RePost-An Olympic Sized Rant

Some people are going to hate me for this.
But I don't do the Olympics.
I could care less about them. (For the most part.)
I don't understand them.
Why do we need them? Are they a distraction from the real problems of the world? (Do they allow the rest of the world to be distracted while Russia can invade Georgia? Though that's a whole other topic.)
Are they supposed to make me feel good about my country? About some athletes that never get recognition? (BUT there are some *cough* Micheal Phelps*cough* that do and will come away with multi million endorsement deals.) Am I supposed to feel good that some shoeless runner from Africa made it to the Olympics? Probably. But I don't.
Additionally, I don't understand why some things are considered Olympic worthy events.
Here's a list of things that are considered Olympic events in 2008:
archery, track and field (athletics), badmition, baseball, basketball, boxing, BMX racing, canoeing, cycling, diving, equestrian events, fencing, soccor, gymnastics, handball, field hockey, judo, the modern pentathlon (see my note on this later), rowing, sailing, shooting, softball, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling.

Now my question is: What makes these things sports worthy of an Olympic medal and others not?
Baseball and softball are going the way of the dodo while BMX racing got added? Seriously?
Most of these sports have some form of world championship, I imagine. So do they really need to be included in the Olympics when the US or any other country for that matter already exerted its dominance over the others?
Why are some sports that I could easily do in my basement (i.e. table tennis) or at a backyard BBQ (i.e. badmition) considered Olympic worthy? At this comment, Joe stated that he could run a 100 meters in the backyard so wouldn't that disqualify that event? He made a good point. I should of challenged him to see if he could actually run 100 meters. I doubt it. But he could probably outrun me. But maybe it should be rephrased to be like if every thing I need to compete is available at Wal-Mart, then its not an Olympic sport. I can buy a tennis racket there, but not the court.

Also, golf and lacrosse are not Olympic sports. A lot of people argue that they should be. But BADMITION is?
A lot of people argue that equestrian events shouldn't be Olympic sports because it depends on the horse's athletism rather than a person's. Seriously, to compete at that level, the person better be pretty fit too. It takes serious training and teamwork to compete like that.
There are a lot of defunct Olympic sports that baseball and softball are going to become like. Polo, water motorsports (aka racing speed boats, this was in 1908), tug of war (while it violates my backyard rule, I would really like to see it.), cricket, rugby, etc.
It has always been my assumption that most of the athletes are not professionals. Which means that I get mad when I learn about all of the NBA players on the USA's basketball team. But I didn't make the rules.

Anyway, about the modern pentathlon. The five events that make it up are epee fencing, pistol shooting, 200 m freestyle swimming, showing jumping (on a unfamiliar horse), and a 3 km cross country run. It was developed to simulate something that a calvary soldier dumped behind enemy lines might have to do. It will be kept in the Olympics until 2012 then probably dropped. Personally, I like this idea of a sport. It show versilitiy in an athlete. I say teach Michael Phelps to ride and shoot and see what happens if he's so great.
I've also invited my own Olympic sport. In contemplating why hiking wasn't an Olympic event, I thought about what could make it so. I forget the name that I came up with but it basically combines cross country for humans (i.e. running) and cross country for horses without the horses (i.e. jumping things). The idea would be to run through the woods while having to climb over rocks and/or logs and run through creeks, etc. You could add in some poison ivy, a swarm of hungery mosquitos and maybe a stray wolf or two for some excitement. Seriously, it would be good fun!

Anyway, here's a link to the Summer Olympics on Wikipedia. So read up on some of the defunct sports, maybe invent your own and don't hate me for my hatred of the Olympics.

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on 8/23/11.]

Mini Honeymoon

Last weekend, Joe and I went to Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon-after dropping the dogs off at the clinic for the night. We went and saw the new Batman movie in IMAX. It was amazing. My eyes and ears took forever to recover. In IMAX, the sound was so intense, the colors so vivid. It didn't help that because it was opening weekend that we sat fairly close and the theater was full (even despite the shooting the night before).
So SPOILER ALERT--





Blake totally made that movie. Batman could have never showed up and the plot could have been roughly the same and the movie would have been at least 80% as good as it was. Blake was a likeable character that held the plot together. I hope Joseph Gordon-Levitt wins some big award. (Or at least is nominated for one.) He did a stellar job. And looked really hot.

Joe and I stayed at a Super 8 which really smelled. (Our room only apparently.) We got a king sized bed which was wonderful. Joe is constantly rolling on me and to get my own side was splendid. Joe said he didn't sleep well until he moved over close enough to me that he could tell I was there.

We ate dinner at a BBQ place and both had ribs. Yum! Saturday morning, we ate the pathetic breakfast at the hotel and then went to IKEA after getting my ring inspected.

It wasn't a big mini honeymoon but it was nice to get away.

