More snow!

I learned something yesterday: snowballs and trees make for good pitching practice. :)

I also learned something else: I throw like a girl. Ha!

I never did play softball or baseball on a real team or anything (well, I was on a T-ball team when I was about 5 or so) but my brother and I used to wear holes in the grass in our yard playing 'ghost man' baseball with plastic bats and whiffle balls when we were young. I have some great memories of those summer afternoon/evenings - mom would often have to make us come in after it was dark. Our night vision was quite advanced. :) As we got older, my brother played baseball for real for our high school and he played for our (quite competitive) church league softball team. I would help him practice by throwing him grounders - as he was a second baseman and those grounders could be difficult to master.  

At one point in my life, I could throw a nerf football in a high and tight spiral farther than a whole gaggle of buff college guys. (A very pround moment in my life, indeed!)

But I learned with my snowball exercise that I have lost those skills. Whether it is due to the injury where the horse destroyed my shoulder or simply my lack of trying to throw anything at a target for the past 5 years or so, I now throw like a sissy little girl. I tried again today - I did even worse! Bleh.

When I did hit the tree - I did hit it at the same place everytime, so that's something, right?

:)

We got more snow over the weekend. And we are getting a whole lot more this coming weekend. What a winter!

I FINALLY finished up my work project, so now I feel a little more free to relax and work on some funner things around the house. My work project is something that I've actually worked on since my first year at the clinic. I do most of our horse vaccines in the spring and the first year I was driving all over the place in a single day to only visit 3 or 4 farms. Not very efficient. I put into play a system where we sent out letters to our horse clients indicating that we would give a discount on the trip fee if they scheduled us to come out on their area's alloted day. It has been an evoloving system - mostly done on yellow pads of paper. But THIS year, my brilliant receptionist Karen sent me an Excel spreadsheet with all of our horse owning clients on it as well as their address! Matt helped me alphabetize the whole thing AND create another column where I could designate what district their horse was actually in. What took so long is the computer generated 475 names! I had to go through every client to see if they were still active, still had horses, and see where those horses actually are. I ended up deleting about 150 of those names due to inactivity. I took the rest and created a map to plot out where each of those clients are in order to re-organize the districts.  It was a much larger undertaking than I expected!!!  But I'm thrilled with the end result - it's done.  It's done right.  And most importantly, because it was done digitally (not on a yellow pad of paper), I never have to do it again!  :)

Matt and I were supposed to go over to some friends house to watch the LOST premiere on Tuesday, but alas, the snow kept us house-bound.  But they called us as soon as it was over to discuss.  :)  I've spent a lot of time reading message boards and the like to entertain multiple theories to the intensely confusing 1st episode.  I hopelessly addicted.

I still continue to have good days and bad days as far as how I feel.  One thing that has changed for the better is that my hair has stopped falling out!  Yay!  When Matt and I got married, I had super long hair.  Soon after, it began falling out due to my illness.  I had to eventually cut it off because it had gotten so thin and stringy.  I am trying to grow it out again - and I'm so super happy to have it filling in and not falling out!

I have experimented a bit more in the kitchen recently.  Thought I'd share some of my latest creations.  This first picture is a bit odd.  It's an emptied out pomegranate.  A few months ago I was invited over for dinner by my friend, Erin.  She introduced me to pomegranate as a tasty little snack.  It takes some work to get it out of it's cozy little shell, but it's worth it.

After emptying out all the little pieces and rinsing them off, I have kept them in a bowl in the fridge.  High in antioxidants, juicy and crunchy, and tangy-sweet, they have become a favorite snack of mine.  Chocolate is still first.  

Aren't they pretty????

Ok, this meal I was super excited about - but it turned out, poorly.  Marinated and seared ahi tuna steaks, rice, and stir-fried asparagus.  The tuna was TERRIBLE.  It was SO fishy, I couldn't eat it.  The asparagus (which is certainly not a veggie I like) was darn tasty!  I even bought some more for a repeat.

Now this one was a winner!  Potato-encrusted talapia, green beans, and yams.  YUM!!! 

I think that's enough for tonight.  Sorry I'm not more interesting.  I'll try and dig up some good work stories for my next blog.  :)

Another week.....

So, I'm spending a lot of time on the computer, but not a lot of time blogging.  I think the biggest reason for that is that I just don't have a lot to write about.  :)  But I realized that I can write about my experiments with food - and I even have a couple of pictures to share!

