Merry Christmas!

We haven't had time to put a whole bunch of our usual Christmas stuff up here like pictures and the letter. Both Amy and Chad are in graduate programs and with their full time jobs this Web site has been put aside.Merry Christmas, From: Chad, Amy, and Buddy.

It's Apple Orchard Time!

We went to the Pine Tree Apple Orchard near our house today and picked up some Honey Crisp Apples, apple spiced doughnuts, apple turnovers, and caramel apples. We typically go to the orchard six or seven times during the fall (about every weekend) and we even get our pumpkin there. It is a nice drive. Buddy likes a slice now and then too.

School has started

School has started, both in the role of staff and student for us. I’m taking my graduate classes in computer science and Amy is taking courses for her masters degree in education. Though out of college (as a student) for two years, I had already forgotten how hard it is and the number of nightmares generated (going to school without pants, forgetting assignments, etc.). I don’t know if we will be making it up to the cabin again this year with the business of work and school. It took me 3 days to finish a reading assignment for one class.

We re-carpeted Buddy’s cage. She now has a rubber mat and a thick plastic backing around the side and back of her cage. The backing will prevent her from kicking do-dos and other stuff against the walls and into the carpet along the wall. We have a new camera that also takes short video clips, so we may need to take a few new videos of Buddy.

PGA Championship

This summer has gone by so fast, Amy is already getting her classroom ready and I am starting to use up my last few vacation days I set aside.

This weekend I volunteered at the 3M PGA Championship. Because I volunteered to work the weekend, I was able to bring two people for golf earlier in the week. We decided to go to the Pro-Am on Thursday and watch. We watched Tom Kite, our former governor Jesse Ventura, and then Arnold Palmer for 9 holes. I really liked the laid back atmosphere and how the crowds were small. It was almost like having the course alone with the players.

On Saturday and Sunday I worked at the tournament. There was time to walk around and watch some golf so I watched Chi-Chi Rodriguez on hole 7 both days, and then watched Arnold Palmer finish the last day. I really hope to go back and do it again next year, I loved being out there in the sun on the course.

Simpson Safety Posters

I was just contacted by the www.safetyworld.com Web site. They have a line of Simpson safety posters that I think any Simpson fans should check out!

Question from a friend - follow up

My friend sent me another question about Buddy which I followed up with the response below. I am providing this because it covers information that one would normally relay in a blog like this and as you see, we have a lot of stuff to cover since this is just a young blog and I want to get everyone up to speed on our lives starting from birth. It is only appropriate to start with the pet.

Buddy is litter trained so all of the pee and most of the poop stays in the litter box, making it easy to clean. Her cage is unique in that it doesn't use bedding but rather an indoor/outdoor blend of carpet. I'd love to replace it with some sort of rubber coating because I'm afraid of parasites living in the carpet. She has been in there for over a year and all parasite checks come back negative, but it is still a fear of mine. Can you recommend any rubber coating that could be placed over carpet or plywood?

When we did use bedding, we cleaned it out about 2x a week. Her litter box needs to be cleaned once week too. I mainly just freshen it up, by putting a scoop or two of litter in the clean box, and then after pee and poop accumulate I cover it with fresh litter. I can usually do that three times between changes.

We have a small 1 gallon shop vac that we use to vacuum her cage every week or so.

Buddy is on a natural diet now and probably had problems because she was a picky eater. She wouldn't eat the fiber pellets but instead pushed those aside and went for the "goodies" provided in the rabbit food. Now that she is given only 1/8 cup she is forced to finish it before she gets any treats.

Buddy's cage is 3 x 4 feet, allowing enough room for her to jump and play. Prior to that she was in a bubble cage which given her size we felt was inadequate. We enjoy watching her scamper around and not sit in a small space all the time.

Question from a friend

From: Grant R.
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 7:55 AM
Subject: BUDDY

Do you ever let buddy out in the house or does [she] stay in the cage, and do you have [her] on a self feeder or do you fill [her] bowl every day?

-Grant

Buddy stays in her cage except when we let her run around the house supervised. She had a tendency to pee in the old apartment on the carpet so we are very careful to watch her when she is out of her cage. We do not let her outside because of fleas and the dangers with dogs, cats, and wild turkeys at our place.

