MySpace-December 27, 2010-A Pennsylvania Christmas

Joe and I celebrated our first Christmas together as an engaged couple. It was also our first Christmas (even if I’m constantly calling it Thanksgiving-a side effect I suppose of not being here on Thanksgiving) in Pennsylvania.

Sometime in early December, Joe and I decorated for the holiday. Lights on our house, my little plastic tree getting put in the yard. Inside, I busily tried to find ways to use my existing decorations in new ways. And rapidly realizing that I bought too much last year and vowed not to buy anything this year. (I actually already have bought the lights for the outside and two sets of electric candles.)

As each package containing gifts from Missouri arrived, I grew more and more excited! The mound of wrapped presents grew in the corner because our tree is a little tiny thing and there most certainly wasn’t room because some of the presents were rather large.

Also adding to my excitement was the threat of snow. Initially, it was to be on Christmas day but then was pushed to Sunday and then into Sunday night. But it never came. For better or for worse.

Joe and I also discussed what we would eat on Christmas. Roast chicken? Turkey? Ham? No, none of these. Joe wanted a goose. So began the goose chase so to speak. A told everyone at work and everyone told me how greasy goose was. Lisa, whose mother is English, declared, ‘What does he think this is? Charles Dickens?!’ Joe and I would eventually find that a frozen goose from Giant was $60. Really? Joe still really wanted one despite the greasiness, despite the fact that he had never cooked a goose. When I went back the grocery store the Tuesday before Christmas they were out. I asked and Joe reserved one to be picked up the next day.  The goose also required a roasting pan to be purchased-twice because I picked out the wrong one. Damn Paula Dean!

We had big plans for our Christmas meal. The roast goose of course and then the sides-butternut squash, cranberry sauce (from scratch), Brussel sprouts with almonds and maple syrup, and crescent rolls. Then desert was pumpkin cheesecake-also from scratch.  All  of this went off without a hitch. The goose was fantastic. Currently, I am boiling the goose carcass for soup because after all, even though most of the meat has been picked clean, it was a $60 goose.

Of course, before Christmas, is Christmas Eve and more importantly, Joe’s birthday. Joe had a bad day when the dogs got into a dog fight at the dog park. We got some take out Chinese per custom and had a great time. I was on call for the whole weekend  and had taken care of an emergency right after close, it was a quiet night.

Christmas morning, I woke up later than intended and started some coffee and put in cinnamon rolls which no one ate. Mostly because I was full of German chocolate cake from Joe’s birthday. Of course, I couldn’t actually find German chocolate cake mix at the grocery store. Giant must still be under the impression that the Second World War is going on. Maybe I should have been looking for liberty chocolate cake!

We then sat in the dining room thoroughly confusing the dogs and opened presents. We had just finished up when I got a call for a large animal emergency-a down cow. I convinced Joe to come with me as he had promised to. The cow was quickly taken care of and Joe came back to cook after I finished making the cheesecakes. CheesecakeS because there was lots of filling from the recipe.

All of the presents were very nice. Joe got me a coffee maker-one of those Keurigs, a suitcase, a scarf and a Nook, which I’m really excited for. There were other great gifts too. A puffy but not too puffy vest, a pink purse, a new road atlas and several other things. Joe thoroughly enjoyed his painting of Mary and other gifts. I’m really excited about using our grill too. I’m thinking some New Year’s Eve steaks!

In the middle of Joe’s cooking, I got another call but they decided to go to the emergency clinic. We ate and ate! The goose was so fantastic! As we finished dinner, I got another phone call about a dog that had been hit by a car. We went to the clinic with the promise that Joe wouldn’t have to do the dishes if he came with me. The dog ended up having a hernia and being in shock. I hospitalized him for the night and then in the morning, I thought he was stable enough to get his hernia repaired. Hasco told me that I could easily do it but once in there when intestine were jumping up at me, I panicked as I am so very prone to do. He came in and together we found that the little dog’s hernia was very severe. I spoke with the owners and they elected to euthanize on the table. No sooner than that was done, then I got a call up at the Carlisle clinic for a very nasty constipated dog. I hospitalized him too and I don’t know how he’s doing but I left him with instructions and in the very capable hands of April, Letha and Dr. Sands (my personal hero in addition to Dr. Hasco, who rocks!). I can only hope that sometime during the night that the dog crapped and it will get sent home this afternoon.

I was pretty comfortable with not doing anything for the rest of the evening when I got a call about a calving. It was a former client calling for his parents who were not clients. I’m not supposed to go out to non-clients but what was I to do? Expect payment in full at the time of service. I convinced Joe to come so I wouldn’t be raped. I was on the way out the door when they called and said that the cow had delivered her calves and I offered some advice and sat back down on the couch to do nothing. This morning after returning the truck, I drove past the farm and it was quite the shady operation. Whew, glad that I didn’t go out there.

Today, my house is still in shambles. Presents and empty present bags are strewn everywhere. Stuffing from a dog toy sits like clumpy snow. I started my day later than intended. After a couple of errands and a call from work, I drank one cup of coffee from my whole pot and a piece of cheesecake. (I should have eaten cinnamon rolls.) I popped some popcorn and am having a movie marathon. Not really. And am boiling that goose down in a too small of a pot. I’m not sure what I can gleam from this goose carcass. I’m going to add chicken to it since I have some pieces frozen. Or maybe I’ll add goose. Whatever.

Merry Christmas!
[EDIT-originally published to Blogger-12/24/11]

MySpace-December 20, 2010-Really Lazy But Looks Like It Took Hours Soup

Want something that looks like it took hours to make but is really fast and simple? Try this soup!

Beef Vegetable Noodle Soup

Ingredients-

One pound ground beef
One small onion, diced
One can beef broth
One can tomato sauce
One can mixed vegetables, strained and rinsed in cool water
One packet of ramen noodles
Assorted spices

Directions-
In a pot, brown the ground beef with the onion and drain the fat. To the pot add the broth and tomato sauce. Stir and bring to a boil. Add the mixed vegetables. Break up the ramen noodles and add to the pot. Season with salt, pepper and other spices to taste. Eat!

[EDIT-originally published to Blogger-12/24/11]

MySpace-December 19, 2010-Blogs I Meant To Write Sooner

So a long time ago, I wrote out in long hand two stories I meant to later type out and post. I’m to lazy to do this now and so here’s the gist of the two blogs.

Being Lucy

·         Essentially, I was tricked into buying $200 worth of steaks by door to door meat salesmen. Joe didn’t get mad but I saw it as something very I Love Lucy like.

Four Very Long Days

·         At the end of August, I was on call for four days in a row. I’m surprised I didn’t perf an ulcer or something.

o   Thursday

§  Phone call about a cat in heat

§  Went into the clinic to assist with a foreign body surgery that ended up being euthanized on the table.

o   Friday

§  During the day, I was asked to examine a tooth to see if I could determine what animal it came from and to at least rule out human origin. What possesses people to think that the local vet is capable of doing this? I know it wasn’t human, thinking pig.

§  Got two calls within five minutes of turning on the answering machine

·         One because bloodwork results hadn’t been called back about

·         The other regarding a goat kid with her head stuck between a pipe and a feed bunk

o   During the unsticking of the goat kid, I got another phone call regarding unreturned calls from another vet. Apparently they were very busy at the other clinic!

o   Using lots of lube and turning the goat upside down we got her out.

·         There were several back and forth calls regarding medications of a dog whose owners I spoke with during the goat episode

o   Saturday

§  I was the large animal vet for the day and was rather busy in the end.

·         First an ADR cow and then a cow with nervous ketosis at another farm. At this farm, I cracked my skull on a water line that didn’t help the nausea I was trying desperately  to fight off.

