2012 in Review

January consisted mostly of wedding planning and veterinary medicine. I did a lot of sick cow work-more than in previous months apparently. I was in love with my cats. (As always!) We found Downton Abbey (It starts up again January 6th!) and enjoyed it so very  much.

February was exciting because it was my birthday! I had a great party! I also started posting lots of pictures as part of my mobile blogging plan. There was also plenty of wedding planning or procrastination about that.

March continued on with the wedding planning front-wedding rings were ordered, cake and officients were sorted out, RSVPs started to come in after being mailed at the beginning of the month. I began the exciting journey of finding a new job (in secret). Joe helped me with a calving and veterinary medicine was performed.

In April, we finally told our clients that we were no longer doing large animal medicine. I also told everyone at work that I was looking for a new job. Interviewing continued including a trip to Wisconsin and in Missouri. The Missouri interview was the absolute worst. I looked forward to finishing paying off my student loan. Wedding planning continued.

May had lots of pictures of my cats. I love my cats. We continued with wedding planning. Lots of last minute details. I found a job and looked for a place to live...which turned out not to be where we are living. I did veterinary medicine type things including pulling a premature hydrocephalic foal. I had an abscessed tooth which I ended up getting pulled. However now, I think I've got an issue with some bone or tooth remaining in the socket. I had a yard sale.

In June, Joe and I managed to pack a whole lifetime of experiences in one month. We got married, moved and I started a new job. Being that I've been a vet for two years now, I was on call the second night on the job. I ended up with at 3am calving that ended up with the fetatome coming out. It was just the beginning...

July was busy. I did a lot of dealing with emergencies and horses. I found a new place to board the ponies and moved them there in August. We went to a goatfest. It was hot. Joe and I went to Pittsburgh to see the new Batman movie and went to IKEA. I reiterated how much I hated the Olympics.

August brought a plaque of bees-we were attacked outside of our backdoor. We had several Pinterest attempts, projects and failures. Cats are cute. We went shopping which is always disappointing.

In September, I entered things in the Jamestown Community Fair. I didn't do as well as I would have liked unfortunately. There were plenty of recipes to be tried and sewing projects. I looked back over the large number of surgeries I was performing on a routine basis. I looked at the post office as being one of the most beautiful places in Greenville.

October centered around my brand new kitten (Herbie) as well as Halloween and dressing up the dogs and clinic cats. We didn't have heat towards the end of the month resulting in the replacement of our furnace in November. I did a lot of reading (I have decided to read one book from each shelf at the library. And ambitious and probably boring task.). Joe and I went to a fall festival at a creepy amusment park. I cut a foreign body (a corncob) from a dog after having dealt with him all weekend.

November was mostly a photo month. We bought furniture. I went to a CE conference. We shoehorned the vet truck into the garage. I was told I had really small hands.

In December, I showed you how to make my famous apple cake in step by step photos. I neutered Herbie. I went on a huge rant about how much it costs to have a dog. We also went back to Missouri for Christmas returning home to find 10" of snow. Yesterday, the dogs and I played in it after work. I would have played with them in it again today but fell asleep on the couch and nothing was getting me up.

Well, there's your year in review. Highlights: wedding planning, job search, wedding, cats, moving, new job, being a veterinarian, pictures of things, how to make pretty things.

On The Road-Christmas Edition

Last Friday, Joe and I set out for Missouri to visit our families for Christmas. We hadn't been home at Christmas together since moving to Pennsylvania. I had convinced Joe that driving was the way to go but unfortunately that was a terrible mistake realized about an hour in.
Friday morning, the beginning of a snow storm that had already dumped plenty of snow on St. Joe was just creeping into our area. Joe mistakenly went out to breakfast with his coworkers which is his normal Friday routine leaving me to fret and load the car on my own. Margie, the vet truck had already been returned to the office and tucked safely into her parking spot. Eventually, we'd get on the road-Joe in the back seat where in fifteen minutes he fell into a beer and benedryl induced coma and I driving through some light snow.
Into Ohio the roads weren't too bad but it was snowing. Joe would wake up, we'd eat McDonald's and then he'd take over driving. Much too late and after alternating driving several more times we arrived in St. Joe.
Saturday, we ate lunch with Joe's dad, visited with a friend's parents receiving a crapton of kitchen supplies and then Joe went to the bar with a bunch of friends. I bailed citing a stomachache and Joe came home babbling like a fool as he's prone to doing when I'm not there to keep him in check.
Sunday, Joe's kid came over with his sister and we opened Christmas presents.
Monday, we ate birthday cake for Joe's big 33 and went to the movies. We saw This Is 40 and it was hilarious!!! I highly recommend it though it was about 40 minutes too long. That night we left to spend the night in Columbia.
Tuesday was Christmas and we traveled to DeSoto, opened presents with my family, and drove around.
Wednesday, we hung out before going shopping and eating some amazing Thai food with my friends.
Today, we are driving back to Pennsylvania. Luckily, the blizzard is mostly over and the roads are cleared. I'm very glad for that. Not glad that I have to unload the car when we get home though. We have way more stuff than we started with.

