Hate leaves ugly scars; so why do we hate so much?

I am apparently a hated woman. I am apparently a man hater, as well.

Hmmm. I wasn't aware of either until recently. I'd like to thank the gentleman who has been spamming my inbox, starting with the whole "Boycott American Women" comment for pointing this out to me. Because I hate to walk around oblivious to these stated facts.

Whomever you are sir, I do sincerely apologize for how you've been wronged and hurt by women in your life. You may not believe my sincerity, but, it is sincere, whether you choose to believe it or not.

You think it bothers me that you have put me on your "man hater wall"? It does not, because contrary to your belief in a person you do not, nor will never know, I personally know that I am not a man hater. Perhaps I am a bit cynical from dating experiences, but I personally don't believe that classifies me as a man hater. On the flip side, I don't believe that a man who might be cynical from his dating experiences to be a woman hater.

You ask me to prove my lack of man hater-ness by joining your site which spews only hatred of my sex. Call me crazy (oh wait, you've already done that - so glad we got that out of the way), but hatred only begets hatred. I'm not necessarily a pacifist, I will fight for what I believe in. However, I fail to understand how sheer hatred will save anyone from any kind of wrong doing. And how you can expect me to join your cause after you have insulted not only me, but my mother, my grandmothers, my best friend, and many of my close girlfriends and acquaintances.

I cannot speak for every woman in America, and definitely cannot speak for women all over this world, American or not. I certainly do wish women did not falsely accuse men of horrible actions such as rape or domestic violence. I also, wish women would not marry for money, divorce for money, or keep children from good fathers just for the sake of being cruel. I agree with you that those actions are wrong indeed. Unfortunately, men do take advantage of women, beat women, and there are some fathers who keep kids from their mothers. You are not railing against them why? Because they are being falsely accused? No, it's because you are not one of them. Therefore, all men are innocent of any crimes committed against women because it's us women who are really to blame since the dawn of time isn't it?

Over the centuries, women had no voice because we were not considered "citizens". We could not vote, hold property, or speak our minds. For centuries, women were objects to men, property in a sense. For centuries, women ran the house, raised the children, and frittered away the hours doing needlepoint until someone held a party. Simply because we lacked a penis we were treated as second rate and were too dumb to understand politics and business. We fought hard for our rights to vote, hold property, and do anything a man can do. We are still fighting. Perhaps you would still like us women to hold our tongues, raise the kids, run the household, have dinner on the table by a time specified by you and have extremely limited opportunities in anything? Maybe we can summon Doctor Who for you and he can drop you off in an era more suited to your needs? Yes, let's.

Both men and women are at fault because we abuse each other. Though I know you will disagree with this, call me crazy (again, we've done that), call me a man hating bitch (oh, you've that already as well - aren't you efficient?), sexist, liar, possibly a discriminatory bigot, and many other hateful and spiteful things. You will call me all those things and more simply because I do not agree with you spreading hatred, or fighting hatred with hatred. You will still call me all of those things no matter what I say. Because not only am I a woman, I am a hated American woman. Mostly by you and those who have been touched by your hatred.

 I believe you misunderstood my previous post, sir. You insulted me with your comment and I responded. Perhaps you are angry that I referred to you as an asshat? Or was it douche-bag? Or was it when I called you a whack-job? Well, in my defense, I was insulted and upset. I am a woman, and I can get rather emotional. However, I will apologize for the name calling.

I kindly thank you for your offer of joining your cause, but I must respectfully decline your offer, for the reasons stated above. I know you will not accept my apologies, because you will not believe them to be sincere. My thoughts, my opinions will be sexist and bigoted in your mind. I cannot change that. I have accepted that fact. I do not hate you for your views. In fact, I feel sorry for you and your life without love. No, sir, I do not hate you. I am not, however, overly excited by your existence, nor how you are so willing to spread your hatred.

Call me what you will, make me your man hater pin-up girl, spam my inbox as much as you like. I'm sorry, in all my hated womanliness I have forgotten - you've already done that! I will not shed a tear over your hatred of me simply because I am an American woman. I am a good person. I know that; my friends know that; my family knows that. And that is what is important. My mother and my grandmothers raised me well, taught me responsibility and respect and ethics.

And though you will probably not oblige me when I respectfully ask you, sir, to please stop sending me hateful comments, I am going to ask anyway. Because I have a right to ask that of you. And if you are a gentleman at all, you will stop. Unfortunately, after reading your comments and having perused your site, I do not believe you will stop spreading your hate directly to my inbox. In that case, I will be reading your hateful comments and respectfully marking them as spam.

I know sir, no matter what I say, I am doomed to be hated by you. I accept that.

