Christmas Dinner

Real quick-we opened presents this morning. Joe got everything (and I mean everything) he'll need to brew some beer, some various cooking stuff and books. I got some books-nice vintage ones from Joe (even one I already had), some things I'll never use and try to return and a single candlestick that is exactly what I wanted.

We went out and worked the ponies before I came home and spent the afternoon cooking Christmas dinner:
-Baked ham with an orange juice, brown sugar, maple syrup glaze
-Califlower soup-though I blended mine because I firmly believe that creamy soups should not be chunky unless they are chowders
-Rolls from scratch-mine looked nothing like this. But they were good.
-Kale salad
-Macaroni and cheese
-Cheesecake brownies-out of a box-not to exciting
Seriously, good times. Lots of leftovers. Maybe too many.

My Admirer

The last post was so long that I thought I would enter this one as a separate post.

If you know me, it may not (or maybe it is) be a surprise that I love little kids (preschool through about elementary school). I love talking to them. I love teaching things. But only if they are receptive to it. I would make a good teacher.

Veterinary medicine provides me with some small kids that get dragged to the vet with parents for one reason or another. Sometimes I see the best and sometimes the worst. Sometimes there are kids screaming and messing things up and it makes my job difficult. Sometimes there are kids which are just funny. Sometimes there are ones that want to know what I'm doing and subsquently get adored by me.

One funny kid story-I was examining a small kitten and was having difficulty getting it to stop purring. My normal technique of making it smell alcohol on a cotton ball was not working. The little boy piped up with the fact that if you held the kitten upside down, it would stop purring. The mom and I looked at each other with somewhat shocked expressions but then I laughed. And laughed and laughed. (It was almost as good as the kid on the scooter pushing the stroller containing the guinea pig.)

There are two kids at the Newville clinic that are super intelligent and inquisitive. Their mother is a biochemist or something equally sciency.

But my new admirer is a girl named Eva. Eva is approximately 5, I guess. Eva's mother adopted a hard luck beagle named Biscuit. She has done everything for Biscuit and multiple visits to the vet have ensued. The first time I met Eva, Biscuit was getting his vaccines. Eva asked as soon as I entered the room if I would show her how the otoscope would work. I forgot how to but Eva did get to use my stethoscope. A few days later, Biscuit came back and saw TS. Eva was sure to pipe up that Dr. Pope let her use the stethoscope and that Dr. Pope this and Dr. Pope that. She even had a secret for TS to tell me. Cute! I saw Biscuit again on Friday for an eye ulcer. Eva came and asked about the equipment on the wall and I let her look at Biscuit's eye and use my stethoscope again. I asked about what she asked for from Santa-apparently a rocket ship so she could go to the moon. Seriously, this kid is cute. She would interrupt me (but not annoyingly) by tugging on my white coat sleeve and saying 'doctor, doctor...' Cute! My ovaries!

So Many Things!

I have probably about 100 things to share! Here's a brief list so I can reference it: new cat, Mary's situation, emergencies, Christmas, Pinterest failures...

Let's start with something nice. Joe and I have inherited a new cat. About two weeks ago, a very friendly orange male cat wondered into our lives. I brought him into the house. I call him Mr. Montique. I figure he was the cat that was lost when our neighbors moved. In a round about way, we figured out that he had been doctored and was healthy. At that, we released the cat into the household. Mr. Montique and Bess don't exactly get along. Bess is indignant that he uses her litter pan and eats her food. But overall they are doing well including now sleeping in the bed together-not close but the same bed none the less. Here's some pictures:

Mr. Montique did not enjoy the penguin hat in the same way that Roosevelt did.



So Thursday night, I came home and let the dogs out. Joe was already in bed (and as I learned later, already drunk which explained the burned skillet of chex cereal). Mary was yelping occasionally and I noticed she was rubbing her bad eye. Her eye looked horrible with blood vessels (neovascularization), corneal edema and goop coming out of it. Touching the area around it caused Mary to yelp in pain. She was hurting something terrible and I knew she needed help right then. So I woke up Joe and made him come with me to HP where I gave Mary some pain medication. I tested the pressure in the eye and it was 67 (normal is 15 to 20)! Mary had sudden onset glacoma! I called TH, wrote myself a rx for eye meds and went to the pharmacy. Joe was a train wreck. I knew that this problem with the eye was the nail in the coffin for the eye, but we were going to try to make it right. The medication cost $97! Friday, Mary wasn't any less painful and I added in tramadol and an e-collar because I was suspicious that she had scratched her eye. It was confirmed Friday afternoon when Joe had Letha check the pressures which hadn't gone down at all. I had also talked to an opthomologist at this point and he had made some suggestions which ultimately would be enucleation. I found the medication (another $50) that the doctor had recommended. Today, Mary was feeling better-carrying around baby, barking at the cat, laying down (we abandoned the e-collar because she hated it so much). We rechecked the pressures and they were actually much higher. We added in the other medication tonight. Wednesday, we'll make a decision regarding enucleation for Thursday or Tuesday. Poor dog.

Christmas is looking promising for tomorrow, even if I didn't wrap a bulk of the presents. When shopping on the internet especially for others that are across the country, the odds of having things wrapped dramatically decline. And some of the presents are particularly large. It snowed (flurries only) last weekend some. It was nice and helped get us into the spirit even if it hasn't gotten much below freezing (during the day at least). Our flowers on the porch from the summer may make it all winter!

Joe's birthday is today. I made him some brownies and we ate Chinese. I have typical Chinese food gut. Its horrible that I get that each time. I made a pie for the neighbors too but it wasn't well received. (Lil isn't the most sociable person; maybe Stan was already in bed.)

I haven't been sleeping as well as I would like. I've been having very vivid dreams a lot of the time that I am sleeping. Generally, the issue is that I fall asleep on the couch for several hours-sleeping very good when I do so and then can't sleep once in bed. I also am having premonitions about patients-or maybe its just experience coming out. Oh, and I can really remember patients well. We had some problems with a certain clinic and similar problems have been repeated recently. I quickly remembered the orginal dog. I remembered out the blue the name of a dog for which there was a bag of food sitting aside for. I randomly remembered a type of rare tumor for a patient that TS had. As for 'premonitions', I had an emergency call one night about a cat that Meg fielded-I predicted a saddle thrombus which is what it did have. I checked a dog for diabetes based off of the owner stating it was drinking a lot more water. (There are tons of things that can cause PU/PD. 21 I think.) It ended up having diabetes. When I couldn't sleep the other night, I thought about a dog that I hospitalized and hoped that it didn't die overnight. (It did.) I thought when I couldn't sleep that I had left the hotshot at farm but luckily I hadn't.

Regarding emergencies, I am 'on call' this weekend. I'm only fielding calls from clients and referring real emergencies to the ER clinic. BF is doing large animal calls. Last night, I was on call to see emergencies. Despite getting one call, I didn't see anything. My call didn't go well. The owner was rather frantic when they called. They couldn't remember the name of the clinic, were hard to understand and admitted that it might have been a while since they had been there. I was already angry when I was explaining about payment, costs, calling in a tech, etc and they insisted that the dog wouldn't need stitches because it just had puncture wounds. I kind of exploded all over them at this point yelling at them that they weren't a vet and I'd be the one to determine if the animal needed stitches. They then tell me that the dog is a biter. I'd need a tech. They decided to go to Mechanicsburg. Good.

