Well flights delayed

So I have a bit more time now, but it's not too badly delayed! So I can rewrite my blog! So today I got a pedicure with my cousin, something that was a long time coming, it was amazing! Then my cousins and aunt gave me a ride to the airport, thanks again guys! And even though there was a bunch if traffic we made it just in time! After a fairly long check in line and an easy security
Line I realised I was quite hungry so I got a super good sandwich (that's the picture I messed up on) and got some waters for the flight. Now I'm just waiting to board!

Damnit!

I wrote a whole long thing and then deleted it, lame. Well I don't have time to do it again lol next stop heathrow!

Christmas!

It's Christmas in CA! Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well its not really a thing here, but damnit we're having one! Well two actually, a small one today and a bigger one on Sunday, we even invited one of our American professors, so hopefully he comes! It'll also be my gentleman callers first Thanksgiving, as, again, its not a thing here, and it was really fun last year, so it'll be a good break before we really start stressing! And since its Thanksgiving I should give thanks for all the great things in my life. I'm thankful for the friends I've made, both here and stateside and my amazing family who have supported me through my life and have allowed me to move here and follow my dream of being a vet and believed in me even when I didn't think I was going to get in. And lastly, and this ones REALLY important, I'm thankful that my friends are babysitting a kitten tonight, so I can play with it while we watch Mary-Kate and Ashley movies! Its the little things! :) I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, even though I wish we could all be together! Think of me when you eat your Tofurkey! (ya right!)

Sick, and sick of studying!

I finally succumbed to the plague AGAIN, so I was a tad under the weather the past week, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was last time, just a terrible sounding cough, but its mostly gone now, just in time for exams! Well those are 2 weeks away now, so its getting down to crunch time, hopefully I get everything done! The joys of having cumulative exams, but it should be ok. I did a large animal exam last week, which was basically us oscultating a cow, taking his temp, and general poking and prodding, poor guy, but he was being really cooperative, and so sweet. Though he was castrated, I probably wouldn't say that about an intact bull. So that was fun, we got to do some hands on stuff! Fri I was a Cochno and we basically did a walk around talking about feed stuffs, milking, etc, again highlighting all the weird stuff we need to know as vets (how the entire milking system works, so we're mechanics now apparently). I've also come to the realisation that I may want to do large animal medicine, or mixed practise, so I can still get my small animal fix. I'll have to line up some more EMS to get more experience, but cows are actually really fun to work with, and so cute! Who knew! Sat I more or less took a break from studying and went to a Pharoh exhibit with my friend at the Kelvingrove. It was small, but a fun change of pace. Then we went to late lunch at the 78, so noms, and headed home. I studied a bit and then it was 2 friends of mine birthdays, so we all went over to one of their flats and played some games, it was ridiculous. Definitely a good laugh. Today I've just been studying metabolism, and then I'm heading to my friends flat for pizza and movie night, since I haven't seen her in ages, and she lives at the end of the street, which is ridiculous! Also this week I saw the last Twilight, at midnight. I planned it with my old flatmate last year when we went to the 1st one. It surprisingly wasn't terrible. I wouldn't go so far as to recommend it (since I don't like the series) but it didn't make me want to gouge my eyes out and the acting was actually good, surprising. It also got excessively violent towards the end, which was a surprise to me and my friend, so that was cool. Other than that not much doing here. It hailed yesterday, so I"m just holding my breath for snow, hopefully not during exams so we don't all slip on our way to exams!

Jack White!

We saw Jack White on Wed and he was amazing! His opener was Willie Moon (we'd never heard of him before) but he was very entertaining and enthusiastic (may or may not have been on a good amount of drugs), but he seemed to be having a good time. The only thing that kind of sucked was he opened with a great Jack White song cover, so it meant that Jack wasn't going to play it, but still great! Willie Moons back up band were to kick-ass rocking chicks who were absolutely amazing! One on guitar and the other on drums, they were rocking! Then Jack White came on with his all girl band and they were absolutely phenomenal. He had a good array of instruments, and was just amazing. They played for about an hour, and then he brought out his all male band to finish up the album, they played some Raconteurs, and 7 Nation Army (which is the football chant here and all over Europe so the crowd was having a great time). So they played for about another hour and then the girls came back on and they all played together until the end. It was literally 2 hours of just non-stop music, he barely stopped to talk. Seriously one of, if not THE, best concert I've ever been to. So glad that we were able to go see such an icon play!

One Lucky Lady

That's pretty much how I've been these past few weeks, I just realised that it's been a while since I last blogged, but I don't even realise that it;s been that long! Well since I posted its been Halloween, which was super fun! We had 2 parties, the vet one was in a new place and was pretty fun, though a lot of people were gone so it wasn't as much fun as usual. I was the Swedish chef, which came together well and quickly and seemed to be a hit, my flatmate was Rufio, which  was amazing, and my other friends were a cat, penguin, Rafiki, and there was a whole bunch of other costumes there. Say what you will about vet students, we certainly are creative!
This past weekend was AVS, which is a 'sports weekend' and I used that term loosely, but it certainly was amazingly fun! There were vets from all over the UK and each school, and also each schools 5th year vets, have themes. They were:
Liverpool: noahs ark
RVC: vikings
Cambridge: where's wally
Dublin: Indians (native americans)
Nottingham: 1-2 years foxes, 3-4 hunters
Bristol: mimes
Edinburgh: Penguins
Glasgow: gnomes