With my piece having been said, I will not be responding to you or your hateful comments in the near future. I will bow out gracefully. Or should I curtsey? You know what? Just to be safe and polite, I'll do both for you, sir.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

I (and other good women) have been insulted

Due to a sudden rash of "anonymous" comments, I'm now enabling comment moderation. Don't worry, no captchas to worry about, at least for now. These "anonymous" comments are complete spam, and one of them was actually quite offensive. My friend from Tilting at Windmills I know saw the comment I'm speaking about, and actually replied to the spam comment, calling the guy a "case" and stating "you're posting this on an American woman's blog".

Now, I know I shouldn't let what this asshat says get to me. But being that I've been hit with this spam multiple times, I think it's only fair that I get out my frustration.

I'm sure other bloggers out there have been hit with the "Boycott American Women" comment. I have been more than once. And to the douche-bag who posts the comment, you might want to take note of where bloggers live, and whether it's a woman's blog you're leaving it on. I'm sure that the reason you, as an American man (so you claim), hate American women is because you have a certain "type" you always go for. And it's this "type" who has used you and abused you and made you into the headcase you now are. I, however, am not this "type" of American woman. In case anyone is curious, this is what he basically thinks all American women are:

He believes that American women are mostly likely to cheat on you, divorce you, to get fat, to steal half your money, don't know how to cook or clean, don't want to have children, etc. They are immature, selfish, extremely arrogant and self-centered, mentally unstable, irresponsible, and highly unchaste.

Well. Alrighty then. Let's see, I've never cheated on anyone I've ever been in a relationship with. I've yet to be married, so I don't have a history of divorce and taking some poor schmuck for all he's worth. I have a little more on me to love, but I don't weigh a million pounds. I don't steal. I don't like to cook much, but I will. I do know how to clean. If I don't, I ask my mother and she tells me what works best. I do want children, but I'd prefer to be married. I doubt anyone who knows me would say I am immature. I try not to be a selfish person, but no one is perfect. I don't think I'm arrogant or self-centered (unless it's my birthday, but hey, it's my freaking birthday). I'm no more mentally unstable then the next person. I try to be responsible, and hopefully I am 99% of the time. And I'm about as freaking chaste as you can get, dude.

So, in a nutshell, this guy is a whack-job. And I'm sure in coming years as I continue to blog, I will be spammed with his bullshit comment about how horrible all American women are. Go find a therapist. Oh, and I'd love to see how long your mail order bride that can't speak English lasts - because it won't take long to see what a jackwagon you really are.

Thanks for insulting a GOOD American woman.

And before you ask:

 

Just so we're clear.

 

 

Bring it, Monday, bring it.

Talk about another crazy day at the vet clinic. I know y'all are floored, aren't you? A crazy day at the vet's? Never!

Be that as it may, it was indeed, quite insane. Mostly for poor Dr. J, who was a bit frazzled by 9am. Our one surgery showed up at 8am, even though we don't typically do surgeries on Monday. While Dr. J did the dog spay, we had people calling and piling in faster than you could say "Bob's your uncle".

By 8:30 we had a hit by car coming in, an old horse with chronic founder, foxtails in ears, plus the normal array of vaccines. Later we added, a dog that fell off a deck, a St. Bernard with a supposed cherry eye, a dog with foxtails in its throat, plus the normal array of vaccines.

The dog that was hit by a car is doing okay, seems its hip was popped out of place. Dr. J got it back in and the dog is on limited everything for several weeks to heal. But it should heal just fine.

Oh and one gal who brought in three dogs for vaccines, sat patiently for Dr. J . . . never telling anyone that one of those dogs had a laceration about an inch wide on its side. Dr. J saw it when he got into the exam room, and of course, we needed to clean it up so it didn't get infected. But what all of us were curious about was why in the hell didn't she mention it when she made the appointment or when she checked in? If we had known ahead of time, we could have prepped for it. But no, no mention of it, and it was just one more dog we had to sedate and work on in the back. As far as I know, she didn't even mention it to the vet, he just noticed it first thing. Because who can ignore an inch wide gash on the side of a dog. Ohhh. The owner, that's who. The dog got cleaned up and sent home on antibiotics.

The old horse with chronic founder had to be euthanized. For the non-horse people reading this blog, founder (or laminitis) is a condition that affects the horse's feet, and causes lameness. It can be caused by several things, but most often we see it horses that are on feed that is far to rich for them for too long. It can also be caused by other medical issues such as colic (twisted gut), untreated infections, and even insulin resistance just to name a few. Anyway, the gal had her 5 kids with her and they were all pretty upset, especially her youngest. She'd rescued the horse from an abusive situation 17 years ago, and had given her a good, loving home. If it had just been founder that was the problem, it probably could have been treatable. But she had muscle separating from her spine and her discs were bulging. Dr. J took one look and knew founder was probably the least of the horse's problems.