·         Then a dystocia at which I found a very small Holstein heifer trying to deliver a breech calf in the mud. I fought to try to get the calf corrected and then fought to get the cow standing but was not successful in either. Obviously this calf wasn’t coming out. This became more evident as I noted calf sized intestines coming out from how hard the cow was straining. I was going to do a fetotomy but after calling Dr. Hasco for like the fourth time that day decided that he was right and if my arm barely fit into the cow, how on earth was I to get the fetatome in? So euthanasia was elected and in speaking to my boss yet again, he told me to shoot it and asked if I had ever done it before. I answered yes but then quickly realized he meant with a gun. Then he declared that I shouldn’t do it because I’d shoot my foot off. The farmer wanted the cow euthanized with Euthasol but that created a $200 environmental problem. Begrudgingly, the farmer understood the whole situation and was willing to shoot the cow himself.

·         Then I returned to the poor little goat kid from the night before and gave a vitamin cocktail to fight off whatever she had started to get.

·         Luckily, that was all for Saturday

o   Sunday

§  I was woken up at 7am for a rare derm emergency and when I finally got to the clinic at 8:30 I was glad that I saw them. I’m pretty sure the dog had gotten into something it shouldn’t have and sent them out with an ecollar and some meds. I now remember that the husband was a dairy farmer and had sent with his wife a post it note containing the word  ‘dexamethasone’ because he had it in case we wanted to use it.

§  Then I had a horse with a cut leg which at the time went very well but later didn’t

§  Then another horse with a large cut on its shoulder. This one went okay but later became a terrible mess and would get me lectured about large versus small animal wounds. (A lesson I’m not sure I fully have come to understand yet.)

§  Of course, while in the middle of sewing up this horse, my phone rings and I’m left with a nasty message regarding a cow with milk fever. I follow some poorly given directions and find a red and white Holstein that goes down as soon as I walked into the barn. I thought I heard a ping and decided that I really needed the cow to stand. In the middle of putting on her halter, she leapt to her feet and charged me only to crumple and fall just short of sending me up a gate. I ended up giving her everything I had for cows in these situations-i.e. calcium, dextrose, B vitamins and steroids. I was pretty sure I was going to kill this cow with the calcium but somehow as I walked back into the barn after dawdling cleaning up my stuff she leapt back to her feet. Then the farmer tells me that she’s a mean cow. Thanks.

·         Needless to say, it was a very, very long weekend. A nice emergency bonus from Sunday though! 


[EDIT-originally published to Blogger-12/21/11]

MySpace-December 19, 2010-A Cautionary Tale

Once there was a young vet that moved very far away from home to Pennsylvania. There she lived in a little duplex in a quiet neighborhood with her wonderful fiancé, three dogs, cat and rabbit. She worked hard and had a good life.

One Sunday after staying up to late the night before and sleeping in to long that morning, she made a deal with the wonderful fiancé that if he would take the dogs to the dog park, she would stay behind and clean up the kitchen which was a huge mess from the afternoon before when lots of soup was made. To sweeten the deal, she also offered the use of her car which was bigger than his car and could more easily haul the three dogs. The wonderful fiancé agreed and set off for Mechanicsburg where the dogs could romp in the cold at the dog park.

So the young vet planned out her afternoon alone of not only cleaning up the kitchen but surprising the fiancé by cleaning the other rooms and finishing her laundry as well as going on poop patrol in the front yard. Shortly after her fiancé left, the young vet played some FarmTown and then went outside to pick up dog poo.

Filling three (THREE!) wal-mart sacks, she decided that she needed some more. When trying to go inside, she realized that the front door was not only shut to keep in the heat but it was locked! ‘Oh no!’, thought the young vet. She went to the back door and it was locked too! ‘Oh no! I knew this would happen eventually!’, she thought again. Alas, the two windows into the dog room were locked. For a minute, she contemplated climbing up onto the roof and trying the windows into the wonderful fiancé’s room but didn’t want to be stuck up there if those windows too were locked.

She had no cell phone. No way to call the fiancé, no way to call the landlord. The neighbors across the way were gone. Well, she figured that she would walk down to the gas station where she knew there was a pay phone that only shortly before she laughed at and wondered who would still need to use a pay phone?

Once there, the pay phone wasn’t working. Where now? So she went across the street to the laundromat because in her experience, the laundromat always had a pay phone. And she was right. So she called her mom collect to have her mom call the wonderful fiancé. However, she had this nagging thought in the back of her mind that her mom might not have the phone number of the fiancé. But that would be all sorted out later. One collect call reached a busy signal because obviously her mom was on the internet in the stone age. So the young vet went back across the street with her thirty seven cents and walked around the antique store before returning back to the laundromat.  She called her mom collect and was greeted with a mom that did have the phone number to the fiancé and then would call him. She did and called the young vet back. The wonderful fiancé would come home from the dog park and rescue the young vet.

The young vet walked home and waited on the wonderful fiancé. He arrived and laughed at her but not too much.

[EDIT-originally published to Blogger-12/21/11]

MySpace-December 12, 2010-On Royalty

Prince William of England is engaged. To a commoner none the less. I guess that means that I won’t be royalty anytime soon. But Prince William as he nears thirty (he’s 28) remains handsome but balding.

Anyhow, I have been thinking for quite a long time (years) and intending to write a blog about the royals.

Once, I saw this TV show that was on the various royals around the world-about young, hot royals. And as I watched this show, I realized that not all royals are hot but they have something that I don’t have. Well, lots of things that I don’t have but the root of them is money. They have money for fancy cars and houses. They have money to have expensive hobbies like polo, stadium jumping and yachting. They have money for expensive exclusive schools. They have money for people to make them look glamorous-personal trainers to keep them fit, stylists to tell them how to do their hair, their make-up and what to wear and then fashion designers to make clothes just for them. As recently pointed out with Prince William’s engagement to Kate Middleton, you always are on and that’s the down side. You always have to present the best face of the royal family. Of course, there are always royals behaving badly.

There were some of these royals (mostly I’ve been referring to the female ones) that really aren’t all that attractive. They do look more attractive because of all of the money that buys them all of the nice things and all of the nice services. I could look more attractive if I had someone motivating me to work out and then someone to cook me good healthy foods. I could look more attractive if someone did my make-up and taught me how to dress in something other than jeans and t-shirts. I’m not saying they’re dogs but centuries of royal inbreeding has left them pretty much normal looking. You’d still get maybe some whistles walking down the street but you’re not laying out nude in Playboy anytime soon.  I’m also implying that I might be hotter than some of these people. I can’t name names because like I said before it’s been years since I watched this TV show but in general, I could be hotter than them.

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on 12/12/11]

MySpace-November 7, 2010-Bloggie Blog

I’m sorry. I haven’t been blogging as much as I should be. You’d think that as a brand new vet, I’d have lots to talk about and at some level, you’re very much right. However, by the time I get home, I’m wiped out and blogging gets put aside. That and (www.twitter.com/ponygirlrocks) Twitter takes care of my blogging desires for the most part at 140 characters at a time.

There were two blogs that I intended on writing but I think I safely summarize both now:
Halloween: I love Halloween. That’s when I met Joe five years ago. I love candy. I love costumes. Mary won 2^nd place this year as Sherlock Bones at Pet Smart. I love carving pumpkins even if doing so makes my hands super itchy. I carved two of the four that we got at the pumpkin patch this year-one was an owl and the other had a tombstone, ghost, tree and moon on it. I did them all free hand. I’m awesome. I roasted the seeds out of them. They were pretty good. I was really excited about trick-or-treaters but Carlisle and all of Pennsylvania as far as I can tell is weird. Even though Halloween was on a Sunday, they had trick or treating on the Thursday before. Because I work till 7 on Thursdays, I only was home for half an hour. We had one trick or treater. At least there’s more candy for me.

Tuesdays and Thursdays: Both really stress me out. Tuesday is my day off and the stressful part is that I have a week’s worth of errands and taking care of house things to get done. But typically, I end up laying on the couch for a good part of the day and regretting that decision as well. And I feel because Tuesdays, I tend to make a big meal for Joe-something intricate- and/or bake something, I feel like MY day off is used for everyone else. Many a Tuesday around dinner time has come to tears. Thursdays are stressful because they are my surgery day and I end up working about 12 hours pretty much straight. I’m a very slow surgeon but we knew that from lab. And it doesn’t matter what sort of surgeries I have, something goes awry or surgeries get added on and then its 2pm and of course appointments (most often a single vaccine appointment) start at 3. And I don’t get a nap. I generally take all of this in stride and just keep going. Getting to sit for at least half an hour and eat is okay. Especially if I actually have time to run to Saylor’s and get something. Get out of the building. Something.