Highlight Reel

This past weekend-holiday party.

Everyone is pregnant at work...not I though.

I don't want to go to Missouri for Christmas.

LDAs suck, RDAs are suckier, RTAs are the suckiest.

Dog vs train-dog wins, dog vs Amish buggy-buggy wins. Go figure.

Dogs with two week old gun shot wounds to the leg can make great strides with good nursing care. Way to go owners!!

My suspect protein losing enteropathy dog was put down on Saturday after we had just submitted the biopsy earlier in the week. My report today: undergoing internal consult. Probably not good.

Do not procrastinate on homemade gifts.

Trying my hand at peanut brittle tomorrow...maybe.

Shower upstairs is leaking. Again. So back to the baby shower. I need to shave my legs more often but the shower makes it really hard to do.

I finally know what our landlords look like.

How mad would my mom be if we just brought the ponies back?

My student loan payment went up by several hundred dollars.

Goose in my freezer as additional Christmas present. Financial bonus-questionable. :(

Had craft day at work-huge success.

There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

Or puppy, or kitten.

'The best things in life are free.' But puppies and kittens are not one of them.

So it's often at this time of year that people feel its a good idea to give a puppy or kitten or even an adult animal as a present. Also at this time of year, we're reminded that there are millions of animals In shelters waiting for homes that they will never receive because someone choose to purchase a cute puppy or kitten from a pet store or breeder instead.
I have no problem with breeders if they are well prepared and educated; what I have a problem with is people that have no business owning animals breeding animals. I also have no problem getting what you want because dogs are still property. Love them, care for them, you still own them. And do your research and be prepared. Nothing in life is free.

So let's think about that 'free' puppy.
Well, first, you need some supplies-crate, pee pads, collars and leashes (several because its growing), food and water bowls, blankets/dog bed, brushes, toys, poo bags, treats, food, etc.
Then you have to take the puppy to the vet two or three times for vaccine visits and get its shots. And fecal exams. And dewormer because if its a free puppy, it probably hasn't been dewormed. And you should also get some flea protection and probably some heartworm preventative.
And don't forget it's microchip and dog license.
Then you have to get your puppy spayed or neutered.
And you picked a fluffy breed so off to the groomers. And you're going out of town so it will need to be boarded.
So by now we're probably closing in on a thousand dollars. Not free by any means.

And that's if all goes well in the first year.
Now your puppy isn't well behaved and you need to take it to obedience school.
And you thought you'd save some money and not do all the vaccines like your good doctor recommended. So your dog gets parvo. OR because your puppy is bad, you realize that the vomiting and diarrhea may be linked to the pair of underwear you're missing. Ugh. I feel for you. Now you have a $500 hospital stay or surgery.
I do feel for you. And I understand if you don't have money for fixing your dog. I would be hard pressed to find it without being late to pay some other bill.

So now let's assume your dog made it safely out of the first year. Yearly check ups and vaccines, flea and tick control and heartworm meds probably run a couple hundred for the year. And dog food. So probably like $500 a year for your free dog for the rest of its life. Like 10-15 years easily.