So last Friday, we had a walk in emergency come in. It was a dog that had been shot in the flank. The dog was shocky and where the wound was, indicated that radiographs would have to be taken. We radiographed it and it appeared that there was fluid in the belly. Exploratory surgery was indicated. The bullet was lodged under the skin on the otherside. No telling the internal damage done. An estimate was given and the dog was started on fluids to help stabilize it for surgery. I finished appointments and the techs started prepping the dog. Meg noted that when the dog was breathing, air was puffing out of the wound. While a bad sign, I took it as an indicator of what I might find in the belly-a ruptured hollow organ-intestine, bladder, colon. I noted though before going to surgery as we added the second bag of fluids that the dog's pupils were fixed and constricted. Not really a good sign. So we get the dog to the table for surgery, she goes out with only a half dose of Telazol and Letha starts clipping. We go to turn the dog on her back and blood comes gushing out of the gunshot wound. I mean gushing. So we clipped faster, all my careful precautions of gowning up, double gloving, preemtive antibiotics went out the window. I opened the belly and was greeted with a bellyful of blood. It poured everywhere. We hooked up suction and pulled 800ml of blood that didn't clot off of her belly. I couldn't locate the bleeding. I couldn't get it to stop. The bullet hadn't caused much damage-tore through a ureter (I think), nicked a piece of small intestine, nicked several pieces of omentum and of course, had nicked a major vessel-which I couldn't find. I called the owners and gave the poor prognosis. We euthanized on the table. Letha was there to help me and she has tons of experience. Letha didn't think that anyone could have helped that dog. I think because the blood didn't clot that the dog had slipped into DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulopathy or death is coming). It wasn't good anyway. Sad case. Then I saw the cat with the saddle thrombus.

I'll eventually get a three day weekend...

Joe and I are making some progress with the wedding planning. We met with a photographer and hired her. She seems really nice and I am super excited about her photographing our wedding. You can check out her stuff at this link-Dreaming Tree Studios. Joe and I have also met with one caterer. They sent us an estimate and it was super high! So I'm hoping that nobody comes. I have another one that I sort of pushed off but now am going to investigate more. And in January, a florist. I need to make a list of things for Joe to be in charge of.

And to wrap things up...Pinterest failures. I have mentioned before that there were somethings-mainly baked goods-that I have tried from Pinterest that didn't turn out as good as they looked on the site. Now I have some crafting failures as well.

SO crafting failure number 1-It was advertised as a good method to cut glass. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I got one wine bottle to break but it wasn't where I wanted it to and it did so unevenly. I was trying to make this as a Christmas gift.

SO after crafting failure number 1 was crafting failure number 2- As a cheap alternative to foam craft wreath rings, it was said that you could use foam pipe insulation-$1 or so. This is what I ended up with after Joe spent an hour or so wrapping it in wine colored yarn: 

Its not exactly a circle is it? I tried to make it more circular but it never would. I eventually gave up and got a grapevine wreath. This is what I ended up with---it was sent to Joe's mom and stepdad as a Christmas present (attempt number 4-you can't mail wine across state lines apparently.)

I also made these-birdseed ornaments.  They weren't as easy as you might imagine. Only about half turned out decently. I mailed them to my grandma. No word on how they got there. I think I learned some things about making them-use large or easy shapes-heart, circle, maybe start. Plastic is better than metal. Try using some PAM on the ornaments to help easy them out.

Okay, that's all for now. I put in the rest of my blogs for the remainder of the year already so from here on out is only new entries! I'm hoping to figure out how to rearrange all of the entries so that they are in a different easier to read order-by year not day. Also an easier to publish order. Enjoy.

Bah-Humbugs

Ugh. I was going to write a long blog about euthanasia since it becomes such a big part of my work but now I'm thoughly pissed off.

I committed a serious laundry foul and played dearly for it. I didn't place the cap fully on the bleach and left it sitting too close to the edge of the washing machine. If you have a high efficiency machine, you know how violent those spin cycles on. Needless to say, the bleach fell off of the machine, opening upon impact and splashing everything in the vicinity. Namely my clothes. Namely my dress clothes. Namely the one remaining shirt I don't hate. So I had to clean up all that mess but first I had to clean the laundry basket meaning I had to also seek out another to use since Joe has the monopoly on them. I also had to fill up the mop bucket which means that I had to clean the cat mess in the bathroom (more on that later too.) Joe wasn't helpful. Joe actually got in my way and thus made me throughly pissed off. That and the fact that I'm just finishing my laundry at 10:14 and didn't do anything else productive today except maybe make dinner.

Other things that make me furious is that I've put everything into Christmas shopping with very little return from Joe. Joe finally decided on what he wanted to get his kid only for me to find out that it was $70! We still got it for a little less from Amazon. What makes me mad about the whole situation is that 1) originally, the kid asked for something Joe sought out with much difficulty about two years ago and he already had and subsuquently destroyed and 2) Joe told me that everything this kid gets gets destroyed on the floor of his room. Maybe we should have got him clothes. Also we found out after making plans that you can't legally ship wine across the US. Suck. So out went one present. Then we couldn't locate the other present...I'm bidding on ebay right now with several days left to go. So Joe needs to find something to get for his mom and stepdad. AND finally, I drove all over the state of Pennsylvania to get part of Joe's present only for him to come home and guess what it was. Granted, I begged him to look at what I had wrapped (it was two big boxes) and he had seen an open tab on my laptop too. But he ruins every Christmas present I get him. I'm such a good present giver.

So about cleaning up the cat mess...yesterday, Joe had me come outside where there was a dumb looking cat hanging out. He was super friendly so I fed him and brought him inside. I started looking for his owner half-heartedly today. I put up two ads online and called a nearby vet clinic. Tomorrow, I will try to put up signs. (But its so cold!) We started thinking about it and we think he might be the cat that the neighbors lost when they moved. My fingers are crossed that it is so I can still get a kitten. Of course, that might take talking to them and they might not want the cat. I just can't in good conscience throw him back outside.

Have I mentioned that BJR went out on sudden maternity leave? I think I did. Anyway, I now have Mondays off. Today, I spent too much time at work and didn't have much time at home. I really needed to do some things here.

Carlisle Young Professionals

So tonight, I made a big change for myself. As you may know, I'm not a very social person. After living in Pennsylvania for 18 months, Joe and I only know our neighbors (really just Stan and Lil) and people from our jobs. We've made very little attempt at getting to know anyone or getting involved in the community. How do a young couple half way across the country from home meet new people? Then I saw on FB that a vet school classmate had joined a Young Professionals group where she was living. I thought that Carlisle had one (it did) and so resolved to join it. Luckily, it was just getting started so in joining it, I was the newest member along with everyone else.
I was pretty worried about going. Pretty worried that a lowly veterinarian like myself would have nothing in common with other 'professionals'. Worried that I would be mocked for my not really a doctor status. Not so!
I walked in, signed in, added Holly Pike Animal Hospital to my name tag and went to find some refreshments. I found a pitcher of water and someone that greeted me promptly by reminding me of their cat, Milky, who I had treated for a suspected HBC of the head. (He did well. Well enough that this lady requests me as her vet.) From there, I talked in depth about being a vet and cats to someone from the chamber of commerce. Some announcements were made by the president of the group including one regarding some representative coming to the next meeting...I'm thinking who? and who cares? From there, I joined up with a small group that included a teacher, two civil engineers (or something similar) and two people that worked for Dickenson College. My job is certainly the most exciting. There was much discussion of animals I would and would not treat. (No to tigers.) And the story of Laura Goldman and the chimpanzee on pathology was brought out. As well as some discussion of semen.
I, seriously, had a good time which is hard for me to say because I'm not social but there I was talking it up. But a couple of things-1) I was way underdressed. I came straight from work and thus wore what I would call business casual. Navy pants which to my knowledge did not have urine, feces, blood or anal glands on them, a cute top and a cute sweater. Because of predicted snow, I wore my work shoes too. Men were in suits and ties, women were in heels, dress pants, skirts. Crazy dressed up. Of course, they don't roll around on the floor with a 75# pitbull that doesn't want a rabies vaccine given either. And 2) being a veterinarian is no way as impressive as being an ADA (assistant distric attorney) as the vice president is. I'm not sure what the president does but its something with a long title. I may have doctor in front of my name but its still not that impressive!

In other news, I had a crazy but not really day at work. I can't go into details. But in general, this week and from here on out will be crazy. BJR went to the hospital over the weekend for having contractions and is on strict bedrest for one week. Of course, this was revealed Monday when I was already covering Todd's small animal shift. The bloodwork that BJR ordered and I planned on pawning off onto her was back into my court. As was working on Tuesday afternoon meaning that I got nothing done. (On my days off, it doesn't really start to 11 or 12 depending on what I start watching on TV.) Today was normal. Tomorrow and Friday will be normal. Next week? Maybe I should ask where I am supposed to be on Monday...I might just have the day off so I can work on Tuesday instead. I have a feeling that BJR will go on maternity leave sooner rather than later. It will actually be better for everyone if she goes for good than back here and there.

