Friday, September 13, 2002

This may seem crass in light of recent events in other people's lives, but I have to remember to tell The Enema Dog and The Necropsy Dog stories. Wednesday was The Day Of Really Funky Smells, not to mention Of Cleaning Up After Everyone And Their Uncle.

And I'm sorry about your boss's loss, Reesa. Boxers are neat dogs, and it's a shame he had to lose one.

...There's a deceased cat about a quarter-mile from my house that I'm going to pick up and take down to the clinic as a Good Sam Harthaven drop-off. Siiiigh. This is the second deceased black kitty I've seen -- it makes me worry about Ivan.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:52 PM |

Thursday, September 12, 2002

For those of you in the audience that like this sort of thing, I present Middle Pillar and Strange Fortune, purveyors of fine experimental, ambient, industrial and unclassifiable music.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 7:33 AM |

Ivan thinks that only the freshest water will do, and therefore it is his right to stick his head (or his big dirty feet) into my water. Bleah and hee.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 7:48 AM |

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

What impresses me most, in retrospect, is the instant and instinctual ingress of emergency personnel. The dogs and their handlers, the EMTs, nurses, firefighters and policemen... Running on training and the desire to help; _acting_ instead of just sitting on their asses and -re-acting.

I'm grateful, too, on this day that the people that I know, that I like and love, are all safe.

I have to go to biology, now, but may Y*HW*H, Buddha, Isis, Allah, Horus, Ra, and God bless us, every one.

I really do have to leave, before I get in trouble. Heh.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:53 PM |

Also, my mother decided that we should celebrate International Enough Day as well. We made flags of other countries on index cards and hung them in the window, and my mother put the names of all the gods and goddesses we could think of off the top of our heads on cards and hung them up, with 'Bless us, every one' underneath.

She also made us little round badges that said 'ENOUGH' on them, to wear to work. I only wore mine for about five minutes, 'cause I wasn't awake enough to defend my feelings.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 7:35 PM |

Good GOD, whose idea was -that- lovely exploitative ad? The RED CROSS? Good GOD, how COULD you?

I should not watch TV, obviously.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 7:44 PM |

I do not like Arthur Kent. He's overly melodramatic and needs a haircut.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 8:03 PM |

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

Iwantiwantiwant... *Siiiiigh* Amano-sama wa totemo kakkoi desu![/dumb fangirlieness]
Posted by: Shannon M.: 2:40 PM |

Monday, September 09, 2002

Well, Ivan is in hospital today. Not to worry -- other than his ears, which are a little funky, he is a -very- healthy little cat. His usual routine runs something like this: eateateat, playplayplayplayplayplay, -nap-. Wake up, eat, playplayplay, eateat, playplayplay, -nap-. He's at the clinic today 'cause he needs his ears looked at, all of his booster shots, and he's getting neutered.

I miss the little devil! But at least he gets to come home this afternoon.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:03 AM |

I also don't have to work, today, which is nice.

Speaking of work... We have these things called cage cards. The cage card goes on a clipboard attached to the door of whatever containment area an animal is staying in, and we write various things on the card, like who fed the critter, how much they ate, whether or not they went potty and what they did, if they got their meds, etc. The cage card is also where we put notes about the animal's behavior -- particularly if they're 'caution' animals or blanket chewers.

Whenever there's a 'caution' dog, I'm the one everyone comes to. "Shan, can you take SugarPuss outside? S/he's growling at me!" "Shan, can you get Bob out of the litter bin? He hisses at me." "Shan, this dog bit June yesterday, and hasn't been out yet this morning. Can you take him?" I always say 'sure!' and normally, the dog or cat is invariably really sweet for me. In fact, I was taken in to the treatment area and paraded for techs and doctors alike, all because I was carrying SugarPuss around after having taken him/her outside. (The dog started out as 'she', because it said 'Female' on the card. Later, it was discovered that 'she' was actually a 'he'. *Shrug*)