Quickie Catch Up

Real quick, here are some things to catch you up. By no means will this be a complete blog entry.

First, we have a new house guest. Bella is a humane society dog that is waiting for a home. A chow/sheba inu mix maybe that had been hanging out at the clinic. She ignores our dogs except for the occasional growl and adores us. She barks in her crate but it doesn't happen much at night. I'm hoping she finds a good home. Four dogs is not the magic number.

We're moving the ponies next week. I pay way too much in board to have them in a pen with no grass or shade and to have to pull endless burrs and thistles out of their manes. I might end up cutting off Cody's mane if I can't get them out tomorrow with detangler. I just hope that this new place will be better. No one can live up to my standards but it had to be improved. And I save some money too.

At work, CB has started making my life infinantly easier. Well infinantly may be an over exaggeration. It's nice though. We've been going out on some calls together.
The weekend before last, I was on call overall a slow weekend made even slower by the fact that the phones weren't switched over on Saturday.
My rabies suspect head count is on the rise. One raccoon, one cat and today we added a groundhog.
I also cut a twist today. It wasn't easy getting back into the swing of it. It also didn't help that the cow had adhesions and a belly full of sand. I did my best and wished her luck. I was really far from the office too. Far enough that I passed the 'have your next affair here' hotel which Joe and I joke about. I stopped at Sheetz to top off my tank and get some gas. I was talking with some guy and he insisted it was time for me to start having kids. It's true. Otherwise it would be creepy.

A word on marriage: even though Joe and I have had some skirmishes, marriage has been good. I love Joe in an entirely new way. Somehow deeper and more truly. My happiness where he is concerned is different and more reall too. Now for some Chinese!

We have a house guest for the weekend. Bella, a humane society dog, has a  vacation till Monday when she meets a potential adopter. 

We fed the fish and ducks at Linesville, where the ducks walk on the fish. 

IKEA

Oh IKEA, how I wanted to love you. How I wanted to understand your pull of Scandinavian furniture with no help of understanding the directions to put it together. How I wanted to understand refabs from Pinterest.

Saturday was not the day to try to do this.

Joe and I found ourselves today, just outside of Pittsburgh, face to face with our first IKEA ever. Neither of us had been in one. We'd go in hopeful and come out disappointed in our lack of...well, being hipsters. Or college students. Or expecting a baby. (Maybe that was just me.) Or all of the above.

I wanted to make a go of it. What's this? Little golf pencils and I write down what I want before actually getting it? A maze of displays that are never ending? (This I actually knew about.) What? $3.99 for a plate of Swedish meatballs, mashed potatos and ligonberries? Absurd.

Joe went to the bathroom which is where things went wrong. That and I only had $10 to my name. I knew I should have gotten that Auntie Anne's pretzel instead...

There'll be another day (preferably a Tuesday) where while we'll still not fit into skinny jeans and dark framed glasses, I'll actually succeed in getting some things from IKEA. Hopefully, many things. Hopefully still with $10. No, I'll probably have actual money befor attempting this again. That and Joe's not allowed to go to the bathroom (He said it was unbearably hot in there.) and I'll drive. AND maybe I'll settle him with some Swedish meatballs. Everyone loves those, right?

Bucket List

I have several blog posts that I will attempt to get written this weekend. That and I plan on cleaning up/finish unpacking my two rooms, sewing curtains, baking various things and just in general be all housewifey.

Anyway, one of the things I've been thinking about lately are things that I want to do in my life. I hate the term 'bucket list'. I think on a note I had jotted down on my iphone I called them life goals. Its still a work in progress. Most of the ones I have center around travel. I've never been one for much traveling. I only took my first real vacation last year when Joe and I went to Ocean City together. I spent too many childhood summers showing horses or just staying around and going to places in St.Louis. Its really disappointing actually how few vacations we took. If you know my mom however, you wouldn't be surprised. It was an ordeal to get her to come to Pennsylvania for my wedding. HER ONLY DAUGHTER'S WEDDING!

Joe and I are not adventurous eaters either. I'm willing to try several strange and exotic foods but honestly, I'm not planning on trying some exotic species' testicles anytime soon-grilled, fried or otherwise.

My list: (Keep in mind that this is a work in progress.)