I've been having crazy dreams about work. Actually, I haven't been sleeping too well either and when I am asleep, I tend to be having dreams that are pretty involved about work. Including this weekend, dreaming about referring a dog and then finding the referral page on Monday. (That last part actually happened!)

Joe and I had a powwow about the wedding planning yesterday and both got freaked out regarding money. Luckily, my deferment came through saving us nearly a thousand dollars a month. All going towards the wedding. I'm going to keep planning. Meetings with the photographer and potential caterers are set.

BAH HUMBUG!

I was really excited for Chirstmas. Up until about today. Or maybe it was sometime last night...when I realized how impossible a wedding will be.

Let's stick with Christmas first though. I was pretty excited for LE to start playing Christmas music at work. In fact, with the exception that my favorite song (Must Be Santa) not being played, I'm still really excited about listening to Christmast songs at work.

I was excited about the gift exchange and Christmas party even though I was going to be on call during the party. Then the party got cancelled. We're going to have it in January. Hopefully...

Maybe, I'm all bah humbuggy because of being on call on Christmas. I was afterall on call for Thanksgiving. Now ANOTHER holiday...Admittedly, I agreed to be on call on Christmas with BF. He called me one Tuesday while I was still in bed. (His favorite time to call me and ask about scheduling. Way to catch me off guard.) Its because I don't have any kids. Not next Christmas, but the Christmas after, I hope to have that rectified. Anyway, I'm only pseudo on call in that I will be available to answer questions and tell people that they should go to the emergency clinic. I can see things if I want. I might if they are one man jobs and not an inconvience on time. I need some money...

I just can't get into Christmas. I have a single good idea for Joe's Christmas present but now I'm not sure I even want to get him one only because I could save the $97 towards something for our wedding. We bought some Chirstmas presents today and because of stupid Pinterest, I'm convinced I can make all sorts of impossible things. I'm going to attempt some baby stuff and maybe play with fire later.

I finally got the Christmas decorations put up inside the house. Our strand of blue lights was busted and the Christmas clock is somewhat questionable. Add blue Christmas lights onto my list because I want them for wedding decorations too. I'm making Chex Mix now. I'm not sure why but I wanted some and god damn it, I'm going to have it!

I'm just not feeling generous like I normally am. Normally, I am super excited about buying presents and have all sorts of ideas. I just don't. Maybe its lady illness. Maybe its because now, I see that there are bigger things that I want for myself as greedy as that sounds. But I want a wedding and a house. If I had a house, where I could put a large tree up, I'd be more excited. Next Christmas? Hard to say.

On the front of the wedding, I'm still taking to photographers (though I have one pretty much picked out) and caterers (I need to meet with two of them). I hope to have them hired before Christmas. And flowers set up in January. I have an imaginary list of things for Joe to do. And I probably should find a preacher or something. Hmmm...The biggest ordeal is the money situation. I'm still waiting to hear about the forebearance of my student loan. I swear it will be temporary. A year at most.

The problems are many. No help from my parents. Little saved up. My credit card is almost maxed out and has carried a balence for 18 months which I HATE! Everything costs more than I would like to spend. But what can I do. (Get better at neogitation maybe.) I did a rough total and while I'm sort of okay with it because I do realize that this will be my dream wedding (aside from dream wedding A), I'm freaking out because behind that number is about a couple grand more that I didn't think about. Ugh. I should play the lottery. Or hope for a miracle.

Wedding Update!

I can't believe that I completely forgot the important wedding update! I bought a wedding dress Tuesday!

I went down to J and B Bridals in Chambersburg with the intention of buying a dress. I had told the salesgirl on the phone some of the dresses I liked-Maggie Sottero designs-Beatrice, Malina and Presca. Of course, they didn't have any of those. :( But here's a picture of me in the Beatrice. (I think.)  But they pulled some other dresses that were similar.

About six dresses had been pulled including one that I had been pinning (or at least one very similar) for like forever. I was pretty excited about it. But I was pretty excited about the first one I tried on too...even if the flowers on it looks cheesy when on the rack. There were multiple retryons between a couple of dresses. Ultimately, I decided on the dress that I  had always wanted. Now, I have to lose about 10 pounds to look perfect in it. (I think I can do it!) There is no way I can wear a girdle because it has a low and completely open back. And the dress was super expensive...you only have that first wedding once right?

In other wedding news, I've been e-mailing caterers and photographers to get estimates and ideas of costs. Its not going well. As in, its going to be a lot more expensive than orginally planned or thought. I hope to meet with a couple of people on Tuesday. Maybe the florist (which actually will be cheaper than thought!) too. Its hard to budget when you don't have a budget. My family is not helping at all any more. I suppose its a stand my mom is taking to be a bitch. I haven't come out and confronted her but I just can't. I've dropped the biggest hints possible.

I keep hoping that Joe will be a secret millionaire. He having lived frugally for years to gain my trust and true love will one day reveal to me his unimaginable wealth. With which I can pay for my dream wedding (instead of going into debt over it like I am currently doing) and buy a house.

Buying a house is something I really want to do but it seems impossible. How can you save when you are sometimes pushing to make ends meet? Yet, make to much money for USDA assistance? Its a bad position for the middle class. I blame the government for getting us into a mess that now penalizes those that work hard. They were too free with money and now in tightening up regulations, they have choked the middle class.

I just want a home. Like this one. I could make it very homey and cute. Most importantly, it would be OURS.

Emergency Exhaustion

Let's wrap up the Beverly Lewis books. So Jake is back in Pennsylvania. Eventually, its revealed to Lydian that she can't continue to see Jake because he is her nephew. She promises to keep this a secret but ends up telling Jake who goes to the doctor. Its all revealed to Jake's family and Jake is kicked out of the house. Jonas follows. Leah and Jonas' courtship is going well. Leah saves the life of Jonas' father after he passes out driving the buggy-he's drunk. This event reconciles the two families. Its also revealed that the good doctor is Leah's father! (I knew it!) Jonas and Leah marry. Sadie marries the Ohio widower, Eli. Lydian becomes Mennonite and dates Carl, the son of the people that took in Mary Ruth. Leah ends up having twins. All is well! The End!

So Wednesday was not a particularly busy day at work. In fact, we were ready to roll out when the phone rang just before closing. A non-client with a puppy that was bit the day before and now his face was swollen. So they got there just after 5:30 and it was clear that the puppy had an infection brewing-fever, swelling, swollen lymph nodes. We did an estimate which the guy threw a fit about because he just spent $1000 on the dog. He complained because we were charging tech emergency time but I told him he was getting a discount because I didn't charge him my $60 fee. But eventually his girlfriend got the better of him and we got him treated.

Wednesday after work Joe and I went to see the Muppet movie. I met him there. It was good. Joe got really nostalgic about it. When we got home, I made desserts for Thanksgiving. The next morning, I got up early to fetch the vet truck and proceded with my day. Thanksgiving dinner was going well. I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and then started watching Miracle on 34th Street. Just as we were getting ready to eat, the phone rang. It was an emergency. An Amish buggy horse with a laceration on a hind leg. Out Joe and I went. We got there and it was just before dusk. There was a wedding going on and a large amount of people standing around. I sedated the horse and gave it pain medication. I managed to clean, numb (mostly), clip and trim small skin tags off with minimal effort. Then the horse started kicking me. It didn't matter that I went back and gave it more sedative (including two different types trying to get some addititve effects), twitched it and lifted a front foot. The horse was still kicking at me! It was clear that suturing wasn't going to happen so I went to bandaging it. Of course, more the horse kicked, the more the wound bled. I had to get sutures into it. I managed to get sutures in this wound and then took off the bandage off the lower wound across the cannon bone. This one started spraying me with blood and I needed to put some sutures into it as well. I got a couple in. Then I put on the ugliest bandage ever. Amish buggy horses are always jerks. Joe and I left the clinic a mess scattering supplies and blood about. TH went out and rechecked the horse today. I don't know what exactly he did but I don't think it was a lot.
Joe and I got home and ate. Then I saw a cat with a swollen paw at HP.