Usually its away, but this year it was in Glasgow so I figured I had to go, since it would never be cheaper or easier for me to go while I'm here. It was great fun and I'm really glad that I went, though I have to say it totally kicked my ass, but it's supposed. It was really an amazing weekend! And to top it all off it we celebrated my birthday too. That was pretty chill, just brunch with my friends at one of our favourite restaurants and then home to have home made vegan beer cake (courtesy of my flatmate) decorated with Dexter murdering someone (that someone was Bilbo Baggins, since there were no other action figures small enough to kill), which is probably one of the best gifts I have ever received! Amazing. I seriously have the best friends. Afterwards we all just hung out and watched TV all day, so a perfect day after a great weekend!
Today we had dissection of the face muscles, which wouldn't have been too bad, except we had a cat, so everything was really small and hard to see. Also cats have really thin skin so its really easy to accidentally cut off the superficial muscles with the skin. BUT, because I'm a surgery pro I didn't (and subsequently got praised by my professor who rarely gives praise and then I subsequently turned a violent shade of red, happy but a bit embarrassed). And that's pretty much me for now!

A little repost from the AVS fb page.

'We are about to embark on a journey of truly epic proportions. It wont always be easy - there may be casualties along the way to nausea, dehydration, sleep deprivation - but we must stand strong and party on. United, together, we will sing loudly, we will dance crazily, we will drink heavily, we will laugh wholeheartedly,
we will pull prolifically. The list goes on, but we must make this weekend go down in history as one of the most legendary we experience during our short time at this vet school. We must let the random banter flow as we ride the unpredictable rapids of AVS'

WE LOVE YOU GLAAAAASGOW...

 

I'm Still Alive!

I haven't blogged in a while, but I AM still alive and going to school! The days seems to all bleed into one lately, I think the general overcast that has blanketed Glasgow is to blame. The sun never moves until it's all of the sudden night, and I'm studying so I don't even realise it until I'm tired and realise its time for bed! Not too much exciting has been happening here. Last weekend we had a Halloween party at my friends place that is, conveniently, right up the street. I was Zombie Alice in Wonderland, which actually turned out better than I thought it would since I kind of threw it together. It was weird being blonde for the night, and we all had a good time!
Dissection lab this week was really fun. We have some new TAs who are really helpful when we harass them about where things are and how they will look on an exam, a crucial question since a lot of the time the cadavers are ambiguously labeled, especially nerves and random recesses in the thorax, but I digress. I got to practise my surgeon skills, since I'm apparently really good at dissection? But I'm not complaining, its really fun! We cracked into the chest cavity to look at everything that we had been studying in situ. Then we had free range to bust into the abdominal cavity, which we did obviously, and had a wee poke around there, and I got blood all over my lab coat sleeves. At least we have new protocols which basically turn us into human condoms (hair nets, gloves, aprons, lab coats, and booties, we look hot), but it means that I stayed relatively clean while searching for kidneys! On wed we did and ECG lab that was pretty fast, but really cool and I actually learned a lot from it, so I'm glad that we got to do that, plus our professor is really helpful. Though I did have to help him lift the fake dog onto the table to have his 'ECG' taken, but he didn't tell me that I was supposed to pretend that it was real so I was just kind of holding it awkwardly, but still very informative! He asks a lot of questions, which is nice because I can answer them (in my head or outloud) and see if I'm close to being right or way off the mark, so it's a nice way to read into what kind of things he's going to look for on the exam.
We started digestion today, which is my favorite system, so thats exciting! Though we're still just in the mouth, less interesting, and we are learning more muscles, even less interesting. But its with a professor who we all like so he makes it fun and fairly straightforward, which is nice. Other than that just trying to keep afloat of studying, we have a few kind of busy weekends coming up and before we know it it'll be time for exams! Yikes!

Fun Filled Weekend!

Well I can't say that being a vet student is all work! After a productive week I continued to be productive all day sat, physiology is starting to come together in my brain (hopefully), so I was a good student all day! So much productivity. Sat night went to dinner at the good Mediterranean place in Merchant City and then went to see Looper, which was really good! Very cool and surprising, I quite liked it! Sunday a group of us went bungee jumping! It was so cool! When we got there the employees were all in fancy dress, which was really fun. It turned out that Sun was the last day of the season and there were blue skies and it was a brilliant day! So the Grimm Reaper lead us all up the lift to the top of the crane (we bungeed off a crane over the river Clyde) and we walked over to near the jump off point. We weren't sure who was going to go first, so when they found out which bungee was attached (the bungees are different depending on weight) they said 'Who's green?" Oh, just me? Ya, so I got to (had to) go first!! Everything was pretty cool until the point when I hopped over to the edge and they told me that on the count of 1,2,3,bungee! I would have to dive, head first, down. That was when it hit me that  was going to have to make the conscious decision to throw myself off of this thing, they weren't going to push me and I wasn't attached to someone who was going to do it for me like in skydiving. So for a second I thought 'I've made a huge mistake!' But when they counted down somehow I found the nerve, or general stupidity, to let gravity do its thing and dove off. It was so much fun! It was great that we were able to do it together and was certainly a bonding experience! Afterwards we all headed to Brew Dog for pizza and beer and then later to the 78 for dinner since some people had never been and it's right around the corner. So all in all a great weekend!

Work work work

Things have been pretty quiet here, just really trying to keep up with lectures so studying for exams will be a bit less stressful, if that;s even possible! My days mostly consist of class, gym, home, study, sleep, not too interesting! It's starting to feel like fall here, which means its getting colder, rainier, and there is a legitimate risk of slipping and breaking something on the leaves that fall here but are never swept up so they become a blanket of decomposed death traps all over the city. Glasgow, keeping you on your toes! Yesterday our friend came over and we had take out and watched Cry Baby, a good end to the week and a nice way to just kick back a relax for a bit, and still after getting some work done! Halloween is coming up, so we're all brainstorming ideas of what to be, and since a friend of ours is having something and there's a proper vet party we need 2 costumes, so we're all trying to think of what to be! I think tonight I'm seeing Looper, or maybe the new James Bond, though not having seen any before this one I may be a bit lost, all I know is that he's apparently switched from Martinis to Heineken, so yay product placement! And tomorrow I'm going bungee jumping! So that should be fun!