She does not have a self feeder. As referenced in an earlier blog, her diet has changed. It used to be that we would fill her bowl every day and when we were gone we would give her a lot and expect her to ration it out. Well, she became a little overweight and we needed to change her diet. She now gets 1/8 cup of Russel brand rabbit food, and 2 cups of fresh Romaine lettuce and parsley every day. She even gets a whole carrot, top and all every so often.

Switching to the fresh stuff makes it hard to leave her overnight. I'm not sure how we are going to make it on our trips this summer. We had a neighbor friend check on her last weekend when we were up at the cabin, but that may not work for every time we are gone.

I've moved back into my office

I am exhausted. I moved back into my office today after they installed the carpet. We each had to put a diagram on our door to let the movers know where the furniture went. We were told that if we wanted to re-arrange our office, this was the time to do it as the movers would do the work for us.

Well, I had thought long and hard about re-arranging my office because it has been the same for 2 years, but I decided against it. When I got in today, and saw the arrangement, I got some ideas of how I could change it so away I went.

To see the old office, go here: http://personal.stthomas.edu/clkluck/office/2003. I’ll get new pictures up when I can.

They are also digging a big hole outside in the parking lot. Supposedly they are installing bunker like rooms underground for the electrical system. Four are going in across campus and they each are supposed to be the size of a small house’s basement. I’ll have to get some pictures of that up too.

End of the school year

Well, the school year for me is done and Amy has just a little over a week left with her class. The summer is looking busy with our anniversary trip, Amy’s tutoring, and my working at STEPS (more on that later).

We are getting new carpet at work so I had to box everything up in my office and move out for a few days. I should be able to move back in tomorrow. It is now a slow time of year for me so I am able to finish up projects that got put off during the busy school year and start on new goals and projects for the upcoming academic year.

One of the projects I am currently working on is end of year reporting. I need to figure out how students interacted with our office and see if I can notice any trends. One basic item I look for is the number of students applying for jobs. We’ve noticed that the number is going down through our On-Campus Interviewing program while the number of employers coming to campus to find students is going up. It is not unusual to see that when the economy starts picking up.

There are not to many numbers I can discuss here, but if you are interested, I could certainly talk your ear off. I love data.

Back from Milwaukee

I have now returned from a work-related conference in Milwaukee. During that time Amy’s cousin Laurie stayed at our house with Amy to keep her company. The conference I went to was the National Meeting for the National Association of Colleges and Employers. I learned quite a lot and have many ideas for my campus career center in terms of technology.

I didn’t do too much in Milwaukee outside of the conference. A group of us went to the Milwaukee Ale House one night, and the conference hosted an Oktoberfest party in Old Heidelberg Park.

A few things I noticed about Milwaukee is that every tower has a clock on it, every church has a tall steeple, and the presence of beer ads are like no other.

Buddy's New Diet

We went to the vet on Tuesday to get Buddy checked out. She seemed to have a problem now and then with items involving fecal matter that I won’t get into.

The vet informed us that she was a little over weight and probably wasn’t getting the fiber she needed. She now has to be on a diet that really gets her to eat her greens. Buddy has never liked pellets and really loves her treats. Unfortunately we need to cut back on the treats and make her eat the healthy stuff.

Right now I’ve been giving her some Romaine lettuce and parsley. I’ve also cut back on the amount of food we’ve given her so that she doesn’t have the luxury of only eating what she likes. Usually in the morning she is hopping around waiting to be feed. Once I put the dish in her cage she immediately dashes over and picks out the stuff she likes and pushes aside what she doesn’t. The stuff she doesn’t like used to end up in the trash. Not anymore, we need to get her to eat it.

Yesterday morning, when I fed her I left the uneaten stuff she hates in her dish and gave her a few of her favorites. When I put the dish back she dashed over like usual, but when she poked her head in the dish she stopped, looked up at me as if to say, “what, that’s it?” and slowly made her way over to her hay stack for a few munchies. She was not impressed.

Yesterday afternoon I fed her Romaine and parsley for the first time. It took her a while but she started eating it and finished it all up by the next morning. Today she worked through it pretty quickly.