Friday ended up being very slow as well...until we closed. Meg and I stayed late to see a cat that has licked her incision open. Didn't charge the emergency fee because we're nice and were ready to go by 6. Of course, I had a call about a dog that was hit with a golf ball and was limping. At first, they didn't want to be seen but then they did. Then no more than 100 feet from clinic, I got another call. My worse fears come true--a large animal call competing for my time. I called TH and BJR hoping that one of them could take the SA call because I couldn't pass on the large animal call-a colic. TH suggested I push off the small animal emergency so I called them back. I went to see the horse but unfortunately Greason sounds a lot like Greystone when you're stressed and trying to rush around! When I got there, the horse was no longer colicky and had good gut sounds. He had passed manure and was super alert. I topped off his banamine dose and offered a rectal and oil. The owner declined. This morning, TH went and saw the horse again. I don't think he did much more than I had done. In the middle of the colic, I got another call. A small animal euthansia. I knew it needed to be seen over the limping dog so following the colic, I went to HP for that. I called in April for help. April came with me down to Newville and we saw the limping dog that ended up having a broken foot. At 11 pm, I was ready to go home.

This morning, I had drop the truck off and do a couple of random things at the clinic. Then I met the dead dog people to give them the dog. Then down to Newville to have the ponies trimmed. The farrier never showed up. Joe and I ran errands to avoid our landlord. We bought new silverware and then went to ultrasound some sheep with TS. It didn't go well. Then finally, after a nap, Joe and I cleaned up the yard and put up the Christmas lights. We had Chinese for dinner and I have the typical Chinese food gut.

A Bit of This, A Bit of That

Okay, so some random things that won't be as fast as I think they should be...

Ever since Joe and I went to Missouri and left the cat at the vet clinic, she has become super needy. Bess has alternated between being somewhat independent minus shower and bed time to needing to be with me constantly. In fact now, she is sitting on my lap purring regretting that I won't let her back up in front of the computer. She still pushes me off of the pillow at night. When I'm downstairs and the dogs are up, Bess is usually found sitting on my chest. She shared some KFC with me today while the dogs were at the park with Joe. I hope it didn't wreck her stomach like it did mine.

The rest of the chimney disappeared sometime yesterday morning. There is still a big hole (the portal to hell) where it once was. Hopefully, no one falls into it.

Joe has gotten off the smoke free bandwagon. I'm incredibly disappointed in him. Before going back to Missouri, he hadn't smoked in like six months. There were a few slip ups and some bad days but he was doing so great. Then we go back to Missouri and the people that supposedly care for him (his closest friends, his mom) are smoking around him and letting him smoke. I made it clear then under no circumstances was he to smoke when we got back to Pennsylvania. Then yesterday, he declared he was buying cigarettes and was smoking again. Now I'm certain its not back to just one or two here and there but heading back to his full blown addiction. I'm so very disappointed in him. It hurts me to think that this really is a betrayal of my trust.

I actually sort of kind of got some wedding stuff done this weekend. I emailed two caterers and a photographer. I spoke to the florist last week and will set up an appointment the week after next. Tuesday, I look at wedding dresses and hope to finally purchase one. I should send out some additionally hotel type information to guests via Facebook because I worry that they won't find any hotels because of the car show...though that may be a great way to reduce the guest list! So one of the caterers called me back this afternoon and seriously, stressed me out even more. I hope I better get granted the deferment on my student loan so that I can actually afford the people that will feed us, photograph us, house the reception, play the music, and so on. Its looking bleak now. I did mention once that my mom and I were on the outs regarding the wedding. Despite having her be with me when I went wedding dress shopping the first time, we are still essentially on the outs regarding wedding talk. I get upset thinking too much about it. No matter how hard I drop hints regarding the cost of wedding things (i.e. photographers are $1000, caterers want $50/person...), she doesn't offer anything. Joe's mom and stepdad at least offered something. Not that we are going to take them up on it. Sometimes I think I shouldn't even bother to invite my parents. In March, when I ask if they have reserved their hotel room and they haven't, I'm going to tell them that they have to sleep in a tent then. I don't care. I'm not doing it for them.

Joe and I were going to go on a Yuengling Brewery tour on Saturday but the farrier is coming out to trim the ponies and I don't think there will be time. Sometime this spring or summer! Speaking of the ponies, today we walked them down the road and saw a male pheasant. My understanding is that pheasant are not native to Pennsylvania (not anywhere in the US but there are breeding populations since their original importation) but are released to the gamelands for hunting. Those that escape the hunt successfully have never gone on to establish breeding groups. Shame. They are pretty.

I moved on to the last of my Beverly Lewis books for the time being. Its getting interesting because in the last book Liddie started her running around time and started to be courted by Jonas Mast's youngest brother Jake. Jake turns out to be Sadie's long lost baby! Switched at birth by the well meaning doctor because Mrs. Mast's male twin baby had died and this was convenient fix to the 'dead' baby problem. Of course, the family gets wind of this and off to Ohio Jake gets shipped. Once there, Jake incidentally meets up with Jonas. The truth starts coming out and back to Pennsylvania goes Jonas to find his maidel, Leah. Such drama!

Did I mention that Joe is working a new shift? He goes in at 7am which means he gets up about 5am and gets off before dinner. He's made dinner and done the dishes nearly every night of the week. Its sort of nice.

Photos Relating To Posts Past

Joe's boutineer from the wedding. Yes, those are pipe cleaners; yes, that makes it a spider.

Aren't we a cute couple?

This was the hotel I stayed in for my vet meeting over the weekend. It had a bar and a resturant inside of it. My room looked down over the same area. It was a big and fancy hotel with room service! 

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh

P.S. So the chimmney came down today-apparently not all of it; just the part above the roof. And the carport and back room got reroofed. I wish I had known that because I would have taken the dogs to the clinic. They were pretty distraught.

Our Sketchy Landlord

Our landlord is not intentionally sketchy. He's more like lazy. Its not easy to deal with.

Since we've lived here, the back room where we keep the dogs has leaked. We told the landlord about it numerous times. We tried the series of buckets to catch it but ultimately stopped that nonsense. The room molds on occasion. When the hurricane came through, we got a tarp out of the deal when an electrical outlet was shorting out because of water leaking into it. The breaker is still thrown. We have not power outside. I plug my truck in through the dining room window. The back room leaks now around the tarp. It hasn't been fixed yet.

So the other day, our landlord called. Some people were coming by this weekend to...tear down the chimmney. The chimmney that innocently stands there doing nothing since there isn't a wood stove in the basement any more. Apparently, the chimmney is a place for bees to live. Nevermind, the leaking roof. Let's get rid of the imaginary bees first! And a couple of weekends after the chimmney, the roof would get fixed. Okay, good enough. Joe parked on the street all weekend as to not be in the way of the chimmney people. And they didn't show up. So they are coming tomorrow. Ruining my day off. I hope they don't need electricity. They aren't getting it without me calling Dennis and yelling at him. He doesn't listen  to me. And the basement windows need to be fixed because they are falling apart. I think I'm just going to caulk them. But seriously...the roof! And its supposed to rain either tomorrow or Wednesday.

In non-landlord news...I went to Pittsburgh over the weekend to get some CE so I could keep my Missouri license. It was a good time, I guess. The meetings were long however I managed to stay awake. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that now I'M the veterinarian! I went to some horse lectures, a goat one, drug intoxications, thyroid, iron metabolism, cat behavior. I missed Joe a lot but not the fight we got into when I got back. We had gone out to eat but he showed up drunk and overly sensitive.

