1/31/11

  It was quite a busy weekend but very fulfilling.   We made a flying trip to Tampico IL which is northwest of Chicago to pick up a dog.  His name is Last Chance Rowdy which I will reregister him as Lost River Fiddlin' Rowdy.  He is a small frame pointer , around 30 lbs, which is one of the smallest males we have ever owned.  The gentleman I bought him from, Joe Plote, had a couple pigeons and we took him to Joe's training field and I got to watch him work.  Had has a nice gate and good ground coverage and his range was close to medium which is exactly what we want to breed into our dogs.  He found both birds and was steady to flush and shot but not to the fall but that is fine, he is a natural retriever and iw well behaved in the field and handles lke a dream.
  Kinda broke my heart when we pulled out with Rowdy, the young man who sold him to me, Joe, was broken hearted Rowdy had been his first pointer and he had became quite attached to him.  He had tears in his eyes when he loaded him in the suburban.  But unfortunately for him he had to have the room in his kennels.  He raises Brittneys and trains for other people and he has 2 dogs coming in and needed to move a dog and since Rowdy was his only pointer he decided to move him.  It was a hard decision and hard on his heart but unfortunately it is part of the business.  I have been down that road and probably will be again and it is not easy.  Us bird dog people really live for our dogs and letting one go is always tough.  Joe may get a pup from Rowdy in the future and I will be more than happy to fix him up.
  We left at 4:15 AM Saturday morning and returned at 6:45 PM that evening and drove 745 miles and had great weather but it was quite a day.  Tampico IL is the birth place of Ronald Reagan we did not go on any tours or anything but is was nice to be able to say I was in the birth place of my most favorite president.
  When we got Rowdy home it was certainly an adjustment for Gem as well as Rowdy.  Of course Rowdy was confused but Gem did not like a strange dog in his territory.  Rowdy will be an in and out dog when I am at work I will put him in the kennel but when I am at home he will be in the house with me.  He slept the last 2 nights he slept in a crate in our bedroom and we didn't hear a peep out of him.  We are getting there with the 2 males I had Gem on one end of the couch and Rowdy the other last night so we are taking baby steps they still growl at each other when they pass so it will take a while but I think they will finally just give into each other and be content.  Here is a couple of pictures of Rowdy.

The puppies are doing well Morgan's only puppy in so fat it can hardly walk his eyes are open now and he is starting to move around.  Missy's 2 puppies are both doing well but not as fat as Morgan's.  I have already removed the dew claws and will start worming them this coming weekend.  It won't be long gefore they head to thier new homes.  The last litter we had was from Morgan and a gentleman who was supposed to buy Patch had a family emergency and I decided to keep patch wanted one of these new puppies but I offered him Patch because he really wanted a black/white female and of course all the pups we have now are orange/white he is quite happy and I could use the space my self as we have gotten one new dog and have 3 more coming soon.  I have started Patch well on to her way to being a great companion and a great bird dog.  I will miss her but I know she is going to a great home.
  Here are some pictures of the puppies Morgan's puppy is 13 day in this picture and Missy's 2 are 8 days old.

 
  Getting ready for the big ice storm tonight I have already put in for the day off tomorrow I am not soing to try to get out in the ice.  I have 3 four wheel drives but none of them go good in the ice.  So I am just going to stay home and try to get rested up.  I always have things to around the house that will keep me busy.  got another appointment on Saturday to have Gem drained again.  His new medicine seems to be helping it has been a month since he was drained and I think if we get him drained now and on his new medicine.  I am getting my truck back tonight the clutch went out last week and I dropped it off Saturday on our way to IL and they got it done today and it was about $150 dollars cheaper than the estimate so that makes me happy.  My truck is a 2000 Ford F250 deisel and it had 189,000 miles on the factory clutch so I cannot really complaim.
  Well I've rambled on enough for today will be back later.  Hope you all have a great week.
  God Bless you all,
Jim

1/27/11

Well I closed another deal on a wonderful new female this Jenny she 2 years old and full broke and has a strong Fiddler pedigree she should be a great hunting companion and fit well into our breeding program.