SO  that pretty much sums up the two most recent blogs I wanted to write. I’ve been toying with the idea of going to blogspot or something but I have hundreds of blogs on here. And I really need to do something with my Xanga (www.xanga.com/ponygirlrocks) blog that I abandoned for this one anyway. Lots of good blogs there too.

In other news around here, Joe got switched to day shift which should have allowed us to spend more time together but alas has not.  He ends up working till nearly ten at which point he comes home and eats and plays video games/watches TV. I fall asleep on the couch and go to bed way to late. At least we can sleep in the same bed now which I have mixed feelings about. Mostly because Joe is a cover and bed hog and his bed is terribly uncomfortable. The cat has mixed feelings about the new sleeping arrangements too. Initially, she looked at it as a trend and cautiously slept on my pillow above my head or on the nightstand. Now she has taken to sleeping next to my chest and spooning with us. Very cute.

Joe and I have started watching a show that premiered last week on AMC called The Walking Dead. Its based on the comic book that we read. Its about zombies so naturally, I have zombie nightmares. Its staying pretty close to the comics except that Rick isn’t attractive enough.

I bought my western horse clock finally off ebay.

I got my hair highlighted. We were talking about it at work last Monday and Tuesday I got into a salon and had it done. Its very light. Maybe too light. But looks good…until you really start looking at it and realize that you can see my roots. Oh well.

We took the dogs to the Mechanicsburg dog park last week. Its not exciting either. But there were lots of dogs there so at least they could fake some excitement of seeing other dogs.  We’re probably going to go again today.

The weather has gotten chilly here. Not too bad but chilly enough. We turned on the heat but I’m being a heat nazi about it. I just don’t want the bills to run up. We barely save any money a month and haven’t really started to pay off my student loan even. One of the things we wanted to do before turning on the heat was rearrange our living room because the futon sits in front of the bay window where the heater is. However, our living room is only so wide and to fulfill all of our requirements-nothing in front of the bay window, couch sitting with its back out, not blocking all the doors, TV in the corner-we had to leave everything as is. Not that we didn’t try. It just didn’t work. I did rearrange my bedroom some and need to do the office/animal room too. Oh, and tonight, we need to put the window plastic up but haven’t. Again, lots of things we talk about doing but never really do.

I’ve been dealing with a horse and its leg wound for a couple of weeks now. I really like the owner. Maybe she’ll be my friend. I need to email her back too. Ummm…I took the splint off of the sheep with a broken leg. The break healed but now the sheep is down in the pasterns and the hoof is internally rotated. I’m not sure if its because the splint moved or because he might have rotated off the joint. He was nonweight bearing when I left but figure that in regards to the being down in the pastern and nonweight bearing that he needs some time to get back some muscle and tendon strength. I told the owner to give the sheep two weeks before deciding. I’ll call then and see what he wants/how the sheep is doing.

I guess that’s all that’s really going on now. I know that I’ve got a long list of To Dos but probably won’t start it anytime soon. Joe’s playing a video game and then needs to get cleaned up for the dog park. Then dog park and then maybe we’ll get around to either cleaning or putting up widow plastic. Tonight, we’ll cozy up for The Walking Dead sans puppies and eat some popcorn. 


[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on 11/14/11]

MySpace-October 5, 2010-Stable Song

Have I posted this before? I wrote a poem based on the song,  'Stable Song' by Death Cab for Cutie. I took it literally...thus about horses.

Here are the lyrics:
Time for the final bow,
Rows of deserted houses,
All our stable mates highway bound.

Give us our measly sum,
Getting the air inside my lungs is heavenly,
Starting out, with nothing but crippling doubt.

We'll rest easy justified.

Suffered a swift defeat,
I’ll endure countless repeats,
The gift of memory's an awful curse,
With age it just gets much worse,
But I won't mind,
I won't mind,
I won't mind,
I won't mind.


Here is my poem:


Stable Song

The track had seen better days,
Worse ones, too.
Barns needed roofs patched
Paint peeled off buildings.
Long barn, stable one after
Another were empty.
No horses' heads hung over
Stall doors.
All the good horses have had
Their legs wrapped.
They've been loaded onto
The trucks bound for
Bigger, richer tracks.

The purse I win today
Won't pay my bills.
Medical bills climb.
And I'm tethered
To this oxygen tank.
If only I could breathe.
If only I thought each horse
I put forth to the track
Would race home
First each time.
But I am plaqued with doubt.
Doubt about the horse,
Doubt about myself
About my past and future.

I'll rest one day
One day when I'm gone.
All will remember me fondly.
All will be fair then.

Each horse to the track
Could lose
Could get hurt.
A defeat, one of many
Adding to those in my past.
Adding to what my future will bring
Only defeat
I'll remember each loss
Like each victory
Holding them-the memories
Like prizes
With age, these memories
May be all I have
But I don't mind.
If I can't win
At least I will have
Won in my mind
Again and again.
But I don't mind.

[EDIT-Originally posted to Blogger on 10/16/11.]

MySpace-August 14, 2010-Fight Club

I’m not a terribly superstitious person until it comes to one thing. I don’t worry about broken mirrors, black cats, stepping on cracks. 13 is just another number, if it falls on a Friday, its just another day. The one thing that I’m very superstitious about though, is being on call.

Being on call just comes with the job. There are instances in veterinary medicine where I suppose you have enough seniority or are specialized enough that you don’t have on call shifts. I however, am not that person. Even in school, I dreaded being on call. Just the thought of that upcoming day, put a rock in my stomach. Being in practice hasn’t changed this.

I’m so superstitious that if I am on call, I don’t do anything. I sit at home. I don’t make phone calls. I don’t cook. I don’t watch movies. I sit. I wait. I worry. I live in perpetual fear of being called. In school, if I was on call later in the evening for the overnight shift, I would go out but rush back home before my shift started less I tempt the on call gods. Its happened before that I would be on call but wander down the parking lot to Laura and Rachel’s house only to be called while sitting on their couch. How can you take that kind of risk? I don’t feel that you can. Eventually, when I was on pathology and being on call seemed rather silly, I would relax, but only some. And it did bite me in the butt. I was baking a cake on a Sunday when I received a call regarding a dead piglet. I couldn’t just leave the cake. So I told the people they’d have to wait. They were okay with it but it still put that rock right back in my stomach.

For me being on call is like Fight Club. The first rule of being on call is that you do not speak of being on call. With the exception of essentially only stating that I am on call, I don’t speak about it. I don’t like it being spoken about in my presence for fear that even doing more than acknowledging it will lead to being jinxed and actually called in. At this point, I am being paid a bonus for coming in on emergency so I should welcome my calls, but I don’t. I’d rather be poorer.

I’ve also learned that if you’re on call, you should flee the building as quickly as possible. I learned at school if you stick around doing paperwork, you’re bound to be called. I was found multiple times on surgery that way. Sometimes, multiple times in a day. No body likes that.

Eventually, I’ll stop worrying. I’ve done a good job of convincing people, so far, that they really don’t want to pay my emergency fee ($100 minimum but more likely $150 because I’ll bring in a tech). Eventually, I’ll relax and be willing to do other things while on call. That day is not yet. I’m probably jinxing myself just typing about it…you know for the future because I wouldn’t dare write a blog about it if I was actually on call. Fight club.

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

MySpace-August 10, 2010-Laundry Lessons Learned

I'm not meticulous about laundry. For me, I do two to three loads on the weekend and a load or two in between depending on my need for white coats or clean coveralls. Joe is very meticulous about sorting and washing appropriately. Though he does put gray t-shirts and light colored towels in white laundry loads...which is frustrating.

I like getting to wash my white coats in a load of whites because obviously that's where they belong. However, I'm not above putting them in a load of dress clothes which is what I did this weekend. I did however also have in that load of laundry a dark purple shirt which had never been washed before. I didn't really think about it then.