Veterinary wise-last Thursday, I did my first enucleation on a cat. I was hoping his eye would be fine but it had ruptured again and I felt because of the chronic problem that this cat had and would have, that enucleation seemed like a good plan. It went really well.
I had a Missouri day a week or so back. A farmer was having beef feeders dying from pneumonia very rapidly. I went there and there were two dead and two dying. The two that were dying were in bad shape and honestly, I recommended euthansia because I didn't think that they would make it. We ran a large portion of the herd through and I treated everyone. I'm pretty sure the guy will have a heart attach when he gets my bill but oh well, he could have treated them too.
I got bit by a cat last Monday. She was an old cat in for vaccinations and was fairly painful because of arthritis. I was looking at her mouth and then she suddenly bit me! It was all four fangs and farily bad. I had to go to the doctor to get some antibiotics which are wrecking my stomach and GI system.
Friday, I was on LA in the morning as usual. TH told me to get going because he was going to come out with me to cut a DA. I was pretty excited about that even though I thought it might be because a farmer complained or something. He gets there before me and is running around looking at the cow when I get there. I get my stuff and he helps me get set up and then he rushes off! I asked if he was coming back and he said maybe. I did end up calling him  and he struggled to get the cow corrected too. Its frustrating. I think I might just go to the laying down route. At least then, I get to sit down!

Wedding planning hasn't progressed any further than previously.

The AVMA has confirmed publically what I always suspected-you want a veterinarian on your zombie apocalypse team! I suggest checking out the link.

So just before leaving for Missouri, there was a letter from the Department of Family and Child Services in Missouri addressed to Dr. Leslie Pope. I was puzzled. Why are they sending me anything? I opened it and I had forgot to sign the check. I was still puzzled to have it addressed to me. Even though I pay the child support, Joe's name is on the check too. Its also his account. Joe thought that maybe there was some state connection between agencies but I know that not to be true. Ultimately, I figured they just pulled it off of the return address on the envelope. Weird though.

Last Tuesday, the Jehovah's Witness people came by. I actually had a really enjoyable conversation with them regarding God. BUT I'm living in sin with Joe. They are coming back this week on Tuesday so I need to make the decision to either talk to them or not. I'm thinking because of the chimmney people that I'm just going to get up and get the oil changed in the car.

I'm getting a little tired of the stuff on TV. How many shows about pawn shops do you need? (Two.) How many shows about buying storage units? (Also, two.) How many about hog hunters? (Three.) Add American to anything and people will watch it I think also works. Middle aged lady cop is the drama theme though fairy tales with a dark twist may start to come to the forefront very rapidly. Everything is the same. And I watch it all!

Literature Time!

I don't read nearly as much as I should. I like reading. I always have. But I get busy and its so nice to just zone out in front of the TV. I have a Nook now and that's nice to carry around--the iphone app is even better.

Anyway, before we went to Missouri, I downloaded a couple of books to read in the airport. One of those books was by Beverly Lewis. She writes these books about the Amish community set in Lancaster County. Because I'm not a Pennsylvania native, I'm quite interested in the Amish and Mennonite communities. These books aren't that great but they are addictive. Beverly Lewis has several series of several books each. I just finished the third book of the Abram's Daughters series.

SPOILER! I'm going to summerize the books so far...

The books really run into each other so its hard to discern where one ended and the other one began. They always leave me with questions which is why after finishing this I'm going to download the fourth and probably the fifth to read while getting the oil changed in the car.

Anyway, these books are set in Lancaster County just after WWII. The date isn't important; these people are Amish afterall. It focuses on Abram, his wife Ida and their daughters-Sadie, Leah and twins Hannah and Mary Ruth. Aunt Lizzie (Ida's spinster sister) lives near by. As part of the Amish community, there are lots of interactions with family (the Masts in particular) and neighbors (the Peacheys in particular the son Gid).

So the first story starts with Sadie in the middle of her running around time. She meets up with the teenage son of the local doctor and falls in love with him. They are meeting in secret. Leah has always been her father's right hand man because he doesn't have a son-doing chores outside instead of being inside with her mother and sisters. Leah starts to suspect something going on with her sister. She also decides that she doesn't want to be outside nearly as much as before. Eventually, the relationship between Leah and her sister becomes strained because Sadie is hiding a terrible secret-she's pregnant. Ida, their mother, is pregnant at the same time too. Sadie confronts her former beau-he broke up with her because he was leaving for the army-and he refuses to do anything about Sadie despite her pleas.

Unfortunately, Sadie goes into labor prematurely and Leah takes her to Aunt Lizzie's. They call for the doctor and he delivers a stillborn baby-OR is it? The baby apparently takes a breath in the car after the doctor has already said he'd take care of the body. Aunt Lizzie and Leah agree to hid Sadie's sad secret. The rest of the family knows something but not what is going on with Sadie especially after Ida has her baby, Lidiann, and Sadie refuses to help with the care. Sadie is reluctant to become baptised into the Amish church (though she does eventually) and confess her sins (which she doesn't) despite her sister's pleading. Leah, meanwhile, starts to court her distant cousin, Jonas Mast. Her father isn't exactly pleased because he'd prefer if she courted Smithy Gid, the neighbor's son. Abram, in hopes that distance can drive a wedge between Leah and Jonas, arranges an apprenticeship in Ohio for Jonas. Jonas readily accepts invitation to go to Ohio for the apprenticeship in carpentry not knowing its origin.

Jonas pleas for Leah go come out to Ohio and she refuses him as she says she's needed at home. Eventually, Leah convinces her sister, Sadie to go in her place. Sadie is snuck out and off to Ohio. About this time, the truth about Sadie comes out from Leah to her parents who get the bishop involved.(One of Sadie's former friends threatened to tell the bishop so Leah felt she had no choice.) Jonas comes back to Pennsylvania to get baptized into Leah's church where they plan on living once they are married later in the fall. While in town, the truth comes out to Jonas (it already has to Leah) that Leah is not the daughter of Ida and Abram BUT the daughter of Aunt Lizzie who found herself pregnant during her running around time too! (Details on this fact hasn't come out yet.) Jonas goes back to Ohio. Sadie now knows (I can't remember how) that she is facing the shun because of not telling the bishop. Sadie is mad at her sister and tells Jonas something that she saw between Leah and Gid-interpeting it as romantic. Jonas writes to Leah regarding this. Leah writes back BUT Sadie keeps the letter. Receiving no response, the wedding is off between Jonas and Leah. There is some anger between the families-the Masts and Leah's and the Masts refuse to talk to them after this because Jonas gets shunned too. (For not coming back after his apprenticeship was over.)

The twins haven not been neglected during all of this. Mary Ruth has started working for an English family-they are Mennonites which confuse me on how they can be English but oh well. She also has desire to become a teacher. Mary Ruth and Hannah start to court a set of brothers. Hannah joins the church with her beau. Mary Ruth's unfortunately is killed in a tragic cart versus car accident with the doctor's oldest son. Mary Ruth finds comfort in the Mennonite church. She stands up to her father and goes to live with her Mennonite employer. Hannah's beau has become disillusioned with the Amish church after his brother's death and leaves her.

Leah starts to court Smithy Gid much to everyone's delight and agrees to marry him. Ida is pregnant again and dies during childbirth. She has a live son and before dying makes Leah promise to raise Lidiann and the boy, Abe. Leah promises and has to break off the engagement to Smithy Gid because Abram will not allow the couple to raise the two children as their own.

Leah has acted as mother to the two young children for years. Mary Ruth has become a teacher and Mennonite-eventually she starts to date the doctor's oldest son-the killer of her beau. Hannah marries Smithy Gid and has kids. Leah is content with her life as a mother and old maid. Nothing is heard from Jonas (though his family continues to shun Leah's) though it is assumed that he and Sadie are married. Eventually, the bishop recieves word that Sadie wants to come back and repent because she is now a widow. She is granted the chance and comes home. She was never married to Jonas and has lost contact with him. All of her children have been stillborn and now her husband too is dead. Leah was very angry after realizing what Sadie had done to her but at the end of book three, it seemed like everything was close to working out. We'll see what the '60s have in store. Does Jonas come home? Does Leah ever get married? Can she even get married? Did Sadie's son die all those years ago? (OR is he the son of someone else in the story?) Who is Leah's father? (The doctor?, a rapist?) Does anything bad happen to Smithy Gid or Hannah? What about Mary Ruth?

Wedding Planning!

Well, I really feel like wedding planning is coming together even if I'm fooling myself...

So far, we have set a date. I have found a place for the ceremony and put the deposit down on the reception hall. I called about hotels and was completely disappointed to find that I couldn't reserve any rooms for my guests. I made a reservation for a hotel room for my wedding night. I have sent out save the date announcements-okay, they are in the mailbox but not in the actually mail. I have figured out what the bridesmaids will wear-this dress in horizon from David's Bridal. I looked at some wedding dresses.