My decorated window of my room, getting into the Halloween spirit!

Welcome Back Ceilidh!

Well it's that time of year again! The Welcome Back Ceilidh! Which is my very favorite thing to do! Its basically Scottish line dancing, so much fun! And this year it was even more fun, since I know more people, we just bounce around like a bunch of idiots, having a grand time! I could ceilidh all day, but having one only twice a year makes it that much better since we don't get to do it very often, though that means that we Americans also never really get very good at it, but it's just a mosh pit of arms and legs and feet. Like they say, its not a true ceilidh if you don't leave with a few bruises, I'm sure I have more than a few!

Plugging away!

Its been a long weekend thus far here, mostly working on Anatomy which I have been more or less ignoring this semester. Though not particularly hard it can be a bit tricky with all of the comparative bits, you have to keep clear whos nose looks like what, which animals you euthanize via electric bolt one way (small and large ruminants) and who is by electric stunning (pigs), and then these horses, which is a who other thing entirely, horses are the worst. Anywho, nothing much doing here, tonight we're having pizza and beer and a movie night, much needed after staring at various noses all day!

 

my new awesome lamp i got at the st. enoch international fair :)

cupcakes i made (vegan) for my friends memorial service, they went pretty fast

Somewhere from some far off place I hear you laughing-and I smile

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCQTr8ZYdhg

Labyrinth

We're heading to Sloans tonight for their free movie night tonight! (well not exactly free, since you usually buy dinner and drinks to enjoy whilst watching the movie) So tonight will be a night of mac'n'cheese, and staring at David Bowie for 2 hours, eventful evening!

Be Jealous

Bikram Yoga

Today my flatmates and I went to do Bikram yoga, they had done it before, but this was the first time I had gone. I thought that I wasn't going to like it, I've tried to get into yoga before, but I just never really got into it. It was really fun, hot and sweaty, but fun! Who know you could sweat so much basically standing around! We have 20 consecutive days since its just the pre-opening classes we're taking, though from the sound of the other instructors who are coming this is the best way to start! Can't wait to do it Wed morning! Between that and learning how to rock climb I'm learning so many new skills! AND we FINALLY got the biomolec timetable, than GOD!

Almost Better!

Today was a pretty light day, though it was a bit excruciating to get through, here's a sample:
we learned about vit A in production animals. fair enough. so we have a whole hour lecture about it, only to walk away with, so basically vit a deficiency isn't a thing, it CAN happen, does it often/ever? not really. good to know! then i mostly worked all day, watched a bit of tv, and while my flatmates were out at bikram yoga (i didn't go for fear that i would pass out and die because  of lack of O2) i took the opportunity to play guitar really loud, so that was fun! now we're heading to someones flat warming/weddin party since they got married over the summer, we're celebrating a bit now, should be fun (even though its allll the way in anniesland, living here has spoiled us!) also i got a bus pass, so no more need to constantly have 1.85q on me all the time, and more change for Eliza!

Newest Addtition...

To my room! Meet Eliza Moolittle! I basically had to be sedated when I got her, just look at those eyes!!

Getting it done!

Today was pretty productive! We only had 2 hours of lecture, which ended early, so I had all day to catch up on some studying. And by studying I mean re-writing my notes since they are barely legible. But I'm all caught up, just trying to stay relatively on top of things while I still can! Then we went to wudon for dinner and saw House at the End of the Street, which was total shite, don't see it, it was very confusing! But still fun to go out a bit, especially after a productive day! Tomorrow more anatomy, so more sawed in half stuff! Yay!

And we're off to the races!

Well last week was a jaunty stroll in the park compared to this week, and its only Tues! We had some lab today, I learned how to put in an intranasal tube for feeding or oxygen, which was really cool! I got to practise once we were done with our dissection of the canine head to look at its respiratory structures, so basically we looked at a sawed in half dog head, but it was still pretty cool! Though a reminder that I actually need to study so I know what I'm looking at! I think we're going to look at horse noses on Thurs, and they are (like everything else in horses) confusing, counterintuitive, and prone to horrible disease but horses are terrible people, but I digress.  Update, I'm still ill, so thats awesome. I took a bunch of drugs today so hopefully that plus some sleep will finally cure me of the Glasgow plague! At least I'm not the only one who has it, so coughing fits in the middle of class are less embarrassing. 

First Week of School DONE!

Well this week is over, but it's really been a pretty lax first week. Done every day by noon, no class Tues, not a bad way to start the first week of year 2! Though I feel like next week will be a bit of a rude awakening, but at least it will be motivation to get my life together (more or less). Tonight is the first Walkabout party of the year, and it's movie themed, so it should be interesting to see what everyone comes up with for fancy dress! Also the Glasgow Vet School Plague is upon us again, fortunately I nipped it in the bud with a healthy dose of NyQuil, imported from America, and saved myself a week of feeling miserable while trying to kill any bugs with the help of multivitamins and OJ only to finally cave when I couldn't take it anymore and drink NyQuill, be terribly sick for a day, and recover for a week. Tomorrow I'm heading to Edinburgh to see Phantom of the Opera, which I'm so excited about! Hopefully its a good cast!

First Day Of School...

