Rain, rain go away

Lots of random thoughts to fill the day.

Nathan and I rented an apartment in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin and with Adam's help we plan to move on May 16th. We got a 6 month lease at the Hidden Oaks apartments.
If you have the inclination to check it out got to:

Hidden Oaks Apartments

The good points are that it is about 1 mile from where I am going to work. It is close to Woodman's, the highway, and Target. Our particular apartment over looks the pool and playground so Mason will enjoying passing the day watching all the kids. Also they are allowing me to keep Mason there, although he is 40 lbs over their weight limit. While we were driving around we saw that we are about 2-3 miles from a Pick your own Strawberry farm and a Pumpkin farm. Since our lease is only for 6 months, we don't plan on unpacking most of our stuff. Marv is being nice enough to lend us a portion of his garage for storage purposes.

Which brings me to our garage sale. We had a "few" extra things that we didn't want to lug all the way to Wisconsin so Nathan and I put on our first gargage sale. I spent my day off yesterday, arranging things, and setting up. And here I am now sitting at the garage sale as we have our very first full day of rain in about 3 months. So today has been pretty slow but I am hoping tomorrow will be busier. But it is interesting to see what people buy. Nathan and I decided to price everything "cheap" -- most things are $1 or 50 cents. And there were a couple of big ticket items at $10. So great deals on everything. Do you know what the first thing to sell was? Mason's toothpaste and toothbrush (which is approximately 8 years old). I felt kind of guilty for selling it to the lady since I should have really just thrown it out. SO I threw in the doggie breath tabs for free. Later I had a retired bull rider visit and buy two pieces of my flea market jewelry. There is one thing I am determined to sell: Nathan's glitter experienence that he won at a dirty Santa. What is the glitter expierience? It is like a lava lamp but with glitter --a perfect decoration for a tween but not quite made for the 20 something computer scientist.

Ok, back in time again. Last week I finally decided that Mason needed a dental. His breath had gotten to the point that it smelled like something died in it. I have been hesitant to put Mason under anesthesia again, since he crashed at the end of his mast cell removal surgery in 2002. But if I was going to have it done, I wanted to have an expert watch over him during anesthesia. I did all the blood work, no problems. I talked at length with the head technician at school (who is running both the ICU and Anesthesia departments and knows more about Anesthesia then anyone else at school). So her and Wayne (the senior student on the case) planned out a unique protocol for Mason -- so that he could be reversed very quickly if needed. Mason is exceptionally well during anesthesia -- which turned out to be a 3 hour procedure. He needed 3 teeth removed in addition to a set of dental x-rays, scaling, and polishing. The minute they turned off the gas he sat up. I have never seen a dog wake up that fast. Anyway, to make a long story short, I bought him new toothpaste and toothbrush and we are going to make an effort to brush his teeth everyday. Oscar on the other hand is not as fond of the toothbrush but we have progressed and I can brush about 1/2 of his teeth.

So I am finishing up my last rotation at an emergency clinic in Oklahoma City (the same clinic Mason spent a night at after his mast cell removal surgery). In general the majority of people take good care of their animals. But then there are those animals that come in with the most bizarre stories, sad situations, or in such bad health that you begin to wonder what their owners were thinking. But I guess the reality is that it isn't our job to figure out the owners. We are just responsible for doing what is best for the animal. I am however am getting alot of good practice on the ultrasound machine and I have even been able to diagnose problems in 2-3 animals just by practicing. Anyway, I will have some "amazing" pictures to show when they get e-mailed to me about an emergency that came in the other day.

7 Days until Graduation!

“Shhhh! Be vewy vewy quiet! I'm hunting duck butts! Hahahahahaha!”

Yes, it is that season again. Two days before Easter and we (hopefully with your help)will help in the hunt for duck butts.













What is a duck butt?

Affectionately named by Anne, orginally duck butt was adopted from Walmart. This became Mason's ultimate passion in life. He spent many hours each and every day nibble the butt (and yes, only the butt) of duck butt. Duck butt traveled all over the country with us. From Oklahoma, a short stay in TN, NJ, OH, WI, IL.

When Oscar came along, Mason taught him amount the special relationships with duck butt. Oscar soon acquired mini-duck butt and soon Oscar would carry it around the house, talk to it every night, and bathe it in the water bowl every early morning.

Why a new duck butt?

There was a tragic ending to the love story b/w Mason and duckbutt. One icy Oklahoma night, duck butt was left outside and he froze. Mason conmensed on nibbling the following day and let's just say the end result was not pretty. Duck butt had to be buried in the trash can. Mason, mourned for days.

When is the best time to find a duck butt?
Right after easter. All the duck butts are put on sale. Unfortuntely we have only Walmart here in town and I am worried that there will be a short (or no) supply of them. Here is where you come into place.

This is a few examples of duck butts:

So these are few examples. Note that they all have a rather large, pointy, back end. They come in many sizes and shapes. Colors don't really matter. But we are in need of a mini and a large duck butt (or a small stock pile of them).

So here is your mission: Scour your Walmart, Meijer, and Target for these little fellows. Mason and Oscar are desparate. So your help is needed.

E-mail me if you need my address.