Last Friday night I attempted a "spicy white bean turkey stew" (only I used chicken.)  It started out SO well - smelled SO good - and then - it got really, really stinky.  My entire house smelled like B.O. and it continued to smell like that for hours.  According to some friends on facebook, the odor was likely due to my use of cumin in the stew - but holy toledo - it stunk!  The actual stew did not smell like B.O. when actually eating it, and while it did not taste BAD, it's not on our list of things to eat again.  :)

I did not sleep well at all on Friday, so I was very tired on Saturday.  We went to a birthday party for a little girl that is the daughter of two of our close friends.  We had some good conversation, good food, and helped to celebrate this precious little life.  :)  Our friends Brian and Lisa were told they would never be able to have children - but we pleaded and prayed and believed that one day they would.  I remember the exact moment one night when praying for Lisa that it was impressed upon my heart that it would happen.  I just KNEW it.  She found out she was pregnant on Matt and I's wedding day.  :) Their little girl is now a year old and they have another little bundle on the way in a few months!!! We are so excited for them!

When we left the party, we went to the grocery store and then came home and crashed.  I think that was the night I discovered "lostpedia.com" and was engrossed in reading about LOST theories and such for quite a while.  The last season starts next week!  Woo!  I must have watched Wheel of Fortune that night as well, as my facebook status indicated that "I remember Wheel of Fortune before RSTLNE were gimmie letters in the bonus round."  Heh.

Speaking of facebook - I really am a fan.  I love that I have been able to keep up with/reconnect with folks from my past.  And I love looking at the pictures of people's families and lives.  I was recently found by my old clogging teacher from years and years ago and I could not have been more excited!  Her finding me has opened the doors to finding several of my old teammates that I spent years clogging and traveling alongside of.  Memory lane, indeed.  :)

I kept the toddler nursery at church on Sunday - I only had 3 toddlers and one infant that became attached to me.  :)  Fun times.  I really enjoy toddlers - actual babies kind of intimidate me, but toddlers I can get along with quite well.  In fact, come the end of March, Matt and I are going to be teaching the pre-school Sunday School class!  :)  Should be interesting...

I spent the rest of Sunday making earrings while watching the Purina Dog Challenge finals from this summer.  My dog, Neema, hardly ever pays attention to TV.  But she watches the agility, weave pole, and frisbee competitions with much enthusiasm.  She's almost more fun to watch than the dogs on TV!  A little tiny Australian Cattle Dog won the small dog agility competition and it made me sad that Neema loves agility (we've never been formally trained or competed or anything even close) and soon she will not be able to do it.  Her eyesight has been deteriorating for years and is getting worse.  I'm actually super thankful that she can still see at all.  The ophthalmologist predicted she would be completely blind by our wedding which was nearly two years ago!  I wish she could stay visual forever - she does love playing frisbee so. 

Sunday night we missed most of our small group (the time had been moved and we forgot!) and then we attended our church's annual meeting.  I have always attended these meetings - for I so respect how our church handles it's business.   :)

We are now getting back to the food aspect of things.  Monday I actually felt better than I have in months!  I ran a few errands and then enjoyed the sunshine! Woo!  I celebrated by spending a little time in the kitchen.  I was actually on the phone with my best friend while making this dish - indicating it's simplicity and my multi-tasking ability.  :)  I present to you "mexican skillet."

It was actually quite yummy and definitely a dish I'll make again.  :)  And yes, mom, those are tomatoes and yes, I ate them.  :)  I felt so good that night and had such a good day that I treated myself to some decaf coffee and some biscotti.  Yum.  Who needs Starbucks???

I have not felt AS good throughout the rest of the week - but was surprised and really really touched to get a phone call from Dr. Sawyer on Tuesday.  He said he was just thinking about me and wondered how I was doing.  :)  I was SO worried that when I changed doctors that he would be upset with me.  He really is one of the finest physicians I have ever worked with.  He genuinely cares about me.  :)  He was shocked and awed to learn of my Babesia infection - he said that he's never heard of someone having that infection outside of the New England area.  I told him that I had a dog as a patient once that had a Babesia infection (I think I still have the blood smear somewhere to prove it) and that the dog had never been outside of VA.  Ergo - our ticks DO carry it.  Though it's rare.  He said that information really forces him to open up his line of thinking about tick borne disease.  I am to follow up with him after my appointment with Dr. M in February.