Was fairly uneventful, but I think I good way to start the year! We only had 2 hours of biomolec, it was intro to bacteriology and virology, so it was pretty interesting, though not particularly thorough. I always get lulled into a false sense of security with these first lectures, just a general overview, and we all think 'ya, this'll be easy!' I wonder how long it'll take me to eat those words! My room is staring to come together, I finally hung up all my pictures and everything so it's more or less decorated, I have a bit more art and possibly a few more pictures I may hang up, but other than that pretty settled in! The rest of this week is pretty easy, a surprisingly slow start to 2nd year, but that's more time we have to reunite with everyone and have some fun before we are absolutely slammed! My flatmate and I went for a wee run today, surprisingly I didn't pass out since apparently I haven't run in 5 weeks, though I'm not sure if thats totally true, maybe like 3, but still. And despite the rain at the beginning, it was still nice to get out of the house and move around a bit!

Back to School

It's been a pretty fun last week of summer holidays, but tomorrow it's time to once again pack up my backpack and head on over to school! We've been decorating, cleaning, and slowly the flat is coming together! I haven't really been doing much, just hanging out and doing this and that to get everything done before school starts and I have no time for anything yet. We had an ugly sweater party the other night, and most people were back so it was great to see everyone again. Yesterday we went to a Highland Cow festival, which was pretty much the greatest day of my life, they are so cute it is ridiculous! So it's been a pretty fun last week of summer, but I am looking forward to being a productive person again (though I'm sure I'll eat those words pretty soon!)

Clique

Well that's the name of Kanyes new song, but speaking of my 'clique' is basically all back together! All of my best friends here are home again, so we all hung out at out flat tonight and got all caught up. It was so great that we were all back together! I can't wait for school to start and then everyone will be back finally! It's just a relief to have everyone back safe and sound after this summer, and I can't wait for school to start again so I can feel like a productive member of society again!

Vegan brunch

Today we went to brunch and nommed intensely. It was delicious.

Not With A Fizzle But With A Bang

Well today was my last day here at the farm! And here I thought it would be an easy day, was I ever wrong! The day started off normally, went out to get the cows for milking and there was a cow calving in the field, so she was brought in to be checked out. It turns out that she had a twisted uterus, so there was that first. Then when the cows were walking to the parlour the cow we brought it yesterday with hobbles on her legs, I call her shackles, basically made a mad dash past us all and back into the field! So we left her and continued milking. Then while that was happening the vet came and (I missed this part, alas) they literally rolled the cow over to straighten out her uterus, crazy! When milking was done we had breakfast then set about trying to get shackles into the parlour for milling. Now your thinking she's in hobbles, how hard could that be? She can barely walk, that should be a cake walk. False. That cow took us on a wild goose chase (cow chase?) all over the damn farm! She barrelled over a fence, down a road, up around another fence, and the finally the BACK way to the parlour! The whole ordeal probably took 45 min to get her there. We finally milked her, then jabbed some calves, and went in for lunch. I made mac n cheese for the farmer and his wife for tea tonight,but since his wife had a thing, and it takes forever to make, I made it during dinner to save time. After that I helped move a fence so the cull cows can have more grazing area since they've made good use of the pasture they have. Then we gave some licks to cows and did some chores. It was. Ice
Since I did it all with that guy who yells a lot, though I think he's warming up to me, or has just figured screw it she's
Only here for a few more days I'll be nice to her! But we worked well today. Then we went to check on that cow that had the twisted uterus. She still hadn't calved so the guys brought out the crank and were cranking it out. It was dead, but too big to fit through her hips, so it was very very slow going. Eventually the vet had to come and cut it in half at the ribs and then again cranial to caudal and remove it piecewise. I was milking for this part, so I missed it. The 2nd milking was insane. It went smoothly but the cows
We're being real bitches. I got kicked
In the hand by my arch nemesis cow 53, she's the worst. A lot of pool, pee, general jerkiness, it was quite a time. Then tea time and now bed! I'd write
More but doing this on my phone is driving me crazy so I'm
Going to
Bed.

It's wiiiindsday!

Not really, but it was a blustery day! Not much happened today though. Milking like normal, though the guy who yells decided that being quite was a good way to keep the cows from pooping everywhere, so it ran smoothly! We joined up some calf pens and they were very excited about having all that free space! We had 2 cakes today, and heifer (yay!) and a bull (boo). But both calves themselves so it was pretty easy for us! It was te farmers dads bday today, so we all went to dinner and it was fun to see the rest of the family, though I've met most of them. But we had a good time and I tried yorkshire pudding! The yelling guy was giving me crap for not having had it before, so now I can say I have! Well it's pretty late, so I'm going to bed!
Well that was wrong! Right after I types that there was a knock at my door and I was informed that there was a minor calving emergency! So I got dressed and headed out to see what the deal was! We cranked out a bull, unfortunately it was dead. It was malpositioned with the head first, which is normal, but the legs were done instead of out forward, think like a diver. It sucks that it was dead, but it was a bull, so I guess less so than of it was a heifer. Well that certainly got my blood pumping! Also below is a pic of my bruise from being kicked! Not that big but it certainly hurts!

