Problem Solving

So, I did a little experiment last night. This may require some background information...

I have 2 dogs. One of Pacey's pills must be given every 8 hours. So, usually if I'm gone, I crate Greta and use an automatic feeder and Pacey gets it. (Greta is way faster than Pacey both mentally and physically, so that's why I crate her.) With this new job I will be starting, I won't be able to come home to let them out during the day. So, I will have to set the feeder for Pacey, but I would feel really mean crating Greta for 12 hours while I'm gone.

So, I got an automatic dog door and installed it in my bedroom. This way, I can put Greta in my bedroom, set the door on one of those timers that you'd use when you're away to turn your lamps on and off, and make the door able to open after the pill would have been given (she wears a magnet key on her collar to open the door). Then she'd be able to go downstairs and go outside if she needs to (in the kennel I'm still working on out in the backyard).

So last night, I tried this theory out. Just to see if she will destroy my bedroom while I'm gone for so long - she IS a lab mix after all. I went out last night and left her for 6 hours and my bedroom is still intact! Of course, she didn't realize that she could leave the room since when I came home she was still in there, but she'll figure it out. I need a little bell or something that will tell her she can open the door once the timer turns it on.

These tests are scary - my room could have been a disaster! I was so proud of her!

Well, my friend Lara and I are going hiking today. I should get some stuff ready. If I had my camera I'd post pictures later, but I had to send it in since I dropped it at the daycare and the LCD screen smashed. :( It still takes pictures, but I can't see them or use the menu. I hope they can fix it.

Happy Birthday, Elaine!!

Who do you look like?

My friend Stephanie and I are applying for the Amazing Race. On the application, there's a question "What famous person reminds you of yourself?" I have NO CLUE! I have no idea who I look like or act like. So, on the news yesterday, they spotlighted this website where you upload a picture of yourself and it tells you who you look like. The first picture I uploaded, I got Ashlee Simpson (blonde version). This made me sad. I uploaded more pictures to see if the results would be different every time. I got repeats of Candace Bergen, Evangeline Lily, and Winona Ryder. I'm not sure I believe any of those, but it was fun. Want to try? It's at MyHeritage.com. If you do it, I want to know what it says!

Rollercoaster

The thing about Colorado that you just have to love is the rollercoaster weather we have. For the past week, it has been beautiful - sunny and in the 70's. Today it has been dark and dreary and rainy and now it's snowing! You just never know what the day will bring when you wake up. I guess I'll take that over dreary weather for weeks at a time. Denver is said to be sunny 300 days out of the year, and so far, I believe it. Can you believe that sometimes I actually miss the rainy days of Erie? Hard to fathom, I know.

I found out yesterday that Pacey (my 3 year old epileptic sheltie) may also be hypothyroid now. We had this concern about 2 years ago, but he's right on the edge of what's a "normal" level, and he didn't show physical signs, so we let it go.

This brings up the curse of being a vet tech. I had a cat growing up. Ok, so maybe vet science hadn't come as far and we just didn't look for things, but she was a very healthy cat. Besides towards the end of her life, we never had to take her to the vet except for wellness visits and vaccines.

Now that I'm a tech, my animals develop bad things. I adopted Bethany as a healthy 1 year old. She has since developed asthma. I adopted Tristan, and he now has cholangiohepatitis, IBD, or triad disease (depending on the day - he hasn't been truly diagnosed). I adopted Henry a few years back knowing he had diabetes, and in my care, he developed food alergies, heart disease and broke his foot. Now Pacey the epileptic is hypothyroid. Please oh please, let Pooh and Greta stay healthy!!!!!

It's not just me, seriously other techs and workers at Care have had their animals come down with unexpected conditions. It's just a curse. Call me superstitious, but some are true. (Like if the person helping me draw blood says, "That vein's a HOSE, you'll get it right away!" then I'm not going to be able to hit the vein. It's happened more than once.)

Oh well, hypothyroidism is not the worst thing. Let's all applaud (while I knock on wood) the fact that Pacey has not had a seizure in over a year!!!! Considering he was having them every month or two, and the last one he had forced us to put him under anesthesia to get him to stop convulsing, I'd say that's GREAT! Yeah, I'll take hypothyroid any day...

Just dinking around

Today was better at work. No emergencies, and only a few x-rays. And I bonded with a tortie named Angel Pie. She crawled right into my lap and started purring. So of course I had to sit there for like 10 minutes just petting her. I have a little thing for torties. Even if they do have an attitude!

I'm just playing around trying to learn the blog basics. Let's start with a picture, shall we? This is a cute one of my 2 dogs. That was relatively easy. Now I just need to edit some of these links so I don't have two "Edit-Me" links. I hate navigating through HTML code. I took a class a long time ago and, although scary, it made sense to me. Now I look at it and my eyes cross again. Soon I will have a link to my picture collection.

The Beginning

I've decided to try the whole blog thing. I can never remember if I've told everyone the latest news, I almost always end up forgetting who I've told what to. So, this is easier. A little update on my life and everyone can read it. Not that my life is all that exciting, but I love reading other people's blogs, so maybe someone will get a kick out of the single girl's blog. So let's just get right into it...

Today I worked at Care. My very last weekend there. Before I knew the business was closing, I had decided to work 1 weekend a month at Care just for some extra money. I now remember how much fun weekends are. We are only open a half day, but somehow I was there 2 extra hours because we had 2 dogs come in (separate families) who were vomiting. So that was the "blue light special." I took a lot of x-rays today. I'm proud that after 5 months off, I could still pull blood and place IV catheters! Yea!

To catch anyone up who hasn't heard, Marla (my business partner of the dog daycare) has backed out of the business. Since I cannot do it on my own, we are trying to sell it, but plan on closing on May 19. I have already found another job - a really exciting one at the Veterinary Referral Center of Colorado. It's a specialty practice and I am working in the internal medicine department. They have really fun toys and really good pay and benefits, so I'm looking forward to it.

I think I'll stop there. I will need to save some subjects for later when I have nothing to say! Hopefully I will keep up with this - I was never good at the whole diary/journal thing. So if you're wondering what's up and I haven't written in a while, email me and tell me I'm a slacker!