I worked on our taxes most of the day on Tuesday - but hit several snags and was unable to finish them.  At the frustration of not being to mark a project off of my 'to do' list, I stayed up till midnight working on a project for work that I've been trying to finish.  I have been working on it every day and though it's still not DONE, I was able to go to bed that night with a least a small sense of accomplishment.  :)

Wednesday was another work stuff day - followed by a trip to Costco.  :)  I got all of our honeymoon pictures printed out so now I can start scrapbooking.  Hurray!

Today was gorgeous outside.  Sunny and warm, and windy!  BUT - I was able to clean the leaves out of the gutters (finally!) and Matt and I moved a couple of large piles of leaves left over from the fall.  We were gone so much during 'leaf' season that we were unable to get rid of them.  And since the beginning of December we have had so much rain and SNOW that it has just had to be undone.  We got some of it done today - with more snow on the way.  It will likely be March before all of those leaves are gone.   I'm ready to move out of the woods!

I guess that it's from me.  Nothing terribly exciting, like I said. But I'm resting and taking my meds and being a good patient.  Though climbing on ladders and being on the roof are probably not part of my doctor's orders.......           :)

Delinquent Blogger!

Ack!  You'd think with me being home all the time that I would be more diligent in my blogging.  But I remind you (mostly because I need to remind myself) that the purpose of my time off is to REST.  Not to blog.  Not to read.  Not to organize my entire house.  But to REST.

And so far, I'm actually doing really well with that!  :)

I have accomplished a few small goals.  One was to create a menu for the week, go shopping to collect all food items needed, and cook every night.  Another goal was to take pictures of the food I prepared.  On the first front, I have done well.  On the second front, I have failed.  :(

My husband has some food allergy issues.  We know for sure that he is allergic to wheat.  Not celiac disease, but a true allergy where he gets all sneezy and congested.  But there is something else (probably several something elses) that are continuing to give him issues.  So, we are doing a no wheat, no dairy diet for a while.  I'm still allowed those things, but for our evening dinner, we are WF and DF (wheat-free and dairy-free.)  As you can imagine, this creates some culinary challenges.  I'm not all that culinary-inclined to start with, so it's taken more effort than a lot of other things in my life right now.  But it's all for a good cause and I'm excited to be doing it.  Matt actually prepared dinner for us last night (Pecan Mustard Encrusted Pork Chops.)  Good hubby.  :)

I started to feel icky last Thursday night - having trouble sleeping and just feeling overall really crappy on Friday. A pretty good fever and seriously increased joint and muscle pain just took me down a notch. I really did not do much at all those days - except for catching up on Season 5 of LOST in preparation for the season opener of the 6th and final season on Feb 2nd.  SO excited.  When Matt and I returned from our honeymoon (where we actually visited the set where LOST is filmed), he convinced me to start watching the show.  My brother and sister-in-law bought us the first 4 seasons on DVD as a Christmas gift and we blazed through them!  Matt has always been a fan of the show and he always went on an on about how great it was, with me always stating 'I am just not interested.'  And while I admit that it creeped me out for the first 2 seasons, I quickly became one of the many who are genuinely hooked on the show.  In preparation for the season 6 premiere, we have watched all of season 4 and are nearing the end of season 5.  So excited to finally get all the questions answered!  If you are not a fan, let me put in a word to persuade you:  watch it.

Here is one of the beaches where it is filmed:

My clinic's Christmas party was Saturday night - a good time was had by all.  I really am one of the really fortunate people in this world who has a job that I love with people that I love to work alongside of.  :)  And while I miss them with me being at home, I'm so thankful for this rest.

The setback in my health is to be expected.  So, I'm not worried.  And that is nice.

Monday night Matt and I baby-sat for some friends of ours to give them a 'date' night out.  They have 2 little girls that are so much fun!  I actually was back over there on Tuesday to take some pictures of their little one, Faith.  One of my hobbies is to take pictures of all kinds - but recently I have really enjoyed taking pictures of kids.  I have totally stolen an idea for a collage of babies and made it my own.  It's called 'baby bits' and the two I have done so far have turned out really well. 

Here's one of them:  (the actual picture of the collage is kind of crappy, but trust me that the actual thing is pretty cool.)  This is Hunter. 