Vetin'ry

That's what they call me around here now, and I think I respond better to that than when they actually say my name! Today started out normally, and it's been a pretty chill day so far. Milked some cows, fed some calves, cleaned up, etc. Before breakfast I checked up on the cows in the field and one of them was calving, and she had a heifer! So that's some good news! I guess I should explain why a heifer is better than a bull. Since this is a dairy farm we want heifers since they will eventually be replacement millers and will have their own calves, providing more milk and a larger herd. Bulls don't do this, and they just get sold off fairly young, and you do get some money for them, but not as much as a heifer who will have multiple lactations, there's a cow here that's ~15 years old and has had something like 13-14 lactations! So a cow like that will get a lot more money, which is why you want heifers! I think that the sperm they used is sexed so they will have more heifers, but it's obviously not fool proof.
Well that's a bit of info for the day! After breakfast and dealing with the new calf, we dried off a cow, which means its her time to stop being milked for a bit before she has her calf. So that was something I didn't think I'd see either! I'm really glad that I'm getting to see things that weren't even on my list of things to see! The farmers dad went to a big fair thing yesterday for dairy and he came back with a bunch of pamphlets and floor samples for the parlour, so it was fun to look through all of that stuff! They guys were all really keen on a few products, so they may order some stuff for the farm. There has been talk of getting mats for the parlour floor and the collection yard, which would be easier on the cows feet and if they slip (which they do often) its easier on their knees. It would be really cool if they got it, though cleaning it has presented a few problems, so I think some more research is necessary before they decide on anything.
After dinner I cleaned the milk tanks so now they're nice and sparkly! I helped with some chores, milked, and now we're going to get pizza for tea! Hopefully it's good! And the Internet here is being really wonky so if I don't post in the next few days that's why, but I'll write and save them and lost them all later, plus I only have 2 full days left, so it's not that much!

You're Not A True Stockman Until You Get Kicked

So today I became a true stockman! (stockwoman, stockperson?). So ya, I took the temp of a cow and right afterwards she gave me a swift kick to my thigh. It's just now starting to bruise, so if it gets gross looking I'll post a pic! Today started off fairly normally, milking, feeding calves, etc. Then we took a break for breakfast as usual, then the guys got started building the new pens for future incoming calves, since we're full up at the moment. While they were doing that I replaced bits of the milkers with these other bits that you can attach bottles to because a company came today that takes samples of the milk an test for things like butterfat %, bacteria, how many litres each cow is producing, etc. apparently they come every few months, it's a voluntary thing that the farmer pays for so that he can monitor output in cows, sell his milk for more, and if he ever wanted to sell a cow he'd have record of how she did. It was really cool to actually see how it's done, and definitely something I didn't think I'd see! There are many surprises at the farm! This is turning out to be a vey informative EMS placement!

Best Day Yet!

So today, as you can probably tell, was the best day yet! Milking this morning went smoothly, I fed some calves, and then checked them for infection in their umbilicus. I had felt one that was infected my first day here, so I kind of knew what I was looking for, but still not 100%, so when the guys came to check the calves and give them their jabs I was pleased that most of the ones I had selected were right! So that was good. Then we had breakfast and headed over to the farmers dads farm to wrangle some pregnant cows over to this farm. (side note, on the way over there the farmer found out that the price of milk has gone up, that that was good for him!) So we got to the farm and first had to sort the cows into the ones we wanted and the ones we didn't. It actually went very smoothly, and me and one of the guys herded the reject cows back on the quad bike, then herded the ones we wanted over to the farm. Herding instinct is really an amazing asset to handling cows, of you can get a few to go the direction you want the rest generally follow and it makes your job so much easier! Especially when you're herding some 30 odd cows down the road! But we got ten here easily enough! Then we took a break for dinner while we waited for the vet to come check out a cow that's been sick for a little while, she's really thin and has been off her food. The vet came and decided to do a LDA which is a left displaced abomasum. I haven't done that anatomy yet but basically she tacked the abomasum, which is the 4th stomach in a cow to the body wall so it stays put. It was really cool! And she was explains stuff as she did it. Though without the background some of what she said was a bit confusing, but I'm sure will come in handy this year! After that it was pretty much time to milk again, so we did that. We started a bit late but flew through it, we are very efficient! Then I went to look at a calf that had been born and saw ANOTHER cool thing. So I went to look at the calf, a heifer, looking normal. When I went to see the cows number on her butt there was this really weird thing hanging out of her. It looked like a balloon but made of cow skin. I really wasn't sure what I was looking at. It didn't appear to be part of the cow or a twin, but I figured the farmer would tell me when he came to get the calf. It turns out that its what happens when early in in the cell division of a zygote a bit of the dividing cells break off and kind of form their own, I don't know what to call it, bit of body. There's usually hair, skin, flesh, and sometimes bone. I think it's basically like a non-formed twin. The farmer said he had only ever seen it one other time, so I feel pretty lucky! After tea (risotto, so good) we went back out to get the calf and her mum, and that went very smoothly, though we just found out that the pens are full, so there may be more work to do tomorrow! There was a beautiful sunset which was the perfect end to a fantastic day! Though I am quite tired and my feet hurt (paying the price for having cheap wellies!) but my time here is almost up so I don't have to wear them too much longer! The pictures below are of the LDA. The first is through all the body wall with the peritoneum at the bottom (it's shiny). The 2nd is the "sows ear" which (I think) is a fatty bit of the abomasum that you use a lot in surgeries to tack to the body wall. The last is it all sutured up!