Jenny

This is Jenny's sires pedigree

This is Jenny's Dams pedigree



1/26/11

  Well it has been a long week.  Morgan had her litter and we lost all of the pups but 1, a male.  Missy had her litter Saturday she had 4, 1 was still born and we lost one.  The one we lost we could not get to nurse.  We hand fed her and even tube fed her but it was to no avail.  We spent hours out in the whelping house with them and put the nipple in the pups mouth but she just spit it out.  Missy was a good momma she kept the pup close but we just could not get her to suckle.
  We are making plans to upgrade our whelping boxes before we have any more litters.  I wnet on line and found underfloor heat mats for laminate flooring so I think I will put this is and I have 2 boxes of laminate flooring left over after we did our kitchen and I will put this in with a thermostat that will take the floor up to 120 degrees.  I also am going to run a couple of more circuits from panel out there so I have plenty of power availavle.  Then I think I will get a couple of electrical base board heaters to help warm the building.  I also already have a deep sink installed and I am going to run water to the sink as well as install another yard hydrant out side the kennels so cleaning the kennels will be a little easier now I drag a hose out there from another yard hydrant.  Work to the main kennel building I am going to run an outside recepticle to each kennel so I can hook up heated buckets for the winter and not have to carry water every day.  I am also going to run power to the south kennels for the same outside recepticles.
  I am in the process of expanding my kennels getting ready for my upcoming retirement.  I will post the links to pictures and pedigrees of these 3 dogs.  They are all really nice dogs with outstanding bloodlines and I am looking forward to getting them to my kennels.  I am also wheeling and dealing on a couple of more dogs but we are still in the negotiation mode I hope I can close the deal on them too.  If I do I will post some info on these girls.  Here are the links.
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=2899
http://www.singleshotkennels.com/dog.php?DogID=68
http://www.singleshotkennels.com/dog.php?DogID=113
  The 2 females are in GA and the male is in IL so I will have some road time coming up but I am looking forward to a little road trip especially if there is a new dog at the end of the trip.
  More later and God Bless you all
Jim

1/20/11

  Well let me start out today with a BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my daughter, Sara, she turns 24 today!  She is expecting her third child and has been worried about not gaining any weight but she went to the doctor Monday and gained 11 pounds the doctor was happy and Sara was shocked.  The baby is doing well and it won't be long before I have another granddaughter.  And yesterday sould have been my sister Susie's 61st birthday I sure miss her.

                                      
                                                              Me and my daughter, Sara

January 19, 1950
November 4, 2005

I love and miss you Susie

  I was going to use today to reflect on the past hunting season but things have happened and I will save that for later. 

  As you all know we had a litter of puppies this last week and it has been a real struggle.  We had 6 puppies and one was still born.  Lost another the first night this one I think she laid on and suffocated.  And the rest were doing well until yesterday.  We lost one yesterday afternoon and lost another last night.
  The one we lost last night was struggling when I got home from work yesterday we brought it is and wrapped it in a heating pad and used a feeding tube and put some warm milk in its little belly and as it warmed it became more active and seemed fine.  I got up in the middle of the night and everything was fine but when I got up to go to work this morning it was in bad shape again.  I brought it in again and gave it some warm milk but it did not make it.  So we are down to 2.  I have lost a few pups over the years and have even lost entire litters but it sure doesn't make any easier.
  I been in the breeding business for 15 years and have learned a lot and make a lot of mistakes but as I grew I learned.  I thought I had a nice place to have puppies, it is a 8 X 16 building with 2 whelping boxes on the inside and 2 raised kennels on the outside.  I bought heated whelping mats for the boxes and they work fine but the box is so big Momma wants to lay on the heat and if the babies can't next to her they are in the cold so some rethinking and redoing is going to be required.  It is very frustrating to think you work your butt off for 15 years and you still lose puppies.  So I think I will divide the box in half and make an opening so she can get in put the mat down, and hang a heat lamp above that way all the heat is confined to smaller space and will be easier to keep warm.  I will make the divider removable so I can take it out when puppies get bigger and need the room.  I have looked on line for radinent floor heat and have found some I think will work it goes under lamenant floor.  So I can put the heating coils down and buy a cheap box of laminant flooring and put it in and with a good thermostat I can keep the floor at 103 degrees and keep the heat lamps on to keep the air temp warm and I hope that cures my problems.  Sorry to bitch on my blog but like I said I am really frustrated and this is a good place for me to blow a little steam off.