As you can see, founder (or laminitis) is where the coffin bone (the pointy bone in the picture) rotates. A lot of people with foundered horses x-ray their horses hooves on a regular basis to monitor bone rotation.

The dogs with foxtails were treated and sent home with some ear medicines. For those of you who do not know what foxtails are, you're lucky. Out here in the west, foxtails are our enemies. They are a nasty weed that plague us and our animals every year. And not just dogs. Cattle and horses will get them in their eyes or can ingest them and can get abscesses in their mouths from these things if they eat hay that has a lot of foxtails in them. We see it mostly in dogs - in their ears most commonly, but also up their noses, down their throats, and in their paws.

A patch of the evil foxtail weed

 The evil foxtail barbs - this is what we pull from ears, noses, throats and paws. They are very irritating and painful.

The dog that fell off the deck is doing okay. He's an older dog so he old bones didn't like the fall very much. One of the techs and I carried him from the car to the exam room. He was later carried from the exam room to the back treatment room where they sedated him and treated him.

The St. Bernard with the supposed cherry eye turned out to have a nice-sized abscess on it's upper jaw, under the right eye. The abscess was pushing up on the eye, causing the inner eyelid to push out. I followed the tech to the back to offer assistance as everyone else was taken. As soon as she and I leaned over to pick the dog up, all 103 pounds of him laid out flat on the floor. Nice. We got him up on the table, put him under general anesthesia, and Dr. J came over to take a look. They took care of it and he was sent home later in the day with some pain meds and antibiotics.

The dog with a bunch of foxtails in its throat had a lot of them in there according to Dr. J. But he got them out, and sent the dog home with some anti-inflammatory meds and antibiotics.

Not to mention the people that walked in without appointments for random things. Luckily they were quick random things, but still . . . 

 We made it through the day, our sanity still intact. Well, what there was anyway.

Four Things

4 current shows I watch:

1. The Glades - I just watched the first two seasons . . . I love that show.

Because, seriously, this guy? He's sexy.

 

2. Psych - Best. Show. Ever.

3. Top Gear - I enjoy both the BBC and the American versions, but the American one is way more hilarious. Those boys have had me spazzing from laughter.

4. Bones - I have moments where I understand nothing, yet understand everything.

4 things I'm passionate about: (in no particular order)

1. Reading

2. My work

3. Friends & Family

4. Getting to the Harry Potter Park ;o)

4 phrases I use a lot:

1.Dude

2. Really?

3. My thoughts, your words

4. Um . . . ooookay.

4 things I love to eat:

1. Hamburgers

2. Pizza

3. Saucy-eggs and toast (eggs over medium, I love to dip my toast in the yolk)

4. Popcorn and M & M's

4 movies I could watch over and over and over:

1. Pride & Prejudice (the BBC miniseries)

2. The Princess Bride

3. Real Steel

4. Any of the Harry Potters

4 books I love:

1. Pride & Prejudice

2. The Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich (sorry, I seriously cannot pick just one!)

3. The Jane Austen Marriage Manual

4. Sarah's Key

4 bands/artists I never get sick of:

1. Rascal Flatts

2. Eric Church

3. Josh Groban - here's one of my faves

4. Lady Antebellum

4 places I'd love to visit:
1. England

 2. Italy
3. Ireland
4. Disney World

4 things I'm looking forward to:

1. Talking on the phone with my BFF on Saturday

2. The next postcard

3.The stack of books I still get to read

4. My next trip to Redding

10 Gallons of Crazy in a 5 Gallon Bucket

Yep, that's pretty much sums up my day at work on Wednesday.

You know it's never a good way to start the day when the office manager says to you as you walk in, "Computers are down, sweetie."

I really should have just turned tail and went back home and stuck my head under a pillow.  *sigh*

The full-time receptionist is on vacation this week. So, Dr. J asked me to fill in. So here's where the crazy schedule comes in that even I can barely keep straight. I still had to take a day off so I wasn't working 6 full days. But he wanted me over at the main clinic in Town, so he had the office manager's assistant fill in at the Sticksville clinic for me today. And had me take Tuesday off, which meant all three techs had to take turns playing receptionist, and they don't play receptionist very often. And some of you may remember my post on how reception is the worst position in the clinic - no one wants to fill in for the receptionist.

And because the techs were all playing receptionist on Tuesday, it meant they did, in essence, the bare minimum. They didn't file files back, didn't pull the next day's files, did bare minimum straightening up at the end of the day, and they left everything on. Fortunately, they didn't leave me a disaster of a mess.