I have been hanging my clothes out on the laundry line to dry trying to save on energy and was doing so when I noticed that the lining of my white coats had a slight purplish tint. I didn't think too much of it as I hung this stuff up to dry, but when taking it down, I noticed that not only did the lining have a purplish tint but the rest of the coat did as well. In fact one coat, which also has jersey panels, was very lavender. The jersey panels remained white. My white coats were obviously no longer white. No longer did they say 'professional'.

Now how to fix it...

I first ran them back through the wash in a load of whites with bleach and hot water. Pulled out, my coats were still a pretty shade of purple. So they sat in a wet heap on my washing machine until something else could be figured out. I went to Yahoo! Answers and did find some answers and some products to look for.

Target and Michael's didn't have either of these products but remembering that one is used by quilters to remove bled colors, I went to JoAnn's. There I found two products. One by Rit Dye and one which was the actual product I was looking for. While standing there, reading the instructions on the product I wanted, I noted that there weren't any instructions for using a HE washing machine. I called the 1-800 number on the box, right there in JoAnn's. There was no answer but it did refer me to another phone number. I didn't think much of it since it was the weekend and everything. I called the next number and was greeted with 'Hot, Young Horny Women in your area wanting to chat now!!!!!' Ummm....that's not the laundry hotline I was expecting. Eventually, I just up and bought the product having found a newer box with the information I needed. Then I went home and tried to fix my coats. A bucket of hot, hot water and this stuff made my kitchen smell like a beauty parlor giving perms to old ladies so I moved the operation outside while I did dishes. After finishing the dishes, I went outside and my coats were white again! Miracle! So now my coats are white! Lesson learned. I did also buy some of those color catcher sheets when at Target...you know, just in case.

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on 8/10/11.]

MySpace-August 1, 2010-Wedding Planning Is Hard

Wedding planning is hard. Joe and I haven’t really even started planning our wedding but even now, I’m totally overwhelmed. I got my Wedding Planning for Dummies book, I got a book for Joe about being a groom, I’ve signed up for theknot.com and still have no clue where to start.

Joe and I have yet to set a date. We were to do that as well as setting a wedding budget and household budget this weekend. But Joe slept in too late and then he mowed the yard. I figure some rough dates for which inquires of churches and reception halls can be made is the first step. In my ideal world, I’d like to get married in early spring so that I can take advantage of forsythias blooming and using them as centerpieces. That sort of puts a time crunch on wedding planning. AND I’m pretty sure you can’t get married in the Catholic church (as I would like) during Lent. Easter isn’t until late April. BUT if I wanted to wait till 2012, I still could get married in early-mid April. Possibly then getting forsythias for my use. Other dates would be sometime in June or early September. 2011 would be okay for those. And seriously, if you want something done sort of fast, I’m the one you want doing it. I’m well organized. I just would like everyone else to be the same way.

Its also very hard, as I still have to figure out, to plan a long distance wedding. Google only has lent me so many leads for reception halls in the DeSoto area. Who’s going to go to these places and see them? Can I trust pictures that are sent to me? What about food? Can I get a caterer or does the place do it? What if the food is crap? What about the bar and alcohol? Do I need to take a weekend off and fly to Missouri for some planning?

I’m making lists. Lists of things to do, things I want, ideas, guests-for sure and maybe guests.

I ran some ideas past Joe and he’s been super (and surprisingly) supportive of these. One is renting (or purchasing) a 1989 Crown Victoria. Joe loved that car so very much and we both enjoyed drives through St. Joe in the middle of the night in search of milkshakes listening to ‘Tales Designed for Suspense’ in it. I can just see us driving away from the church in it, Joe in an old man hat, me snuggled next to him in the front seat. We’ve found one for sale about an hour and half away from here. We could afford it if we got a loan AND it would probably get along better in the snow than the Turdcel (not that I don’t really like that car for Joe too). But the questions remain, will it last for as long as it takes for us to get married? The other idea I had is about favors for the wedding. Since I would like to use royal/blue ribbon blue as one of my colors (the other being white and with accents of yellow), I thought that maybe giving out blue ribbons would be cool. Sort of a nod to my horse showing days; they would have our names and the date on them. Sort of up in the air about using rosettes or bookmark ribbons. Bookmarks would be cheaper and more practical-people may actually use them, but rosettes are so much fancier. I really think that favors should reflect us-so I’m also thinking of some little food items since we love to cook.

There are so many things to think about. Budget being a big one. I asked Joe what he thought weddings cost and he told me $10000 to $15000. Is that what we should aim our budget towards? That’s a lot higher than I would have thought for our budget, but then again, if we could do it, it would be fantastic. I could get so much of the fancy that I would like. We haven’t approached my parents about helping but us planning for the most of it, will just mean that there’s more budget for other stuff!

Joe’s been so supportive of my early on craziness about wedding planning. Probably one of the first things we’ll do (hopefully not before setting a date and maybe not even before setting a venue), is purchase some wedding rings. Mostly because I need to get my engagement ring checked because I’m afraid that one of the stones is loose. And that its sort of dirty. And really, the wedding rings will be fairly cheap. Comparatively. 

So basic list of things to think about…
Church, reception hall, wedding rings, wedding dress, tuxes, invitations, guest list, decorations, flowers, DJ, bar, caterer, cake, and on and on and on…

Its all going to come together! I know it!

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on 8/2/11.]

MySpace-July 26, 2010-Oh My God, Tuesday!

So Tuesday promised to be a long day for me. I was on surgery in the morning and then appointments in the afternoon. Then I was on call that night.

I called down on Monday to see what sort of surgeries I had scheduled and if not many, I was going to take Riley down and pull her broken tooth out too. I had a cat neuter which even I felt like I could knock out. I was slightly too aggressive about it but it went fine. Then a feral cat spay had been added on and as I got in there, I found out she was pregnant. Not super pregnant but defiantly so. I asked Dr. Sands a couple of questions about what I had to do and then went about it. There was lots of stopping and thinking but it went okay. The cat also had a cyst which didn’t make one side the easiest  to exteriorize. That done, I closed with a simple continuous that ended up being supplemented with multiple simple interrupted stitches. This was my first solo surgery day, first solo spay…well, first solo everything. Even though it took a little longer than planned, the tech did complement me for not taking too much over an hour because the first new grad took over two hours for their first solo spay.  From there, we cleaned Riley’s teeth and pulled the bad one. It went really well.  So I had some time to go home and lay around before returning to the clinic for afternoon appointments.

My appointments went okay. I probably ended up getting behind as I normally do but eventually would get caught up. I was on call that night and had the brief run down on what I needed to do-keys, money, security codes, etc. I debated on taking home the truck or not and then decided to. As I pulled into my drive way, Lil (the neighbor across the street) stood in her doorway and then stood on her front porch for a long time as I got out of the truck and got it plugged in and everything. It was just before 8 and I changed my clothes, fed the dogs and was in the process of making a PBJ sandwich when I got a phone call. It was a client that thought her dog was bloated. Of course, she couldn’t pay my $90 initial emergency fee (which is actually $100 and $141 if I bring a tech in for one hour). So after a couple of phone calls to confirm that in fact I could get half of a payment, I was on my way back to Newville for my first emergency. I called multiple people that I felt would know more about bloat than me---pretty much everybody and called in a tech, Meg. Meg tries hard but sometimes that isn’t enough. Generally, she’s good to work with though. Luckily, when I arrived, the dog was standing though incredibly pale. I pinged the dog as I was instructed to and even though the dog didn’t look like what I felt a bloated dog should, it pinged like a gas filled organ. We took an x-ray and it didn’t look right. It looked like a normal stomach and an abdomen full of fluid. Meg and I freaked out about exposure of the x-ray and Dr. Sands came in for a second opinion. On her way in, we ran a PCV which showed that the dog had anemia. When Dr. Sands came in, she was like what do you see? An abdomen full of fluid. So what are you going to do about it? Tap it. Okay, let’s go. So we tapped the dog’s abdomen. I put the butterfly catheter in and turned to get the syringe when Dr.Sands was like stop, you don’t need that. Because pretty much pure blood was pouring out…Sigh. This dog most likely had a ruptured hemangiosarcoma. This dog was pretty much a dead dog walking. I explained the x-ray to the clients, explained the prognosis and options-surgery with a very poor outcome or euthanasia. They opted for euthanasia and we put the dog to sleep. The money situation reared its ugly head again but at this point, Meg handled it.

