Our baby

Our little Twix is all of 3.5 lbs now, able to jump on countertops and tables and already addicted to greenies. She's sweet and social, but not overly cuddly. But what she lacks in cuddles, she makes up for in cuteness. Clearly. 

Reunions round 3

This time we headed to KC for Jerry's 20 year high school reunion (I know, so old right?). Anyway, this included about 3 days of "where do you live, what do you do, do you have any kids" conversations. And specifically directed at me "did you also go to Center?" But all in all it seemed like everyone had a good time and we even got to visit with friends that came in all the way from Australia as well as many others that Jerry was friends with back in the day. And it seems like everyone else had enough kids to make up for us not having any. 

One of the activities was a tour of the high school, the highlight being the "museum" room where I found this gem. 

How cute is he? 😊

Like new

My truck is nine years old and has 220,000 miles on it. But it runs great and I love it. So rather than consider getting something new we has it repainted. Now it's shiny and pretty again! 

Storm damage

Poor old tunnel. It had a good run. I'm thinking I may be able to make two mini tunnels out of it. 

Meanwhile, in the house we made the mistake of leaving Zodiac loose and unattended. We have been crating him during storms and fireworks since he recently started eating things. Well, Twist is in the big crate in the barn so...

Oops. 

Reunions round 2 and settling in

This weekend we went to a family reunion for my mom's side of the family and also took my dad out for his 60th birthday.  We had nice weather and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Back at home Twist is doing well as a barn cat but I think she probably misses being inside-she's a very cuddly girl.  She is getting at least a few hours a day out of the crate and has been playing in the yard and climbing trees.  She will probably graduate to full days out of the crate soon.

Twix is doing well as an only house cat.  We have been letting her stay loose at night and she typically curls up right next to us and stays all night (or until about 5:30 and then thinks it's time to play and we have to return her to her room).  There isn't much cuter than waking up to find a tiny kitten sleeping by you.

Summer has gone back to reliably using the litter box.  I think eliminating the kitten that pooped in her box all the time has helped.  Even though that's not when it started.  Rabbits are weird.

Both applications interested in Shea changed their mind it appears.  So I've started working with her on some basic obedience and manners.  If we are going to have her for a while she might as well be better behaved.

Still here

Shea is still available.  We have a few possible applications on her, so cross your fingers.  She needs to go somewhere with more time for her.  When she came, it seemed like great timing.  Then things went sadly south at our house and she has been a little neglected.  She's a sweet dog, and not over the top wild around the house most of the time (a little obsessed with kittens) but still fun and border collie playful.

Sweetness

The writing on the wall

Or better yet, the poop in the sink.

Sweet little Twist had to go live in the barn.  Sadly, she began showing all the hallmarks of being a chronic litter box problem cat.

First there was the diarrhea in our bed overnight.  I get it, she's young, accidents happen.  But when I got up to take her back to her room she then also peed in the bed.  Strike one and two.

Then we witnessed her peeing in the bathroom sink.  Strike three.  We proceeded to take her directly to her litter box every time we saw her in the sink. We tried to keep door closed.

A week or so later I caught her pooping in the other bathroom sink.  Strike four.  We limited all access to sinks and basically shut off as much of the house as possible and kept them confined to a bedroom most of the time.

She had a round of diarrhea last week.  Not her fault, but she pooped next to the box (and not in it) no less than four times during this episode.  Strike five.

She does not cover her urine or stool when she does use the box.  Strike six.

We have been down this road before and quite frankly we are not willing to live like that again.  It wasn't fair to the cat or to us and really ruined our relationship with her.  I know the risks of an outside cat but I'd rather have an outside cat I still like than one that's ruining our house and everyone's quality of life.

Of course we are keeping her crated most of the time at first and letting her adjust.  This afternoon she got to spend several hours out with us and seems to be happy and adjusting well.  And I must say that the 24 hours since we have put her outside have been so much less stressful.

This one shows a little sneak peek of our new deck project.

Meanwhile Twix is turning into a lovely house cat, at least so far!  They don't seem to mind being separated and are both finding ways to entertain themselves.

Barney seems to be the only one disgruntled over this, but he seems to be getting over it.