So, I come in to the computers being down and the office manager having to call in our computer guy to hopefully fix it quick. Meanwhile, the phones are ringing off the hook with people suddenly wanting to pay their bills over the phone. Must have been something in the water today. I got everything filed away, but only pulled a portion of the files for today's appointments. Why? Because I either couldn't read the person's hand-writing, or the client had a common last name and they didn't take a first name, so I had no idea which Smith or Johnson or Jones they meant. And even though we take phone numbers as well, people change those like they change their freaking socks, so often times we don't have the correct number on file, meaning, the phone number is often useless.

My stack of stuff to enter into the computer keeps getting bigger. I had to manually write up receipts for people, which I do at the Sticksville clinic anyway, but this was on a much busier scale. And doctors and techs keep setting things down in places that are actually meant for something else. Meaning my desk was a freaking disaster zone until closing because I had to keep moving things to the right piles and stacks so I could keep things straight.

The computers were finally fixed around 11am, and then I had to wait half an hour for the office manager to do "end of day" for the previous day, so I while I could look things up, I still couldn't enter anything into the computer. *sigh*

At 11:59, some guy walks in with a cat saying he had an appointment for his cat to get shots, but he'd had a hard time catching him. Okay, I'll give him that. But his appointment was at 10:30am. He couldn't have called to give us a heads up? So, I had one of the girls lock the doors, and he asked, "You guys close at noon?" I smiled and said, "Yes, we close from noon to 1pm for lunch." Never mind that it says so on the sign on the front door with our daily hours. Never you mind that minor detail, sir.

I called in an order to go, went to the bank, picked up my order, and went back to work to eat and work for the remainder of my lunch. It was actually very peaceful as the phones were forwarded to our machine, the lights were off, and no one was around. Even still, I only got maybe half the work done that I wanted or needed to get done. And once 1pm rolled around, the phones rang off the hook again and my lobby was full of people. And to make things similar to morning, doctors and techs were still putting things in piles and stacks randomly because they didn't bother reading the sticky notes I had for myself or asking me where I'd like stuff. The only reason they didn't get kicked out of my little area was because they helped me answer the phones and help the poor souls in the lobby.

It took me all afternoon to finish my pile of "needs to be entered" stuff. Took me all afternoon to get stuff done for the surgeries that get dropped off the evening before. That was just in between the phones and the people in the lobby. And then I finally noticed a little pile of "entered" sheets with a sticky note on them: "please print invoices for these in your spare time". It was in one of the doctors handwriting. I'm sure you could imagine what went through my head. I clamped my mouth shut, put the pile aside and I'm pretty sure I felt steam coming out of my ears for about 10 seconds. In my spare time?! Needless to say, that pile is still sitting there and when I have spare time, I will be more than happy to print invoices for the doctor. It's very easy, but it was definitely on the bottom of the priority list.

In the end, I got a call from Dr. R's wife after I got home about my one boo-boo. In the chaos of today, a "one time only" invoice forgot to get entered (which is all on me). I had run his credit card, but somehow the papers got stuck under another pile or in the wrong pile or the wrong something, and I forgot to actually enter that payment into the computer. I explained the situation and she totally understood and asked me how to enter this "one time only", because she didn't know how to enter in a new client. I told her just do it under the "cash" invoice, because he lives down in Imperial Valley and was up here on vacation, so there's no need to make a file and an account for him when we will probably never see him again. She said she'd take care of it. Considering the day I had, I'm surprised that was my only hitch.

Anyway, by noon I was thinking a Cosmo in a gallon bucket would suffice just fine. Or a vat of a chocolate. Maybe both. By 5pm though, I was thinking of a whole different drink: a "margadaquiriscrewalottaonthebeach" would be just about right.

Just another manic Wednesday

Today started out well. I woke up and was actually cool for the first time in a couple weeks. My swamp cooler had finally gotten hooked up and not a minute too soon either. So, thanks to K and her brother, my place is now bearable. Because seriously, it's just not cool to be sweating while sitting doing nothing. It makes me wonder how humans survived before any type of air conditioning . . .

Moving on. I took a cool shower, and was ready for work. I wanted to get to work about 15 minutes early to get a few things done before the vet showed up. So at 7:45 I went out to my car, put the key in and turned it. click click click. Hmmm. Not a good sign. Let's try that again. click click click. Crap. Fortunately being that I live about 4 blocks from the clinic here in Sticksville, I gave my car a sympathetic pat and hoofed it to work. I power-walked to make sure I'd be there on time. I walked up to the clinic, narrowly avoiding a group of wild turkeys on the way. I noted that several people were already waiting for me, and one gal had the audacity to (jokingly) holler out, "It's about time!" I pulled my cell phone from my back pocket and checked the time. I hollered back, "My car died and I'm still two minutes early!" Take that.