Dr. Sands was great to come in. Sometimes, I still need someone to bring out my own knowledge. I knew what I saw. I couldn’t believe in myself though. I’ve gotten better even in this short week. I learned a lot on Tuesday. Thursday, I felt enlarged lymph nodes on a dog and told the people that most likely it was either a tick borne disease (tested negative for Lyme disease) or lymphoma. I ran some blood work and with a super high calcium and kidneys that were starting to fail, it looked like lymphoma even without doing an FNA of the lymph nodes. I explained it to the people in addition to the fact that the dog’s kidneys were not 100%. I gave them options for treatment and diagnosis and that I didn’t think that this dog’s prognosis was very good. We euthanized that dog on Saturday. It was hard because this was the first dog that I had diagnosed and then made a decision about. I did have to have some convincing on the bloodwork but for the most part, I knew what I saw once I started looking into it. I couldn’t take it back. This dog most likely had lymphoma. If they hadn’t taken the dog home, I would have done a FNA for myself…though if I hadn’t found anything on it, I would have been second guessing myself anyway.

Friday night was another night on call. I can’t go into all of the details of that afternoon’s appointments (or some of the Saturday ones that were similar), but I had been home for a while when I got a frantic phone call from someone that thought it was time to euthanize their dog. I was on my way. I called a tech but got there first. The people showed up right away and they had thought that the dog had died on the way there. I called the tech and told her not to come in. I checked the dog and helped them package her up. While I was shutting down computers and locking doors, I got another phone call. A dog had licked chlorine tablets for a pool. I was still at the clinic and looked up some stuff. I told the people what they needed to do and I assume it all went well.

Skipping ahead with some worries for this week, I’m on call on Saturday. I assume that I’m also on for Sunday but have no way of knowing this as I don’t have August’s schedule yet. Anyway, because I’m on for Saturday, I have large animal duty solo. I could have nothing. I could have that part switched with the doctor that is doing small animal that day. But if I do large animal, I need to have all of the herd health stuff cancelled because I’m only about 75% accurate at palpating. Maybe I can use the ultrasound which would increase my % some but not all the way up to 100. Also, legally, I don’t think I’m supposed to write health certificates. We might have that finished though as I think the fair was this weekend. Worry, worry, worry…

[EDIT-Orginally published to Blogger on 7/30/11]

MySpace-July 26, 2010-Pennsylvania, Birthplace of Freedom (as Legislated by Law)

Joe and I have complained a couple of times already about how Pennsylvania has lots of extra laws that seem to really foul things up.

There is the continuing ordeal with getting the car licensed. This is how that’s playing out. I have to get a Pennsylvania driver’s license but of course, the license office is closed on Mondays, which has been my day off most often. I also need this for my insurance. Joe’s on my insurance so he also needs a PA driver’s license-technically you have to get one within 60 days of moving to the state. Once you’re here, Pennsylvania owns you. Anyway, with Joe, I’m probably going to just drop him from my insurance. Okay, so anyway, insurance-check, driver’s license-pending. I talked to the credit union regarding my loan-they released it so my title is free and clear so that was a good thing. Then I was going to get my car inspected and if it failed and was too expensive to fix, I was going to drive on expired MO plates and buy a new car. Apparently though, with the exception of a few burned out bulbs, my car passed the safety inspection…however, it can’t get emissions done until it’s registered. Hmmm…that complicates my new car plan. I still suspect (even if the car repair guy doesn’t) that my car will fail emissions. If I remember right, there’s something about the carbon monoxide thing being broken. I don’t know. Anyway, there’s going to be some complicated days in which I have to be very busy and make things happen on my breaks between working. And on my days off.

Regarding the burned out bulbs, I’m pretty sure they’ve been replaced numerous times in the past couple of months. I think they told me they were brake lights. So I’m suspecting that I have a short some place that keeps blowing out my bulbs. I’ve actually suspected this for a while since there was that time when we couldn’t get the overhead light to go off and we took out the fuse to fix it. And also since sometime this winter when my battery was unexplainably draining its power. Luckily, never so bad as to have needed to been replaced. I’m sure longer I ignore it, the more likely it will be that I get pulled over for it OR just can ride it out for a new car.

Okay, what else. Well, PA is full of losers and trash. Lots of mullets. I suggest PeopleofWalmart. That describes a lot of Pennsylvania.

So also dogs. They have to be registered with the county. In Columbia, admittedly there were city dog licenses that you got but I conveniently never got. There are lifetime licenses for like $31 if your dog is microchipped so I don’t feel so bad about having to get them. They don’t require rabies vaccination proof or anything so I’m not sure what the point is anyway. BUT I’d conveniently forget about these too except that there are dog wardens that apparently go around looking to see if your dogs have licenses. So we need to get them. Then too, we’ve looked into dog parks because Mary is getting crazy without going someplace to romp. There are dog parks. None with lakes apparently. I looked into one in Camp Hill and they require doing registration before going. What’s up with that? So you also need to have a registration, a dog license and proof of vaccination-not just rabies but also distemper and kennel cough. So we need to get the dogs up to date on kennel cough and licensed before getting them registered to go to the dog park. I don’t think there’s a fee. I hope not. Suck.

Okay, there must be a law against trans fat, saturated fat, being fat (though a majority of the people I see on a daily basis would disagree) or getting fat because portion sizes on French fries are crazy small. Disappointingly small. At anyplace not McDonald’s. Joe and I are trying to find local places that we like to eat. Scalles was a disappointment. It looks like it should be a fairly nice restaurant from the outside and even from the inside but it’s really a glorified sandwich shop. Food was only okay and chintzy on the fries…like everyplace else…BLD diner, that Mexican place, kind of Rustic Tavern (which was awesome!).

Then the beer situation. It’s not sold at gas stations or grocery stores but beer stores. I’m still not sure where hard liquor is sold. Anyway, these places are open rather limited hours and are drive though. So that is nice except that if you want to park and go in. BECAUSE THERE ARE NO SPACES! It makes parking very confusing. I’m not a fan. And you have to buy a whole case, not just a six pack. In New York, you also had to go to a ‘beverage store’ but you could buy six packs. Now it just makes it inconvenient to enjoy more specialty and seasonal beers because can you really drink 24 Summer Shandy’s. Joe says you can’t. I know I can’t. 

Other than being mad about how Pennsylvania runs itself and how I can’t get enough fries or even decent fries, things are going well. Joe has a job. The weather’s been hot and we’ve spent some time with the air conditioning on with only minimal increases to the electric bill. I’ve had a good time working and have gained a lot of confidence.

Joe and I have been considering some other ways to exercise. Currently, it consists of walking about 8 blocks with the dogs at 10pm. I’m not as consistent as Joe is with walking them…I tend to fall asleep on the couch more but since I’m the only one at home at night, I now still do it more.  Other than that, we’ve been just thinking about kayaking. It would be something fun. But there is the fact that we would have to buy all the equipment and neither of us are big on water stuff.

As far as the wedding, well, no progress has been made. I do have a book on wedding planning. I’ve secured three of four potential bridesmaids. We’ve come to realize that we need to set some dates and also decide if we are going to have a Catholic wedding. If we are, Joe has to convert and we both need to start going to mass every Sunday. The church here in Carlisle (the St. Patrick Cathedral) is a beautiful brick church-very ornate. Maybe we should just get married here. This is OUR home now afterall. Would make things easier for me to plan as well. I talk as if we’re really ready to plan a wedding, but we’re not. I start to bring it up, other things happen, we get distracted, we get frustrated and we’re still back to where we are-needing a date and a type.

[EDIT-Orginally published to Blogger on 7/30/11]

MySpace-July 17, 2010-Today (or close to it in...)

