27, 2009

Warren D. Ward, 48, was in high school when the swine flu threat of 1976 swept the U.S. The Whittier man remembers the episode vividly because a relative died in the 1918 flu pandemic, and the 1976 illness was feared to be a direct descendant of the deadly virus.

"The government wanted everyone to get vaccinated," Ward said. "But the epidemic never really broke out. It was a threat that never materialized."

What did materialize were cases of a rare side effect thought to be linked to the shot. The unexpected development cut short the vaccination effort -- an unprecedented national campaign -- after 10 weeks.

The episode triggered an enduring public backlash against flu vaccination, embarrassed the federal government and cost the director of the U.S. Center for Disease Control, now known as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, his job.

The pandemic fears of the time and the resulting vaccine controversy may be fueling some of the public's -- and media's -- anxiety about the current outbreak, said health officials who recalled the previous event.

Ward said his family discussed the vaccine in 1976 and decided not to get it. If a vaccine is ordered for this latest threat, he said, "I'm not getting it. I felt back then like it was a bunch of baloney."

The swine flu brush of 1976 -- some call it a debacle -- holds crucial lessons for the government and health officials who must decide how to react to the new swine flu threat in the days and weeks ahead.

For starters, officials must keep the public informed. They must admit what they know and don't know. They must have a plan ready should the health threat become dangerous. And they must reassure everyone that there is no need to worry in the meantime.

It's a tall order. Doubts about the government's ability to handle a possible flu pandemic linger, said Dr. Richard P. Wenzel, chairman of internal medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, who diagnosed some of the early cases in 1976.

"I think we're going to have to be cautious," Wenzel said. "Hopefully, there will be a lot of good, honest public health discussion about what happened in 1976."

Officials should be prepared for plenty of second-guessing, especially for any decisions regarding vaccination, which was at the core of the 1976 controversy, said Dr. David J. Sencer, the CDC director who led the government's response to the threat and was later fired.

"There were good things and bad things about it," said Sencer, who is retired and lives in the Atlanta area. "People have to make science the priority. They have to rely on science rather than politics."

The question of whether politics overtook science in 1976 has been the fodder of books, articles and discussions for 33 years.

The panic in 1976 was partly because of the belief -- now known to be erroneous -- that the 1918-19 flu pandemic, which killed half a million Americans and as many as 50 million worldwide, was caused by a virus with swine components. Recent research suggests instead that it was avian flu, but that seems unlikely to assuage the current anxiety.

The episode began in February 1976, when an Army recruit at Ft. Dix, N.J., fell ill and died from a swine flu virus thought to be similar to the 1918 strain. Several other soldiers at the base also became ill. Shortly thereafter, Wenzel and his colleagues reported two cases of the flu strain in Virginia.

"That raised the concern that the original cluster at Ft. Dix had spread beyond New Jersey," said Wenzel, former president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases.

At the CDC, Sencer solicited the opinions of infectious disease specialists nationwide and, in March, called on President Ford and Congress to begin a mass inoculation.

The $137-million program began in early October, but within days reports emerged that the vaccine appeared to increase the risk for Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological condition that causes temporary paralysis but can be fatal.

Waiting in long lines at schools and clinics, more than 40 million Americans -- almost 25% of the population -- received the swine flu vaccine before the program was halted in December after 10 weeks.

More than 500 people are thought to have developed Guillain-Barre syndrome after receiving the vaccine; 25 died. No one completely understands the causes of Guillain-Barre, but the condition can develop after a bout with infection or following surgery or vaccination. The federal government paid millions in damages to people or their families.

However, the pandemic, which some experts estimated at the time could infect 50 million to 60 million Americans, never unfolded. Only about 200 cases of swine flu and one death were ultimately reported in the U.S., the CDC said.

The public viewed the entire episode as political farce, Sencer said. But at the time, he said, the government erred on the side of caution.

"If we had that knowledge then, we might have done things differently," Sencer said. "We did not know what sort of virus we were dealing with in those days. No one knew we would have Guillain-Barre syndrome. The flu vaccine had been used for many years without that happening."

Wenzel also recommended vaccination in 1976. "It was a great effort," he said. "It just had unexpected, unfortunate side effects."

In Mexico, where 22 people have died from the current swine flu outbreak, government officials are under fire for their handling of the situation. But people fail to understand the challenges faced by health officials with such a mysterious threat, said Dr. Peter Katona, an infectious disease expert at UCLA.

"You have to look at not only 1976 but 1918," he said. "The pandemic flu that occurred in 1918 lasted a year and a half. In 1976, we didn't know what was going to happen. The virus might burn out. It might proliferate. These viruses have a mind of their own, and we don't know how to predict what will happen."

CDC officials have been wisely circumspect in their comments about the current outbreak, Sencer said.

"I like the fact that they have said, 'We may change our minds,' " he said. "Don't expect health officials to have the answers overnight. These things need time to be sorted out. We're still in the learning curve."

Dr. Richard Krause, who headed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 1976, has noted drolly that public health officials involved in the next pandemic flu threat "have my best wishes."

shari.roan@latimes.com

Feeling creative

I have this huge urge to make something. ANYTHING!
I currently have nothing crafty in the house and I don't want to get out in the weather to buy something.

So what can I do?

I have curtains that need lengthened but I am barely a sewer.
Should I just jump right in and hope/PRAY to not ruin it?

I have a bathroom that needs finished. I could get in there and texture the walls so we can get the bead board.

Seriously considering rearranging me bedroom because of possible flooding. All my furniture is currently on the wall where the water may come in. In a flood that would make a fast clean up hard to do. Not to mention the computer is sitting in the flood zone as well. :(

Maybe I could head to Home Depot and see what they have... nah that means driving on the roads with people who don't know how to drive in rain.

Guess the bathroom wins out.

Man, I want to be more crafty...whipping up cute things on the sewing machine or crocheting up cute kid's toys.

Some day.
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