Here's a picture of me in one of the dresses that I liked!I sort of look unfortunate here. I think its the halter top which I would like to avoid. I think I read today or yesterday that they aren't for broad shouldered ladies. That's me. I plan to have a dress bought by Thanksgiving.

Today, I worked on my wedding book and requested some travel guides from Canada. Joe and I are thinking about honeymooning there.

So what else do I need to do? Everything. I need to start looking for a photographer (though I might use the one down the street.), a florist (maybe the one a block over) and a caterer...I googled caterers and didn't get very far as for as price information. I know its not important-the quality of the food is but the cost is sort of important when you don't have any money. 

When we were back in St.Joe, it seemed that many people (Joe's friends) were all about coming-while exciting, it sort of poses the problem with hotels and that intimate wedding we were looking for. AND that we didn't account for various children to come when planning. Hopefully, that won't happen too much. Otherwise, we'll have some serious talks to have as we can only have 150 people at the reception hall. This was a very strict number.

I have, however, found myself having some spectacular ideas regarding the ceremony. Pinterest of course has had a big role in this. SO this is what I'm thinking for the ceremony-other than I should start looking for someone to officiate...rental chairs with some sort of draping on the back row. A short stage with an archway (which can be rented from Hobby Lobby) and maybe some columns (also from Hobby Lobby) next to it with draping inbetween and flowers with birdhouses on the top of them. I'm thinking some paper lanterns, bird garland from the trees behind us. Maybe some big pots of flowers-daisies?-at the end of each row of chairs. I'm also going to have refreshments since it will be June and probably humid. Bottled water with little drink mixes is a possiblity as is a jug of lemonade with cups. I'm going to talk to a client about having her horses pull me to and us away from the ceremony. Of course, there has to be the chair up front for Jay.

Regardless of the fact that I have so much to do and really not a ton of time to do it in, I'm really excited. Yea! Wedding planning!

Oh! From the two weddings I've been to in just about a year, I've learned some things that I want to incorporate (or more accurately, not) into my wedding.

1) Don't release anything. At the wedding of one of our techs, she released monarch butterflies that she raised from catapillers that she captured and raised into butterflies. However, when she opened the cage she had them in on the wedding day...they had already escaped. Thus, releasing things only lead to disappointment.

2) If you're not a professional, you're not singing at my wedding.

3) Don't have your wedding on a holiday. Sometimes it works. Sometimes its romantic. Sometimes its just not cool.

4) WTF is this sand pouring unity ceremony? Seriously, the preacher pours sand, the bride pours, the groom pours and suddenly, you have a Rose Art piece of crap. Of course, you could go the Rose Art route instead of this route and save yourself $40.

5) Whoever we have officiate at our wedding better remember why he's there and not think he's a comedian. Not cool.

6) Joe has already been informed that if he smashes cake into my face, its an automatic trip to the courthouse for a divorce. That's why I picked The Vault for my reception-the courthouse is walking distance.

7) Clinking glasses, ringing a bell means that the bride and groom should kiss? No. It means that you'll be sorely disappointed. I'm sure that I'll be kissing Joe enough not to need to be encouraged.

Greetings From Missouri #2

So this one is actually about my trip to Missouri...

Wednesday, we had a flight out of Harrisburg at 6:30 or so to DC. Joe and I ended up both getting a full body scan then at the gate I got a pat down. The flight to DC was 19 minutes in the air; 30 minutes from gate to gate. Then we flew from DC to KC. This flight took forever! I was so cold on it too. We rented the car and headed to Joe Town. We went out to lunch with Jackie and Casey and that night met up with Andrew and Anna (whose wedding we were in town for) at their new house. Anna has two birds-exact kind as Amberle.

Thursday, I can't remember what we did. Oh, I think we ended up hanging out here in the hot tub which the infamous Jeremy Otto dubbed 'sex soup' and 'screw stew'.

Friday, Joe and I went out to dinner with his dad and Missy. Afterwards, I went out with Jackie and Casey to their wine tasting then we met Joe and some of his friends at a bar. Joe was not pleased that we were there. More and more that I stayed-until last call and then had to drive Joe home-the more and more angry that I got.

Saturday, I went to Columbia to meet with Martha, Tiffany, Amberle and my mom. We ate at FlatBranch then went wedding dress shopping. I found some dresses that I really liked and we chose bridesmaids dresses. I was somewhat stressed about the whole thing. After shopping and talking with Amberle and Tiffany for way to long, I went to KC for Kyle's party. I had to meet up with Joe. When I got there, Joe was already trashed and thus I was instantly ready to go. Eventually, I dragged Joe out of there. We had to stop three times before leaving KC so he could throw up. Serves him right. I was pretty furious especially since he had not only smoked (which he promised me he wouldn't) but had actually bought a pack of cigarettes.

Sunday, everyone came over to the house for lunch. Joe and I would go to the rehearsal dinner and then he'd go hang out with some other friends.

Monday was the wedding-it was nicely done for being on Halloween. Very tasteful. The reception broke up around 9pm-probably a consequence of not having alcohol. It had a very distinct high school dance vibe. Joe went out with some friends later and I had a bad case of Chinese food gut. Joe came home way to late...and I had to pick up the car this morning. This morning, we're going to get stuff together and then head on our way back to Pennsylvania via KC. It was a long trip.

Greetings From Missouri

Joe and I are in Missouri for the wedding of one of his friends. Its Monday. Today is Friday. We got here Wednesday. I'm not sure why we got here so early but in doing so (well, in coming at all) we avoided the 5-8" of snow that is predicted for Carlisle tomorrow. Anyway, I'll blog about our Missouri trip and the wedding at a later date. This particular blog is to talk about some random things that have been going on.

So some random things...

Apparently, the brakes on the vet truck have been going south for a while unknown to the doctors that have been driving it. It got taken into the shop after BJR got it stuck in a bank drive thru-denting the side and wrecking the mirror. On the way back, one of the techs commented that the brakes were horrible. They were. So I was told not to drive it if I got any calls. Luckily, the fact that the brakes were completely shot was discovered when BF was out so the free use of his truck came in handy.

I was on call a few weekends back and it was fairly slow. I had a several phone calls on Friday and Saturday looking for prescriptions to be called in or for advice but no calls.  Sunday started off the same and resulted in me going in for a sick dog. The dog came in and couldn't get out of the car so we slung her inside. I shortly realized that her temperature was about 109 where as normal shouldn't be more than 102.5. This was distressing since it was October and rather cool. We hoisted her into the back sink where the owner hosed her down, I called a tech in and started an IV. We probably hosed her down for about 1/2 hr before realizing that her temperature wasn't changing in the slightest. I gave a rather poor prognosis and suspected sepsis and the owners elected euthanasia. Unfortunately, my tech just came in so she didn't get paid. BUT since we were at the hospital anyway, I called back another client to see if they wanted their dog seen (they had been debating about it previously) and they did. So we saw two more dogs, the tech got paid and all was well.

I recruited Joe for an emergency one Friday night. One of my favorite farmers called me and said he had a uterine torsion and needed some help. I know that uterine torsions can be a man power issue so I made Joe go with me. I've not done one on my own but knew the basics (especially after consulting some theiro notes!). A little background on what a uterine torsion is-at calving or at least late in pregnancy for some unknown reason a cow's uterus gets twisted at the cervix preventing the calf from getting out. It can twist once or twice even. No one knows why it happens. There are about three methods of correcting it depending on what you've got going on. Anyway, we got to the farm and the farmer informed me that he called his father in law for some help too so man power wouldn't be an issue. I chased the cow around, got a halter on her, tied her up and yep, sure enough a uterine torsion but only one twist which is good. I could actually put my arm through the twist and touch the calf. We laid the cow down which involves special placement of a long rope and some pulling. Some pushing too as this cow wasn't set on laying down. Then the action begins. You put a long plank in the flank of the cow and then someone stands on the plank pushing it down into the cow's flank. Meanwhile, the cow is rolled over. However, the plank was way too long and the saw died in the middle of cutting it. We did get it cut, I stood on the board and the men rolled the cow around me. Then she wouldn't get up. Then with the help of a cattle prod she did get up and ran around all crazy. Then the cow settled down and Joe and the farmer delivered the calf with my direction. It was a live heifer calf. Happiness all around! I treated the cow and we went home. About an hour from start to finish which is very fast for me!