[EDIT: Instead of copying the old blog, I'm just going to list the date and title since this format is different.-LP]

2005-Wednesday, July 13, 2005-Xanga
2006-Tuesday, July 11, 2006-Xanga
2007-July 20, 2007-MySpace-Four Blogs Worth Reading...Not Counting This One
2008-July 17, 2008-MySpace-Moving Mania!
2009-July 25, 2009-MySpace-Oh Canada!

[EDIT-Orginally published to Blogger on 7/30/11]

MySpace-July 13, 2010-The Mud Princess

I earned a nickname a few weeks back.

I was out with Dr. Hasco doing food animal calls and having a rather nice, pleasant day when we got a call for a milk fever. It was only about a mile down the road from where we had a herd check and some sick cow checks so it was only logical to send me. Logical because it was JUST a milk fever. Easy enough for your first call solo said Dr. Hasco. He reiterated what I should do, showed me what I should give and gave me some directions. Away I went…

As I neared the farm, the farmers-a man and his two adult sons who were probably about my age were standing in the drive. The cow was down in the pasture they tell me. Good enough I though. Still no big deal. I drove into the pasture and realized that the cow had chose to lay down in the muddy creek bed. Sigh. Not ideal but I can do it. Still not a big deal.

So I get out and gather up some stuff. I ask when this cow calved. They didn’t think she had. Sigh. Well. I did my physical exam and then decided it was imperative for me to check and see what was going on with the calf. For all I knew, for all they knew, this cow could have dumped her calf in the pasture before deciding to take a nap in the mud. So I clean her lady business up and check her out. The calf’s head is right there. But not its legs. I know this calf is alive. I want to get this calf out alive.

So I get back there and set to work on seeing if I can get the calf’s legs up and get it pulled out. At this point, the farmer suggested giving the cow some calcium because it would be easier to manipulate the calf if the cow was standing.  I refused this suggestion at first because like I said before, I want this calf out now. As I was down in the mud and wrestling around, the farmer’s two sons were asking me what they could do, could they get me some things, and on and on. They kept referring to me as Doc which at first made me just wonder who this doc person was before I realized that it was indeed me! My boots were rapidly filling with mud and both arms were covered with mud and fluid from the cow’s uterus.  After a while, I found that it wasn’t working that well to try to get the calf pulled out. Plan B was to give the cow some calcium and see if she would get up and this would also give me some time to think and hope that Dr. Hasco would make his way there.

So I did manage to get a needle into the cow’s neck but it wasn’t flowing as smoothly as I would have liked. I could hear the farmer inquire to his son if I knew what I was doing. Luckily, the second bottle of calcium went much smoother.  At this point, I thought it was time to get the cow out of the mud. I asked what their (the farmer and his sons) plan was and the response was that I didn’t want to know. To which I answered to let me use the hot shot and we would see if she would get up. I shocked her a couple of times and she did manage to stand and then fell back down. At this time, Dr. Hasco showed up and laughed at my mud covered appearance. He told them that it was their cow and they could get her out anyway they wanted. It wasn’t pretty.

With the cow out of the mud, Dr. Hasco went about extracting a live bull calf. Several bottles of assorted fluids and electrolytes later, we did manage to get the cow standing and licking off her calf. We left the farm and this happy scene. I was allowed to go home as there were no more calls and I was covered in mud. Later, I learned that this cow (who was considerably old for a dairy cow) was found dead the next day. Sometimes it just happens that way.

[EDIT-Orginally published to Blogger on 7/30/11]

MySpace-July 13, 2010-A Vet's Day Off

I haven’t had very many days off. I’ve had a Saturday or two off-one where I still ended up going in for a dystocia and one just this past weekend because Jackie and Casey were coming into town. Today was my first scheduled day off. I made the best of it.

Jackie and Casey were still here in the morning and we went to breakfast before they had to leave. Once they left, I was to  make my list of errands but instead took a short nap on the couch watching The Golden Girls and I Love Lucy. Then I made my list and left the house just after noon-once I had put some chicken in the crockpot.

So this is what I did today---

Went to the bank where I deposited my paycheck, changed my email address, got some cash and was given a reusable grocery bag.

Bought 10 borough bags. $38! Seriously, we pay for trash service by the bag. I have to remember to put out the trash tonight since Joe wasn’t able to before leaving for work.

Dropped off a shirt at the dry cleaners. I have to remember to pick it up tomorrow after 6pm.

Went to Jo Ann’s which is in the most ghetto ‘mall’ ever. The ‘mall’ consists of a Bon-Ton department store, Jo  Ann’s,  a sporting goods store, a Radio Shack, a Quizno’s, Kay Jewelers and Bath and Body Works. BBW confuses me because I’ve always considered it a place that is only in nicer malls. It seems to me that it took South County mall a long time to get one. Anyway, I bought two pillows that were 50% off so I can cover them. I figured that would be cheaper than having to make and stuff my own. Some very cute lightweight tweed was 90% off and I got enough to make a dress. I really need to start sewing again. Always lots of projects going on.

Then to Old Navy for some flip flops and discounted jeans, Pier One to browse at chairs and wall decorations but not get anything, Target for a shower curtain and bath mat (I’m trying to make the bathroom lighter than it was with the black mat and curtain) and PetSmart for some poo bags.

Then finally (well not really) to Wal-Mart. I had a few things to pick up but more importantly had to get my oil changed, a prescription switched over and filled and some photos printed. I was getting bored with waiting on the prescription so left it-Joe went and got it for me later. Anyway, before I got bored with waiting I did that Dr. Scholl’s foot testing thing and found out that I have low arches and carry high pressure in my feet. I could have told you that. The insoles they recommend are $50! That’s how they can pay for everyone using their little mapping thing. I also took my blood pressure-109 over 67. I’ve always had low blood pressure. I wonder what it is when I am stressed at work?

On my way home, I stopped at Rite Aid for something, which they didn’t have and then went to AgWay for some Tingley rubber boots which they didn’t have even though online, I was told they would. Randomly AgWay did have some pets for sale. Eventually, I’ll get my slip on rubber boots.

Once home, I made a chicken biscuit bake and set up an appointment to have my car inspected. I bought some books from Barnes and Noble about large animal surgery and wedding planning and ordered some pictures online to replace the ones that have blue spots on them. Now I’m watching The Tudors and writing this blog. I’ll put out the trash and walk the dogs before going to bed. Probably put up the new shower curtain too.  I’ve been busy. Hope all my day’s off are this productive. I probably should also work on making the days that I work more productive instead of sleeping on the couch.

[EDIT-Orginally published to Blogger on 7/30/11]

MySpace-June 12, 2010-Our Pets

I think I talk a lot about our pets and the cute little things they do. I’m not really sure if I have gone into intricate detail about them and their personalities but now I think I’ll do that.

The oldest of our pets is a little male Netherland Dwarf rabbit named Teddy. Teddy’s full name is Lil’ Teddy Kellerman though I’m not sure that’s his name on his pedigree. I’ve had him since July of 2005 making him about five years old this year. He’s a black otter which means that he’s black with a sliver belly, paws and around his eyes in addition to a tan triangle behind his neck. Teddy doesn’t do much. I call him four pounds of fury because he’s not super  fond of being held or petted. Teddy isn’t afraid of anything and routinely has been chased by the dogs or chases the cats. Teddy just sort of exists in our household. I hope with a substantial yard that I will be able to put him outside in Mary’s crate or something.

Then there’s Riley. Riley is a four year old spayed female Pembroke Welsh Corgi that I’ve had since she was a puppy. She’s AKC registered as Blue Ribbon Riley. Riley is a tri colored corgi meaning that she has white, black and red coat colors. Her head is mostly red with a white blaze. Her belly is white as is all of her feet and around her neck. Her back is black with red down the sides before changing to white at her belly. Riley is a very pretty corgi with sharp foxy like features. Unfortunately, Riley is overweight mostly because I haven’t trained her to have any manners making her begging for people food super adorable. Even if she wasn’t overweight she would be a larger corgi anyway. Her faults mostly include her lack of manners, inability to do tricks and being overweight. Then are her assets. Riley is super obedient-she responds very quickly to being called and instantly to being told to go to her house which is code for crate. Riley also plays fetch and likes to sleep on your lap or next to you. She does have a genetic disease called degenerative myelopathy. Its similar to Lou Gehrig’s disease, an ascending paralysis leading to respiratory compromise. Riley was tested and came back affected/at risk meaning that while she may not every develop the disease which happens later in life, she does carry the gene for it. Until then, Riley does what she wants which is mainly be cute.