I hadn't noticed any major sweating whilst walking, but once I stopped walking, I couldn't stop sweating. I grabbed a Kleenex and started dabbing myself and I started checking people's pets in. We had a dog shave and two drop-off exams/vaccinations. I didn't stop sweating until somewhere around 10am. At 8:30 I said I needed a cold shower. It was not a pretty sight.

 When the vet rolled up, she said, "I'm confused . . . where's your car? I was worried you weren't here." Easy explanation - dead car battery. After her hectic morning of appointments, she offered to take me somewhere for lunch as she'd brought leftovers for herself. I told her that I was originally going to go home and make a sandwich and she was welcome to eat her leftovers at my place if she'd provide the ride. And so we ate our lunch directly in front of my swamp cooler. Bliss.

Everyone that came in today (well, okay, 99.9% of those that came in) asked, "I didn't see your car out front . . ." At 11am, my grandfather called and left a message on my cell saying, "I noticed your car is still at your house, and I just wanted to make sure you're okay." I'm glad people are looking out for me, but I'm not sure how happy I am that 99% of the valley now knows exactly what car I drive. There's not many of them in the valley. And it's red. I think it's the only red on that lives in this valley. Yikes.

After lunch I got caught up on paperwork while Dr. A went out on a couple of ranch calls. I squeezed in a few last minute appointments between 4 and 4:30 (we close at 4:30). One gal I had been talking to off and on all day on the phone (I'll call her Goat Lady because she raises goats), as she needed a health certificate for a goat that was shipping out over the weekend. Around 4, she calls and says she's bringing in another goat that sliced her leg open, right down to the bone. Dr. A tried to see our other appointments quickly, but quick just didn't seem to work out well today.

At 5:15 I texted K to tell her we had a goat emergency and that I would be late for dinner and to not wait on me at the restaurant for her brother's birthday today.

The poor goat that sliced its leg open wasn't very old, but she was a very good patient. Goat Lady had left the health certificate goat outside while we worked on the other one. Around 5, our neighbor called and said, "Oh good you are still there. Someone has left a goat outside in the heat." Goat Lady went to bring the goat inside, where he promptly followed me around everywhere I went. I had to keep getting stuff for Dr. A, and also lay towels down everywhere the buck went because he peed everywhere. And if he wasn't peeing, he was crapping and leaving little goat trails that I had to keep sweeping. But the other goat got all stitched up and is already walking. She sliced off a chunk of muscle about a inch long and a half inch deep, so it made attaching the muscle that was left to anything impossible, but we cleaned the wound out and put a drain in it and stitched it closed.

We were finally done at 6pm, an hour and a half late, and sent Goat Lady home with her two goats and some meds. Goat Lady offered to take me to the restaurant just down the street, but I still had to clean up a bit and close up. Dr. A wound up giving me a ride after we closed up, and I got there just about two minutes before everyone got their dinner. Don't worry, because when I got mine, I freaking inhaled it and finished only a minute after everyone else did. We then we back to the house for dessert and presents - he got lots of guy-type gadgets in case anyone was wondering.

After dessert and presents, Papa D and K's bro drove me to my place and put a battery charger on my car for the night. Hopefully that will work and get me around tomorrow so that I can get it replaced soon.

I got home sometime around 8pm, turned on my swamp cooler, took the cold shower I had been craving since about 7:45 this morning, and have taken some Advil because my body freaking hurts.

And now, I'm tired. I'm pretty sure I will sleep well. lol

A quick book review

I just finished a book that I really wanted to share with you guys. Well, I figure it's pretty much chick lit, so for any male readers out there I won't be mad if you totally skip this post. And no I won't renege on that.

And the reason I figure it's chick lit is it has Jane Austen in the title, and many guys shy away from anything that has anything to do with Jane Austen.

Anyway, the book is titled The Jane Austen Marriage Manual, and I picked it up when I was in Target a couple weeks ago. I was killing some time in the book section, which is obviously not a good place to be because it means I usually walk away with at least one more book to read. I will shamefully admit I was interested in the book from the get-go simply because of the title. And when I finished it Tuesday evening, I had thoroughly enjoyed it. And I loved the simple lesson the main character learned.

Katherine Shaw - Kate - is happy with her life. She has supportive friends, a glamorous magazine career, and a love of all things Jane Austen. But when she loses her job, and a financial disaster forces sale of the family home, Kate finds herself facing a crisis that would test even the most stalwart of Austen heroines.

