Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

I fed a turkey on turkey day. It was was pretty much the epitome of irony. Classic. We actually got the turkey who was rescued on Thanksgiving day from slaughter. This turkey was so overfed that he can't hold his wings tucked to his body like normal. His fat pads are in the way. If he had been slaughtered, he would have been about a 30 lb. (12kg) turkey. Oh the people who went hungry. :)

Well, other than that, my Thanksgiving was pretty quiet and fun. A bunch of us who were stuck on property for the holiday had a potluck dinner. Tons of really good food and good company. I then had to rush over to Dee's house because I was house-sitting while she was off camping on the coast. I then proceeded to snuggle up to her bull mastiff, german shepherd, and rottweiler and watch a marathon of Friends Thanksgiving episodes. It was awesome.

The past few days have been pretty neat animal-wise. I was in charge of the vet clinic on Thursday afternoon, Friday, and Saturday since the veterinarian and vet tech had the days off. I got to see all the patients myself and I didn't feel overwhelmed. I actually felt like the beginnings of a veterinarian myself! On my day off yesterday I spent the day at Kendall County Equine clinic. We had a very busy day artificially inseminating 14 cows, looking at a cow who got an infection after giving birth, x-raying a dog for puppies, and treating a pig with a prolapsed rectum. It was so fun to get away from the wildlife world and work on animals that don't need sedation to work on them.

I then spent last night going to the new Twilight movie. Mock me if you'd like but I go solely for the entertainment value. This one has lots of awesomely awkward moments to laugh at. I then spent the night at my friend April's place and spent the morning baking with her. I'm now at the library chilling out and soaking up the quiet. Friday should be fun because I believe the vet and vet tech have something planned for my birthday. Monday I have a huge going away party planned as well so I keep teetering between excitement at the prospect of going home and seeing my family, cats, and SNOW, and tears and depression for having to leave this amazing place. I've learned so much here and I wish I could move the entire property north to be closer to my family and get out of this horrid heat. But I have to stay positive and take the next step forward in my life.

I'm applying for vet tech jobs back home while waiting to hear from vet school. I should be notified if I get an interview at the end of December. Wish me luck! After that I'm pretty much winging it. But look where that got me before. With my record of Germany and then Texas I'll most likely end up in China next (or France to visit Jenny!). Miss you all tons and I'll get to see some of you soon!

Shadowing and Job Applications

The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. Since it has calmed down enough at work where I get 2 full days off a week without being on call or having to do the produce run, I've taken to shadowing. This means I follow Dr. Nichols and his vet tech Kara on their out-calls for the Kendall County Equine Center. I've helped out with floats, lameness checks, routine vaccinations, a horse who contracted tetanus, and a colicked horse. It's been such a great experience and I feel I'm learning tons. Hopefully this week I can assist in darting a pig and trimming his hooves.

I don't know how, but we're getting the most unusual animals in the clinic. The species themselves are not unusual, only their timing. We got a hatchling nighthawk in the other night, and it's November. This should not be happening until April! We also got in 3 baby rats and several neonatal opossums. It's crazy. I'm not sure if it's the drought that's affecting the animals or maybe they know something that we can't possibly predict weather-wise. Cross your fingers for us to have rain. They've predicted storms on Monday night and we desperately need them.

Down-side, it seems every primate on property has gone crazy as well. Dee and I had 3 back to back days of primate emergencies. We had a long-tail macaque climb over his enclosure into another troop's enclosure. They proceeded to beat him up and we had to go in, dart him, and address his wounds. Easier said than done. He decided to climb the highest tree to get away from us, we finally managed to get a dart into him, and then he fell 20 feet. Thankfully he didn't break anything in the process. We sutured many layers of muscle and ligaments in his arm, and lacerations to his tail and skull. The next day we had a ruffed lemur escape his enclosure. The next day an introduction went badly and a very large pig-tail macaque ripped off the tail of a very tiny ex-pet rhesus macaque. We had to amputate a good portion and suture her back up.

Crazy! I hope you are all well and having fun with your autumns. It feels like summer in Minnesota today, 80s and breezy. Here's a few pictures for you to enjoy as well. Love and miss you all.