Today is Madonna’s Birthday and she is 8 years old, which is getting on for a Dane, so this is a perfect opportunity to acknowledge her remarkable life! Most of you know her from the work here on the Oaklands, but this is not her first project. We got Madonna 6 months before 300 Clifton and so she has been working preservation projects her whole life. She has been on boom lifts, scaffolds, Home Depot runs, roof tops, and dusty basements so much it’s second nature. Six years ago she had 12 babies (pictured) and 6 grand babies, one of which is Clifton who she is raising now. She has been to 23 National Parks, most of the States in the US, has been in scores of weddings, countless photo shoots, two magazines and two commercials. She drives around in a 1940’s London Taxi and sleeps in a custom bed from the 1800s. She has kayaked in Key West, climbed glaciers, played the slots in Caesar’s Palace, experienced aliens in Roswell, wandered Disney World, and meditated in Sedona. She loves to swim at the beach, in pools, and hot tubs from Vegas to St Augustine. She went on a 7000 mile RV trip to reunite with each and every one of her puppies, and she has her own line of souvenirs, including a puzzle of all of her babies. She is the most gentle animal in the world and she also has raised two ducklings and one fledgling pigeon, taken in two stray cats, and fostered three of her grand puppies. Even though she loves her bed more than anything except Norman, she works every single day as the mascot of the Oaklands project and the Bed and Breakfast. I wish that I could post all of the pictures of Madonna’s life adventures from the Everglades to Upstate New York, out to Glacier and all around Charleston, Yosemite, Carlsbad Caverns, and the Smokey Mountains, but FB limits me to 10. So Happy Birthday Madonna. What an incredible 8 years!