They had been doing some repair on the road going to the ponies so I went a different way one day. I noticed a nice house with a for rent sign in the yard. What really intrigued me was the fact that there was a barn and pasture behind the house too! So I called and asked and the guy said he'd think about renting the barn and pasture too. I however just learned that they aren't going to do that which makes me very sad. It would have been super nice to have the ponies in my backyard.

And now for some links--last week on Monday, I was called in early down at Newville to euthanize a cat that was suspected of having rabies. The woman was a client and she was going to take it to have testing done at the state lab. I was a little miffed about having to go in early since I was told and not asked. I also ended up seeing another cat that I euthanized for injuries too. Anyway, I walked to the back and the tech told me that she had already sedated the cat. I looked at it and the cat was hypersalivating and I concluded that yep, probably had rabies. It tested positive. Unfortunately, this cat was found very close to some local schools. The schools didn't seem too concerned so we sent out a press release and that's how we ended up on the news.

In a tragic story, the son of one of our farmers was killed in a combine accident. He was harvesting the field of his brother in law. Its very tragic. Farming can be such a dangerous profession yet so few think about it as so. Farmers are really heroes too. They provide food for us to eat and sometimes their lives can be taken tragically early in doing so. Thank a farmer today.

Four Dogs Is Too Many

OR
Neighbor Drama
OR
Why Joe and I Are Suckers

So last Sunday at 10pm, there was a knock on the door which of course set the dogs into a frenzy. At 10pm on Sunday, there can really only be one reason for a knock at the door. The neighbors need something. The dog got skunked, the cat ran off, Dennis (the landlord) is being a bully...the list goes on for absolutely ridiculous reasons. Reasons that should never involve us. But some how always do. And of course, our neighbors don't realize the concept of real human being time. Just because my light is on at ten, doesn't mean that I am ready to discuss your various problems with you. Try me at 10am. Or noon. Or 5pm. Those are reasonable times.

Anyway, maybe I should give you some background on our neighbors. Our neighbors are a couple of losers, white trash. They are in their mid to late thirties and unmarried. In most states, they'd be common law man and wife by now but Pennsylvania doesn't recognize common law marriages. They have a kid that's about a year and half old. He's cute. They have a dog and a handful of cats. They always manage to find drama and sometimes this drama is very entertaining. This summer, Alex had three major heart attacks and subsquently hasn't been able to go to work. Or mow the yard but that's a different story.

So now we can go back to last Sunday at 10pm. I answer the door amid the crazy barking of the dogs and its Alex. He proceeds to tell me that they got behind on the rent and are being evicted. They have to be out by the next morning. We bash our landlord and the ultimately he asks if they can store their stuff underneath our carport until they can get a rental truck (Monday or Tuesday). I agreed and moved the car.

Fast forward about an hour and half. I have showered and got into bed. Joe has woken up and is playing video games. This time the doorbell rings. The dogs freak out but they are in the crates at least. This time its Patty. I'm sure she's crying. I'm sure she's hysterical. Joe runs out and gives them $45. He may have promised to help them move until going to work in morning.

Monday morning, I get up and am pulling out of the driveway, Patty frantically waves me down. The constable (I had to think really hard about what a constable was.) is coming at 9am. Things aren't packed. The baby has only just gone to bed. Alex has only had one short nap. She's been up all night. Patty is crying hysterically because she's not going to get everything done. She has no place to go. I give her our spare key (bad idea) so that after they get kicked out she can sit there with the baby. I promise to send Joe over in a little while.

Joe eventually heads over there to help them finish packing. One of the other neighbors apparently is there helping too. At nine, as promised, the constable and our landlord shows up. Joe talks to them calmly and rationally because he doesn't have anything to lose. They agree to give them till 1pm to finish. Joe goes into work late. When I get home from work, there is an entire mound of stuff in our carport. There is no place for me to park. Sigh.

Tuesday morning, I hear nothing from the neighbors. I stay away as long as I can but eventually go back home around 2:30. An hour or so later, I'm upstairs in my office preparing to work on dog costumes when there is a knock. Patty is there with the dog (who we have agreed to watch even though she doesn't like our dogs). The truck is coming. They are moving everything into a storage unit. The neighbor has the kid. The truck eventually shows up and Alex and I go at loading it. We're booking it. Patty meanwhile is talking nonstop and digging through packed up baby clothes so that she can give some of the newborn stuff to the other neighbor who just had a baby. The truck is mostly loaded now. Its around 5:30. Alex and Patty need to get to the storage unit that closes at 7. There is still a crap ton of stuff under my carport. Oh, and the neighbor that has the kid has to take her kid to football practice. So we stuff the dog into my house and then I go watch the kid for about 20 minutes. Luckily, the kid is asleep the whole time. Just about dark, they show up again with the truck. Its actually after seven at this time. So in the dark, we load the rest of the truck. Joe shows up just before finishing. That wasn't the end of it. We still end up have to chat with the neighbors to be polite. They eventually take the dog and leave.

I don't think we heard from them on Wednesday. There was still a crap ton of stuff-cat stuff that they were going to donate when they took the cats to the pound-at our house.

Thursday, they eventually get a hold of us. The dog gets dumped at our house. The shelter couldn't take the cats (I told them they wouldn't.). (Did I mention that one of the cats is missing the whole time? I think I saw it the other day.) Later in the day, I get a frantic phone call and eventually return it. They found a place here in Carlisle but the cats have no place to go. Can we take them? I defer to Joe who says no. We have the dog through Sunday as directed by Joe. A friend of theirs pick her up. The house fell through. Hopefully, that's the end of the drama.

Wedding Plan E

I have fantastic news! We actually have some wedding plans!

When Joe and I were engaged a year and half ago, I had some grand plans for my wedding. We'll refer to my dream wedding as Wedding Plan A. Wedding Plan A was a beautiful non denominatinal ceremony in Ellis Library on MU campus in the evening in the spring. After the ceremony, there would be mule wagon rides and pictures on the columns. Columbia was the perfect place-equal distance from both Joe and I's homes as well as the place where we had spent the past several years together. So eventually, I contacted Ellis and we started getting to work regarding planning the dream wedding. The usage of a reading room in Ellis Library was going to be expensive but when it comes to Wedding Plan A, the dream wedding. It was fine. I wanted it and so Joe wanted it to. Then we hit a huge snag. Because I was considered 'an outside party', I could not rent Ellis Library for my event. 'An outside party' despite having spent nine years as a student and over $150,000 in student loans and being a member of the alumni association (I'm not any more!). Other places on MU campus were suggested but it wasn't being on MU campus that I wanted, it was the library where I had spent so many nights studying.

I was very, very lazy now that I was discouraged. Wedding Plan B became a great wedding in DeSoto in the church I grew up in. Even though, I would go on to Wedding Plans C and D, Wedding Plan B always was the go to plan.

Wedding Plan C was my daytime drunk plan. I made it up while drinking margaritas at the Mexican resturant with Joe. It was a park or the backyard here in Carlisle. I can't remember exact details other than that and that it was going to happen very rapidly.

Wedding Plan D was suggested by one of my friends from vet school. Wedding Plan D was  going out to Las Vegas to the Western States Veterinary Conference and getting some CE as well as getting married. It started sounding better and better.

In there there were several other plans spoken of in the middle of the night...courthouse plans with our elderly neighbors as witnesses, eloping. They sounded good but were never more than sporatic ideas.

So now Wedding Plan E!! Wedding Plan E is not my plan. Its not my family's plan. Its our (Joe and I) plan. We have decided to get married here in Pennsylvania as this is our home now. We set a date-June 2, 2012. With a location-the Laughlin Mill in Newville.



I had to petition the Borough of Newville to use the property. I didn't really want an outside wedding because I'm not really good at dealing with change-such as if it rained but I think the mill really symbolizes our new life in Pennsylvania. And its sort of pretty.

