NOTICE: If You Buy HyVee Dog Food-Recall

Again from dogster.com

Protect Your Pups: Hy-Vee Recalls Dog Food Over Toxic Corn Mold Fears

No illnesses have been reported, but dog owners should be on alert.

Michael Leaverton  |  Feb 26th 2013  |   0 Contributions

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The Hy-Vee Inc. grocery chain announced Friday a recall for five product lines of its branded dog food, but it has nothing to do with the recent recalls over Salmonella risks or unauthorized antibiotics in jerky treats made in China.

No, this one has to do with corn; specifically the "prevalence of a problematic mold in last year's U.S. corn crop," according to Reuters.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture, conducting random routine tests, found by the higher-than-normal levels of aflatoxin in some samples of Hy-Vee dog food produced at a Kansas City plant operated by Pro-Pet LLC.

Aflatoxin is the byproduct of a mold that flourishes in dry conditions, which was the case during last year's drought. Dog owners should be on high alert: Aflatoxin is a naturally occurring poision that can cause illness and death if consumed.

"Last year's corn crop -- it is a huge issue. We test every load coming in. And we reject a lot of loads," said Michael Wright, chief executive officer of Pro-Pet, according to Reuters. "Anybody using corn has to be very selective."

The company says no illnesses have been reported, but if your pet has eaten from suspect bags, be on the lookout for symptoms of illness including "sluggishness or lethargy combined with a reluctance to eat, vomiting, yellowish tint to the eyes or gums, or diarrhea."
The corn had been tested before it was blended into the dog food, and Pro-Pet even said it had tested finished products as well. Nevertheless, the Iowa Department of Agriculture discovered the toxin through a routine sampling process -- specifically, it pulled a bag off a store shelf in Iowa.
Hy-Vee spokeswoman Ruth Comer says she's not surprised at the findings.
"The toxin becomes more prevalent in a drought year," Comer said. "We had worse drought this past year than we've had in years, so it's not totally surprising that we have a bigger aflatoxin problem this year than in the past."

Pat Tovey of the Pet Food Institute says that preventing aflatoxin contamination is a high priority for the industry. "There is certainly more awareness this year," he said. "This is such a big issue in pet food."

The affected products were distributed to stores in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin between Oct. 26, 2012, and Jan. 11, 2013:

Hy-Vee Complete Dog -– Complete Nutrition (Green Bag) -– 34 lbs.
UPC: 07545005647
Lot # ending with: 29812KC
“Best By” Date: 11/24/13

Hy-Vee Complete Dog -– Complete Nutrition (Green Bag) -– 8-lbs.
UPC: 07545005667
Lot # ending with: 29812KC
“Best By” Date: 11/24/13

Hy-Vee Complete Dog –- Complete Nutrition (Green Bag) –- 4.4-lbs.
UPC: 07545005665
Lot # ending with: 29812KC
“Best By” Date: 11/24/13

Hy-Vee Complete Dog –- Complete Nutrition (Green Bag) -– 4.4-lbs.
UPC: 07545005665
Lot # ending with: 29912KC
“Best By” Date: 11/25/13

Hy-Vee Complete Dog -– Bites, Bones & Squares (Yellow Bag) –- 20-lbs.
UPC: 07545005680
Lot # ending with: 29312KC
“Best By” Date: 11/19/13

Hy-Vee Complete Dog –- Bites, Bones & Squares (Yellow Bag) –- 4.4-lbs.
UPC: 07545005560
Lot # ending with: 29312KC
“Best By” Date: 11/19/13

Consumers with questions may contact the company at 800-289-8343.

They Were Wrong Again

The last storm, "Q" was supposed to dump about nine inches on us, we got about six. They said that we were supposed to get only an inch or two out of this storm they named "Rocky" that dumped over a foot down south. It wasn't supposed to come as far north as it did, just skirt the bottom rows of counties and go further east too. They were supposed to get the snow.

Well it did and didn't.

"Surprise, surprise! We ended up with about seven or eight inches ourselves.

I'm not complaining though, we need the moisture in the soil. The birds aren't complaining because I filled all three feeders for them yesterday. They have really been munching away too. I need to get some more bird feed when I go into town, probably tomorrow. Here is a picture of one of our visitors. It's great to see them back again.

Apparently the British predicted it though.

When did they start naming winter storms anyway, and why?

You Know How They say...

"Necessity is the mother of invention"?

