In The Cold

Its been raining since Friday. That's when the cold front pushed through. I felt it in the afternoon. I wasn't feeling particularly hot and went home early from work but stopped back in to recheck a dog belonging to one of my crazy clients. Then I figured I should go see the ponies because of the impending hurricane. It was sunny then and by the afternoon it wasn't any more. It rained all weekend. And then the hurricane caught up with us Monday into Tuesday. Its still raining. Its going to continue to rain till Friday. Of course, Saturday, the first decent day, I'm going to be in Pittsburgh for a PVMA CE conference.
But anyway, Monday we realized that it was cold in the house. So I turned on the furnace and it didn't seem to get any warmer. So that night Joe messed around with it and it still wouldn't work. Then I let our landlords know. Tuesday, Joe managed to get the heater working but it seemed shortlived. Tuesday afternoon I stopped in after seeing a goat and found the repair man standing on the doorstep. He looked at the heater but it needed like a $600 repair. So now, the landlords are telling us that they are considering pulling the house off the market, putting it with a different realtor, weighing fixing vs repairing the furnace, wanting us to stay another year, wanting us to buy the house. Ugh. Its complicated and I'm not sure what to do. 1) I want them to sell this house because they are nice people. 2) I love this house but because its on any acreage, its not feasible for us to buy this house. Or really any for that matter. 3) I hate moving and finding a place that will allow our multiple animals will be very difficult. 4) I don't know what is going to happen in the spring. I think ultimately, we're going to continue to live in this house and have to buckle down and save money.
I don't have a chair any more. Joe's chair is very uncomfortable.
This lobster is cool.
Hurricane Sandy in her small category hurricane status still managed to create large amount of panic. Flooding, snow storms, fires, power outages, you name it it happened. A whole neighborhood in New York burned down. Its hard enough to see your house burn down but to see each house down the street burn in the pouring rain one after another...its heartbreaking. And there was absolutely nothing left afterwards.
Halloween-trick or treating was Saturday in the rain. We had three trick or treaters in two hours. It was sad. I left my light on tonight just in case. I have a bunch of candy that I am still eating. I'm taking it to work this week.
So the other day, I was hungry. I found some noodles in the cabinet. They are fantastic-Nongshim Spicy Kimchee. They are really spicy. I eat them with saltines-just because they curb the spiciness. You can't beat them for less than $1.25.

It's egg nog time! Or golden custard nog...

I mean seriously, these cats are fucking ridiculous.

Rapidly pissing off the office cats!

TMI

So normally I don't go to in depth with personal things. That's not really what this blog is about. I like to share various cute and interesting pictures of my animals, work related stuff, stuff that happens. Rarely do I ever get personal. And if I do, its generally not in depth. I might tell you I'm sick but not really go into details. Maybe I was up all night but not with what.
Anyway, I'm going to share some personal stuff right now. Mostly because I feel like I need to write it out to feel better about it. Not that its going to fix the problem but somehow voicing it might be better.
Its going to be TMI.
Its going to be about my sex life.
Well, not in detail.
Its still probably going to be TMI.
Especially when I get to the part about how babies are made (or not made). But luckily for you dear readers (all like three of you), it won't be in great detail.
But probably some.

Anyway, here we go.


I want to have kids.
Joe wants to have kids.
No one expects us to have kids right away. At least I don't think they do.
But the fact of the matter is, we've been together for seven years and I'm turning 30 in February.
I need to have kids.
We've been married since June putting us at just shy of starting our 6th month of marriage. I stopped taking birth control in August. I'm not pregnant. (At least I don't think I am...I'll get to that in a moment.)
Again, its not one of those things that just happens. Well, sometimes getting pregnant is but stopping  birth control in August and not being pregnant now doesn't mean something is wrong with me. It just means it didn't happen yet. I don't think I should be concerned. I'm not concerned. And I told myself I'm not going to go crazy taking my temperature and calculating out days till my next most fertile day until at least the spring. And even in the spring, I should give myself some time just to let it happen. Get drunk, go on vacation, come back with a bad sunburn and a bun in the oven. That would be fantastic.
Okay, but here's the deal. I have two deals actually.
1) I don't have a period in the winter. Now indirectly, I can surmise but can't guarantee that I'm not ovulating in the winter. I don't know how it works. I'm a DVM not an MD. All I know is that from August or September till February when I'm not on birth control I don't have a period. Its pretty cool. Unless you're trying to get pregnant, then you're just taking pregnancy tests every month and waiting till the next month.
AND 2) You  have to have sex to get pregnant. Or at least some really inappropriate behavior involving at least partial nudity and body parts in close approximation. I can count on one hand the number of times I have had sex since I stopped birth control. Yea. Its not cool. Joe claims he has a really low libido. I don't know what to do. Well, I know what to do its just actually getting a result that is frustrating. While I can't give you an exact figure, I figure a large percentage of men (I'm going to ballpark it at somewhere between 75-95% of men.) would jump at the chance and be naked before the end of the following sentence: "So I was thinking that we could [about now is when the men have left the room and are naked in bed] have sex tonight.' Not Joe. He kind of groans or begrudgingly says okay. Or makes up some excuse Or I make up an excuse. Which while not cool is acceptable because I'm the woman in this situation. Anyway, bottomline, its frustrating. And infuriating. There's very little that makes me more angry with Joe than the lack of sex. Before marriage, I threatened him that this was the one thing that would cause me to cheat on him.

