Thursday, May 26, 2011

Sorry All...and overdue blog.

It has been awhile since I have been on here, things are just too darn crazy! I am still adjusting to the sleep schedule and then I was sick which moved my sleep schedule to sleeping ALL.THE.TIME. Thankfully my doc didn't stick me on any antibiotics but that caused a huge delay in recovery. I am over the worst of it but still lethargic as can be. Luckily the rain and the storms have made for the dogs avoiding outside too.
There has been a lot going on recently and let's see if I can sum it up while I wait for my nails to dry (I blame Tami on my new found obsession for nail polish).
I have had a lot on my mind recently. It has ranged from "can I handle working another job?" to "Can I get rid of Miss Tess?" I know that leaves a lot of questions.
Well I had offered to work part-time awhile ago at the Clinic that I left to go to Purdue. I figured I could do the same as I did before, the equivalent of working a saturday albeit on my "weekend" which is the days off I have during the week. I failed to take into consideration my inability to say no to picking up extra shifts and over-working myself. I did my first shift a couple of days ago and it was great to be back in the saddle again, especially doing dentals, which I LOVE! But I was exhausted, luckily my dogs were too since they spent the day at day care. I know it will take some getting use to, but hopefully this is something I can swing. Fingers crossed.
In the process of all the job shuffling I still have the inevitable lack of confidence. I guess when you are "honorably discharged due to Medical conditions" that seems to take a huge chunk out of your professional ego. I am ALWAYS paranoid. I over analyze everything I hear, I make myself sick everytime I have an evaluation, and I am always looking over my shoulder, feeling like I am in some type of competetion. I know I am not because I am not trying to compete with anyone, and I know none of this is justified....(or is it?) but rational thinking, when it comes to this, is just not a strength of mine. How long will it take me to get over this?? Probably never. But I am hoping my confidence will start to increase as soon as I quit listening to other people, especially ones that I can't always trust to have my best interest in mind. As I am writing this out, I realize how completely stupid this all sounds, but there is no one in my mind to tell me that.
Finally my sweet Tess. I have newish neighbors (I just met them but they have been there awhile). One of them use to be a dog trainer so I employed his skills to see what he could do with Tess. Tess took up with him faster than I have ever seen her with a stranger. I was thoroughly impressed. Later on he brought his partner over to see what he thought of Tess, well it was AMAZING. They were all in the backyard and Tess went right up to him and sat down and nudged to be petted. Never met this guy before in her life. Now I am thinking, well....they can give her more attention and discipline then I can and they were willing to take her so we set up a trial run this past tuesday night for her to spend the night with her possible new dads. Needless to say my door bell rang 30minutes later with him standing there and my poor sweet Tess shaking like a leaf. I guess I am stuck with the girl, apparently she sat in the corner and shook like a leaf and cried. It was worth a try, granted I was having mixed emotions on getting rid of her, but all in all, I guess the decision was ultimately made for me. Dad will have to take her when he retires.
Well that is some quick rambling of all that has been going on recently. It does feel good to have it all out in writing. I hope everyone is safe after these last rounds of storms and my prayers are with those that were hit the hardest....Joplin, Minneapolis, Texas and right here in Indiana.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Things I have learned

First of all, to set matters straight. I do NOT own any Hanson or the like cds, I do however have these songs, but so does Tom since it is on the billboard greatest hits for whatever year that annoying song came out. And despite his moaning, his likes the song "steal my sunshine." Fact.

Well after my first week of flying solo at work not only did I come out beaten and exhausted but I also came out a little smarter. I think I did okay considering that there were a lot of times that I had to lean on others for help, and then we even bribed ourselves with a trip to outlet malls after the next paycheck. That just goes to prove how the last week went. I guess the Seniors had to make their last week a doozy. But I learned a lot, here are just a few tips:
1.) Any vertical writing surface is a bad idea for a left handed person....dry erase, chalk boards,....etc.
2.) Cat bags are not specie specific.
3.) Double and triple check.....everything
4.) When all else fails, wing-it, even if the receptionists may hate you.
5.) At 8am in the morning after a crazy night, everything is funny
6.) At 8am in the morning when everything is funny, you tend to have zero strength left to fight.
7.) Triple XXX makes everything better, the food that is.
8.) A homemade belly band is genius
9.) Bribery will get you anywhere, even if you are just bribing yourself
10.) I work with a great group of people!!