Friends rally round, connecting her to freelance gigs and presenting her with a birthday gift - title to land in Scotland - that's about to come in very handy. Turns out that Kate's first assignment is to test an Austen-inspired theory: In the toughest economic times, is a wealthy man the only must-have accessory? What begins as an article turns into an opportunity as Kate - now Lady Kate - jet-sets to Palm Beach, St. Moritz, and London, where, in keeping company with the elite, she meets prospects who make Mr. Darcy look like an amateur. But will rubbing shoulders with men of good fortune ever actually lead her to love? And will Kate be able to choose between Mr. Rich and Mr. Right?

Now, anyone who has read Jane Austen (and who knows any history at all), knows that back in those days, marriage was basically an obligation. Both men and women married strictly for money and no affection. Some people were fortunate and there was respect, admiration, and affection in their marriage. Only few people married for love. But in Austen's time, marrying for love was becoming more wanted, especially by women. And it was rare that a woman would choose to never marry, as Jane Austen and her sister did, because they had to depend on friends and family in order to live. Jane Austen did not make a lot of money on her books, and therefore depended on the kindness of her brothers to help support her.

In today's society, marrying for love is pretty much how things are done. There are of course gold diggers in both genders, but we're not going to go there. Or I'm not. This book takes place at the beginning of the recession around 2008/2009, where even the rich were worried about losing money in investments. And the main character finds herself in a situation where marrying for money is definitely an option. And she asks the question: At forty, is it too late to marry for money?

Her journey is entertaining. And she learns a lot from her friends, family, and her experiences. 

Cement vs Semen

Some days a simple and hilarious conversation at work can just make your day. And could quite possibly be labeled "best moment ever".

Last week, as I was starting my new schedule over the main clinic in Town and was therefore there on a day I normally wouldn't be there, this sort of thing happened. Hell, it still makes me giggle.

I think it happened before lunch . . . a gal came into the vet's office, needing some cement for eye patches for cattle. It's not actual cement, like cement shoes or anything, but its an adhesive for eye patches for cattle that have a problem like pinkeye. Here's how the conversation played out:

Gal: I need some cement for eye patches for cattle.

What I heard was "I need some semen . . . " but I didn't say so; mostly because by the time she finished her sentence I knew what she really said. And I didn't want her to think my mind was in the gutter.

E and I were kind of like, "hmmm" because no one has ever come in for just the cement part. So we started looking around, not finding anything. Dr. J comes over and asks what we're looking for . . .

Me: She's looking for some cemen---

Dr. J: You totally just said semen! (and laughed)

Me: (getting slightly indignant) No, I said cemENT.

Dr. J: You totally said semen!! (laughs even more)

E: Yeah, you totally said semen. (laughs)

Gal: (laughing)

Dr. J finally runs off to find some cement. As he walks away:

Gal: I just need a tube of the sticky stuff.

There was maybe a three second pause where the three of us thought "um, not sure that was any better!!" before we all three started laughing so freaking hard we were crying. The gal was quite embarrassed by her latest statement, and once she could catch her breath, admitted, "That really didn't sound any better, did it?"

Dr. J came back to the three of us laughing ourselves silly, and wanted to know what was going on, and the gal told us not to tell. He had found the cement, or tube of sticky stuff as it were, and was handing her a tube. She paid for it, and left. E and I thanked her for making our day as she was heading out the door.

E and I kept laughing over it during the remainder of the day, and we finally told Dr. J what had been said. He got a kick out of it, too.

And so, in an office where we are supposed to veterinary professionals, we were quickly and easily reduced to teenagers by the very thought that someone said "semen" when they said "cemENT" and the phrase "tube of sticky stuff" . . .

 

100 Things That Make Me Happy: Part 10

Before I get to today's post, I forgot I need to announce the next sender of postcards for July! This month's sender is Rachel McCool!



#46. This video I found via Yahoo! A senior at Kansas State remade LMFAO's song "Sexy And I Know It" into "Farming And I Grow It". This is seriously the awesomest idea EVER. This kid used his family and their farm for the backdrop of this video. It's comedic but also extremely educational for people that don't farm and don't really realize where their food comes from. I don't care what food you grab off of a shelf, it was grown by a rancher or a farmer in the beginning. It was grown in dirt, in the sunshine and the rain. And hard-working people grew it for you.



#47. Finding farmers like this family here, that have been farming the same land for 7 generations. In this day and age, it's hard to find family farms that are still going strong. Many family farms have fallen over the years because they can no longer afford to stay in business. Farmers like this family take care of their animals because they know that those animals are their livelihood, and want to keep their farm in the family for future generations.



#48. Picnics. Who doesn't love a picnic???? I don't care if you made the food and took it with you or if you grabbed KFC or Subway and headed out. Although sometimes Mother Nature's guests show up uninvited, it's usually a nice way to spend some time with friends or family.