Little Faith is quite the mover - and it's taken me two visits to capture all of the 'bits' of her to make her collage.  Here is one of my favorites:

The other hobby I have spent some time on is an age old interest of mine.  Beads.  I have collected beads for as long as I can remember.  And due to some free time and a sale at Micheal's, I am diving into jewelry making with renewed zeal!  Here's my (beautifully organized, might I say) collection.  I really think I had just as much fun organizing them as I ever will making things from them.  :)

 

And here are my first earring creations!

Wednesday was a blah, lazy day.  With the exception of taking my dog for a walk in the slight rain, I really did not do anything. I did make some chili for dinner and it was yummy! Yesterday I spent several hours working on a project for work - but that was after an hour long soak in the tub.  A good friend of mine gave me a de-tox bath liquid and I figured hey, it can't hurt.  It felt good to just sit and relax.  I just might have to do that again.

I have experienced a very new, very odd symptom the past 2 nights.  Wednesday night when I got into bed my right foot was WARM and my left foot was extremely COLD.  I had the same socks on both feet before crawling into bed and I had been sitting on the couch - legs not crossed.  It happened again last night - but to a much lesser degree.  I have an appointment with my doc on February 10th - we'll see what he makes of it.

Ok, that's enough for now.   :)

Tuesday, I think

I'm finding it a little harder than normal to keep up with what day of the week it is due to not being at work! But I'm coping ok. :) The delay in blogging has been due to some travels and a lot of sleeping.

Matt was gone all of last week on business. That left me to just kind of play around the house and do some light cleaning. I was SO thankful that my little critters, who normally wake us up at 7am on the nose, let me sleep until I woke up! It's like they know I need it! Most days, that wake up time was (and is) 10am. My body is quite content with 12 hours of sleep a night. My body has not been as content with the new medicine over the weekend, however. Since Matt was already in Maryland, I drove up on Saturday to hang out with some dear friends near Baltimore who just bought their first house in October. What fun we had! However, my joints really started to hurt fiercely on Saturday. :( I think this is just part of the ebb and flow of things to be expected.

We had some great food, fun conversation, and a great game of hearts to help us pass the time. And they said my yellow medicine looks like acrylic paint. They are right! :) The break from the normal routine was good - but I was happy to return home. We saw our small group friends from church for the first time in weeks on Sunday night and that time was just phenomenal. There are about 20 of us that get together every Sunday night to study Scripture together and pray together. They are dear dear friends - brothers and sisters, really - and they are so vital to my survival!

Sunday night I started a 'new' Bible Study on my own. I'm going through the Beth Moore study "Believing God" - which I actually started several years ago right before I went to Bangladesh. I never finished it. And I think that where I am in my life right now, I really need a fresh boost of faith to believe and trust God with some really big obstacles that we are facing.

One of the things I did last week was take down all of the Christmas decorations and clean up the garage. My cats were all too eager to help in the clean-up process. This is Gumba. :)



Even our stupid cat, Caroline (the gray one) wanted to help! Yes, I know it's mean to call her stupid, but really folks, she is the dumbest cat I've ever met. She is pretty. And she's super soft. But she is mentally challenged. Really.



I wake up most days and feel like I've moved to Minnesota! There has been snow on the ground here since December 18th!!! And it's been freezing! It is supposed to warm up later this week - and I can't wait. I remember when my best friends from vet school, Sam and Chad moved to PA our first year out of school and all of the snow they had. They had this picture of Chad with a kite running in the yard in March. It was the first time they had seen their grass since December. I'm beginning to understand their elation and just might go out and fly a kite when I see grass again, too!!!

The snow has been fun - it's just getting old. But here's a picture of my girl, Neema enjoying it. She loves the snow, too - but I think even she is getting tired of slipping and sliding when she goes out to pee.

I'm pretty excited that my new book arrived today! Ok, REALLY excited! :) When Matt and I last drove to TN the first week of December, we listened to some podcasts of NPR. One of the shows we listened to was an interview with the new director of the NIH - Dr. Francis Collins. He is the founder of the Human Genome Project and though a very respected scientist, he is also a born-again evangelical Christian. Hearing him speak on the radio really gave me some hope that he's the guy heading up our nation's health research system and I also thought he was very articulate without being 'heady.' Turns out, he's written a book. As soon as I heard that, I turned to Matt and was like "I want to read that one."