1/18/11

  Well it was a busy weekend around the kennels.  Had an electrician in Friday to look at a heat problems we had so I took off work Friday and helped (watched) him.  Found out we had a fan motor shorted out parts are on order and we should be good to go this week.
  The weather warmed up a little and I finally got a chance to clean kennels.  Couldn't get the hose out but at least I was able to scoop frozen poop and the kennels look much better, tough keep them clean at this time of the year.  But I do the best I can.
  Sunday I started to try to find my garage floor.  I have too much stuff so it is time to thin it out.  I filled the Suburban from front to rear and ceiling high with stuff to go to Goodwill.  We have kept a good record of what we are donating and I will take it off our 2011 taxes.  The garage is coming around I have it about half done the trash man comes tomorrow and  he will earn his money because I threw a ton of junk away.  I am in a major downsizing mode and trying to get ready to retire so the work will continue.  Once the garage is done then it is out to the kennel building and do another search and destroy out there need to get it cleaned as it has my training table in it and I need to get Patch on the table and get her bench work started.
  Tsgt Travis Schuler who I wrote about in a previous post sent me and email Saturday and told me his new email address at home as Sunday is his last day in Iraq.  I am so happy for him and his family.  Now he will get to start his life over with his wife and kids.  I am looking forward to hearing from him once he gets back in the country and settled in and back to his normal job and spend sometime with his family.
  Woke up Monday and started back on the garage and Tina let the dogs out and thought she heard puppies well I ran to the whelping house and sure enough Morgan had already had 2 puppies.  By the end of the day she had had 6.  3 females and 3 males, during the night she lost 2 I don't know if she laid on them or they got off the heated mat and got cold.  Warmth at this time of the year is critical and I have the boxes heated and a heated mat on the floor but it may not have been enough.  But now we have 3 females and 1 male left.  We are trying to go out every hour or less and keep an eye on them and make sure they stay next to mama and on the mat.  The first 48 to 72 hours are always the most critical when it comes to puppies.  They have to start nursing and get themselves hydrated and warm after 72 hours they are usually strong enough to make it on their own.
  Elmer Lee Graber brought his big male over yesterday to breed to Katie but we couldn't get them hooked up yesterday but will try again tomight.  Katies heat cycle has been really wierd this time she drips one day and not the next so If we don't make it this time we will try again later.  Elmer's big male Max is a nice looking dog he is Miller's Silver Bullet on one side and Pork Roll on the other exactly like Katie so this breeding should be excellent.  I sure hope I can get them together  this week.  Elmer will be over to pick up his male later this week.  So we shall see.
  Missy is due wo whelp this week and that means another long night and hopefully quite succesful delivery.  This is her first litter and she will take some help so looks like I will be spending my nights in the whelping house sometime this week.
  Exacly 6 months until I retire looking forward to that it is getting harder and harder to get up and go to work in the morning when I know I have so much stuff to take care of at home.  I know I need to show patience but man I am ready to give it up and play with the dogs.
Until Later
Jim

1/13/11

I usually don't like to talk politics because I stand firm on my beliefs and usually so does the other guy so it usually ends up in a big disagreement and the possible loss of a friend but I am somewhat of a history buff and believe our founding fathers knew what they were doing.  I really like Thomas Jefferson he was a very brilliant man with a ton of knowledge on government and a keen insight into the future here are a few quotes from Jefferson and I believe they ring true today.  Read and enjoy comments either way if you agree or disagree are welcome.

These are unbelievable quotes from Jefferson. You

would think he is speaking today instead of 1802.

1- When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe .

Thomas Jefferson

2- The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.

Thomas Jefferson

3- It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.  A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.

Thomas Jefferson

4- I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

Thomas Jefferson

5- My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much

government.

Thomas Jefferson

6- No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.

Thomas Jefferson

7- The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort,

to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

8- The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Thomas Jefferson

9-To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

Thomas Jefferson

10-Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:

'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people

of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'

1/12/11

  Well it has been a long week and it is only Wednesday.  Didn't get to go on my preserve hunt Sunday I was a little under the weather over the weekend and didn't think I needed to fight the cold.
  Went to work as normal Monday but while I was getting ready to go I noticed Gem was having problems breathing again.  We had noticed that he was filling with fluid again and was becoming very distended.  I called the Vet and go him in at 9:45 so I left work early and went home and picked him up and off to the Vet I went.  Gem was such a trooper he stood for and hour and half while they drained his body cavity.  They took 7 1/2 cups of fluid out of him and he looked so much better he had that bird dog figure back.  He lost 6 1/2 pounds in an hour and a half.  He was pretty sore the rest of the day but when I got home from work Tuesday he was hopping around and brought me his toy and we played fetch again.  It is so nice when he is like this it is just like the good ole days.
  When I got home from the Vet it was too late to go back to work so I just did a few things around the kennels.  I had ordered 2 new heated whelping mats from Ebay and they came in the mail so I went to the whelping house and put them in.  They are nice they keep the dog warm but better yet they will keep the puppies warm when they are born next week.  I also hooked up 2 heated buckets so the girls will have water all day long.  I am still carrying water to the rest of the dogs daily.  Getting power to all the kennels with recepticles is on my to do list this spring or after my retirement.
  I went ahead and moved Morgan to the whelping house she is due Jan 19 I will move Missy over the weekend she is due about 5 days after Morgan.  Both mommas are doing great it looks like my 2nd attempt at AI was succesful.  Missy is definitely pregnant and is beginning to blossom nicely looks like she will have 4 to 6 puppies.  Morgan is huge she may 8 to 10 puppies.  If any of you know me and puppies the more the merrier.
  Katie also came in heat over the weekend she will be bred by a dog from outside my kennel, I want to freshen my gene pool and outcrossing with an excellent dog is a good way to do this.  I have looked at the sires pedigree and it is a good one.  I will post his pedigree and pictures as soon as I get copies.  I will probably post them on my website and when I do I will post a link here so you can all check them out. 
  As many of you know and for those who don't politically I am an ultra-conservative and a dues paying member of the Tea Party.  In the near future I am going to post some quotes from Thomas Jefferson.  He is my favorite of our founding fathers and a very sharp man with a distinct insight into the future.  Look for this in the next day or 2
God Bless you all and God Bless America
Jim

