Here’s Chip & Quincy ready for football season!
Blizzard Day!
February 2, 2011 By
Chip & Quincy running in the big snow!
We were snowed in today, no way to get dug out in time for work. Both of our jobs called off work. Steve and I stayed home and watched GroundHog Day after trying to dig out for a couple hours.
Later in the day, Steve cut some dog trails for Chip & Quincy
A fox in the yard
January 23, 2011 By
Steve was going to let the dogs out the back door today, but noticed that all of the squirrels took off at the same time. He looked around to see if he could see a hawk or something but didn’t notice anything. He put the dogs on their tie outs and they both immediately started barking and carrying on. That is when we spotted the fox. I never could get a great picture of him, he stayed on the other side of a pile of brush. Here is the best one that I had. This was the closest we’ve seen a fox. We’ve seen a pair down the road about 2 miles before though.
Merry Christmas from Chip & Quincy
December 25, 2010 By
I have been really behind in my blogging, I’m going to work on catching up, but here is a too cute picture of my best buds!
Trip to the Thumb Octagon Barn and Agricultural Museum
September 11, 2010 By
Today Steve & I stepped out of the backyard and went to the Octagon Barn in Gagetown, Michigan. They have a Fall Family Days Festival the weekend after Labor Day every year. I’ve never been before. Honestly, I didn’t even know about the octagon barn until I heard about it from Louis Wehrmann a friend from the Gera Old Tractor Days. You can see the whole history of the barn and some great photos and info on the place on their website. Here are some pictures I took of the barn itself.
The pictures, really do not do the barn justice, you have to see it in person!
We saw the barn (of course!) and checked out all of the exhibits within. They have so much neat history! We learned about honey extraction, milking, and rural electrification. There were great displays of different types of grain separators 
and bean sorters, milk separators. There also were people demonstrating rug weaving (and selling rugs) and demonstrating broom making and selling brooms. They also had honey & honey combs for sale. 
Then, we walked through the flea market area and checked in with the vendors. There were over 200 vendors at the show! There were a lot of great crafts including woodworking and glassware and ceramics. I found a great piece of glassware. I collect cow creamers and I did find a pig creamer, but no cow creamers. We also saw the one room schoolhouse and museum. It was packed, so we didn’t walk through. Then, we crossed a little bridge and stopped in at the sugar shack where they were making sorghum syrup and allowing tastes. 
We walked past a children’s activities area which looked cool. They let the kids try some bean sorters, washing clothes with a washboard and walk on stilts amongst other activities. Then, we went into the newest building, the grain elevator. That’s where we found my friend, Louis.
From there, we walked across to see the antique tractor show. 
There must have been nearly 100 tractors including a very cool Oliver 77 RowCrop with an aftermarket cab. 
The theme this year was Steam Engines. There must have been more than 10 different steam engines on display and in operation. We also saw the sawmill which wasn’t demonstrating while we were there, but had some very neat displays nonetheless. Then, we saw a McCormick Deering 10-20 power unit operating a Bay City Shovel. It was very cool and they were loading the dirt into an antique truck. I almost got trampled by a horse-drawn wagon while trying to take video. 
From there, it was just a short walk over to where a guy was making electricity! That was the coolest. We watched him stoke the fire in the boiler and get it really going so that he could light 4 light bulbs. There were gauges so you could see how much juice he was pumping out. 
Then, we were onto the feature tent where they had vintage toys and dolls. We did not walk through the flea market tent or take a tour of the house. We did buy a few souvenirs from the Friends of the Octagon Barn. We would have loved to have some cider, donuts or popcorn, but the line was SO long! They had a pretty great bluegrass band entertaining the crowd in line, though. We also walked past the powerhouse, but did not have time for the tour there either (had to get home in time for the U of Michigan vs Notre Dame game!).
All in all, this was an awesome trip! We plan on going back again.
A plague of blackbirds
September 7, 2010 By
So, today, an entire flock of blackbirds descended upon our yard. The ground was blackened, the trees were filled. They stayed for quite a while. It made me think of animal group names. Some are very descriptive, for instance, a crash of rhinos or a knot of toads. I propose a flock of blackbirds should be called a “raucous”.
Chip & Quincy get a “Nephew”
August 10, 2010 By
My nephew desperately wanted a dog for his 5th birthday. My parents agreed to get him one and when asked about what kind of dog, he would just say he wanted a dog like Quincy. 
So, here is Quincy with the newest member of the family, Trucker.
Another Wounded Toad
July 25, 2010 By
So, previously we had seen a diseased or injured toad in our yard, now we found this guy. He obviosly was squished or somehow harmed, but he seemed to be dealing with the injury. It was like his intestines were outside of his body but still working. We ended up letting him go. Perhaps he was struck by a snake or some other predator. We observed him eating and acting otherwise normally. Other than the obvious wound, it did not have any other strange or uncommon markings of any kind.
Chip has a seizure
July 24, 2010 By
So, on Wednesday, I took Chip & Quincy to Keylore Kennels for dog day care like we do most weeks. I dropped them off at about 8:45am. At 9:45 am I got a call from Lisa in the office telling me that Chip was having a seizure and that he needed to see a vet. I freaked out. Luckily for me and for Chip, they remained calm. Everyone there is trained about what to do in the case of a seizure and I’m really grateful for that.
Chip was outside for about 15 minutes when Ranae noticed him sitting next to the gate and his head was tittering. Then, he ended up in a full grand mal seizure, legs paddling, he was disoriented, he had a panic stricken look on his face and he was convulsing. He became really hot after the seizure (the vet says because of all of the energy his body was exerting and the adrenaline). Sharon cooled him down with cold wet towels.
I made it to day care and Sharon rode with Chip & I to the vet and gave them all the details. I’m very grateful for that. I wasn’t there and it would be just too hard to relay the information telephone game style.
So, the vet said that sometimes a dog just has one seizure and never another one. He is quite young for epilepsy. He is only 7 months old. The vet also indicated that he was pretty young for some of the other problems that can cause seizures. He did a full blood panel and that looked normal. He does have a yeast infection in his right ear, but that is unrelated, his tympanum looks good.
So, the vet wants him watched for a few weeks in case he has another seizure. We’re going to take him to Keylore Kennels for the next couple weeks just so that he will be always supervised. I feel nervous about leaving him in his outdoor kennel for fear that he has another seizure and then his body is too hot and he can’t get his core temperature down on his own.
He is acting normally now. He was acting strangely that morning and from reading the Canine Epilepsy website, that is typical. Now that I know what the odd behavior is, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for it. He didn’t drink any water with his breakfast (was not dehydrated though when he had the blood panel) and he was whining in the car really bad all the way to daycare.
I also called the breeder to see if other dogs in the line had ever experienced seizures and she indicated that they have not. I’ll keep her up to date on what happens with Chip. I read a lot of information on Thursday online about seizure disorders. It was making me very nervous. I also read some threads at Basset.Net from other folks with Basset Hounds that had seizures. I decided not to read anymore about it unless something else happens, but I am thinking about going to a pet first aid class now.
I’m very hopeful that this is just a fluke. I was just so devastated when they called me and worried, but he seems to be back to his normal self now.
Chip & Quincy hanging out in the yard