Hello everyone!
No, this is not my blood pressure, vision correction, or anything related to my job as a vet tech. These numbers, unfortunately, are our predicted and actual temperatures for the weather today. It is 102 F, in May. How I loathe Texas. However, I think I'm beginning to get used to it here. Yesterday I felt like I was melting and today I felt just fine. It felt like a bearable oven outside. I think it was because yesterday it was in the low 90s but grossly humid, and today was grossly hot but low humidity. I'll survive Texas weather and then never live below the Mason-Dixon line ever again. Yuck.
Yesterday I was on call and ended up working 17 hours, but today I only worked a normal shift of 12 hours. I can't wait for the new batch of interns to be trained so my hours might be a more bearable 9 or 10 hours. Oh well. I'm still having a blast watching Disney marathons with my trailermates. Toy Story 3, Up, and Emperor's New Groove all in one day. Fabulous! Hope you're all doing well, and if it's possible, please send some cooler, wetter weather our way. We desperately need rain, and NOT 100 degree weather. Til next time.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Absolving my aunt of any grief she may have bestowed upon me...
Hey everyone,
Sorry it has been so long since my last post! It's been super hectic here (when isn't it?) and I have been getting home most nights after 6pm, I make and eat dinner and am out like a light by 9pm. However, lots of fun things have been happening here.
We have a new veterinarian, Cheryl. She's great fun to work with, and the bird guru. It's awesome because we have so many birds with broken wings now. Awesome that she can fix them, not that they have them in the first place. We just released some of our birds that 3 weeks ago had exposed bones sticking out of their wings.
I now have days off with the vet tech Dee. The first day off together, we flew kites, which is SUPER fun here. It's always windy here, and she has the type of kite that does tricks. Pretty sweet. Then we made and ate enchiladas. The next day off together we went kayaking down the Guadalupe river. I will post pictures as soon as I can. I only got dumped once, and I got stuck twice. Both times I got my self out, but turned around. For some reason, I go better down rapids... backwards!! We then hung out by the river a few more hours and hiked up to a cave. We went back to her place so I could make an authentic scandinavian meal. Stroganoff and Danish kringle. Everyone loved it!
A new batch of interns arrived last week. Thank goodness! We will all be super happy once they are fully trained and we'll get more help in the clinic. One of my new trailermates, Bethany, is deaf, so I've been learning TONS of new signs. She's been teaching me and Amy (another new intern), and we can now make full sentences. Every so often we ask for new signs or learn them when we try to finger spell a new word. But I didn't realize how easy it is to pick up. It certainly is much faster learning what you need to know, rather than what a school curriculum tells you. I now know all the animals that exist here on property, medical terms, and lots of verbs and nouns. I'm super excited. Maybe by the time she leaves, I'll know enough to talk to anyone deaf!
Well, I miss you all very much. Especially Allison, since you are off to Rhode Island (?) and then China. Boo. I'm going to miss you terribly, but I'm happy for you. I miss my parents, hope Mom comes to visit again soon. But most of all (no offense to anyone) but I miss being COOL! It's so muggy all the time here, but it never rains. The temp never gets below 75 at night, and its in the 90s all the time during the day now. And it's only May. Gross. Aunt Kristin, I miss you as well, but appreciate all the Heartland you've been sending me! I got the third season and will watch it soon, hopefully. I'm only a few episodes in, even though I've had it a while. Let me know what's going on in your lives! Until next time.
Sorry it has been so long since my last post! It's been super hectic here (when isn't it?) and I have been getting home most nights after 6pm, I make and eat dinner and am out like a light by 9pm. However, lots of fun things have been happening here.
We have a new veterinarian, Cheryl. She's great fun to work with, and the bird guru. It's awesome because we have so many birds with broken wings now. Awesome that she can fix them, not that they have them in the first place. We just released some of our birds that 3 weeks ago had exposed bones sticking out of their wings.
I now have days off with the vet tech Dee. The first day off together, we flew kites, which is SUPER fun here. It's always windy here, and she has the type of kite that does tricks. Pretty sweet. Then we made and ate enchiladas. The next day off together we went kayaking down the Guadalupe river. I will post pictures as soon as I can. I only got dumped once, and I got stuck twice. Both times I got my self out, but turned around. For some reason, I go better down rapids... backwards!! We then hung out by the river a few more hours and hiked up to a cave. We went back to her place so I could make an authentic scandinavian meal. Stroganoff and Danish kringle. Everyone loved it!
A new batch of interns arrived last week. Thank goodness! We will all be super happy once they are fully trained and we'll get more help in the clinic. One of my new trailermates, Bethany, is deaf, so I've been learning TONS of new signs. She's been teaching me and Amy (another new intern), and we can now make full sentences. Every so often we ask for new signs or learn them when we try to finger spell a new word. But I didn't realize how easy it is to pick up. It certainly is much faster learning what you need to know, rather than what a school curriculum tells you. I now know all the animals that exist here on property, medical terms, and lots of verbs and nouns. I'm super excited. Maybe by the time she leaves, I'll know enough to talk to anyone deaf!