North Shore Trail Run

This weekend we headed to Lawrence, KS for a trail run (not an agility trial for a change). For the most part it was a nice race. The park seemed really pretty (who knew that could happen in Kansas?) even though we had to watch our feet and not the scenery! Also the weather could not have been more perfect. 

The trail was not as hilly as Dogwood canyon, but every bit as rugged (despite being described as "non-technical" whatever that means). In fact, it may have been more rugged since my pace was even slower per mile than at Dogwood which was a 15k and this was a 10k. Well, supposed to be a 10k. It actually came out to 6.8 miles on my GPS which is more than 1/2 mile too long.  Not the end of the world but would have been nice to at least know that ahead of time. 

While I knew my time would be slower than a road race it still took me a surprising one hour and twenty five minutes to finish, a 12:30 minute/mile pace. For comparison that's about 4 minutes per mile slower than my 10k road race pace and only 1/2 hour shorter than my half-marathon PR! But I can't imagine running very much faster and not falling down!  I love trail races-so much more fun and challenging than road races, but you gotta get over the demoralizing times!

On the plus side we got the cutest finishers medals ever!

 We also got nice shirts and cups with the same cute logo. Downside-there was no food at the finish line! That was bad enough for a 10k but there was a half marathon option too. I can't imagine running that far on a trail and no food at the end!

The pictures turned out good too-these are the free low resolution images so might not be very clear. I may buy one though to get a better copy. I like this one the best. I don't look awful and it's scenic-one more reason to love trail races, no ugly streets and buildings in the photos!

That's Cheri just behind me in this one. 

At the finish!

The Unusual: Staff Edition

Sometimes, hiring mistakes are made...

1.  The redneck wedding girl-invited us all to her wedding reception, which was to be a pot-luck, held in a field, where romantic activities such as shooting skeet would take place.  She was no longer employed by the time this event occurred.

2.  The cabinet dryer-among her many transgressions leading to unemployment, this young lady got behind on the  laundry and folded wet towels and placed them in cabinets to dry.

3.  The fake pregnant girl-suddenly produced a positive pregnancy test to her boyfriend the day after an actually pregnant employee collected urine all day in the clinic fridge for a medical test.  Hmm.

4.  The angry German-didn't want to take cans to the recycling center so she stuffed the bag into an extra dog crate and turned the crate so the door would face the wall and no one would know what was in there.  This was discovered after her employment ended for other reasons.

5.  The sick girl-whose problems were in part brought on by overdosing on laxatives and other medications.

6.  Dumb and Dumber-a mediocre kennel boy and his girlfriend were hired in a moment of desperation.  He let a dog jump out of a kennel leading to a fracture repair bill at a referral center.  Employment of the couple ended shortly thereafter.

7.  The diarrhea man-an older gentleman called in sick to the head tech proclaiming "diarrhea something fierce" or something similar.  He quit a few days later.

8.  The rabies girl-nonchalantly mentioned during a discussion on rabies that her daughter had had this.  Further investigation indicated that her daughter was still alive.  We advised her that her child had not had rabies.

9.  The domestic violence girl-showed up late one day and obviously beaten, changed her story several times about what happened, then failed to show up for work as well as answer her phone necessitating a call to the police to check on her.  Shortly thereafter she had to move away (understandably) and we wish her well.

10.  The too good for this girl-who felt that cleaning kennels was beneath her.

11.  The young man who apparently retrieves the needed vaccines by label color.  This does not always work.

12.  The tech who was arrested on her lunch break for having drug paraphernalia in her car during a traffic stop.

The unusual: Part 10

1.  Caller asked if all male cats have 8 nipples.  Apparently this was going to be her way of determining if a cat was male or female.  I would have suggested a more obvious way.  And no, I don't believe the number of nipples is uniform nor does it regularly vary from female cats.

2.  A woman arrived with a cat that had a urinary obstruction (not an uncommon emergency of male cats) that had started the previous day.  However, she thought that the cat had been poisoned by the baking soda she put on the carpet to soak up the bloody urine and that is why the cat stopped urinating.  First of all, no.  But even if that's the case if your cat is unable to urinate it's still an emergency!