Fast forward a few weeks. Christmas-time. My boss, Dr. Bowman, hands me a gift card to Books-a-Million. He tells me he wanted to get me a book by the new director of the NIH but they didn't have it in stock. I was taken aback a bit - trying to find a replay of me telling him of the NPR broadcast I had heard. It didn't exist. I had not mentioned it to him! As it turns out, Dr. Collins is a native of Staunton, VA and is a friend of a friend to Dr. B! So, I wanted to read the book, Dr. B wants me to read the book, so I ordered the book! It arrived today!!!!! :) I should have a review for you to read, soon. It's called the "Language of God."

I have been trying to find something really productive to do every other day. (Giving myself permission to do nothing on the other days.) :) Today I worked on some work stuff for our spring horse vaccine letter. And laundry. Matt and I both get stuffy at night when we go to sleep (he far worse than me, poor guy) and I think it's a dust mite allergy. So, I bought mattress and pillow dust mite proof covers and am washing ALL the bedding on the 'sanitize' setting. We'll see how it works tonight!

God is who He says He is.

Yellow

So, today is the yellow day. Cause it's the day I wanted to share with you the color of my medicine. It's yellow. VERY yellow. I hope you can see and appreciate the NEON that it is. I know you can't tell the consistency by the picture, but trust me, it's thick. Have I mentioned how glad I am that it smells good (and doesn't taste too bad!)




As fas as how I'm dealing with the new meds - other than some slight nausea, I've overall been unaffected by it. I didn't sleep as well last night and that can be one of the side effects, but hopefully my body will adjust and get back to dream land for the entire night soon.

Tuesday was a completely do nothing kind of day. I'm not very used to days like that at all unless I'm really sick. After sleeping 11 hours Tuesday night, I knew it was time to get up and moving! Mostly because I needed to go to the chiropractor and secondly because I needed some food from the grocery store. My diet on Tuesday was pop tarts, cheeze-its, coffee, and cookies. Not really the 'healthy diet' I'm trying to get my body adjusted to. I did make a run to Wal-Mart (my grocery store of choice that particular day) and I was able to score some other loot, as well. Most noteably was something to store our Christmas tree and other decorations in (a very large plastic box that was quite comical for me to get into my small car.) :) I also became familiar with the Red Box and rented a couple of chick flicks from it. I've already watched both (Ghost of Girlfriends Past and He's Just Not That Into You.) They were predictable, yet enjoyable.

Before coming home I decided to stop into Target. I wanted to compare their Christmas tree storage options to what I had just purchased from Wal-Mart and well, Target is just my happy place. Didn't hurt that I had some gift cards burning a hole in my wallet. So, it was January 6th, 20 degrees outside, and when I walked in GUESS what greeted me? BATHING SUITS!!! Are you kidding me? WHO is going to buy a bathing suit when it's freaking freezing outside?!?

Me, that's who.

There are a few things that I'm always buying multiples of in search of that 'perfect' one. That perfect pair of jeans.... that perfect little white sweater, and that perfect bathing suit. The quest is always on. And though I'm a very small gal, I hazard to guess that I'm not unlike most girls longing for a bathing suit that is both flattering and comfortable - for being in a bikini in front of others is a frightening experience no matter how secure you are with your body.

Yesterday, I think I found the perfect bikini for me. And it's yellow. How fitting is that?!? :) My excuses for buying it were several - but the one I used to seal the deal was that I bought it with the intent of it representing my hope for this year. The yellow medicine is the means to my health improving. With my health improving, I might actually get to enjoy being in a bathing suit this summer on a second honeymoon with my husband. Plus, it has ruffles in the, er, right places to help me feel cute.

I mean, really, how cute is this suit???? :)
(Can you hear the GAP commercial - 'how cute are these boots?' Ha!)

Yellow and ruffles. I just love it.

Today I did about 5 loads of laundry and took all the Christmas decorations down and just did some overall cleaning. This was after I got out of bed at 10. :) Cleaning is actually stress relief for me - so I don't see it as work or a chore. It has taken me 3 days to clean what usually takes me 3 hours to do - so there's proof that I AM taking it easy. :)

Tomorrow is bill paying and garage cleaning. I'm going to dive into a new book tonight (maybe.....) and I hope to copy one of my friends ideas and use my blog as a book review sort of thing. Again, we'll see.

Sabattical

Wow.  My last post on here was exactly 3 years ago (plus 2 days!)  I guess at the year's beginning I feel a need to write again.

Not that I haven't been writing - but emails and facebook have been the recipient of my ramblings over the past 2 years. 