Well, I miss you all very much. Especially Allison, since you are off to Rhode Island (?) and then China. Boo. I'm going to miss you terribly, but I'm happy for you. I miss my parents, hope Mom comes to visit again soon. But most of all (no offense to anyone) but I miss being COOL! It's so muggy all the time here, but it never rains. The temp never gets below 75 at night, and its in the 90s all the time during the day now. And it's only May. Gross. Aunt Kristin, I miss you as well, but appreciate all the Heartland you've been sending me! I got the third season and will watch it soon, hopefully. I'm only a few episodes in, even though I've had it a while. Let me know what's going on in your lives! Until next time.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Evil Aunt Witholding Season 3 of the BEST TV SHOW EVER!!
So, I'm officially and utterly hooked. The odd title refers to Heartland, a TV show my Aunt Kristin and I have been watching together long-distance. She had kindly been sending me the seasons, but is taking her sweet time with this one. Just kidding Kristin! And by the way, the title is just for you! Anyway, it's an awesome TV show about horses (of course!) and amazing Canadians, even though it is based off an American book series. It's been awesome to watch the show, not only cause it's amazing, but because I'm having fun bonding with my Aunt long-distance.
Today was a good day. I officially became a senior intern, and had a dinner in my (and my group's) celebration. We had awesome food (vegetarian like all our functions here) and played an UNO tournament. But the best part of today was that I got to work with an almost-horse! Freddy, one of our donkeys needed is hooves correctional trimmed, and I got to be handler since I have the most horse experience here. He was in a lot of pain, so he wasn't very cooperative, but I love him just the same. When I don't work with horses every day, a naughty donkey still brings a smile to my day :)
I'm off to bed early tonight to make sure I get some sleep before they transfer PM phones at 11pm. I don't want a repeat of last week. Thanks to all of you that emailed me the past couple of days! I miss you all and would love to hear from all of you.
Today was a good day. I officially became a senior intern, and had a dinner in my (and my group's) celebration. We had awesome food (vegetarian like all our functions here) and played an UNO tournament. But the best part of today was that I got to work with an almost-horse! Freddy, one of our donkeys needed is hooves correctional trimmed, and I got to be handler since I have the most horse experience here. He was in a lot of pain, so he wasn't very cooperative, but I love him just the same. When I don't work with horses every day, a naughty donkey still brings a smile to my day :)
I'm off to bed early tonight to make sure I get some sleep before they transfer PM phones at 11pm. I don't want a repeat of last week. Thanks to all of you that emailed me the past couple of days! I miss you all and would love to hear from all of you.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Wonderful last days with friends
Well, my best friend here just left for home. I dropped her and another friend of mine off at the Gavelston Port, about 5 hours away. They both were so unhappy here and I'm glad they could go home. Nicole is off to Spain and Nicola is off to Britain, on a cruise! Weird enough, it was the cheapest way for them to get home. I spent yesterday driving them to Gavelston and we stayed at a hotel, ordered in fabulous pizza (Dominoes is really stepping up their game) and watched Matilda. This morning we had coffee by the coast and went wading through the ocean water. There are so many water birds there it's insane! It was so hot and muggy there, and I came back to Kendalia to an awesome surprise of 57 degree weather, sunny, and windy. I'm typing this outside trying to soak in the cold and keep it with me always. Or at least until December when I go back home.
The past week has really sucked. I did have a great time going to see an IMAX movie about rehabilitating orphaned elephants and orangutans. Now I really want to play soccer with elephants (an awesome enrichment game if I do say so). Otherwise, work has been hard, long, and stressful. Apparently it's only going to get worse. Because so many interns have decided to leave before fulfilling their commitment, everyone is having to work a lot harder, and I even been put on clinic shifts, feeding and cleaning the animals. I'm glad to help out but I will be even happier to be done with it. I came here for the veterinary experience I don't want that to suffer. The worst was when I had PM phones. We have a 24 hour hotline and one intern per night is assigned to take any calls throughout the night. Instead of waking up for an occasional call, I had over 14 in one night, spaced out quite nicely to ensure just as I was falling back asleep I would be woken up again for someone calling about a bird or raccoon. I'm glad I could help the animals, but I'm sure I didn't get more than 2 hours of sleep that night. I'm playing catch up as it is.
Well, sorry for my not so happy rant. I did take a nice walk below gate with Nicole before she left, so I will be sure to update soon with some pictures of the animals. Miss you all very much, especially Minnesota. My body is just waiting for the day I can be back home in the north again.
The past week has really sucked. I did have a great time going to see an IMAX movie about rehabilitating orphaned elephants and orangutans. Now I really want to play soccer with elephants (an awesome enrichment game if I do say so). Otherwise, work has been hard, long, and stressful. Apparently it's only going to get worse. Because so many interns have decided to leave before fulfilling their commitment, everyone is having to work a lot harder, and I even been put on clinic shifts, feeding and cleaning the animals. I'm glad to help out but I will be even happier to be done with it. I came here for the veterinary experience I don't want that to suffer. The worst was when I had PM phones. We have a 24 hour hotline and one intern per night is assigned to take any calls throughout the night. Instead of waking up for an occasional call, I had over 14 in one night, spaced out quite nicely to ensure just as I was falling back asleep I would be woken up again for someone calling about a bird or raccoon. I'm glad I could help the animals, but I'm sure I didn't get more than 2 hours of sleep that night. I'm playing catch up as it is.
Well, sorry for my not so happy rant. I did take a nice walk below gate with Nicole before she left, so I will be sure to update soon with some pictures of the animals. Miss you all very much, especially Minnesota. My body is just waiting for the day I can be back home in the north again.
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