Needle and Haystack Life

Well it's been a week here at the farm and I think Everything is finally clicking. It's Sunday, so a pretty slow day. Woke up bright and early, well dark and early I guess since I'm up before the sun, fetched some cows and calves from the field, and did the milking. I just found out that we're milking round 140 cows! And we do that twice a day, but it really doesn't seem like that many, it's crazy! I helped feed some calves and the mucked out a trough, where I found a chain that had fallen off a gate. When I gave it to my supervisor he told me that there was a small pin that went with it, and could I search for it? (also I should mention that HE was the one who had lost it in there in the first place!) so I searched through the mucky hay and I found it! So I'm not
Completely useless! We also had a down cow this morning, she slipped and we had to hoist her up and give her IV Ca, Ca bolus, and sub-Q Mg, and I think she's doing better now.
So after a pretty lazy day of watching F1 racing, it was time to milk again. I helped clean out the shed where the cows are kept, never done that before, and when I went into the gate to fetch the cows one of them licked me! So I got licked by a cow today, apparently they do that when they are ready for the bull ie: ready to be impregnated. Milking went very smoothly, then the milk man came and he took the milk in his truck. He comes every day but this is the first time I've ever seen him, so that was cool. Also today a cow kicked the dipping liquid we dip their teets in before attaching the milked right into y face, so my eye was a bit red and sore for a while, it also got in my mouth and it tasted disgusting, but better than poop! For dinner we had really good curry that the farmers wife made, she's a great cook! And the last of the chocolate cake that I brought for them. Then we chatted a bit and in doing some laundry since my clothes smell very cowy.
It's crazy that I've been here a week already! I've ticked all the boxes I wanted to by coming here, though I still want to try my hand at cranking out a calf but that may not be possible, so we'll see. I also wanted to see a Caesarian, but that's extremely unlikely, and obviously you can't make that happen unless it does! And now I am off to bed! The pictures are of their living room, I'm totally obsessed with this house!

Easy Saturday

Today was a very low key day. I totally forgot that its Saturday, the days have no meaning anymore, which may explain why everyone was in a really good mood and everything ran very smoothly (I could say it went well because Im actually getting better at this, but I can't take all the credit). So we milked as usually, there was a new guy here (well new for me) who has some sort of autism like condition, maybe asbergers, but I don't know home well so I'm not sure. But he was here helping and everything went smoothly and I didn't even get yelled at once! Success! Then I was put on calf feeding duty, which consists of me lugging the feeder from pen to pen and filling it with milk via and old petrol nozzle. Pretty easy, but a nice break from the norm! After that we moved a cow and took care of that cow that was down yesterday, have her a Ca pill and some jabs and then checked a few cows in the shed to see how they were getting along, and then were done! So I watched some Paralympic stuff, which was great, though since it was the middle of the day the coverage was only soso. Then back to moving, but with people I genuinely like, so it was great fun! Then a quick shower and I went to a BBQ for a friend of the farmers, he's helping build the barn, a funny guy. I met a vet so we were taking about vet stuff, which was great' and where we were was so beautiful, I really love being here its really ah amazing place to be and I'm just so happy that I am able to do something like this, it's really an amazing experience and I'm having a great time! Which I've said before, but I Relly do mean it, I sometimes can't relieve that I've had the opportunity to do all of the great things I've done since starting vet school and I've never been happier and am simply grateful for being able to have these amazing experiences! The pictures are: droit to the BBQ, the vets really cute dog who was sitting in my lap, she didn't want to leave! And the last 2 are the view from the BBQ. A really beautiful place, simply amazing!

Vet Work

So today started of pretty normally. Up at 5, milking by 530-6, me getting screamed at by that guy, same old same old. So that was a bit irritating, but I'd had my coffee so I was ok. But THEN things got interesting after the 2nd group of cows had a down cow in the parlour! Do we had to basically drag her out so we could continue milking then deal with her later. I found out how to use this crazy contraption that you basically kind of hook onto their pins and a tractor hoists them up so they can stand again. We thought it was either hypocalcaemia or hypomagnesia, both are common in milking cows, so she got a giant Ca pull, drip Ca, and drip Mg. Later she was moved out to pasture. Other than that everything went pretty smoothly until breakfast. We were sitting around and a vet came to the door to look at the down cow. She poked her and looked at some stuff and then went to give her and injection. Now giving an injection to a large animal is NOT like giving one to a human or smaller animal. First you find the jugular (or whatever vein you're using). In the case of the cow at first I couldnt really see it so when the vet let me try I came up dry, but so did she, so I didn't feel that bad. Then we switched sides of the neck and BAM! Hosepipe. So I stuck it in, and when I say it I mean just the needle, nothing else attached. So the needles in, and bloods just pouring out, but again in such a large animal what may seem like a lot of blood (it actually wasn't that much) is nothing to them. Then you attach whatever you need to the hub of the needle and inject! So exciting to see real vet work in the field, totally made my day, I was giddy! The rest of the day was pretty chill, though I DID get to ride around in the scoopy bit of a tractor, like the part that you would fill with dirt or something. We were lowered over the electric fence to place salt licks. I've also forgotten to mention the electric fences, which I have overcome my fear of now so thats good! Any who, there was another heifer born (yay!) aaaaaand I totally called it! So I'm basically a pro at calving, even though according to the guy who yells at me all the time I'm scooping poop wrong, so I'm pretty much incapable of doing things right lol. After 2nd milking we had a really delicious dinner and then went to the Fox Inn pub again to hang out with the farmers brother, but not before I saw another calf born, a bull though so no one cares and we left him in the field for now. I think that's all for today, now time to hit the hay for an early day again! Tomorrow I may feed calves? And we're going to a BBQ so that should be fun! And before you think that all the yelling is making this trip terrible, it's really not! It's so lovely here, I couldn't be happier! See pics below! The cow is the whos jug I tapped!

I'm sorry, do you normally put shit all over your hands before you do that?

