Nanobugs!!!

NO, this is not a new flea or flu bug, electrical device or chew toy for your pet........ this is the delightfully creative 'invention' of Nancy, (an old friend of mine from hospital days). (my first life) She has made microbiology a-MAZingly fun and understandable and there is NOTHING this lady does not know about. She and her family have created a fun way to fight infection for all ages. I wish I had had a resource like this when I was trying to get through that course at UNMC long ago!! Even though Nancy is a nurse.........the educators of the world could take a lot of lessons from this gal!! :) Someday when you are just looking for a "cause" go to Nanobugs.com and enjoy the ride!!

Hershey

Along the same grooming line.............. what an experience four of us had in Hershey, Pennsylvania a few weeks back. You have never seen chocolate until you visit the chocolate capital of the world in Hershey............. EVERYWHERE we turned there was chocolate. Hershey is where the mother of all trade shows is at and we managed to get there this year for the first time. Its kinda one of those things where its always on your list to do...........but its always just that step away from what you think you can. Well, now its on our list of "can't ever NOT do it agains"!! From what I hear attendance was down some this year (4,500) but most vendors(and I'll have to admit, most of my industry friends, sell HIGH dollar items) relate that people were BUYING. They were all encouraged by the trend. It was because of one of my aquaintances was willing to let some of us do some work for them that we actually got up the momentum to get us there. I am grateful for that. I'm not a great traveler..... and planes are not really my preferred mode of travel but I found it particularly interesting that one of the international airports that we traveled through, once we got back that way, was about...........oh, maybe 3 times larger than Lincoln's airport?? By the way..........it was perfect connections, timing, and flights leaving out of our own Lincoln airport to get to where we were going. All in all.........it was a great trip.......... learned lots, good entertainment, good food, good friends, and no, we didn't buy much! :)

Groom Salon

So much has gone on here I'm just not even sure where to start. As you know, Maria and Paula from our grooming salon have been out hot on the trail working to become certified. They return from Iowa yesterday, having both successfully completed the last two of five exams needed to become fully certified in both the Terriers as well as the Non-Sporting breeds! We are all very proud of their continued pursuit in this endeavor and remain grateful to those who have so graciously allowed them to travel w/ their pets to their respective testing sites. There is more on their plate for the next year.....stay tuned!!

Woo-HOO Roy Boy!!

Big news from Dian in Cape Cod. She is on her way home from a trip well spent. Roy returns w/ 12 of the 15 points he needs for his Championship so YEA!!! Carol is back..... I can tell she's reading e-mails. Four of us are on our way to Hershey soon so I may be absent again for awhile but I'll try to get right on it. I look forward to seeing many good long distance friends and meeting new..... just hoping my feet and this stupid achilles tendon of mine hold out!! Cindy may end up 'pushing' me around!! I'm NOT looking forward to the plane ride and I don't do well w/out my daily fix of "husband" but I'll put on my "big girl panties" and get over it!! It will be good to go but good to get back! No wonder I'M the one w/ the pet care facility so that YOU can all travel all over.......... cuz I'm just not the best at it!!

UpDate......

Forgive me followers, for I have once again, not blogged!! End of summer comes, things are supposed to slow down and......... true to history.......it never does. It's 'different'..... but NOT slow. Right off the gun everybody's schedule readjusts to the influx of summer staff leaving, student schedules, and long awaited vacations. KENL INN staff are not allowed to take vacations during the traditional summer months so by the time summer is over they are usually standing in line. Cindy's back from Branson, Dian's in Cape Cod, Rose has gone home to Maine for three weeks, Carol is on her way home from Colorado, Shawna is soon to leave for Columbia, & Rachel leaves for the Czech Republic for a phenomenal trip w/ her grandma after that. Ha, then, you know...... it'll be the holidays again!!
In the meantime Paula and Maria have just gotten back not long ago from another NDGAA certification in Chicago and now have been blessed w/ a WONderful opportunity to get to the biggest groom show there is.......in Hershey, Pennsylvania!! They have taken on the job of driving a truck full of equipment for one of the major vendors at the show al-l-l-l-l-l the way there...but WHAT an opportunity--so they JUMPED and said YES!! Well, THAT pissed me off.....(even though I was primarily instrumental in getting it all arranged for them)..... Anyway, so I decided that Cindy and I should be going too!!! We haven't attended the PCSA national convention for a long time so......... THIS will be IT!! WE will take the 'big bird'.... it should be fun w/ all four of us there if we don't kill each other!! :)

EOS

That's short for End Of Summer..............this last w/e pretty much wraps it up here for the major 'summer crunch'. Sadly, we bid good-bye to several staff members that are back into their own "school" world here now. We appreciate their efforts over the summer and look forward to them coming back for the holidays. We had a great bunch of folks this year. Sadly, also, we said good-bye recently to an eight year employee as well as two groomers, all w/ alot of potential as well as our "Kassie" who has been w/ us for many years, (off to Afghanistan, back in school, graduated, and now awaiting her turn at vet school.) She's chosen to spend her time waiting w/ her fiance in the service, stateside here..............and I guess I can't blame her for that!! I wish everyone the best in their new pursuits. Its been challenging getting everyone that's left into a schedule so that we can continue our pledge of 5am-midnight coverage but we got 'er done!!

The new suites have been a big hit..............and oh, my,..... WHAT a nice place!! Nice for the dogs... nice for the staff. Our friend Jorge (Animal Planet's Groomer Has It fame) from NYC was here for an all too short visit again. NEXT time its a longer stay!!

Girlie Girl is Back

With much sadness on everyone's part........ the home for Duffy didn't work out..... through no fault of her adoptive "parents".......(and through no fault of Duffy's)..... it just didn't work out....
SOOOO......... dang!!! Here we are......... a three dog family again!! Ben and I were both a tad sad when she went the first time but in our talking about that .........it became obvious that when she had to come back ---- she had to come HOME (w/ US!). Ben and I decided a long time ago that we really were NOT a "three dog family". Things just moved a lot smoother, it seemed, when we just had two..... that was a good number for us. But, we are all learning to adapt in our own ways to new routines and new rules and learning to enjoy and respect each other. Poor Shoe......... she just originally thought Duffy was an annoyance..... then she finally figured out that she was here to stay........and now they are best friends. TailR, (whose ONLY world has always been ME,ME,ME) is still a bit confused on what this beast's purpose REALLY is but he, too, is learning that we can all be kissing cousins!! :)