Oh and then there's HP and SY at work talking about getting pregnant all the time. While it doesn't make me upset like it does TG (because I'm still working on the assumption that I can have babies) it is really annoying. Of all of us, I'm the one that is in a place to have a baby! Granted, HP is young and married but she just had a baby last year. Its my turn. I had 2013 already reserved!

So where we are:
1) I'm not pregnant and probably won't be till spring (making Halloween costume contest rigging with babies difficult).
2) Joe doesn't have sex with me in any consistent pattern. (Perhaps calling a need for core body temperature taking and predicting ovulation more imperative so I can get the biggest bang (hehe!) for my buck so to speak.
3) I really want to have kids.
4) An excuse to eat badly is an additional benefit.

[EDIT: I wasn't going to post this big I getting so upset that I need to actually post it. The pattern continues.]

Costume Contest Tips

As you may already know, I love to dress up my animals in costumes. Every year, I come up with some intricate costume and try to exicute it on my four legged friends.
This year, Mary and Sadie both got dressed up. Sadie was a cupcake and Mary was a chef.

I was a little skeptical on how well recieved these costumes would be. Honestly, I wasn't certain that they were cute enough. Apparently, I was right. We didn't even place. This was the first year that such a thing has happened. Every other year, we've done really, really well. Placing at least. Apparently, some of my rules as stated below really do apply.

Because of my history of costume contest entries, I have written some tips to help you out.

• Call ahead and double check times. I normally go to PetCo or PetSmart so individual stores may vary from what is posted on the national website. I will often visit the store and then call again a few days before. I'm sort of paranoid about this.
• Be prepared. This falls under the double checking times. But also be prepared in that you arrive early enough so that you actually make the judging and also early enough that you can get the animals dressed. Also make your costume far enough in advance that you aren't rushing around that morning. Normally, that is my failing. Its not costume contest time if I'm not finishing it the morning of. Or in the car. Both have happened.
• Use your dog's assets. Not having tails is actually a huge benefit for the corgis. It makes costumes much easiler to fit because I don't have to figure out the tail hole. This also refers to the cliched weiner dog dressed as a hot dog. While not original, the dog's natural length is used as an asset. Riley's corn costume was another good use of her natural length.
• Cute wins. End of story. A pom in a princess costume riding in a remote control car operated by two gay men will beat you every time. So will kids. This also means that things like princesses, fairies, etc will do much better than Freddie Kruger.
• Make sure you have enough people to handle your pets. One pet per person is a minimum.
• Bring survival supplies. In the past, I've brought thread, needles, fabric scraps. Not needed. Large safety pins and maybe masking tape (works really well for securing hats to heads) is all you really need.
• Be a good sport. If you can't be, save your bad mouthing for in the car or the internet. This is where I do it. Everyone appriciates your participation but not if you are a jerk.
• Don't wear out your welcome. This goes with being a good sport but also, if you've won for several years in a row, no matter how good your costumes are, people start to notice and you'll end up not winning.
• To dress up or not to dress up? Don't dress up. Especially if you are an adult. This is a pet costume contest. If you insist on dressing up, remember your dog is the main component. You dressing as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and having your dog as Toto doesn't count. Now if you have a bunch of dogs dressed as Wizard of Oz characters and to complete it you dress as one, that's okay. Kids can get away with dressing up. While I sort of have something against dressing your kids up for the same reason as I'm against adults dressing up, next year, I plan on using our hypothetical baby to win the advantage.
• Groups are always a good idea but all the costumes have to be well made and fit into the theme well. Remember to have enough people
• Homemade costumes aways get more points from me than store bought ones.
• The devil is in the details. One of the reasons I think we do so well is because of the details. For Riley's little bo peep costume, it would be okay if she just wore a dress and hat but her costume had little lace trim, had flowers, had a shepard's hook. Such nice things.