So before we went lambing last term, the dean of my school have us this whole big pep talk about lambing and how it was going to be hard, but fun, and to remember that we are representatives of the university and that even if we don't agree with something it's not really our place to question the way the farm we are visiting is run (that's what the post surveys are for). Which led him to say probably one of the funniest things I've ever heard which was, "im sorry, but do you always put shit on your hands before going to pull the lamb out?" I was reminded of this today when, after a very wet morning, the fellow who I was helping in the parlour came outing the rain yelled at me for a good 2-3 minutes, culminating in his telling me that I was testing his faith. I let him yell it out, smiled politely, and told him I would be over there dipping cows until he was ready. It sounds more dramatic than it was, I actually found it quite comical, he was also smiling most of the time, still yelling, and though I was a little to blame, he wasn't really mad at me so much as his boss and the weather, so it was pretty funny.
I'll backtrack, since I have a lot of time at the moment. We had just finished milking and kicked the cows out of the parlour when the employee went to usher the cows back to the barn and then get the older cows for their milking. But they were already queued up, enjoy made him mad for some reason (in retrospect I'm not sure why) but anywho he was livid and cursing and getting soaked, came back round with the older cows but (and this is we're it's partially my fault) the lock at the end was open and one of the cows got out and came back round again, easily remedied so not really a problem, more of an annoyance. So
I was trying to get the renegade cow while he was yelling come here come here and he ran and closed the gate. So then I got yelled at. Other than that the day went pretty smoothly, he's actually a nice guy, just likes things done a certain way. Though it is a bit frustrating to work with him sometimes since he'll tell you how to do something, you do it that way, then he tells you to do it another way. Or he tells me I'm cleaning wrong when I haven't finished cleaning yet, so of course it's still dirty, and then he just does it. That's when I have to remind myself that I'm representing Glasgow (hopefully well) and that there's not point grabbing him and shaking him and saying WELL NOT DONE YET OF COURSE THERE'S STILL POOP EVERYWHERE!!! But I digress, such is my life right now. Still enjoying it despite the absolute torrential downpour today. And because it was raining so much we had another inside day, so it was fairly relaxing. I learned about buying semen for impregnating cows, there's even a catalog! It was hilarious, and really cool since a bunch of stuff I leaned in class was in there so I actually knew what they were taking about! Also it's called straws, and on average you buy 2-3 straws per cow at £35 each! Who knew bull semen was so expensive! Well after all that it was milking time again, which went very smoothly! While I was hosing off afterwards I was thinking about my experience here this far, since my first week is almost up! Time flies! I really like that my school encourages us to try so many things, I mean would I have worked in dairy or gone lambing otherwise? Also, and I think this is another bonus of working in so many different places is you get used to working with lots of different people and get a feel for thinking on your feet. I come into these placements not really knowing what to expect and every day I work with different people as the employees are cycled out. They all (usually) care about the animals and have their own opinions about them, which will be a commonplace in a veterinary practise of any kind. So not only am I getting experience with the animals but the type of people who come with them. Pardon me while I wax poetic, I wonder what tomorrow will bring!

Felt my first calf!

So today was a pretty slow day. It started off normally, milking at 5:30 breakfast, back out for more work. Though this morning there was a down cow and the farmer gave her some IV calcium and she was ready to milk the 2nd part of the day so I guess it worked! I took a bunch of cows temps and we pulled out some placenta form a few cows that had unattached yet, which was good since there were beginning to smell a bit! But the name of the game today was stay out of the way. I felt more or less useless for a good part of the day, though one of the farm hands told me not to worry about it, no one really works too much here! So I figured if I was hanging around the farmer and he didn't tell me to do anything than I was probably safe. I think jus after years of my old job where standing around was punishable by death, I get a wee but paranoid when I'm not doing anything. Any who I watched a barn being build, discussed fannies with the joiner fellow, and enjoyed general banter. I think now that I'm more acclimated to the time I'm less business minded and more relaxed, and to chat people up more easily than worried about what I'm doing wrong. But I figure in doing most things wrong but that's how you learn, so I don't concern myself with it too much! Everyone here is used to students and messing up is the best way to get things right in my opinion! This day wasn't a total bust though! So I went to check the field for cows calving since there wasn't much else to do. I saw a cow with red goo coming out of her. Red goo usually=trouble calving, so I went to tell one of the hands (who is quite bossy, but I'll touch on him another day). Any who I said this cow might be having difficulty and it's turns out I WAS RIGHT!! Finally! So they brought her in, and I got to feel for the calf!!!!! It was malpositioned, feet first, but they cranked out a healthy bull! So excited! Then we had tea, a really good stir fry thing, and went to a local pub for a wee bit, it basically looked like someone's house but was quite cute, and now I'm going to bed since I have to be up early tomorrow! Hopefully more calves!

Completely Knackered

Well if I thought yesterday was going to be the norm around here I was completely wrong. Today started out the same, 5am wake up, milking by 5:30! When all the was done we went in the house for some tea and breakfast (2nd breakfast for me, I eat like a hobbit here!) Then back out for more work: bedding calves, getting a calf in from the pasture (along with a dead one) and checking cows. I took a cows temp today and we sold a bunch of calves off for veal so now we have more room for the other calves yay! At some point I know the dry cows will be taken for beef, but I think that's a bit later after they're fatter. Then we had dinner, then back out to the farmers dads place to wrangle some cows. I was driven on a quad bike, which I found out later has no breaks, then we ran around after some cows and took a pickup to another part of his dads farm to wrangle MORE cows so we could spray them with stuff to keep flies off. Then back in the pickup and back home. It was very pleasant to ride in the bed with Monty (the farmers dog) and see some of the country side, bits of a forest, and some wildlife (pheasants mostly). It's really beautiful here. Then after all that back to the parlour for the 2nd milking, cleanup, check the cows, and FINALLY come in for tea! The farmers wife made fajitas and they were delicious! She just makes me food, it's pretty great, and I helped put the dishes away since I feel like a useless lump if I'm not constantly helping lol. Today I certainly felt useful enough! Hopefully tomorrow brings something else new and exciting! Now to bed, I'm rather tired. And the pictures are the farm, cow, more farm, another cow, blurry picture of Monty. Also I neglected to mention that Monty ran all the way there and back with us on the quad, he's nuts but awesome!

