I finished my zooarchaeological report less than an hour ago and am
pleased to announce that I will be on the road after a good night's
sleep. The loss of the two days that I had planned to use to stop and
visit ferret people was unexpected. I guess I'm still running on 3
cylinders rather than my normal 8. It absolutely floors me that
after drugs and IVs and injections and more drugs and inhalers, and
rest-mediated by sleeping pills and everything you can imagine, the
MRSA infection I got in my lungs after a simple surgery is still giving
me a hard time. It kind of gives you respect for natural selection and
evolution and the bugs hospitals can breed. You want risk? Forget
jumping out of perfectly good airplanes; spend a night in the hospital.

In any case, I do not have the time to stop on my way out to California
and I have to cancel all my scheduled westbound stops. I am sorry, but
I could not jeopardize my professional zooarchaeological work and had
to get it done regardless of the repercussions. I will email each of
you once I get to California and try to set up a time to visit on my
way home eastbound. Again, I am very, very sorry.

On a different subject, I've received a dozen emails regarding the pet
food recall and if I had any ideas about it. Well, it is horrible, that
is for sure. Regardless of the final cause, the real problem is AAFCO
and their regulations. I do find it somewhat ironic that with all the
controversy regarding salmonella and raw foods, the big killer has been
commercial pet food and the likely suspect (thus far) has been a plant
product. Spinach anyone? Other than commenting on the irony of the
problem, it would be dumb to discuss the matter more until the facts
are better understood.

For the last 10 years, I have argued the standards set by the pet food
industry are not only unscientific, but they are tautological and
only prove an animal can survive on their food, NOT that the food is
actually healthy for the animal (especially on a long-term basis). I
will be posting at length on this problem during the diet 201 series,
so I won't address it more at this time.

Again, I am extremely sorry I worked too slow to be able to visit my
ferret friends on my westbound trip to California. Please accept my
deepest apologies, and I'll catch you on my way home. See you Saturday
in Pasadena.

Bob C
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[Posted in FML 5554]