Snowstorms

The Ithaca region was hit pretty hard with snow today. But we were fairly busy at the hospital. We worked on a super cute 8 month old Umbrella Cockatoo. So cute! Yesterday at the zoo it was really fun watching the elephants get their feet radiographed. They really love their keepers and are incredibly obedient. They lifted their feet and trunks on command. One of them was even asked to lie down on her side so we could examine the bottom of her feet. We also examined a Golden Lion Tamarin and a Fennec Fox. Tonight I watched the beautiful film "Hiroshima Mon Amour". A little bit documentary, a little love story. The other day I was introduced to the disturbing, yet entertaining rendition of "My Humps" by Alanis Morissette. Even more disturbing and entertaining was that the head veterinarian of the service and the technician were the ones that brought it to my attention.

Tuesday Slump

Today we didn't have many appointments. We went to that man's house...the one with the Angelfish. Nice house! Gated, huge, had an elevator...you get the picture. Anyway, he's not sure if he's going to pursue treatment, but the mass looked like cancer. The recommendation was to have it surgically removed. Before Marcus left for Sweden, he got me flowers which have finally bloomed. The apartment smells so nice and the fragrance fills our entire living room. They're lilies, which by the way, can cause kidney failure in cats if ingested, so again beware! Speaking of lilies, my absolute favorite flower is the calla lily. It's been the subject of Robert Mapplethorpe's photography (a favorite artist of mine) and Diego Rivera paintings. I tried to watch Kurosawa's "The Bad Sleep Well", but I just wasn't in the mood, which was too bad. I think I needed something a little more mindless tonight. I briefly spoke with Marcus, who's having fun in Sweden. Tomorrow I'm going to the zoo. This is the same zoo that I spent a month at working with the reptiles and amphibians. It's a great place because it's not too big, so you can easily see the various exhibits within a few hours. And the collection is pretty impressive. We're going to take x-rays of the elephants' feet. That should be fun. Apparently the elephants are trained to lift their feet for the procedure. I love the zoo!

Holiday Cheer...Beware

Tonight I went to the gym, stopped by Wegman's to get dinner, then drove back to the apartment. At our doorstep was a pretty little poinsettia plant with a card! My first thought was, "what a sweet little gift"...and my immediate second thought was "this plant is toxic to dogs and cats"! So just as a friendly reminder, many things are toxic to our furry and feathered friends...so if you get a poinsettia for the holidays, place it way out of reach because it can cause gastrointestinal signs including hemorrhage and blistering. Holly is also toxic. I could go on and on. So beware! Anyway, tomorrow one of our patients is a prize winning saltwater Angelfish who apparently has some sort of mass on its operculum (flap of skin covering the gills)and eye. I'm not sure of the exact breed of fish, though. So that should be interesting. Last night after I blogged I ended up watching another french flick, "Under the Sand". Great story about how a widow lives in denial after her husband took a swim at the beach and disappeared.

Weekend Update

It's Sunday night, and I've been on call all weekend...when I'm on call I can never truly relax and feel free to do what I want, because I always fear getting paged. Well, last night Stacy and I tried to go socialize while I was on call. We watched "Awake", a really bad movie! I was intrigued by the fact that it has to do with anesthetic awareness but it's really not even about that. But that's besides the point. I got paged four times during the movie and had to make about 15 phone calls in the process!!! Frustrating. Then I was actually called in twice. Well, I spoke with Marcus, he's having a great time in Sweden. A few days ago I blogged about a "nature sounds" alarm clock that I got...it turns out that when I sleep heavily, I don't reliably wake up to the sounds of frogs and a rushing brook. So I returned that alarm clock, and I ordered the one that makes the cathedral bell sounds, because I know I wake up to them. Tonight there's not much on TV. I watched a french film called "The Bridesmaid" off the Netflix website. It was okay. It's about a man who quickly falls in love with a mysterious (and shady) woman and is obsessed with a stone bust that resembles her. I hope to go to the gym this week and catch up on some major housecleaning! Plus I really need to get into holiday mode, but without Marcus here and my being busy, it's a bit challenging.

My Latest Obsession

After saying I felt like a blob because I haven't been able to go to the gym in the last two months, I finally went last night and tonight! I feel great. Marcus is getting on a plane tomorrow to visit Sweden, specifically his home town and Stockholm, where his father's family lives. I'll miss him, but he's going to have a good time. I'll see him soon enough. If you've never made it to Sweden, you should (in the summer though). Great food, very environmentally and animal welfare aware, and fun times. Well, I've launched onto a new obsession: the alarm clock with sounds of nature. Ever since I stayed at a hotel in Syracuse the night before my boards exam, I've been on this kick. It's because the alarm clock in my hotel room had a church bell sound when it went off! So I think I need to retire my 22 year old (literally) alarm clock to try something with a fun wake up sound. I found one that actually had elephant sounds and bird chirping as alarms, but that clock was discontinued! Damn! So I think I'm getting this Timex model that has chimes and birds chirping as options. I'm so excited. I hope it's all it's cracked up to be. Or I would probably be safe without any alarm clock, since Twinkie loves to wake us up every morning at 4 A.M. and 5 A. M.

Cheese!

I got home from my first day on the exotic pets/zoo rotation at 5 P.M....but I also got to school at 6 A.M. to finish up my morning responsibilities on the horses I had in the large animal hospital. It's been a long day, but exotics is pretty chill and a lot of fun. I also got to see my "senior" class photo that's going to be up on the "Wall of Fame" (photos of previous graduates) in the veterinary school. They have every class from the very first veterinary class that ever graduated Cornell up till now. It's so funny to say that I had my senior photos taken, with the cheesy standard photo background and all... Today I dealt with a really cute albino rat and I have a Quaker parrot as my patient. He's very afraid of people, which is too bad. Tonight I'm going to try to chill out, even though I'm on call. Marcus went to Boston on business, but he's back tomorrow. So it's just me and Twinkie the cat at home. I really hope to have a little down time for the next two weeks...I feel like a blob since I haven't been working out lately. YUCK.

Another Sunday and Winter Has Arrived

Brrr...last night we didn't have heat and it was 50 degrees in our apartment! And no hot water this morning. I left the apartment at 6:45 A.M. to get started on my morning treatments and had no idea it had snowed overnight. Yuck! The good news is that the heat is finally working again and there's hot water. We watched "The Lives of Others", a German film about the Secret Police in East Berlin (before the Wall came down). It follows the surveillance of a group of artists and how it ends up affecting their lives. GREAT movie. Both Marcus and I really loved it. Now I think I'm going to watch a personal favorite of mine, "The Servant", which explores the relationships between the rich and the poor and even alludes to vampires. LOVE IT! You should check it out. Last night I roasted a whole garlic, unpeeled, in the oven for a while. Then we sliced up some fresh focaccia bread. And we cut open the garlic, took out the cooked cloves, crushed and mixed them with olive oil for dipping. Very delicious.