Do I Have Shit On My Face?

I'm working with cows, or course I do! Oh and a bird pooped on my today, so that happened. I also found out at the end of the day that I had poop in my hair! All in all, despite being rather filthy, Im having a great time! The farmer and his wife are super nice and she's a great cook, I feel like I'm not contributing enough, but no one seems to be complaining about the lack of meat (yet). We also have a lot of down time, so much so that I'm almost done with my book and it's only my 2nd day! The weather was absolutely dreadful today, windy and raining. But fortunately it didn't start till after dinner so we only had to deal with it for the 2nd milking of the day. So here's the rundown of what I did today: milked a bunch of cows, I'm getting pretty comfortable with it, so hopefully by the end of these 2 weeks I'll be a pro! Saw a calf being bone, we had to use the crank since it was coming out backwards! I gave the cow a jab and a giant Ca pill, so 2 vet things! And did a bunch of cleaning ie: hosed out the parlour after the first milking since it gets so dirty. Other than that not much to report, another early day tomorrow! The picture is of Archie their super cute dog, he's a handful!

Finally Here!

I'm finally calving! Well actually today I just did milking, but it was so much fun! I started off the day bright and early to catch my train from Glasgow to Edinburgh, then Edinburgh to Darlington, and then a wee train from Darlington to Middlesburough where the farmer picked me up and we drove to the farm where I was ready to sart! Only we chatted, watched cricket (which I'm mildly obsessed with btw) had some dinner, then finally headed to do some work! So the milking parlour is really cool! This is how you milk a cow:
1. Check the udders to make sure thy work and the cow doesn't have and problems like mastitis
2. Dip the udders in this cleaning juice, then wipe clean
3. Attach the milker, it kind of looks like a spaceship alien thing
4. When the milker is done (it pops off automatically) and all the cows in the row are done being milked, dip the udders again with the juice to make sure they're clean and send them on their way
5. Repeat until you are out of cows!
So I'm a little obsessed with cows now, it is really fun so far, though you'll have to ask me again tomorrow at 5an when I get up to do the milking! The farmer and his wife are really nice, they're kind of newly weds so they have a bunch of wedding stuff and their cake had cows on it! Too cute, and though she seemed a bit perplexed at first that I was a vegetarian she made really good food so I think I won't starve! And I brought them cake! They also have 2 supervise dogs, one was covered from foot to elbow on cow poop today, he looked so proud! Hopefully more pics to come, for now the view from my bedroom window!

The West End is the Best End!

Yesterday I "fannies about" (my friends phrase) with my friend who's also my neighbour. It was a sunny day, a rarity for Scotland, so we had a nice day walking around the botanics, sitting outside and drinking cider, and catching up. I was going to bake some cupcake for my calving placement but instead we just hung out all day, which was much more fun! Now I'm sitting in the train station waiting to head to England! We also had a drink that is served in a gramophone, so that's a thing.

The Fringe

Last night a friend of mine and I went to this huge festival in Edinburgh called The Fringe. It pretty much lasts all summer and spread out all over the city and was so much fun! Apparently (though I didn't see anyone doing this) you are supposed to dye your fringe (translation:bangs) pink, but I'm glad we didn't since I'm fairly certain that we would have been the only ones! This festival is huge, like I said, it's spread throughout the city so different bars and venues have different shows all the time, the program was huge, and a bit daunting, so we mostly just wandered around until we found something to do. First we saw a comedy show, the MC was an American girl from LA, so I could definitely relate to her jokes about how people back in the states make fun of her for using UK phrases. Then we meandered about some more, had some really good pizza, and went on a haunted Edinburgh tour till pretty late, but it was really fun! Learning some of the old history of the city is really interesting and this particular tour group has exclusive access to a part of the cemetery so we were able to see that as well. I think I"m still a tad jet lagged, not that I'm tired, more like I can't fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning, but I'm sure calving will quickly tire me out! I leave bright and early tomorrow so today I'm finishing up packing and possibly baking cupcakes, since the farmer has mentioned numerous times that they like chocolate cake I think its moved past a joke onto and actual request! Hopefully I'll have interwebs to be able to blog whilst I'm there!

Back in Glasgee

It feels good to be home! My flat is so nice and clean and cozy! (Kudos to past me for having the foresight to clean really well, so I came home to a pristine flat!) I didn't really do much yesterday, enjoyed my comfy bed and napped on and off and put away some clothes, though I'm quickly running out of room for them, so I'm heading downtown today to get some more hangers in an attempt to make more space. Currently I'm sitting in Smug and using their internet, I got my train tickets for calving, and am just having an easy day! Tomorrow I'm going to dinner with my friend and then Sunday I leave for calving! Though I still need to pack for that, though it shouldn't be too difficult. I'm nervous but excited!

Flat mate update

Both of my flat mates passed their resits!!! Yay for them!

Iceland!

Quickly I'm in Iceland and data is cheap so I can blog holla! Long flight but great movies so it wasn't too bad, though there was no complimentary food so I bought a sandwich, I'm sure this is super interesting. Also I hasn't slept so I'm a bit sleepy, but it was beautiful flying in! Also I thought for a hot second that we were gonna crash. Land in this marsh or something since I couldn't see the airport and we're in
The middle of nowhere (or Iceland just looks like this every where) anywho still alive and almost hooooome!! That last pic is a crossword for sue, note
The title