So good luck! Next year, watch out for us! We're cheating with the use of a costumed baby!

We might need to trim back the ivy. Yes, this is in my basement.

My Favorite Clients

Last week, I got to meet two of my favorite types of clients.

On Friday, during appointments, I saw a lab that had been vomiting all night. He looked like he felt like shit, his back was slightly arched but showed no other signs of stomach pain and discomfort. He still wagged his tail. He was minorly dehydrated. Normally, I'm uber-conservative when it comes to GI upset. Dogs vomit. End of story. Being a lab, you know that it is possible that he ate something he shouldn't have though the owner didn't think so. Because of the dehydration, I admited him to the hospital for IV fluids and medication to stop the vomiting.
Saturday morning, the vomiting had stopped but the dog was regurgitating. So we took some x-rays and the only thing that looked abnormal was the fact that his stomach seemed a little large. His attitude was unchanged and he showed no more signs of discomfort than he did the day before. So I sent him home. (And I was out of injectable medications anyway.)
Sunday moring, I'm woken up by the owner calling. The dog did well overnight but now was regurgitating uncontrolably. So I met him at the clinic after an hour or so and readmitted the dog for fluids again. We took another x-ray and some things had changed slightly but nothing jumped out at me. Since we were out of injectable medications, I had to figure out how to get them. I called up the local human hospital's pharmacy and put in an order. Then I went and got the medications. Oddly enough, I was told to come in the back door because it would be easier. So I did. There was no security, no anyone and I snuck into the hospital and back out. By mid-day, I had pretty much decided after lots of consultations, that I needed to do a barium study. Barium studies are when you give a large volume of contrast (half a liter in this dog's case) and then take a series of x-rays over set amounts of time. My tech and I fought to give this dog the barium and at one point stopped for a chest x-ray because I wasn't sure the dog was actually swallowing the contrast. We finish and take the first couple of x-rays 15 minutes apart and sure enough things are looking good. The stomach is filled and already the contrast is moving into the small intestine. We take the third set and then an hour later (two hours after giving the barium) the fourth set. There was no change between the two sets. Hmm... I call the owners and let them know that in two hours, I'm repeating the rads and at that time they will need to make a decision about the next step. So repeat the rads in two hours. No change. Okay, now we go to surgery, keep the dog on fluids and cross our fingers or euthanize. They elect to keep the dog on fluids. The next morning, the dog hasn't changed. The x-ray show that the barium hasn't moved; if anything, its backed up into the stomach even more. Ugh. Now the decision is clear-surgery NOW or euthanasia.
So the owners, wanting to do everything possible for their dog, make the difficult decision to take the dog to surgery. We go to surgery and when we roll the dog over, he regurgs lime green fluid-barium and bile mixed together. When I start cutting, pretty much right away, I pull up small intestine with something in it. Eventually, we have it out-1 1/2 inch piece of corncob. I get the intestine closed and close up the dog. Yea! Everything looks good right now. I hope its going to keep going that way.
Oh, where was I going with this? Why do I love these clients? No questions (or minimally at least) asked, they did what they needed to do for their pet even when I couldn't make any promises that it would turn out okay.

On Friday night, after 9, I get a call from the office that an emergency is coming in. Its a dog with a puncture wound in its elbow. I take a look at the dog, make an estimate and tell the owners (two young guys) that I would need a good faith deposit of like $70-90. We x-ray the dog to make sure that the puncture hasn't broken anything. The tech goes up to get the deposit so we can sedate the dog and close up the wound. These guys ran out of the house with no money. They have $6. Ugh. We're probably not going to get paid anything I think. Can they call home and get a credit card number? Okay. No wait, that card doesn't have any money on it. We can do a held check we tell them. They tell us that we'll get paid tomorrow. Sure, I think. We work on the dog and then in the morning, we get a phone call. The owners want to know how much the bill is. We tell them and then they tell us that they will get the dog in the afternoon. One of the techs fell in love with the dog and found a bunch of half used rolls of bandages to give to the owners. In the afternoon, they owners came back in to pick up the dog. They had worked all day long to come up with the money for the dog. Unfortuately, it wasn't enough. They were about $20 short. But you know what? It didn't matter. They worked for what they owed. They didn't ask for credit. They didn't ask if they could do payments. They accepted that a service had been performed and now they owed for it. I figured that since they paid the bulk of the bill, we wouldn't see them again for the recheck nor would we see the $20 they owed us. Oh well, its almost worth it since they had paid for most of it. BUT NO! They came in this week, paid the balence and I guess, set up the recheck. I love people that can accept responsiblity.

