Mom's visit #2

My mom visited for the second time this past weekend. It was awesome having her here, and I already miss her! We had fun going to the Botanical Gardens in San Antonio where I got to see greenery and flowers for the first time since getting down here in a very arid part of Texas. After that, on a whim we stopped by the North Star Mall where there was a dog fashion show going on! They had a runway and everything. I believe all the dogs dressed up were up for adoption, so it was an awesome cause. We then had a small dinner at a local diner and went over to the Macaroni grill for dessert. We had a fiasco when, all suited up to take a dip in the jacuzzi, we find out it's ice cold (being outdoors) and not working. The hotel had a membership with the local Lifetime Fitness and we drove over in just our suits to use their hot tubs, which were fabulous with waterfalls set up to get your upper back and neck. Totally just what I needed after standing over a surgery table all day.

Next day we drove up to the sanctuary and Mom got to feed a baby fawn! They almost doubled in size since the last time she's visited. We saw some more babies in the clinic, and then had fun with the cats outside. We just built a new topped-over cat enclosure for our friendly cats that we're hoping to get adopted. We then went to Boerne, the nearest town with a large grocery store. We ate lunch at the local cafe and headed up to look at some hotels my grandparents might stay in when they come to visit. After that, the fiascos started. We got to San Antonio to check Mom into her new hotel she was staying at for a training conference.  They didn't have her or any of her coworkers listed, and we had to wait for over an hour to get it fixed with her boss and the hotel manager. By that time, we didn't have time to go to the movie we had planned on seeing, so we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner (really appetizers and cheesecake!) and then watched Dancing with the Stars before I had to go back to work.

Work has been awesome. We've had some pretty whirlwind surgery days with a cryptorchid neuter, a guinea pig who needed a drain put in, two bone pin removals (one from a muscovy duck, the other from a macaque), and a huge release. Biggest new news for me though, is that I am now the primary caretaker of yet another animal, this time a cat! Her name is Cayden and she needs socialization. I just got moved to the single room so she was put with me. She's a beautiful tortie, and has decided to come out of her shell to me. She waits by the door for me to come home, and sleeps with me at night. I think she was so scared of humans because the other cats would beat up on her if she got any attention. Now that she's a single cat she's doing really well. I've posted lots of pictures and I hope everyone is doing really well. Please let me know of anything exciting happening your way! Love and miss you all lots.

Animal Cruelty

Another death day is finally over. I got into work this morning and as I was giving medications, 3 of my patients had passed in the night. Over the next eight hours, 4 animals had to be euthanized and another 4 were found dead. The worst, by far, was an opossum we got in a couple of weeks ago. She had come in with babies in her pouch the size of jelly beans. She was really lethargic and pale, and generally very weak. We gave her supportive care and when we re-evaluated her today, she had pretty stiff limbs. We thought we might have missed a broken pelvis so I took an x-ray while Dee took a phone call. I didn't find any broken bones. Instead what I found were 19 lead bullets in her body, 4 of which were in her face. These bullets must have been in her for months if not longer. She was in the last stages of lead poisoning, and we had to humanely euthanize her and her babies. It was a crappy end to a crappy day. I hope tomorrow goes better. Miss you all lots and hope that you never have to see an animal shot 19 times.

Sheep Shearing 101

So, if anyone wants to know how to sheep shear, let me know. I just spent the past weekend helping shear 55+ sheep in just about 3 days. I even helped out for 8 hours on my day off. It was insane. First, we had to gather all the sheep that are scattered around our property the week before shearing. Then, we had to force them into chutes to get them into small paddocks where it was easy to corner them. Once we had them cornered, we'd haul one out by grabbing their wool and either a horn (if they had one) or a leg. We then dragged them over to the tarp we were shearing on, and flipped them onto their side. We first sheared the neck and side, flipped them onto their back for the stomach, making sure if they were a boy to cut carefully :) Then onto the next side, gave them a shot of tetanus toxoid and let them free into the paddock again.

It went quite smoothly for a while. We had two sheep we were a bit concerned about. The first sheep had a snapped horn and growing inside the hollow opening were maggots. It was disgusting! After cleaning them out, we moved onto a girl who had an udder mastitis, basically a very swollen and infected udder. After milking her, we shot her full of antibiotics and sent her on her merry way. It was a fun time had by most, except for the sheep. I think they were pretty freaked out at the time, but now they are loving the life without their wool when it's around 85 degrees here.

I just learned my Grandma and Grandpa Noreen are coming to visit me in April! I'm so excited and I'm hoping all the wildflowers will be out by then. Mom's coming back to San Antonio for another work conference so I'll get to see her for a short time at the end of the month. Other than that, work's been great, but I'm feeling really down right now. Two of my roommates are leaving, their internship is up and today is their last day :( I'm really going to miss them. I also have either severe allergies to something down here or the most massive cold. I've been downing tea and zinc lozenges all day, and I'm going to bed as soon as I get off work. Love and miss you all.

Sara

P.S. New pictures are up!

Visit From Mom!

My mom came to visit me this weekend! She came in Sunday at noon. We spent the day seeing the Alamo (which is SO tiny compared to my previous assumption) and walking along the Riverwalk. It was amazing and fun, except for the sole fact that it was 93 degrees outside! We got so warm we stopped at an Italian restaurant for dinner. It was really rich. Then we went to Walmart to get some snacks for us to eat while we watched the Oscars! The dresses were fabulous and we had fun guessing who was going to win the award. I think Toy Story 3 is amazing (which won best Animated Motion Picture) and Inception is fabulous! It won a bunch of special effect awards. One of the best movies I've seen in a while. Dad, you must see it!

I stayed overnight at her hotel where we kept the air conditioning on all night and it was amazing! In the morning we looked at campgrounds for my grandparents to stay at when they come down to visit. We found you an amazing one on the river in Blanco G&G! We ate lunch at Sunset, a small bar and grill in Blanco, and then went to my place to give Mom a tour. She got to see some mountain lions, monkeys, lemurs, an axis deer that followed us around everywhere, baby squirrels, baby opossums, baby fawns, a baby goat, and cats of course! It was great to show her around and she ooohed and aaaahed over all the little ones.

We then went back to San Antonio and went to Barnes and Noble and then a cute little Italian restaurant next door. Yes, Italian again, but I'm so sick of Mexican down here. Then I spent the night with her watching Fashion Police where they tore apart all of the Oscar dresses. It was amazing. Now I'm super tired because I had to drive home late and get up early for work. But it was totally worth it. I can't wait for my mom to visit me next month, even though it's killing me she's still down here but has to work. Miss you already Mom! I miss everyone else as well and hope you're all doing well. E-mail me about your lives.