Well here is what I came up with to keep the cats from eating the roses Dave bought me for our anniversary. Pretty clever, I think.

They're hanging from the chandelier by chain, one piece wrapped around the vase itself and three to hang it from the chandelier. This way the cats can't get to them and the flowers stay looking gorgeous. The vase can also be easily unattached to replace the water and then hung again.

Not recommended for all vases or chandeliers.

Thirty Five Years Ago...

On a sunny, warm Saturday afternoon in southern California, surrounded by family, well one side (it was kind of rushed), and friends; two people joined hands, said some words, and their lives were forever changed.

Yep, that was the day that Dave and I got married. :)

Thirty five years, who would have thunk it? I know a lot of people didn't think it would last, but contrary to what they thought, did.

So, I would like take this opportunity to say to them, "Na, na, na, na, na!"

Happy 35th Anniversary to Dave, my dear, sweet husband. I Love You.

Another Pet Treat Recall

Again from Dogster.com

Recall Alert! Nearly 50 Types of Kasel Dog Treats May Be Tainted with Salmonella

Check the labels below to make sure you aren't serving your dog treats with a side of salmonella.

Michael Leaverton  |  Feb 22nd 2013  |   0 Contributions

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Kasel Associated Industries of Denver, CO, announced a huge voluntary recall this week, incorporating ALL products manufactured at its Denver plant from April 20 through September 19 of last year. 

The reason? Possible Salmonella contamination. However, Kasel says it has not received any reports of illness in connection with the products.

The Kasel brands being recalled include Boots & Barkley, BIXBI, Nature’s Deli, Colorado Naturals, Petco, and Best Bully Sticks. The specific products number nearly 50, including all manner of dog treats, including bully sticks, chicken jerky, pigs ears, beef ribs, beef knuckles, lamb jerky, pork femur, buffalo hearts, pig snouts, lobster tails, knee caps, beef liver, hearts of lamb, pork jerky, chicken-stuffed femur bone, smoked-beef femur bone, and more -- the list is long.

If you have have products from any of these brands on your shelves, check the FDA page to identify UPC codes, lot numbers, and best-buy dates for the infected products here.

  

According to the FDA, "Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has any of these signs, please contact your veterinarian."

If you have questions, call Kasel Associated Industries at 1-800-218-4417.

In other recall news, Nature’s Variety has announced a voluntary recall of one batch of Instinct Raw Organic Chicken Formula due to plastic pieces found in bags. The company says the clear plastic pieces present a choking risk to dogs, though it fails to mention the source of the plastic. 

The recall includes the following products with "Best if Used By" date of 10/04/13:

• UPC# 7 69949 60137 1 – Instinct Raw Organic Chicken Formula medallions, 3 lbs. bag 
• UPC# 7 69949 70137 8 – Instinct Raw Organic Chicken Formula medallions, 27 lbs. case 
• UPC# 7 69949 60127 2 – Instinct Raw Organic Chicken Formula patties, 6 lbs. bag 
• UPC# 7 69949 70127 9 – Instinct Raw Organic Chicken Formula patties, 36 lbs. case

The affected products were distributed through retail stores and the Internet in the United States and Canada. The company says no other products were impacted.

If you have questions, call Nature’s Variety Consumer Relations team at 1-888-519-7387.

We Didn't Get as Much as They Thought

We would get, but we still got a fair amount, of snow that is. We ended up getting about six inches. It sure looked pretty when I woke up this morning though, so peaceful and white. I love when there are no footprints in the snow. Here's a picture from an earlier snowfall, but it looked like that this morning, except the sun was shining. The clouds are starting to move in again.

The pups seem to like the snow, especially Rolli. We call her our "snow" puppy. She looked so cute going out romping in the snow with her new vest and neck warmer on. She even looked the part. The others had their vests and neck warmers on as well. I sewed neck warmers for all of them that matched their vests. Luckily I had enough fleece left over. I sewed snaps on the vests to keep the warmers on  otherwise Rolli, Angel and Jake tend to shake them off. Jake still has a bald spot on his neck from when he had that growth removed last fall sometime. The hair hasn't grown back and they told me that it might never do so because of his thyroid issues, poor pup, so the neck warmer helps protect that area. Max keeps his on just fine.

The birds were happy that there was bird feed in the feeders, even though some of it blew out thanks to the strong winds we had on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'll have to go out and refill them, but all three feeders are back up, I put the two whose chains broke back up before I refilled them all. The cardinals are even back, so I'm happy about that. They're my favorite bird.