3.  Questionable looking men arrived with a diabetic dog not doing well.  First question-how much insulin are you giving.  I don't  know, about that much (holds fingers apart).  This is not really an acceptable answer so I try again.  How much insulin were you prescribed?  Five units, and then Dr. Regular said to cut back a little when he started doing better.  Great, how much did you cut back?  I don't know.  (Seriously, I am now only asking for a number between 1 and 4!) But as it turns out the dog is dying from flea anemia and not poorly regulated diabetes.

4.  On overweight elderly woman in a questionable and disturbingly revealing outfit arrived for an appointment with her ill behaved dog.  When the dog had to be muzzled for vaccines she proceeded to threaten it with very blatantly racist comments in front the technician and I.  As if we weren't horrified enough by the outfit.

5.  A woman with a swollen face entered the clinic and asked for antibiotics.  When told we don't just sell those kinds of medications over the counter she responded with "well, what do I need? A dog?"  Um yes, a dog with a condition requiring antibiotics.  She proceeded to walk out.

6.  Owners dropped off a new dog for exam.  The dog had a scar on his back and they wanted to know what from....because....they had heard of people cutting dogs on their backs and inserting illegal drugs under their skin to use them as drug mules.  This is not usually my first differential for a scar so I advised them it was likely trauma.

7.  Woman made an appointment for her 17 year old dog because she thinks it is dying.  Dog had fleas an anal gland issue.  Owner then declined meds for the itching and flea prevention as she will just give it a flea bath.  Same owner has also told us she lint rolls her dog sometimes as flea control and asked if dogs can get spoiled (really, 17 years into the dog and you are asking this?).  This particular person is a repeat offender to "the unusual."

The old dog

It makes me a little sad these days to watch Zodiac.  He's doing ok for an old dog, but he is, in all reality, an old dog.

He has trouble getting up and down.  Some days he limps a little.  Sometimes he falls down.  Some of those times he just stays put since it's easier than getting back up.  He doesn't see or hear as well as he used to.  He gets tired quicker, gets hotter faster, and sometimes I need to walk a little slower with him.  There is no more jumping into the truck or onto the bed.  He doesn't even try.

But he's happy, sassy, eats good, and plays outside.  He enjoys pet therapy, herding and treats. There is nothing significantly wrong with him other than age (that we know of right now).  So even though I hate to see him age, we hope to have plenty of more time with him.  And we will try to be happy for the days we have, instead of sad that he's a little more gray.

Reunion Round 1

This weekend we celebrated my 10 year vet school reunion in Columbia.  We started out at Buffalo Wild Wings for some pre-football visiting.  It was great to see so many people I had not seen since graduation, or only see rarely.

Afterwards we headed over to the MU game.  It was pretty scorching during the middle of the afternoon so most of the group left around half time-but for those of us who held out-the seats got shady before the 3rd quarter started and we were able to enjoy the rest of the game.

After the game we all headed over to Shakespeare's (at least with vets you never need to worry about how you look or smell!).  Shakespeare's Pizza is a Columbia landmark and eating tradition that has expanded well beyond it's original downtown location.  We had a private party room in one of the additional locations but even then it was so loud we were all basically screaming at each other!

I think most people headed to the Black and Gold after Shakespeare's.  The Black and Gold is an old skanky bar many of my classmates frequented in vet school (the kind of place with no windows, cash only, and everything served out of a can or bottle-so I'm not really sure if that even qualifies as a bar). I have only been there one time as skanky bars were not really my thing then or now so we elected to head out on our own at this point and take a walk around the downtown area and of course campus, where we met 17 years ago this fall.

Overall we had a good time and I have observed the following things...

Pizza, football, and beer is still an adequate way to entertain a group of doctors.

Phil can still wear an "I only date crack whores" t-shirt and no one bats an eye (his wife, by the way, is very nice, and not a crack whore).

Dani and I were unable to remember the name of the other girl we shared a duplex with during our first year of vet school (she was not a classmate, but I knew here during undergrad, finally remembered the next day).

Some of us are doing exactly what we we expected, exactly where we expected to be doing it, while some of us are doing something we never imagined.

While some of us are small town cattle vets and others board certified specialists we all share similar experiences.

Most of us have not changed much, which is why I am reminded now of what I knew then-that I went to school with a great group of kids who became a great group of doctors, parents, spouses, practice owners, and more.