I have decided to do a little more writing and frankly, I didn't think it kind to bombarb my friends and family with daily emails of my experiences.  At least with a blog, they don't have to read if they don't want to.

So,  I'm back to blogging.  We'll see how long it lasts.  :)

The title of my post is Sabattical.  For that is what I am on.  I am not working for the next 8 weeks in an effort to allow my body to rest and recuperate from a 20 month illness that I've been fighting.  I have started a new phase in my treatment - and it likely is going to make me feel worse before I feel better.  Since it is the slowest time of year at the clinic - I'm taking the time to be at home to rest, read, blog, organize pictures, do yoga, take my dog for walks, sleep, eat well, and whatever else I can do to allow my body to heal.

I started the new medicine last night with great trepidation.  It is a bright NEON yellow 'liquid' with the consistency of mustard.  I hate mustard.  Really hate it.  I looked at this stuff knowing that I had to swallow it down twice a day for the next 6 weeks and just about gagged thinking about it.  I gag easily.  THANKFULLY it smells like bubble-gum, tastes like fruit, and has only a slightly chalkly 'finish.'  Not too bad.  I got it down this morning quick as a wink. 

I left work yesterday after only a half-day of work.  This past weekend I worked Saturday and Sunday - not having any large animal calls.  I was pretty thankful for that seeing as how it's the coldest weekend we've had in a long time.  12 degrees with a windchill of around 5 or so.  Brrrrrr!!!!!  We still have snow on the ground since we got over 2 feet the week before Christmas.  So, all in all, I had a quiet weekend and an easy day yesterday - but I still came home and fell asleep sitting up on my couch!  I eventually laid down and was out for a solid 3 hours.  Then I slept 12 hours last night.  Sleep is what my body needs!!! 

How incredibly grateful I am to work with people who love me enough to allow me to take 2 months off. 

Am I worried that I'll get stir crazy?  A little.  :)  But I have lots of little projects I want to accomplish.  None of them are stressful or physically or mentally demanding.  Busy work that I have not had the energy or time to do. 

I'll keep this blog updated as I go. 

We'll see how I do....   :)

New life

So, today has been a good day. :) Perhaps even a really good day.

It is January - and today in VA it was sunny with clear blue skies and the temp was a lovely 60 degrees. There was a heavy frost on the ground this morning, and as I drove to work, I was blessed to witness the moon setting over blue mountains with a pink sky. Where the heck was my camera? Ah yes - at my house. Bah. But the mental image is still there. It was magnificent.

I did some surgeries, made some phone calls - pretty routine stuff overall. Then around lunch time I was sent out to help one of our clients with one of her sheep.

This young lady has her own business raising and selling show sheep. She's 18, a freshman at the local community college, and an aspiring veterinarian. We've spent some time together doing various things at her farm and she's been to the clinic to hang out with me before. She's quiet - but very capable when it comes to her lambs. She's one of the top in the state at the show level. I'd even say she's a little famous in this county - and I've witnessed her mentoring younger kids just getting started in the basics of showing sheep (something I know NOTHING about!) She's a great kid.

She called me today because she had a ewe that had been in labor for about 2 hours - she and her dad (a former cattleman) were unable to deliver the lamb. She needed help. I arrived to find a very tired ewe pushing very hard to deliver a lamb that was coming in an abnormal fashion. She (and her dad) were unable to figure out how to get it to come normal.

This isn't a novice, folks. She's been pulling lambs for years. She's already got 70 lambs on the ground this spring - with no assistance from anyone. I was able to tell her how the lamb was positioned, how I figured out how it was positioned, and how I was going to fix it. She watched me intently - and once I got it straight, she and I worked together to successfully deliver the lamb. And great googly moogly, it was alive! As soon as she saw it was breathing, (we both were really surprised that it was alive) she jumped up and ran out of the stall. She returned seconds later with 2 towels and a 'suction bulb' to help clear out its airway. I stood back and watched her work. She does this all the time - and it was amazing to behold. Most of the time when I arrive on the scene to deliver babies, whether they be calves, foals, lambs, goat kids, etc - they usually are not alive. It is such a joy to see a live birth and to know that I was a part of it. Minutes after the lamb was delivered the ewe was up on its feet licking its new offspring. The two women (the ewe and the teenager) worked furiously to get this little lamb going. Soon he was raising his head and cooing to his mom. How great a thing.