We also have a reception hall-The Carlisle Vault. Its an old bank. Its not huge and doesn't have any parking but is really nice. I still have to sign a contract on it and leave a deposit but I'm super excited.

Joe and I put together a guest list which was bigger than expected though will change with time I'm sure. And not everyone will really want to come to Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately, 6-2-12 is a car show weekend leaving hotel rooms at a premium. So I need to start making some phone calls. That was supposed to happen to day but I doubt it will. I think I probably will not do anything after finishing up this blog. We are sending out the save the date cards by the end of the month. I chose to use vintage Pennsylvania postcards. I'm going to order a stamp with the date and hotel info so that people can reserve rooms now.

So that's the new wedding plan. The new wedding plan that has caused the whole world to get upset. My mom and I are currently at odds. Maybe not exactly about having the wedding in Pennsylvania but still at odds. When I told my mom the possible dates, she first said 'oh, that's when so and so's wedding is'. How does that affect me? My mom has not been excited for any wedding idea including Wedding Plan B. If she is excited, she doesn't show it to me. Saturday, I called her and decided that I didn't want her to come and visit me as she was supposed to this weekend. I was getting too stressed out regarding her visit which I some how knew wouldn't go as well as everyone would think. I saw how it would go-one bridal store where she wouldn't be able to tactfully tell me that a dress looked bad (or even good) and then lunch at McDonalds when I ask if she wants to get something to eat. (Plus now we're on this diet which is not going over well with me much less going over well with her!) Of course, I was pretty blunt about not wanting her to come and it upset her. My dad called me the next day. I wasn't backing down. In fact, I felt pretty good about standing up to my mom. She called this morning and at first, I was close to relenting but its not going to happen. She can't be excited for me. It is all about me. Jackie is excited so she gets to do all of the things that my mom will now miss out on. Maybe if at the end of the month, if I meet up with my bridesmaids in Columbia for some wedding dress shopping, maybe she can come then...but I doubt it.

A Thousand Things to Share!

OMG!
This blog is a long time coming. I have a third that is a long time coming and that is only a partial part of my list of craziness. I am glad however that my laptop is being agreeable and letting me blog away. Then I'm going to bed for a very long time with the cat.

Okay, let me find my list...

Cranberry Sierra Mist is out in the stores. This makes me happy as it can only mean that eggnog is just around the corner. However, eggnog does not fit into our diet...neither does Cranberry Sierra Mist but whatever. In this case, longing makes the heart grow fonder...I learned my lesson several years ago by stockpiling this seasonal soda. Somewhere into April, I was very, very tired of it!

Prior to fall really settling in, Joe and I were attending the drive in quite a bit. Two weeks in a row I think. We went to the one near Dillsburg and saw Cars 2 and Super 8 both of which were really good. The next week we went down to the drive in in Newville and saw Contagion and Cowboys and Aliens...both of which were really bad. Contagion did give me a cool quote though-'Blogging is not writing. It's graffiti with punctuation.'

One Wednesday, I was sitting around work when MB came back with a box. She was freaking out and so we all wanted to know what was in the box. Inside was a poor little poodly dog thing. This poor dog had been caught and brought in by a well meaning citizen after seeing him running around the neighborhood for a couple of weeks. The dog was surrendered over to the clinic and we prepared to sedate the dog so we could get a good evaluation of him. The dog was covered in mats from head to toe. His eyes were matted open. His feet were matted into slippers of mud and fecal material. His  toenails were corkscrewed around because they were so long. He was skin and bones with very thin fragile skin and covered in fleas. As we started to clip, I warned the techs that it was possible for his limbs or tail to fall off from dry gangrene as the mats could have blocked circulation to them. I looked in his mouth at this point and we realized that this poor dog (briefly referred to as Stinky) had hardly any jaw bone left-his teeth were falling out of his mouth they were so rotten. The decision was made to euthanize the dog. It was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. How could a dog have suffered so much at the hands of a human?

Mary has been quite busy with her social calendar lately. Of course, she was at Woofstock and took part in the costume contest. (See an earlier post for pictures!). But she also visited the community pool prior to them closing it for the winter.

While fall has come very quickly, I don't think I can remember many days with sun since the hurricane came through...was that in September or August? Its been constantly gray and rainy with only peeks of sunshine. Its quite cold now but I enjoy being in my jeans and hoodie again.

Speaking of the rain, on one Tuesday, I talked about scrubbing the mold off of the walls in the dog room. The room has leaked since we moved in. For a while, there was a system of dirty pots and bowls collecting rain water under the worst drips. This was rapidly abandoned for often, the leak would start overnight OR the dogs would move the dishes in an effort to lick off the old food. Because of the constant source of dampness, mold was not an uncommon occurance. We had some really humid weather too and thus the walls really started to take on a fuzzy appearence. As the hurricaine came through, one day (a Tuesday, I think), I heard a pop. I didn't think much of it. The dogs are into things all the time. I heard the pop again when I went to bed and at that time, wondered if it could be related to the electric outlet which is right under the major leak. It must not have bothered me too bad because I fell right to sleep. The next morning HOWEVER, I was in the kitchen making my lunch for work when I happened to be looking in the dog room when there was another pop. It was the electric outlet! Water was getting into it and causing sparks to fly out across the room! Luckily, across the room meant onto wet carpet. I frantically woke up Joe who threw some breakers and went back to bed. I moved the dogs into the dining room and called the landlord. He put a tarp on the roof but hasn't done anything else since. AND the roof still leaks! Later in the day, Joe and I both realized independently that we probably didn't actually have the right breaker thrown. So Joe messed around with it some after I went in hid after a breif breakdown because I didn't want to see hime get electrocuted. (I'm sort of a weiny when it comes to fire and electricity.) Joe did get shocked and now we don't have any plug ins in that room or outside. It makes it difficult to plug the vet truck in...

Okay, let's talk about some of the other things that have been going on at work...

Thursday, I had a high school student watch me do surgery. I wasn't as nervous as you might expect. Of course, it was for a dog spay which was nerve racking already. That night I had an emergency right at 7pm. It was a pony that was choking. These are trottingbred racing ponies owned by this sweet little old man. However, the pony that was choking in particular was not sweet. She tried to kick me several times before I could get a good examination on her. She was coughing very violently with her head all turned sideways. I wasn't sure what was going on but with a lot of consultations from Martha, it was decided that I should tube her anyway. A twitch helped me sedate her. After sedation, I tried to pass a tube but she wouldn't swallow. I tried probably a dozen times. So I gave her some banamine and left them with some antibiotics. I think based on what the little old man's wife said that she was choked but had managed to resolve it on her own.

Friday, I was called out for a calving at our biggest dairy. I was panicked from the get go BUT as I drove down to get the truck, relaxed some as I realized several things-it was a heifer, most of the work was done and that I was taller than the farmer. While I did struggle to make the correction, I eventually did get the last front leg up and we pulled the calf out! Yea!

I guess the weekend before last I was on call. I didn't have any emergencies that weekend but boy was I busy Saturday morning with large animal calls. I have found that if I am busy on Saturday, I often don't have emergencies. Anyway, I left straight from my house to my first call at the big dairy again-one off cow and two to clean, then to another dairy for one off cow and one to clean, then to a sick goat, then to a horse with a cut on its leg who was a real jerk and then finally after a quick pee break at the clinic at noon to a sick  cow that either has rabies or listeria. Its hard to tell. I called last week some time and there was no change.

And finally, Joe and I started a diet yesterday. Its a slow carb diet. It has five rules which I may or may  not remember-1) nothing that can be white-grains, potatoes, 2) don't drink your calories, 3) no fruit, 4) no dairy and 5) I don't remember. Essentially you're eating a lot of protein (I was supposed to eat 30 grams of it for breakfast. I had like 15 with my bacon and spinach.) and beans. I'm not a fan so far and find myself to be very hungry already. I haven't told Joe but I ate a huge piece of apple cake today. Maybe I'm just not eating enough. We're trying it for a month. You get one cheat day a week where you can eat as much of whatever you want. I'm already making a list.