Monday is our anniversary, so you know what that means, yep, more snow. Actually we're used to our anniversary getting snowed on. After what will be 35 years we would hope so, right? So we celebrate it either before or after, if it does in fact snow. Right now there's a 50% chance, so we'll see. We're going out tomorrow just to be safe since the snow is supposed to start Sunday night and tomorrow is supposed to be sunny although cold.

The main roads are already cleared according to the road conditions map. They came and plowed our road earlier and the guy driving the plow even cleared the snow from the end of the driveway so we wouldn't have to. I thought that was nice of him. The guy who used to plow our road never did that, even when we had already cleared the driveway, so we would have to go back out to clear that. He also knocked our mailbox over and thankfully admitted to it so the county not only paid for, but installed a new one.

I probably could have made it to the gym today, but even though the back roads were plowed, they can still be dangerous. I didn't want to chance sliding into another ditch. I tend to do that, something to do with underestimating when to pump the brakes to slow down. I tend to do it too late. Thankfully the van is paid for and no damage was ever done to it, knock on wood.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day

"Slip Sliding Away"

If you live on a back country road and it's either been raining or the snow melted, or as in our case both, you know what I'm talking about.

This is what we call "mud season" and there's a good reason for that name, especially on the graveled back roads, you gotta be real careful or you will go "slip sliding away."

Lent

Have you decided what you're giving up for Lent? I have, chocolate.

I've been eating way too much chocolate lately, it's almost like I've become addicted to it, so that's a very good thing for me to give up. Maybe I'll finally be able to lose these extra pounds I haven't been able to lose, even though I go to the gym. I even told Dave that I was giving it up so that he wouldn't buy me any; he just laughed, the brat!

Actually I need to give up sweets period, but I'll stick with chocolate since that's been my biggest weakness lately.

My problem is that I've always loved chocolate and working in two candy stores didn't decrease my love for it any. You know how they say that being around it all the time makes you sick of it, don't believe them because it's not true. I worked in one of the stores for 11½ years and it didn't deter my love of the stuff one bit. Especially around Valentine's Day and Easter, we had these foiled covered hearts and eggs that were to die for. I lived for those holidays.

I have been trying to work out more at the gym. I've even increased my time on the treadmill up to an hour total, starting with a half hour warm up and ending with a half hour cardio and cool down. I do usually go a little longer at the end, but I do feel good about it when I'm done. I also do other exercises in between the treadmill. Hopefully that and giving up the chocolate will help in my quest. Who knows, if I can last through Lent, maybe I'll be able to last through Easter and after. Dave said, "Yea, right." We'll see if he's right or I am.

Happy February!

Wow, I can't believe it's February already. Thirty eight years ago today, I flew on a plane for the first time and it was also the first time I had been to Charleston, South Carolina. But as they say about Vegas, for me, the same holds true for Charleston. Let me just say that I fell in love with the city.☺

I've flown a few times since then, all to and from California, but once I had David and Kenneth, it scared me, a close call over Chicago didn't help either, so I don't like to fly anymore. I guess if I really had to, I would.

Nowadays we drive wherever we go, which I like better. That way we're able to stop whenever we want. That's how we discovered a really neat antique mall in Ohio. It also gives us transportation at our destination without having to rent a car. Much better all around.

So, who thinks that Phil will see his shadow tomorrow? It doesn't really matter because winter will last another six weeks regardless, but whether we have more winter weather, well, we'll just have to wait and see. We really need the moisture, so that's what I'm hoping for, whether it's in the form of snow or rain doesn't matter. As long as it helps the drought, that's what matters.

My dad died on Groundhog Day. It will be 36 years, not a happy thought. I used to think he died on the 3rd, but then I found the little card from his funeral and it said the 2nd. I still remember that day and the day of the funeral. My mom and I worked at the same hotel so a lot of our co-workers came to the funeral to show their support. They were good people and those who worked in the kitchen with me became good friends. It's a shame we lost touch.

Another thing is happening this month, this is a happy one. Dave and I will be celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary on the 25th.☺It sure doesn't seem that long and I definitely don't feel as old as I am or will be. I take that as a good thing though. I like feeling younger, but I'm glad that I grew up when I did. I had fun and remembering that fun makes me feel young. It's a win win situation. I've had a lot of adventures in my life and a lot of good memories. Flying to Charleston was just one of them.☺