Mary is our next pet in terms of length of ownership. Mary is a two and half year old spayed female Briard mix. She has like one beagle five generations back or so. Mary hardly looks like a Briard at all. She has floppy ears (whereas most Briards have them cropped), she’s about 20-30 pounds smaller and her hair is short and wirey. Mary is black and tan with adorable eyebrows and whiskers. Like a Briard though, Mary has double dewclaws on her hide feet. Mary was most importantly adopted from a research lab at MU at 9 months old. Mary has a genetic disease called retinal atrophy which was being worked on in the lab she was from. Her ancestors were imported from Sweden and used to find a gene therapy for this disease for which there is a human equivalent in infants. This disease makes it difficult for Mary to see at night so she does this goosestepping walk at night in the dark. Mary had a rough go when she started with us in that she was difficult to housebreak and for her to catch on to our walking routine. Now Mary is a very good dog. Mary loves to go on walks and even more loves going to the dog park. Last spring, Mary learned to swim and even though she does it very slowly and carefully, she will go out after a ball. Mary loves to wrestle and play. She tends to bark some though most often its to tell a very important dog story. I’m never sure what its about but she loves to tell it. Mary’s favorite toy is a 18” light purple dog that we call ‘Baby’. Mary loves her baby and will carry it around faithfully. The other dogs know that baby is off limits to them. Baby has had several surgeries during which Mary paces around crying until Baby is released. Overall, Mary is super cute.

Bess Truman was adopted from the humane society in Columbia in October. She’s a three or so year old spayed female domestic long or medium hair cat. She’s a brown tabby but only really her head is striped. Bess replaced Roosevelt and had a hard task ahead. When we went to the shelter, I wasn’t planning on getting a female cat but after taking Bess into the little room, I couldn’t leave her. She had been surrendered in the spring and when we had her in the little room all she did was purr and make biscuits while sitting on my lap. Bess has always been friendly-wanting to sit on your lap, sleep in your bed. Recently though, Bess had become even more friendly. She now wants to go into the bathroom with you while before it was a system of trickery to get her in the shower with you. Bess wants to hang out in the living room even if she has to hide from the dogs.  When not asleep, Bess follows you around and overall tries to be super cute.

Finally, there’s Sadie. We call her Biscuit or Little Bit. Sadie is a two year old spayed female Pembroke Welsh Corgi. We adopted her in May from a rescue in Missouri. Sadie is sable so she’s mostly red-brown with a black cast to her coat. She has white on her nose, neck and four  legs. Unlike Riley, Sadie isn’t AKC registered (that we know of) and she’s super little-under 20 pounds. Sadie has a very cute face but its more angular with very large ears. Sometimes one ear flops over. Sadie loves to be cuddled and is really good on a leash. However, she isn’t the greatest about going to her crate or being loose outside. Sadie tends to run off. She’s a naughty but cute dog. She is afraid of storms. At the dog park, Sadie will swim. She’s not very good at it but its good for a laugh.

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on June 14, 2011]

MySpace-June 6, 2010-A-May-Zing

You may have been wondering where I went off to since I haven’t written much and its known that there were lots of things going to be happening. Well, I’ve been in Pennsylvania and without internet because of a miscommunication with Comcast, so I’ll post this when I get to some place with Wi-Fi OR after Tuesday when I finally get some internet.

So after graduation, life around our house consisted of packing and tying up the loose ends before moving. There were bank accounts to close, friends to visit with and boxes to pack. Joe also had to finish paying off the engagement ring. I went with him and the entire time had this puke-y feeling. I had to go sit down while he went back for his change. He bought me a pretzel. Even though, I was there when we picked out the ring and there for picking it up, I had never considered ourselves engaged. One shouldn’t just assume these things. I told Joe that he really should ask me. He finally broke down and told me that he had a reservation at Jack’s Gourmet for that night that he had made several days earlier. However, such a fancy dinner required untaping boxes to find suitable clothing. Once there we ordered dinner-neither of ours was as good as we had previously. Joe was super nervous as was I even though we both knew what was going to happen. Finally, he got up, dropped down to one knee and asked. Aww…how sweet! So it’s a done deal. I have a giant diamond on my hand and now a fiancé.

The next day, my parents came to Columbia to help us pack the moving truck we had rented. It was a 16ft Budget truck which also was to tow a car dolly hauling Joe’s car. I drove the truck to the apartment and Joe took care of it from there. There was some generally good natured arguing about backing the truck up and getting it parked but all and all got it done. All morning long we packed the truck. Once mostly done, my parents left us to finish and we took our time putting the last belongings into the truck. Joe and I left on Sunday morning making it into Ohio before stopping for the night. It was a long drive. Joe, Bess and Teddy enjoyed the air conditioned comfort of the Budget truck while me and the three dogs had to endure the heat as we drove. My left arm bears the sharp tanned difference. Monday morning we left to arrive in Pennsylvania that night. It rained a couple of times that day and Joe had to drive through tunnels for the first time. I don’t think he thought it was all that great.

We were able to get into the house early which was awesome and as we pulled in, the entire neighborhood-well, a lot of it-came out to greet us.  We worked to unload about half the truck before deciding to call it a night and go for a drive. The next day we finished unloading the truck and are continuing to unpack. We are entirely unmotivated to unpack and lots of boxes sit around the house still. Its an ongoing process.

Eventually, Joe and I would go out and buy a microwave and some other needed items. These other needed items included a front loading washer and dryer which come Monday. When purchasing this washer and dryer set, I got that same puke-y feeling that I did with buying a ring. Joe and I are really a couple, really adults now. I’m super excited about that because we have lots of towels and blankets that were used for packing that need to be washed. In addition to unpacking, there are lots of little things that need to be done to make this house ours-a different shower curtain and mat, a different kitchen mat, some flowers for the front porch (secretly, I was planning to do that today but have decided against it because I am very lazy), a second new bookshelf for the dining room, which is the room I am most excited about decorating.

Today, Joe and I opened a new bank account together and Monday, Joe will be responsible for getting renter’s insurance as I start my new job. I went and visited the clinic and got my coveralls and white coats. The coveralls excited me the most since they are bibs and green. This means a lot to any vet student…well, former vet student. My white coats have my name on them too. Embroidered in purple, all very official.  Monday is going to be scary but I can’t do anything about it. I can only try my best and hope that somewhere in the back of my head there is some knowledge. I could probably do some studying as previously intended but this would be better accomplished if I had a place to do it. The two rooms that I have commandeered as my own are in shambles. One because I can’t find the bolts to put my futon back together.

I’ve learned some things about Pennsylvania in the short time I’ve lived here. One-the beer laws are completely insane. You can’t buy alcohol at the grocery store or Wal-Mart. Liquor is at the liquor store but beer is not. You can buy 6 or 12 packs at bars and some restaurants as a carry out at inflated price but if you want more, you need to go to a state store which I’m not sure is the same thing as a distributor. There you can only buy cases-a minimum of 24. AND some restaurants are BYOB. Really, bring your own? Wow. What’s up with that? Drivers in Pennsylvania are complete a-holes. They are very aggressive drivers and the only way to deal with them is to be as aggressive as they are. Pennsylvania is essentially the Missouri of the Northeast. Lots of hillbillies. Esp. at Wal-Mart. Go figures.  Umm…what else? Oh, what the fuck is the difference between a borough and a township? I don’t know either. What’s a pike besides a fish? Isn’t it just the highway? Then there’s the boro bags. Essentially in Carlisle, you don’t pay for trash service; you pay for the trash bags. $3.80 each! They were really hard to track down but eventually we went to the borough itself and bought some.