Book Review

It may not come to a surprise to you that I like to read. I  have a Nook which I do routinely add new books to. The downside is that for some reason with the Nook, I don't hesitate to spend money on a new book. I've made some mistakes (Secretariat and Eat Pray Love) but for the most part I read a sample and then buy the book.

Since moving to Greenville, I've utitilised the library a lot more than I did in Carlisle. Maybe somehow I have more time? Anyway, I've read a bunch of books recently so here are some reviews! Be forwarned there are major spoilers!

Emily and Einstein by Linda Francis Lee--Apparently, this is an Amazon bonus book so I suggest that for $10 you pick it up! This book is about Emily and Einstein, her dog. Einstein is more than a dog though. He is the reincarnation of her dead husband. Her husband intends on divorcing her but dies the night he plans on telling her this-he is pinned between two cars on a snowy night. Einstein (as a stray dog) is killed too. Then there is some 'Its A Wonderful Life' angel/ghost business regarding that if he wants to live, he has to do so as the dog and the dog has to change Emily's life. Emily's life does end up changing and Einstein dies. I cried while reading the first part of the book and Joe made fun of me. It was a good book though.

Recently, I've also got into 'chick lit' because its an easy, fast and fun read. There are some distinct problems with some of the books as I will address as needed.
I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella--So in this book, the main character is planning a huge wedding but loses her engagement ring (a family heirloom) and her cell phone. So she finds an alternative cell phone which happens to belong to a very important company. The cell phone was the former property of a recently quit assistant. The main character ends up causing lots of trouble as she balences the life of man who's assistant used to have the phone. Well, it also turns out that her fiance is horrible, there is a huge scandal at the really important company and ultimately the business man and her start dating. Its a good book.
When In Doubt, Add Butter by Beth Harbison--While I'm not certain it fully fits into the 'chick lit' genre, it was still a good book and an easy read. The main character is a personal chef just outside of DC. She has some pretty drama filled clients. She has a hookup and evenutally realizes that she's pregant. Then one of her clients (a single male lawyer who she never has met) turns out to be the baby's father! Happy ever after!
Something Blue by Emily Giffin--Okay, this is the 'chick lit' book that I have the most problem with. Here's the plot: A woman is planning her wedding and as the date draws near, she realizes that because she has been cheating on her fiance with one of his groomsmen that she should call it off. She goes to do so and he calls it quits. Its all good. Then she goes over to see her best friend who is less than sympathetic because she is sleeping with the former fiance! Approprately, the former bride is pissed. BUT the thing that I haven't told you is that she is the type of person you love to hate. She feels that she should get everything and anything she wants because how she looks and acts. She acts incessantly annoying questions. She wants it her way only. So now she has it all planned that she is going to marry the groomsman especially once she finds out she is pregnant. Originally, he's on board but then breaks up with her. She moves to England with a mutual friend (male), finds out she is having twins, dates the doctor and then ends up marrying the mutual friend. Her attitude luckily has improved by then. But you still sort of root against her.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand-I might have talked about this book before because it was so amazing. I just ordered it on CD to listen to while we went to Missouri for Christmas. Its the hard luck story of a WWII flyer that is shot down over the ocean and then his detention in a Japanese POW camp. His life wasn't easy to begin with but then he becomes a track star before joining the army. Its really an amazing tale of courage. I can't believe how awful the Japanese were to these POWs.

The Eighty Dollar Champion by Elizabeth Betts--This was the most amazing book. I read it entirely on my iPhone after downloading it to my Nook. It is well written in the style of Seabiscuit (by Laura Hillenbrand which might also by why Unbroken is so wonderful.). Even if you're not really a horse person, I suggest checking out this book. Anyway, the book is about an old plow horse that becomes an amazing jumper at the national level.

