The Rip Van Wrinkler,
XVII, Issue 2, May 2013

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M as Mommy Dearest, with Kandy Kostic, way back in 2002
Feedback. . .

Fragment "Steiffs et al", by S K-M, gifted to Hannah Charlotte Culver

March 28th, 2013.

Dear Susan,

It's been many years since we were in touch and it is always so wonderful to receive your news letters.

Zero, as you know is 13, which makes Walker 17! (All rather mind bending) They have both grown up quite nicely and Zero is now an elder statesman. He spends most days sleeping, but still manages to get up for a walk, and enjoys his chicken and yams.

Here's a photo of our boys for you to see.

I hope all is well with you and your pack.........................SUZANNA FROSCH


April 4st, 2013

Hi Susan,

Charlotte saved a Tuesday Science Times section for us a month ago when she visited, as she knows I enjoy reading these.

The following snippet (quoted in full from a brief summary) CRACKED me up! 

File this under "Someone actually spent research time & money on that!?"

Those Sneaky Dogs

Take 84 dogs. Put each one in a room with food on the floor and instruct the dog to leave it alone. Try it in a dark room and a nicely lit room. What will happen? According to a study in the journal Animal Cognition, “the dogs were four times as likely to steal the food — and steal it more quickly — when the room was dark,”

The study leader, Juliane Kaminski of the University of Portsmouth in England, explained how this shows us that dogs know a thing or two. “It implies dogs understand the human can’t see them, meaning they might understand the human perspective,” she said in a news release.

From The Week (a science news roundup), by Jennifer A. Kingson for the NY Times, 25Feb13

Now, what good basenji owning family didn't already know that their dogs are sneakier behind their back!?  If you only saw Kunjo and Obike with friends visiting you would think they were angels of dogs, rather than the secret monkey demons that scurry about when everyone is out of the room and there are cupboards to open, trash to knock over, and now baby toys to steal!

By-the-way, I checked out the UofPortsmouth press release by the researcher, pyschologist Juliane Kaminski, and I was very pleased to see that she's a hound owner too; theres a handsome ridgeback boy in her photo.  Maybe ridgebacks aren't as sneaky as basenjis, otherwise I can't figure out why the pyschologist would bother proving this in a study............NATALIE CULVER


April 1st, 2013

New Basenji book

BAD BASENJI 

In Bad Basenji! a young girl describes the silly antics of her mischievous dog, Bongo. Just when it seems as though Bongo is always misbehaving, the girl remembers everything good about him.

Engaging text and vibrant illustrations skillfully capture the unique characteristics of this charming dog breed. This entertaining story will amuse young children as they learn there is a good side to most everybody and everything—even a bad basenji!

This read-aloud favorite will have kids joining in the fun to shout “Bad Basenji!” whenever Bongo misbehaves.

January 28th, 2013

FROM OUR FACEBOOK PAGE

Andrea Stone: First thing I always do is look at all the lovely photos. Beautiful. Love those frogs! Then I will go back and R-E-A-D.

Donna Hess: I loved that you put extra art in this one, always enjoy your work. Always sad to read the obit page. I have been a reader for about 7 years now, and have been reading stories about everyone's dogs and pets. When one passes I feel like a friend has gone. Hugs to all who lost a loved one.

Anne MacMillan: Wonderful as usual!

Lisa Osenni Mackey:  I saw Timmy. Thank you!

Tamara Allen: Thank you for the wonderful write up on Karen Jones and the basenji rescue out here.

Susan Kamen Marsicano: Broken heart page.

Yvonne 't Mannetje: Managed 1st half of the broken heart page, then tears, rest will have to wait.


January 28th, 2013

If anyone has not read the sequel to Goodbye My Lady, I found it online on one of the elibraries today and downloaded it to my ipad. Very short only a few pages. ............................LISA STEWART


TICK DISEASE SIMILAR TO LYME BUT TESTS DON'T DETECT IT

by Katie Ruppel

A tick-borne disease so new it only has a scientific name has been identified in United States patients for the first time, including at least one person from Nantucket. Borrelia miyamotoi is a relative of Lyme disease with similar symptoms including fever, headache, muscle ache, and fatigue.

Unlike Lyme disease, B. miyamotoi presents recurring fevers in patients and does not trigger a bulls-eye rash. Nor does it cause a positive test with traditional Lyme disease testing, said Dr. Sam R. Telford 3rd, a professor of infectious diseases at Tufts University.

“This has been a bone of contention with a subset of patients who say ‘I had Lyme disease, but I’ve never tested positive,’” said Dr. Telford. “Now there’s a legitimate scenario for that to happen.”

Dr. Telford said Imugen Inc., a clinical laboratory based in Norwood, could have an antibody test for B. miyamotoi available by summer, just in time for what he refers to as “tick season.”

A recent study from the Yale Schools of Public Health and Medicine in the New England Journal of Medicine reported evidence of B. miyamotoi in 18 case study patients tested in southern New England and New York. The patients’ blood samples dated back to 1990.

“Though the disease is heralded as new,” said Dr. Gerry Yukevich, “it has probably been around for at least several decades, and presumably the affliction has existed here on the Vineyard for an equal period of time. . . . I suspect the illness has been around and we have been treating it as Lyme Disease or babesiosis. But it’s hard for me to comment on an illness I’m not sure I’ve ever seen.”

In 2011 Dr. Telford detected B. miyamotoi in one to three per cent of deer ticks analyzed in southeastern Massachusetts, including on the Cape and Islands. But at the time it had not been proven that the disease could be transferred to humans.

“It’s not new, it’s been under our nose all along,” he said. The bacterium was first discovered in 1995, but only in 2011 did Yale scientists find evidence of human infection caused by the bacterium in Russian case study patients.

“Now it’s finally been associated with human disease,” Mr. Telford said.

B. miyamotoi can be prevented and treated in the same manner as Lyme disease with a short course of doxycycline and amoxicillin.

“It doesn’t change the approach to the patient significantly,” said Dr. Yukevich. “The same principles will apply. Acute Lyme disease is often a clinical diagnosis, rather than a laboratory diagnosis.”

Doctors typically diagnose Lyme disease based on symptoms rather than blood tests, he explained.

All agree the discovery of the human infection for B. miyamotoi presses for better prevention of tick bites and more thorough analysis of tick-borne diseases endemic on the Cape and Islands.

Tisbury board of health member Michael Loberg, along with Edgartown board of health agent Matt Poole, head a public health initiative focused on preventing incidences, educating the public and collecting more accurate data for tick-borne diseases on the Vineyard.

“It’s not like we need another reason to do something about deer ticks,” Mr. Telford added. “Lyme disease is sufficient enough.”


 

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