So now it has made it safely through its first year. I hope you're prepared for the simple things-vomiting/diarrhea, itchy skin, a laceration, just ADR. A sick visit can be anywhere from $50 for the exam and meds to several hundred with diagnostics and hospitalization.
And what if your dog continues its puppy habits of eating what it shouldn't? Or if it gets really sick? Or gets diabetes? Or has seizures? Or gets hit by a car? A buggy or a train? What if it needs its leg amputated? Are you prepared for that? I understand if you're not but do you at least have a plan? A couple hundred somewhere? Someone to borrow from? Something to sell? Can you make promises and follow through? Can you at least keep calm and understand where the vet may be coming from when they need some money because they are paying people just like you. If you don't pay, then they don't get paid.

Several times, I've seen people that have purchased some purebred animal and think, 'we'll let her have one litter to pay for herself and then have her spayed.' It doesn't work that way. The too young dog gets bred by the neighbors mutt, the owner waits and she never gets bred so at about 9 she develops a pyometra, she gets breast cancer, etc, etc.

So I come to today's story.
At about 4:30, one of the techs comes back and says someone is on the phone and has a boxer that had one dead puppy three hours prior. She's still straining. I tell the tech that the dog should come straight in and probably needs a c-section-$400-600. A few minutes later the tech returns, they don't have that sort of money. Okay, plan b would be for less than $50, I'll wave my emergency fee (there goes $50 from
my pocket) and we'll see if we can get her to have the pups on her own. They don't even have that. So now because these people don't have any money, this dog will suffer.
At this point, I jump to a lot of conclusions about these people. I understand if they don't have money for the c-section. But to own a dog and not even have $35 for the exam. Come on. So I instantly think that these people probably bred this dog for the money from the pups but unfortunately will be lucky if their dog even lives. And I think that they probably are on some government handout which I paid for and that their drugs, booze, cigarettes and tattoos are more important than saving for their dog's life.
Be responsible people. I might be in charge of your dog's health but I am not your financial advisor.

Apple Cake Recipe

I've posted this recipe before for my Apple Cake but now I'm going to do it with step by step picture instructions! So you have to pin it!

First-gather your ingredients!

You'll need: 4 cups diced apples, 2 cups sugar, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 2 tsp vanilla, 1 cup nuts, 2 cups flour, a dash of salt and 2 tsp cinnamon.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees or 325 degrees if you are using a pyrex pan.

Now grease your pan. I'm a shortening user. Then flour well. You're pan should be the 9x13 size pan, though this recipe seems to hold up for 9" rounds (2) and would for squares too, I assume. I've never used it for cupcakes though...maybe in the future.

Now chop your apples in uniform bits. I figure about 1 apple=1 cup if you nibble on them as you go. I was really conservative because these apples had bruises and got away with three apples=a short 4 cups.

This is the sad face of your dog when you don't give them apple slices. :(

Add your two cups of flour and mix well with the apples. It prevents them from browning. [EDIT-this should be sugar. 7/4/13.]

Add your two large eggs or whatever is the equivalent. I used 3 medium (?) eggs because my boss gave me like 3 dozen!

Add 1/2 cup vegetable oil.

Add two tsp vanilla. Action shot!

Add 1 cup walnuts.

Mix well.

Add 2 cups flour, a dash of salt and 2 tsp cinnamon.

Mix well.

Mix some more. At this point, you can add a little bit extra oil if it seems too dry. It gets wetter pretty fast though.

Spoon/pour into the prepared pan and into the oven for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Yum!

Apple Walnut Cake

4 cups diced apples
2 cups sugar
2 eggs (well beaten)
½ cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup walnuts
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 for Pyrex). Grease and flour a 9x13 pan; set aside.
Mix sugar with apples in large bowl. Add eggs, oil, vanilla and nuts; mix well. Then add flour, cinnamon and salt.  (If batter is too dry, add 1 tablespoon additional oil.)
Pour into pan and bake for 45-60 minutes or until done-when a toothpick is inserted and removed clean.)

Yes, that's a deer tied to the roof of a Dodge Neon. Only in Pennsylvania...

Pin this right now!!
So in our living room which is a cat playground more than anything else, we have this really big, really ugly painting.
What to do with it?
I covered it in wrapping paper and am taping the Christmas cards we receive to it!!
I suggest measuring your picture and paper first. And using plenty of tape. After only a few days as a couple of cards, mine is getting saggy but still a great idea!!

Herbie all stretched out next to me enjoying a rainy afternoon on the couch. Little does he know that in mere moments, he's being kidnapped and shoved into a cat carrier and getting neutered.