#49. Cold showers on a hot day. Seriously. Best. Thing. Ever. I spent most of today cleaning house. My swamp cooler hasn't been hooked up yet, because up until today, it really hadn't gotten into the 90's (F) yet. And cool breezes helped out, and cool nights too. Hell, just a couple weeks ago, it was still getting into the 30's (F) at night. So, I was sweating like a pig all day. I kept taking little breaks because I'd just get too hot. But after I was done, I took an ice cold shower. Thirty seconds after I turned the water off, I was already too hot. But for the 10 minutes I was in the shower, it was bliss.


#50. Camping. I used to go camping with my parents all the time as a kid. It was fun. Some days I would sit around the campsite and read a book all day. Others I would ride my bike around the campground. We take walks or hikes on nearby trails, play catch, play poker for M & M's (and this is just one reason why I suck at poker lol), and roast marshmallows on the campfire.

Something slightly new

So, earlier this week I was told by Dr. J that they had had to let one of the receptionists go. Apparently there were a few complaints, and that's all I was told. What I do know is that Dr. J then told me that he and Dr. R had been talking and wanted to offer me a couple extra days at the main clinic in Town - Mondays and Fridays to be exact. In addition to my three days over at the Sticksville clinic, and my Saturday at the main clinic in Town.

I was a wee bit floored. Really hadn't been expecting that. I had recently inquired about the possibility of a couple extra hours by filling in for people on vacation or something, but it was more of a reminder that "hey I'm happy to fill in if you need me" sort of thing. So I wasn't expecting to be asked to work two extra days. I told him I'd think it over and discuss it with my grandparents and would let him know by today (Thursday). He had asked me to fill in today and tomorrow to help the receptionist that is still there.

So I went in to work at the main clinic today and wasn't sure what to expect. Usually I'm alone up front on Saturdays. So working with another receptionist was kind of a new experience for me. I was a bit worried, mostly because everyone is different in how they work or want things done, or where they want everything on the desk.

E and I know each other, we've just never worked together. So, we spent the morning talking things over and moving a couple things around. She took the spot I usually sit in on Saturdays, so now two days a week I'll have to work in her old spot, which is not exactly conducive to efficiency. But I kept playing with it throughout the day and came up with something that was okay. It will probably be tweaked even more as time goes on. We did a bit of cleaning house up front and reorganizing.

My thing was that I never knew why the weekday receptionists did what they did, or changed what they changed, and so forth. They don't work weekends and I work alone on weekends. I just always moved things around to suit me and how I worked and at the end of the day, I put things back, usually in the place they were before . . . but not always. I'm not perfect. (Shocker, I know). So, E and I also spent the morning with her telling me who was the mastermind behind the changes that had next to no logic; and being that she didn't want a fight up front, she just kind of went along with said changes. So for one thing we both hated, I simply asked, "So, what you're telling me is that I can toss this and no one will care?" She said yes, and I tossed it and moved on to the next. I asked about something else and she said, "Oh that was the first thing to go!" And lastly, the other gal had decided on making duplicate files for clients from our two satellite clinics whenever they came in to the main clinic. Well, in some cases, there's already a duplicate file for the main clinic in with the regular files. If there's not, we just sent paperwork over that satellite clinic and the person there files it in their files. So I asked if she would mind if I filed the duplicates that didn't already have a duplicate buried with the regular files and toss what was already duplicated. (Yes I'm aware this makes no sense). And that any loose papers that didn't have a file over here would be sent to it's satellite clinic for filing. She agreed and I cleaned up that mess for her.

E showed me how they do paperwork for surgeries now since I don't do that on weekends. And she showed me how to some phone stuff that I've never had to do on weekends because it's already set up for me.

When E and the other gal were working together, one was always "check in" and the other was always "check out" and they never strayed from that unless one of them was off or something. Well, that just doesn't seem like a fair split of the job duties. So E and I discussed how we should do this . . . I suggest that we both just do what needs to be done. If there's three people waiting to be checked out, I'll help check out. If there are multiple people waiting for check-in, then we'll both jump in and do that. We both file, pull files, and help customers shop, answer phones - whatever needs to be done, we just do it. And it ran pretty darn smoothly. I grabbed a file holder and told her I would put my charges in it and she had one for hers. She didn't want the letter stand, and I like having it, so I took it. She moved certain things to the middle of the counter in between us for easy access. And so on.

 I walked into this last weekend. Did not make for a happy J.Day.

After I was done with it 5 minutes later. That's all it took.