An Irish Country Doctory by Patrick Taylor--One of the blurbs on the back says "In a style joyously reminiscent of James Harriot...'. Well, that is entirely true because it is the MD version of any James Harriot book. So at first, I was like ugh, this story has been told before but now I'm really into it. There are apparently many books in this series but I think this is the first. I suggest checking it out. The characters are heartwarming and nice.

And finally, the books I love the most: Amish Fiction! Beverly Lewis is the only author whose books I have read. She is considered the founder of this genre. I am reading the Heritage of Lancaster County triliogy right now but its not that good. (It was her first ones.) I really liked Abram's Daughters better, which I wrote about here. I also read the The Seasons of Grace series. (I think.) Regardless, I really like these books. Full of conflict, easy to read, Amish.

Random Thought

When I was in grade school, they would hold bingo in the cafeteria of the building, which was the basement. You always knew bingo was the night before because the whole school would smell like cigarette smoke. Can you believe anyone would be allowed to smoke in a school?
And they would use little plastic discs as covers. About the size of a penny, they were red, clear. Finding them was a prize! Especially if they were green or had a metal rim!
Being a kid is weird.

Abandoned Amusement Park

Joe and I had the most amazing weekend this weekend. Saturday morning, we got up and went and ate at Perkins. I had some potato pancakes. Then we went for a drive and after that went to a Fall Festival. This festival was at Conneaut Lake Park.

Joe and I had passed this park sometime during the summer. At that time, from the road, all we could really see was a roller coaster near the highway. It looked moderately abandoned with peeling paint and rust. We thought too that it was abandoned in the vein of other abandoned amusment parks featured in Mental Floss or even Chernobyl. (That's right, I just likened it to Chernobyl.) 

Little did I know, that it wasn't abandoned but probably should be...
We wondered around the festival-some craft and food vendors and then around the park. We really couldn't believe what we were seeing. Is this place for real? Is it still open in the summer? Are the rides even safe? Who is bringing their kids here? Seriously, WTF? 

So we took some pictures.



This was across the street from the park. You can already tell the age of this place.



Me as Connie Otter!



I'm not really sure this ride really, fully captures the abandoned spirit of the place. I don't know when this ride came into the park but it really wouldn't surprise me if it was closer to 1892 (when the park was founded) than 2012.



   

This building (a bathroom) was set on fire in 2010. Its in the middle of 'Kiddie Land' (the enterance was creepy clowns). Why hasn't it been torn down?

Here I am with my hot cocoa. I'm trying to stay warm and not get creeped out by the idea that there might be a reflection of a ghost in the mirror behind me.

Oh, did I mention that the hotel might be haunted?

Crazy Cat Lady

It's widely known that I'm a cat person. I like fluffy cats; I like naked hairless cats. I like skinny sleek cats; I like fat cats. I like orange cats, black cats and tabby cats. I like calico cats and blur cats but not as much. I like big cats and small cats. I like nice cats. I like mean cats.
Actually, let me sum all that up-I LOVE CATS! A day of appointments heavy on cats is my best day. Getting to go into the cat room and having it full of cats is also pretty awesome. Especially when they are crying for me to pay attention to them.
I love my cats. Mr. Montique is my handsome prince and Bess is my princess. I pretty much give in to every wish they have. All they have to do is tolerate the occasional costume and a nearly perpetually dirty litter pan.
I love the clinic cats. Kinder is my boyfriend who shows up when he hears my voice. They say his fur and skin have never looked better. I think it's because of me.

So when this past week an orange kitten was dumped on us at the clinic, practicality be damned, I was going to take him home. Joe would just have to deal with it.
So enter...Herbert Hoover aka Herbie. Herbie is 12 weeks old. He is a orange classic tabby (as opposed to Montie who is a Mackerel tabby) with a white bib, belly and back feet. He had a giant abscess on the side of his head. He is very cute and sweet. Once you catch him (he's a little skeptical that you won't hurt him), he's nothing but purrs. He already has figured out sleeping with Joe.
The cutest thing that Herbie does is absolutely loves Mr. Montique. Ands tie returns it back. There are lots of nose touches, mutual grooming, rubbing on each other that goes on. Herbie is skeptical about eating unless Montie is close by. Bess is slowly warming up to the idea of a third cat.

New Kitten!

We had a kitten abandoned at work. He's cute!