April Showers

...are purported to bring May flowers but much as rain may be needed...I would happy to be warm and dry again...very difficult to keep Newfs clean and well brushed out with this soggy weather.

While we had some pretty wicked freezes the past few weeks I don't believe that my oh-so-very-important apple tree sustained any damage and I will still see a good crop of fresh apples for my cookie recipes this fall. Happily now, since I have the freezer I will be able to store more fresh ground fruit for the making of the cookies....buying apples is OK ( a necessary evil ) but I like to think that the cookies made with my own home grown fruits and vegtables make the cookies just that more special. I will be planting another apple tree this Spring and within a few years there will be more fruit for my recipes.

M ans Zee's had a very good First Quarter....no profits yet but in time that will come. I filed my first Quarterly Feed Report with the Missouri Dept of Agriculture this week. I am pleased to report that M and Zee's has sold almost 200 lbs of cookies since mid-January ! This figure does not include the replacements sent to those who had reported mold back in February nor does it include cookies sent as samples or those included in donations for various Regional Club events.

The site has now been updated with more customer comments and each time I get a comment card in the mail I am so very tickled to hear just how much your dogs enjoy their cookies and of course I hope you will come back for more.

We sent entrants favors and a gift basket to River King Newfoundland Club for it's Spring Draft Test....being held this weekend....and we hope that each entry enjoys their special treat. We will also be sending bags of special Wheat Free treats for each Newf entered in the 2007 NCA National Specialty Living Legends Parade and there will be a limited number of treats available through Ted & Melanie Peck's Newf Emporium booth at the National site and we hope lots of you stop by and have your dogs sample some cookies and take some home ( and ordering information, too ) for your beloved Newfs and other furry kids. Thanks to Ted & Melanie for helping me out.

We will also be supporting the Newf.Net Iowa Get-Together in July , the Newfoundland Club of New England's Water Test ( August ) and several of the New-Pen-Del Newfoundland Club events.

I am also starting something NEW......I am so very pleased when an order comes in from a regular customer that I have started a Customer Loyalty Reward program. Simply stated....when a person purchases their 10th Variety Pack of M and Zee's Treats....in the shipping box will be a Gift Certificate for a FREE Variety Pack...just my way of saying THANKS for all your support.

I mailed the first of these Gift Certificates off this morning and I hope to send many, many more as satisfied clients spread the word of these homemade treats to their friends and family.

Mollie continues to show improvement with her arthritis pain and we send our Thanks once again to her vet, Dr James Howard of Jefferson City, MO. I think we have her medication combination tweaked about right for now. Mollie now gets 75 mg Tramadol in the morning and 50 mg in the evening plus 3.75 mg Meloxicam with her dinner ...as well as her Zantac to help guard against tummy discomfort. While a lot of her movements are still slow...and what Newf isn't somewhat slow at nearly 11 years of age...I can tell that she definitely feels much better and she is back to doing a happy dance when she sees the yogurt container come out of the fridge to be added to her dinner. And she is back to her insistent " I want a Cookie, Mama " WOOF...and of course I see to it that she gets what she wants. I hope Dr Howard will be as pleased with Mollie's progress at her next check-up due in July as I am.

Zander is also doing well....soon he will have been with me for 2 years....although his actual Gotcha Day isn't until November....it was on May 1st 2005 when he first came home with me....and he has relished being a cherished house Newf and I doubt he has any memories left of the Kansas Puppy Mill that he originally came from. What a difference being loved and cared for has made in this Newf.

Baseball season is in full swing now and most evenings are spent either watching a game on TV or ( new for me this year ) listening to a game on my PC with Game Day Audio....this afternoon I caught the last few innings of the Red Sox-Angels game and was particularly pleased to hear that Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling gained a win in his Fenway Park Opener. We have the Cardinals-Brewers game on TV tonight and this is particularly interesting in that Brewers starting pitcher Jeff Suppan was with the World Series Cardinals last season. It was nice to hear how much Suppan was applauded by BOTH teams when he was presented with his World Series ring .

We hope all of you ennjoy the remainder of your weekend and please remember Who to thank for it.