1/6/11

  Not much going on around the kennel right now waiting for puppies to be delivered and going on a preserve hunt Sunday I am looking forward to that.
  Around the end of October I received an email from Tsgt Travis Schuler and this email has touched my life ever since.  Come to find out Travis is deployed in Iraq and loves English Pointers.  In his spare time he was passing the time surfing the net and looking a Pointer websites.  Well he came upon mine and really like my site and dropped me an email to tell me as much.  Well of course I replied and we have been staying touch via email ever since.  He said he enjoyed my email and it made his time easier while deployed having someone back home that has the same interests he does.
  We have become great friends and email each other a couple of times a week and I really look forward to his emails.  We talk about family, friends, dogs and hunting.  Travis is from Kansas and works at the Haskell Indian Nations Universtiy.  I checked this place out and it is quite neat and has a ton of history if you should get the chance google this place up and check it out.  He is a graduate of Haskell and is employed by university in their maintenance dept as a pipefitter.  He was in the Air Gaurd when they were activated to deploy.
  He is married and has to wonderful daughters and lives in the small town of Perry KS.  It is like we have known each other for years and I am looking forward to meeting him person. 
  Even though he can not tell me the exact date I know he is coming home soon and I am sure that will be one happy family.  He keeps telling me thank you for talking with him but no thanks are needed.  I have enjoyed it and in my own little way I have made one of American Hero's time in deployment a little easier.  And I feel all of the men and women who have served or are serving in our military are true American heroes.  And may God bless them and God Bless America.
  If you ever get the chance to talk with some one who is deployed I would say take the opportunity as these men and women are away from their families and enjoy hearing from anyone.  It has made a diffence in my life and I am sure it would yours.
  You all have a great 2011 and may God bless you all.
Jim

1/5/11

  Happy New Year to everyone.  I hope this year brings great joy and happiness.  I am sure it will me I am retiring this year and I am getting 2 new grand babies a boy and a girl.
  We had our Christmas at our house Saturday the first.  It was a great time all the kids and grandkids were there and my Mom and my sister Mary came down and enjoyed the festivies.  We had the traditional Christmas dinner, order out Pizza.  It sure beat cooking and cleaning for 2 days and everyone seemed to enjoy I haen't found a kid yet that didn't like pizza.  We also had a fresh garden salad and relish tray and breaksticks.  My Mom brought 3 pies and my daughter in law brought a pecan pie just for me and it was delicous.
  I have told the grandkids all year we couldn't afford any presents and all they were getting from me was a rock.  So I wnet to driveway and found 6 of the prettiest rocks I could find and put them in little gift bags.  We told the kids to sit in the living room it was time to open present and I gave them all their present from me.  Oliver and Millie were excited the rest of the kids didn't know what to think.  Maddie said bring on the real presents she didn't want a stupid rock.  It was so cute.  Well we passed out the rest of the presents and the kids were ripping and tearing paper and Gem was sitting it the floor and got up he had all that he wanted he just wanted some peace and quiet.  I took pictures once he got out of the living room he went and sit in the hall and waited for things to calm down here are a couple of pictures I took it was funny.

 When the kids were done I got a very nice suprize from the kids they went into together and got us a 40" flat screen TV.  Justin Michael and Alisha got the TV Jeff and Stacey got me a the wall mount and Sara and Josh got me the cable cover.  It is great we mounted it above the fireplace and the picture is great.  I have been watching an old 27" cabinet model that Tina bought at a yard sale so this is like going to the movies.  Getting rid of the console TV gave us more space and we moved the couch and the recliners and it really opend up the room.  Here is a picture of Jeff and Justin mounting it on the wall above the fireplace.

  Not much happening around the kennels with all the holiday events I haven't been hunting.  But I am going on a preserve hunt this Sunday really looking forward to that.  The 2 girls I have bred are doing quite well and Morgan is really getting big.  Missy is still a mystery I AIed her and I still can't tell if it took or not.  She is getting bigger and her nipples are quite full but I have been fooled before but I think she is going to have at least a couple of pups.