All and all Pennsylvania is good. I like it and look forward to working on Monday. More looking forward to getting internet, I guess.

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on June 14, 2011]

MySpace-May 22, 2010-Wrapping It All Up

Eight days ago, I became a veterinarian. This was my lifelong dream and I was lucky enough to have it realized.  And lucky enough to have a fantastic boyfriend to share it with. Vet school had lots of up and downs and Joe (as well as I) had our doubts about my ability to finish it. Watching TV versus studying sometime came to a very close match and tough choice. But in the end, I am a veterinarian. In the end, I will be licensed to practice veterinary medicine in not one, but two states. In addition to sharing my feelings about all of this, I think its time to update you all on my life plan.

For over a month, I have been laying around the apartment waiting on something to happen. Waiting on a job offer, waiting on a place to live, waiting to graduate. I’ve watched a lot of TV and did a whole lot of nothing, which I enjoyed to a point.

Ultimately, the job offers came and I was faced to make a very hard decision between two jobs. I could chose Wisconsin which promised me a fantastic offer, vets that understood what I would want in my future and great farmers and cows. OR I could chose going to Pennsylvania which promised a great offer, great diagnostic tools and toys and Amish and Mennonite farms. Ultimately, I chose Pennsylvania knowing that even if I didn’t like or love the job that ultimately this was the right career move because Pennsylvania has been for three years of vet school where I wanted to be. Additionally, Pennsylvania is warmer (comparatively) and I have a group of friends on the east coast/Northeast as well-Jenn Savini and Laura Goldman as well as many of my Cornell SDI friends as well. Eventually, I would get my contract signed and feel comfortable with declaring that I, Leslie Pope was the new associate at (drumroll please) Farrell Veterinary Associates with their two clinics-Newville Animal Hospital and Holly Pike Animal Hospital. I will be a mixed practice vet. Even though I don’t know a lot or really much of anything about how my schedule will work, I am very excited about starting my job.  As that there are two clinics, I will be working in two towns-Newville and Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  I’ll be sure to keep you all updated as to how the job goes.

After finally, being offered a job, I graduated. Its bittersweet. As I said before, becoming a veterinarian was a lifelong dream but graduating and getting a job means that I have to leave Columbia and leave so many friends. So many friends have already done this and through the miracle of Facebook, I can keep in contact with everyone. I’ve lived in Columbia for nearly nine years. There are so many places that I have left to explore. I’m going to miss hot air balloons and Rock Bridge State Park. I’m going to miss Sparky’s and Flat Branch. I’m going to miss Hy-Vee and walking around campus. I’m going to miss the fantastic expanse of Ellis Library and seeing my old apartment on College. Sigh. But there are things that I’m not going to miss-football, traffic because of MU sporting events, the bridge being out, traffic on campus, crowded grocery stores. Sigh.

Its hard to think that the people that I have spent the past four years with are now spread to the wind. We’re all going our own ways and will we stay in touch? Its hard to tell. Facebook allows it luckily. I’m sad that as all of these great things go on I don’t have someone right there to share them with.

Joe and I have a ring picked out and its on layaway at the store. Joe still owes quite a bit of money on it because it was quite a bit out of his price range. Hopefully, we will figure out a way (a lot of this plan rides on him getting is 401 K check ASAP!) to pay it off before we move. Otherwise, I don’t know what we’ll/he’ll do. It’s a fantastic ring. Big and shiny. Joe went and asked my dad if it was okay if we got married. Dad is a man of few words but he approved. Joe did this when my mom wasn’t there. And quite honestly, its something between Joe and my dad and no one else. Now for Joe to get the ring and to actually ask me to marry him. We’ve been getting along royally since we picked out the ring. I think we both have been trying very hard to think of the other one’s feelings. I can’t wait to be engaged. Its going to be wonderful.

My mom and I went to Pennsylvania to look for a place to live. We looked at about six places. One of the places was a house built in 1737. It was the second house built in that town. It was neat but in the end was too far from Newville as well as there being no place to walk the dogs. We also looked at a house built in the 1850s. The woman that owned it had done a fantastic job decorating the house. It was beautiful and had beautiful gardens and outbuildings. I loved it but it wasn’t going to be ready when I needed it to be and was a little too expensive. Additionally, the dogs would have inadvertently torn up the gardens and it would have taken lots of time and money to furnish the house. Neither of which I have. Ultimately, I decided on a three bedroom duplex in Carlisle. It is on a quiet street with a large front and back yards. It has a carport and storage shed. There are three bedrooms on the upper floor. On the main floor, there is a dining room in addition to the kitchen and living room. There is also an enclosed porch which I am going to make into the dog room. The basement has a finished room and a place for a washer and dryer. All of these things mean that Joe and I have to purchase fairly quickly a microwave, washer, dryer and lawnmower. The house could use some more landscaping work and I have some great ideas for the dining room. That’s the only room that I have gotten to yet.  I’m excited to make this place our home.

That about wraps it up I guess. I have a job, I’ve graduated (even if PA is giving me the run around  about a  license, which is sort of a lie because its actually MU that’s the hold up), I have a place to live, I have a great boyfriend that’s soon to become a fiancé and everything is going great!

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on May 31, 2011]

MySpace-May 17, 2010-Crazy Neighbor!

I don’t care much about my neighbors. With the exception of my friends from vet school that live in my apartment complex and occasionally Miss Kitty’s dad, I don’t really talk much to the people that live near me. I do my thing; they do theirs.

Occasionally, my path may have to cross with that of my neighbor. An occasional note about parking or about a rat found in the parking lot. Sometimes, these crossings aren’t nearly as pleasant.

Next door to us, in A, there once lived two girls-Katie and Megan-as previously mentioned in Before He Food Cheats. One day, Megan just disappeared with little fuss. Whatever. Its not my place to ask. Joe may have known why. (He did. Just a personality conflict.) Then just as rapidly, this older woman-early 40sish shows up. Her name is Dodie.

Joe unfortunately was sucked into conversation with her more often than I was. I also tried to avoid her as much as possible. Joe one day finally got to the bottom of why she was here-she was Katie’s aunt-well sort of-she had raised Katie essentially. I had hypothesized that she was either Katie’s mother or sister prior to that so I sort of right.

Some other random people showed up and seemed to be gone after a weekend. Luckily.

Then some other shady things started happening such as Dodie always showing up to bum a lighter or a cigarette often at 10:30 in the morning while holding a tall boy of Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Classy.

One night, Dodie frantically knocked on the door. She had just woken up and couldn’t find her phone but was certain that the apartment had been broken into because some flowers in the front window had been moved. Katie wasn’t home. Joe went over there and eventually figured out that most likely, Dodie had blacked out and had woken up not knowing what was going on.  

We’d find empty bottles of vodka outside the back door.  Dodie continued her mooching ways and always appeared to be drunk. This is in addition to all of these horrible things happening-someone was always in the hospital, someone’s girlfriend of 10 years was leaving them, someone had broken something.

One day, Dodie comes out in the morning and needs to be taken to get Katie’s car because Katie was at the boyfriend’s  (who turns out to be sort of a jerk) and Dodie had an appointment.  Joe took her to get the car. That evening, Dodie comes by and asks if we can let the dog out because she has to stay with her dad at the hospital and Katie is at the boyfriend’s. Sure. We do that and in the morning, its clear that no one has come home so we go to check if the dog needs to be let out again but Katie is home. Katie now tells us the whole story. Dodie totaled the car the night before by crashing it into a tree while she was plastered. Dodie broke her ankle and collarbone and once out of the hospital will be charged with grand theft auto and a DWI. Also, Katie didn’t know Dodie her whole life. Katie had freaked out about school earlier in the year and had checked herself into a psychiatric hospital and meet Dodie there. Apparently, Dodie just showed up with a sob story one day and begged Katie to take her in. Katie did and now unfortunately has paid the price. Also Dodie was suspected of stealing and selling anything she could as well as raiding Katie’s medicine cabinet. Crazy bitch.

[EDIT-Originally published to Blogger on May 31, 2011]