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 [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML 5554]