-Grow a giant pumpkin. This is the most obtainable of my goals. I want the pumpkin to be a minimum of 200 pounds. So far, all I know about giant pumpkins is that I can buy the seeds off eBay.
-Grow birdhouse gourds. Not exciting. Probably, they'll be growing next to the pumpkin.
-Be on Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune. I'm very good at both games. I've tried out for Jeopardy via the online test a couple of times. It hasn't gone particularly well. I don't know much about art, opera, ballet or foreign countries. That seems to be a downfall for Jeopardy. I don't spell well but am good at figuring out puzzles for Wheel of Fortune. You don't see many vets on either of these shows. Despite being highly intelligent, I think there are a few reasons for this. 1) we don't have a lot of free time, 2) we don't communicate well and 3) our thought processes tend to be very obscure and one track.
-Ride a camel and an elephant. I'm not talking about a tour around some ring at the circus-though if I haven't achieved these goals by the time I'm like 80 or something, I might settle for that. I'm talking like a solid half an hour ride. With the camel, preferably with myself in control but with the elephant, I'll let the professional be in control.
-Go on a horseback tour of Iceland, Ireland or Scotland. Apparently, the only criteria is that it has to be on an island and ends in -land.
-Go on a cruise. I'm willing to let this slide.
-Go to Cuba-hopefully, they'll allow US citizens to go soon. Once there, assuming they have them, I want to eat a Cuban sandwich.
-Eat a lobster roll. Yum. Maybe even more achieveable than the giant pumpkin growing.
-Go to the Canadian Atlantic coast. Maybe I'll enjoy my lobster roll there.
-Go clamming. You know, dig for clams.
-Dabble in archery. I'm thinking like Olympic, Hunger Games type archery. Robin Hood style.

So far that's all I've got. I think I'm going to research clamming now.

Horses Are Frustrating

Horses are frustrating.
Pretty much Sunday, I was on call. I was off Saturday and we went to the goatfest where Joe milked a goat. BUT anyway, Sunday, I was in the office all day being busy with one emergency after another. Finally, I got home that evening and ate. I was thinking I might be in the clear when I got a call from someone about a horse that was laying down and acting funny. Because they were not the owners of the horse, I suggested I come down and take a look. Unfortunatly, they were super far away. I got there and the horse was laying comfortably, would occasionally stretch when standing and had no gut sounds. Mild colic. No big deal. Some banamine, some water and oil though a NG tube.
Also unfortuantely, this particular horse was head shy. So after a bunch of sedation, a bloody nose (the horse, not me luckily) and a bruised arm on my part, I got half a bucket of water into his stomach. I was satisfied and someone was going to try to watch him occasionally throughout the night. I stayed up till 11 (once small animal was over) and then went to sleep. I was asleep for approximately 20 minutes when my phone rang. It was the person watching the colicing horse. He had done really well until about 12:15 when the watcher was getting ready to leave. Then he decided to lay down and stretch when standing. And paw. So back down to BFE I went. I forced the horse (with more sedation) to have oil and water. Luckily, this seemed to resolve the issue. I stopped by in the morning and he had great gut sounds. He didn't pass any manure by my 3pm deadline. This panicked the other person watching the horse. Luckily, this horse had his own deadline and had pooped by like 6pm. Which was good because I had other horses to deal with...
That night I went way down to Grove City for a 2 month old mini colt that was 'colicking'. I took his temperature and it was 105.4! That's on fire for a horse. My inital PE did not reveal any abnormalities but a relisten to his lungs made me think pneumonia. So I gave him an IV dose of banamine and antibiotics. I left a bunch for the O to continue. The colt's temperature was down the next day which made me happy!
Cats are frustrating too especially when they have a fever of unknown origin, normal bloodwork and normal PE. When they don't respond to NSAIDs or antibiotics, they are even more frustating.

My ponies are doing well enough. We bought them fly masks. I intended on going down this evening but my body wasn't into the idea. I was super tired. I'm still super tired and really should go to bed now. I've really wanted to show them but it just doesn't seem to be working out. I wanted to go the World Show at the Ohio State Fair but the show is in the middle of the week. In August, I wanted to go to a county fair but they don't have enough classes to make it worth my time. There is a driving/riding club but they require all sorts of stuff for driving classes-apron, britching. WTF? The leading contender is a county fair. Yes, the classes are on a Tuesday and yes, its not a Shetland show but they a have registered pony halter class. And some driving classes. But the entries are due Friday. I guess I'll call and see exactly what's going on. It might be worth losing $25 or so dollars to get Nell there. (Maybe Cody too.) And I'll deal with getting off later.

Joe milked a goat when we went to a goat festival. (Goatfest) It was in a town where I applied for a job.

We drove past a PennDOT place and they
had a mosaic made from old highway signs. It was beautiful. I also changed my name on my social security card. I'm now Leslie Susanna Mulvaney, officially.

I forgot that Sadie did this when it thunderstormed. I put her in the tub to wash her paws and she's currently sitting there.

You're going to want to pin this one. 
Chicken salad
Shredded chicken pieces-the nice thing is that you can use anything for it-leftovers, roast chicken from the store. I use chicken cooked in the crockpot. 
Grapes
Pecans
Celery
Mayo
Salt and pepper
Lemon juice

So make your chicken however you wish-while it cools I salt and pepper it a well as put lemon juice on it. 
Then you just chop the celery, split the grapes and mix it all together with the mayo.

My husband puts assorted stuffed animals in the birdcage.