Another 'caution' dog that comes in on a regular basis is Denny, a -gigantic- Alaskan Malamute. I have no idea -why- Denny is a caution, because he is the biggest, sweetest, hairiest ball of marshmallowy fluffy love I've ever met. He talks, in the way that Malamutes do (wah-woo-woo-woo, ow-wah-woo...), bounces up and down, and eats his food in about two minutes. But, aside from licking me once, he's never done anything resembling an 'aggresive' action. I mean, as much as he loves peanut butter, he's never used his teeth on my peanut-buttery fingers when I have to give him his medication. I have also never had the chance to take him out to his people, which may be a good thing -- I'd happily tell them that if they should ever decide that he can't live with them any more, I'd take him home with me. Hee.

We've got a caution dog in, at the moment, who is the first dog I've encountered that has given me trouble. Bud is a yellow lab, and when he first arrived, he was -scared-. Of -everything!- We said horrible, threatening things to him like, 'Hi, Bud.', and 'Hey, Bud, wanna go outside?' and 'Yo, Bud, dinner time!'. The first time I took him outside, I let him off-lead (we have a fenced back yard where we let the dogs run around on real grass and dirt), which was fine with him -- until it was time to go back inside. He would NOT come back, and every time I got close to him, he'd growl and bark and show his teeth. After about two minutes of this, I gave up and got Samantha to come help me. About a minute and a half after she came out, she went back in and grabbed the snare, which I hadn't thought of.

Bud didn't think very much of either the usual leash or the snare, and ran between the shed and the fence. The shed is only about two feet away from the fence, so with me at one end and Samantha at the other, we had him pretty well cornered. He was -really- upset about -that-, as you might imagine. Samantha helpfully warned me not to get bit as I approached him, hoping to get the leash over his head... He wasn't having any of it. Samantha was trying to snare him from behind, and he would edge toward me. I'd back up as he came closer, and pretty quick, I was standing at the entrance to the narrow alley, the slip-lead in my right hand and my left on a barbeque that is apparently out there for staff barbeques in the summer. I intended to use the barbeque to block Bud's escape, as Samantha -almost- had him captured... All of a sudden, he -bolts-, right past me to my right -- and puts his head right through the leash. As he's a big dog (appx. 85 lbs.) and he's moving fast, when he hits the limit of both the leash and my arm, he pops into the air and slews around, pulling me off balance. I manage to hold on to Bud and stay standing, but the barbeque goes right over, crash.

Samantha, laughing, picks up the barbecue, and we all go back inside. Bud has calmed down, by this time, and goes back into his run rather docilely. _I_ make a note about the fiasco on his card and go on my way. When I come back to work two days later, Bud has discovered that 'Hi, Bud', 'Wanna go outside?' and 'Dinner time!' do -not- mean that we're going to beat him with sticks, and is much sweeter and happier. In fact, he just got mellower as this week went on.

Work has been more than just sweet dogs and silly cats -- it's been hard. Some days I wonder what the hell I think I'm doing there, but I usually remember that the TA side is NOT where I want to be, and that it's NOT where I'm -going- to be for the rest of my life.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:45 AM |

"...It just screams 'I have -ISSUES-!'"
"I don't _have_ issues!"
"Well, you will after this haircut."
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:01 AM |

Chickadee Brains! (Not to eat -- this is research.)

(Er, not -my- research, someone else's.) And yes, it helps to include the URL of the piece you're referencing.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 6:27 PM |

My brother got me a ticket to see Tool for my birthday. In the assigned-seating section, bless him.

Tool! Here! Wheeeeee!
Posted by: Shannon M.: 6:31 PM |

Did you know that there's a Mustard Museum? Neither did I. The things you learn from watching TV.

Speaking of which, The History Channel will be showing a Modern Marvels episode about the Chrysler Building. You know, that New York building that always gets destroyed in the movies.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:08 PM |