I left the barn to get things cleaned up. Before I left, the girl emerged from the barn to let me know that the lamb and the ewe were doing fine. Then she looked me in the eye and gave me the most sincere 'thank you so very much' I've ever received. A sincere 'you are most welcome' was given in return. :)

I returned to the clinic just giddy. I did a few more things then headed out to another farm.

This farm is special. This farm holds the memory of my first emergency call I did as a new vet. This farm is home to the first newborn foal I ever examined. This farm was home to one of the best horseman I have ever known.

Was home.

Chuck Watkins was described to me by my boss as one of the few men I would never need to watch my back around. "He'll never let you get hurt around horses" was what I was told. That statement proved true. Chuck was a tall, lean, strong man who looked far younger than his age of 46. A throwback to days gone by, he would often be found in the afternoons in Wrangler Jeans, cowboy boots, a cut off t-shirt, a straw hat and a red bandana tied around his neck. On my luckier days - he would be without the shirt. :) He would be found teaching young girls how to ride and care for horses - with young men hanging around learning how to be men. He was soft-spoken, gentle and kind, and he could whip up one mean potato salad. He and his wife repeatedly had me into their home to join them for dinner after working on the horses. If I couldn't stay for some reason, he would not let me leave without making me a 'doggie bag' to take with me.

Chuck died a few months ago of a dissecting aorta (kind of like an aneurysm.) It was not expected. It was sudden. It was severe enough to claim his life. I sometimes still can't quite believe that he is gone.

His farm is only a few miles from my house - so I was there often to check on things "on my way home." He had lots of horses of his own, but also did a lot of boarding and training for other people. He rode his horse (and had others join him) in numerous parades through the summer - and was most well known for riding his beloved horse, Rocky, through the streets of our quaint Stuarts Draft - waving at folks. He grew up here in the Draft and was known to most everyone. He had a horse-drawn buggy that he took people for rides on - and he often spent his weekends taking girls to horse shows. He was also a horse breeder and horse trainer. He taught me a lot about moving around horses and dealing with them. His quiet manner showed me that you don't have to be loud to have horses respect you. Or people, for that matter.

I have a ton of memories of Chuck - many more than I could ever write down. I guess one of the more vivid is when I had to put his own very first horse to sleep for him. The horse was in his 30's and was thin, and painful, and had lain down in his stall and was unable to rise. It was time. Having such a strong man show such tender emotion towards an animal is one of the things that makes me cry. Even now. He just loved his horses so much.

I was unable to make it to his funeral, but I was told of it. They placed his casket in a horse-drawn wagon and took him, one final time, through the streets of Stuarts Draft. His trusty steed, Rocky, was led along beside him - Chuck's cowboy boots placed backward in the stirrups of his saddle. One last parade. It was a gorgeous day - fitting for his farewell. Rocky is the only horse I've ever seen mentioned in an obituary, but that's just what Chuck would have wanted, I think.

Now, I started off this post saying it was a good day. It was. Here's why:

One of the things I did at the farm today was check Chuck's favorite mare, Honey, to see if she was pregnant. His widow, Paula, said that he only bred her once this past summer and that there was little chance she would get pregnant. Honey has been growing larger - so Paula requested that I check her.

Remember how I said that this farm was the first that I checked a newborn foal at? It was Honey's - and I remember how PROUD Chuck was of that baby. She's still at the farm, in fact.

Honey is indeed pregnant. I could feel a little foal kicking at me wildly as I touched it's head safe inside it's mother's womb. Paula cried as I told her that there was indeed one more baby to be born on this farm. At the spurring on of the other folks gathered around, (why do I always have an audience when I have my arm up an animal's rear end?) I told Paula to put on a glove and take a feel for herself. It's just such an amazing thing to feel life like that bouncing around inside a mare's tummy. And it's so bittersweet. Chuck would be so happy to know that Honey is going to have another baby - but it's so sad to think that he won't be around to see it.

In the face of death and loss - there is still new life. And when things happen to help me remember that - well, that just makes it a really good day.

My best friends Samantha and Chad (both vets) recently welcomed their new son, William Cole into the world. He was born at 7am on January 1st via an emergency C-section. Little Cole's umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice. Because her labor wasn't progressing and the baby's heart rate was dropping, they opted for the C-section. Praise the Lord that both he and Samantha are fine! And boy is he cute! I can't wait to see him!

Ok, that's enough for today. Probably enough for a long while. :) Thanks for reading.