I learned a lot and I learned to enjoy my days off even more. In fact, I treated today (Tuesday is it?) like a Sunday and did absolutely NOTHING. Beside write this blog, and now I am going to clean the bathroom, but nothing was planned for me to do today. My newest project, a fabric baby gate, let's hope my dogs aren't smart enough to figure this one out.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A practice in patience....and keeping my mouth shut

If you have known me for any extended amount of time, you probably have figured out that 1.) Patience is not my virtue and 2.) I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut. Well I have found myself improving greatly on both of these fronts. I do believe that Tess has increased my patience level, because I learned early on with her that if I push her then it will take me twice as long to get back to the same place. I am hoping that I can maintain this new found patience in the weeks to come when the students switch over and we get a bunch of fresh faced newbies. I believe I can....or at least I hope.
Keeping my mouth shut, another Peterson virtue of quick tempers. I do tend to snap quite quickly when people tick me off. But through many years in theater, I have learned to smile and fake it. Of course behind that smile is me thinking " you stupid piece of ......" or "Listen ......." but I don't. I have had to keep my mouth shut a lot lately, I have learned it is best not to stir the pot, poke the bear, or any other weird phrases that basically mean "do not create drama." I guess I am kinda proud of myself because it is a known mathematic equation that as my sleep deprivation increases my filter and patience decrease. Yay for me.
Now for the bunny situation. Well yesterday I felt I was in a frat party dare gone desperately wrong. The milk crate had deterred the dogs despite what you all are thinking until Dudley ran into it and knocked it off the bunny hole. I come outside to find Tess with one in her mouth. I tell her to drop it which apparently translates into "eat faster" therefore she tries to SWALLOW IT WHOLE. (I couldn't help thinking about people swallowing whole goldfish.) I pull the victin out of her gullet by it's back legs. Seriously it was that far down there. I toss the victim aside to wrestle her in. When I come back out I realize that Phoebe has only the hind limbs and some intestines remaining. Joy. Now my concern is whether or not Phoebe's tiny GI system can pass a rabbit skull. Yes it can, at least that is the advice I got from the ever so helpful Momma J. Now there are many jokes of crowning flying around that I will not get into since it involves mental images that will keep you awake at night. The rest of the bunnies got relocated and taken to a wildlife center....or at least i thought the rest of the them but sometime in the evening last night Tess was carrying around another one. Since she apparently didn't like me sticking my hand down her throat she dropped this one fast and he was off. I tried to place him back in his hole with milk crate in place and he jumped through the milk crate openings. After several chases across the backyard (by me not the dogs) I can only assume this guy is not an original group since he can move at a swift speed and the others didn't even have their eyes open. I put him over the fence and hope he found his way, far away from the other 17 dogs on my block. Good riddance little bunnies, and good luck.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Worst animal owner/lover ever.

As a vet tech, I find that some of us (I said some) are the worst animal owners. For instance when I took my precious Lola in to get her vaccines this past week, she urinated and anal glanded (?) in the carrier. What did I do? Beat her senseless? No, of course not. But I did get her 3-yr vaccines hoping that in 3 years we won't have the same problem. Now we recommend to clients, even if they get 3 year vaccines, to still get their annual physicals, probably won't happen with Lola. I can understand her fear, she was thrown out a car window in her early life, she has a fear of cars for good reason.
I also mowed this past week on the one day I didn't work and it wasn't raining. Unfortunately I uncovered a bunny hole that had 7 teeny tiny baby bunnies in it. Yes, they are cute and yes, I felt bad. But the damn bunny had it's babies in MY backyard that always has at least three dogs in it. To make it worse, she even had it in the perimeter of Tess's runner. Really?!?!?! Now I asked around and got many opinions, one was to leash walk my dogs until the bunnies are old enough. Well I have a fenced in backyard for a reason, so NO. I did offer to put a box over the hole with an entrance for momma bunny to come in but I was told that a rabbit would never go into the hole, it would be too scared. Well she had the babies with three dogs, isn't that scary??? My solution? I put an egg crate over it and will uncover it at night. That kept phoebe out of it, however did not keep Dudley peeing on or in the bunny hole. FAIL.
Now my last, most brutal and smelly reminder. I worked late last night, my days are long anyways but this day was 3 extra hours long. I felt horrible for my pups and it sucks that I don't have someone who I can trust to let the dogs out in situations like this. Not that I don't trust the people, I don't trust Tess with the people. There are VERY few people that she will even acknowledge and that is after lots of barking and still various places to run to. I played with them, fed them, loved them and then passed out from exhaustion. I woke up early, thanks to them and the open windows + the garbage truck, and fed them went back to bed only to wake up to find Dudley had peed on various places all over the living room. I think this is his passive agressive (all passive no agressive) way to tell me he is mad. Also as soon as the dogs ate last night, Tess was sure to move out of her kennel taking her rawhide with her saying "no way lady, you left me in there too long." Ugh. I know we will all get on the same page soon, eventually after some carpet cleaning and extra lovin. But it just goes to show that vet techs love our job so much that often when we are busy helping your pets, ours get neglected (at least in their eyes).
And don't even get me started on Phoebe and her pelvic bladder. Can you say sewing project for puppy panties?
I did notice some things that I haven't noticed before. I feel good. Yep I am tired, and sometimes a little congested (but who isn't) but I have not had a bad stomach issue or back issue in a very long time. Of course, I just jinxed myself but it makes me feel good to know that I am back on a good track. I do get the random unexplained injuries from scratches, bites, and those oddly placed bruises but no limiting back pain. Hooray for me, bad for my chiropractor. But hey I kept him in business for a good 2-3 years.
It was a scary step and I do miss my friends that I use to see every day. But all in all I love my job. I will try to be a better pet owner but as far as the bunnies, well, they are on their own.