We got along pretty well, had a few good laughs, lots of teasing, and in general we worked well together. Not to say we always will, but we're off to a good start. We're both the kind of people who like to have our work-space organized and clean. We both have to learn to work with someone new and it will be a learning process, but we're off to a good clean start.

Not to mention all the techs are excited to have me over at the main clinic two days a week. I rarely get to see them unless I pop in to get my paycheck or something. Even the office manager was happy to see me filling in.

Basically what these two extra days mean is that I won't be feeding on the ranch as often as before. Probably a couple days a week. I will still be writing for my grandparents publication, but on a slightly more limited scale - I won't be able to go on the road to help pick up ads or really to do much delivery. I don't know if all of this is the right move, but I enjoy working at the vet's office and picking up a few more hours sounds good to me. If in a few months, I find that I'm just too exhausted, then I will talk with Dr. J and cut back to my old routine. My grandparents left this decision up to me and my parents are shocked about the extra hours offer but they are happy that the vet's office wants me to work - it means they like me. (I don't know why they do, but I'm not going to question it! lol)

 

Happy 236th Birthday, America!

Holy crap on a cracker, how did it become July already?! I'm a bit baffled as to how it showed up, because it just can't be here already.

Being that tomorrow (Wednesday) is July 4th and is a national holiday here in the USA (our Independence Day), the Sticksville clinic will be closed, so to make my week even weirder, we were open all day today (Tuesday). The fact that the 4th falls in the middle of the week is nearly a national crisis because nobody knows when to take their vacations. Nor do towns know which weekend they should do fireworks. And before you ask, no, not every town does fireworks on the 4th. Redding always does theirs on the 4th, but up here in the sticks, some towns have had weekend long celebrations for over 60 years - so their fireworks won't be until the 7th. Weird. Really, we should just call the whole freaking week a holiday and have fireworks every night. Who's with me?

Being that tomorrow is my nation's biggest holiday (seriously, you do not want to know how many hot dogs and beers will be consumed before fireworks commence - okay, it's roughly 150 million hot dogs. Makes me ill to imagine that many hot dogs . . . ), I thought I'd share with y'all a few facts about America's Independence:

~ The 4th of July commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence - it was initially adopted on the 2nd of July, but the revised version was adopted two days later.

~ The Declaration of Independence was written chiefly by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, and consulted mostly with John Adams. The two men were political rivals and disliked each other until they were retired old men, when they became the best of friends. Oddly enough, our second (Adams) and third (Jefferson) Presidents died only hours apart on July 4th, 1826 in different states. Sadly, just before Adams passed away, he said "Thomas Jefferson still survives." Unbeknownst to Adams, Jefferson had passed on just hours before.

~ A third President, James Monroe, also died on July 4th in 1831.

~ July 4th was celebrated by both sides in our Civil War, 1861-1865.

~ President Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4th, 1872.

~ The "Star Spangled Banner" didn't become our national anthem until 1931.

~ The 50-star flag we use today was actually designed by an Ohio high school student. Poor kid received a B- for his class project. He then sent his design to President Eisenhower for consideration and a change of grade. Eisenhower chose the design, and the kid was given an A instead.

~ Though the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July, not all 56 signers signed on July 4th. The official event was August 2, 1776. John Hancock was actually the only one to sign his "John Hancock" on July 4th.

~ On July 4th, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson announced the Louisiana Purchase - which was a huge chunk of land that encompassed much of the Midwest. On July 4th in 1805, exlporers Lewis and Clark took time off to celebrate the 4th after a hard day of lugging their canoes around the Great Falls of the Missouri River, in what is today Montana.

~ The 4th of July wasn't a national holiday until 1941.

~ Roughly 1 out of 4 Americans don't know the country from which we gained our Independence. (Are you effing kidding me?!) In a 2010 poll, 74% said England/Great Britain, 20% were unsure, and 6% named other countries. Obviously this does not speak well of our education system. Of course, there are a good number of people that can't get the number of States right (it's 50 in case anyone was curious. Evidently either people forget Hawaii and Alaska because they're not joined contintentally (a word I just made up), or they add in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands or something. Or they're making up states as they go along.)

~ July 4th is also Rwanda's Independence day, and oddly enough it's also the day the Philippines gained Independence from, of all places, America.

~ The oldest, continuous Independence Day celebration in the USA is in Bristol, Rhode Island; having thrown a celebration every year since 1785.

~ Two of America's greatest national symbols were made overseas. The Liberty Bell (in Philadelphia) was cast in England, and the Statue of Liberty was crafted in France.

There ya have it folks. A wee bit of a history lesson. And not only for those who don't live here . . . because it's obvious that Americans don't always know their own history . . . lol For my American followers, have a happy and safe 4th!!