Day 294 - Fallen Mushroom

While we've been out of town these past two weeks, the weather has been perfect for the growth of mushrooms.  Our yard and woods are covered with them!  In all sorts of sizes and colors.  It's pretty amazing, actually.

Here's a rather large one - it had fallen over.  Sad.

But lovely.

Day 292 and 293 - More Neema at the Beach

Even with the first day's fiasco fresh in my mind, I decided it was just not right for Matt and I to go to the beach without Neema.  So, we took her along and I employed a new strategy for allowing her to play successfully without developing explosive diarrhea.  It worked, for the most part.  :)

And look how happy she is!  :)  Wet dog = happy dog. 

The first part of the plan was to use something bigger that was easier for her to see - that way she didn't go pouncing in the water for her toy that was not there (and thus prevent the huge guzzle of salt water.)  So, I used her Jolly Ball.  It's bigger than any other toy she has AND it floats!

The second part of the plan involved keeping the Jolly Ball in the really shallow surf or up on the wet sand.  No diving = less water intake = less diarrhea = happier Neema and me. 

:)  We totally and completely wore her out.  It was so good .  It was a lovely day and we 3 all had a great time. 

Day 291 - Jed at Sunrise

My dad's old boy, Jed in the glow of an East Tennessee early fall morning. 

Day 290 - The Angel Oak

The Angel Oak is a very old tree - at least 1500 years old and is declared the oldest living Oak tree in the US! 

It's quite cool - and quite popular.  It was hard to photograph it well with all of the other people running around. 

However, I stayed until the park closed and lucky for me - it started to drizzle rain 5 minutes before closing.  That ran everyone off - except me.  :) 

I was able to get a few great shots sans tourists - but this one is my favorite.

Day 289 - Sunset on the Intercoastal Waterway

So, I did make it to the beach yesterday and it was great.  Then there was a good little rainstorm that hit right as I got back to the house.  I ate supper and then looked outside - instead of gray sky I saw amazing blue sky with awesome clouds.  I quickly decided to go and photograph the sunset and was given directions to this spot near John's Island. 

Great little spot to capture the sunset.  It was lovely.

Day 288 - Neema's Day Out in Charleston

My sweet girl, Neema and I went to Kiawah Beach today in Charleson, SC.  We are here on vacation visiting Matt's dad and today is going to be the only pretty day all week.  So, we took advantage of it!  

She loves the ocean.  She loves water.  She loves to chase her toys in the water and retrieve them.  

It was painfully apparent today that she likely will not be able to retrieve her toys in the water next year.  Her vision is almost gone and she struggled mightily today to find her toys.  I tried different ones to find what was easiest for her to see.  She has so much energy and so much heart and so much GUSTO when she pounces on her toys.  Or rather, where she thinks they are.  

This resulted in her swallowing a lot of salt water today.  :(  Salt is a drawing agent - it pulls fluid with it.  It went in her stomach and went out.... the way things go out.  Repeatedly.  And with gusto.  

Poor Neema.  

We had to hang around after being done at the beach for at least an hour just so she could clear out her colon and get bathed repeatedly.  

But she had fun, none-the-less

This was on our way from Kiawah to.......

The Angel Oak!  Look it up!  It's a very old tree. 

:)

Day 287 - Cat with Skin Issues

For those of you that don't know, I love dermatology.  I love taking animals with miserable itchy skin and making them all better.  

This case was an interesting one.  She was (at the time of the picture) a 16 year old indoor only cat who came to me for weight loss and hair loss.  

She was indeed thin and she had bilateral alopecia (hair loss) but was not itchy.  She also had the most severe case of flaky skin I have ever seen!  There were these huge flakes of skin just falling off of her.

I'm not sure if you can see it from this picture, but the hairs are still long in the area of hair loss.  Not broken.  The ones missing have actually just fallen out.

I expected cancer.  Or a thyroid issue.  All of her bloodwork was normal.

Hmmmmmmmm.......

Upon further questioning, it was found out that the cat's diet was primarily seafood.  Tuna, shrimp, fish,  etc.  Those are the most common food allergies I see in cats so I recommended a food change.

The owner called me in a month to report that her 16 year old cat had a new shiny coat and had gained weight and was happier and more active than she had been in a while.  ALL of the flakes were gone!

Love it when it's that easy.  :)

Day 286 - NonVets and Fecal Loops

A few years ago at our annual clinic Christmas party, we had a few games for the significant others of the staff.  One of the games involved various pieces of equipment that are unique to the veterinary field - they were numbered and the non-vet folks had to guess what the numbered item was used for.

This picture is of Dr. Bowman's wife and Dr. Nice's wife staring
 at a fecal loop.  This is a plastic device used for gathering fecal (poop) samples - straight from the source. 

:)

I don't remember what their guess was - but I'm pretty sure they did not guess it's real use.  Ha!

Day 285 - Sad Sunflower

This sunflower is sad.  I am not, but I took it's picture anyway.

Day 284 - Sunrise Sunflower

I've been sleeping a lot on my vacation - but yesterday morning I got up before sunrise to take pictures.  I planned on going back to bed afterwards, but stayed up and had coffee.  :) 

I wanted to photograph these lovely sunflowers with the morning glories in full bloom.  It was a gorgeous morning and I got some great shots. 

Hard to say which is my favorite - but I love this one because it looks like a girl leaning into the wind with her hair blowing wildly. 

:) 

Day 283 - Dundee

This is my family's first rescue dog.  My dad adopted Dundee from his local SPCA earlier this year.  He was told he was an Australian Shepherd.  Um, no.  Take a look at those ears!  There is hound in there somewhere!

I actually think he's mostly Catahoula. 

Dundee is not a smart dog.  He's really not.  But he's sweet.  And he is hilarious!  He's this long-legged goofy clown.  This picture is blurry but it shows him in his floppy gallop.

A rare moment that he is sitting still!  I've been trying to take his picture for 2 days!  He seriously has his eyes closed in over half of them.  And he runs away when I point the camera at him.  :(  He's very fearful.

I think this one is my favorite.  His blue eyes are incredible and they really pop against the green and pink in the background. 

Silly dog.  Goofy dog.  Sweet dog. 

Day 282 - Yawn!

This is my dad's old doggie, Jed.  He was enjoying a lazy early fall day - and I enjoyed it in the same way: being lazy.  Yawn!  I slept for 12 hours and did little else except take a few pictures.  That's a good vacation day if you ask me.  :)

Day 280 - TN Football Game

Matt and I are on vacation - so blogging is going to be spotty.  Friday we drove to TN and saw Brian Reagan LIVE at the lovely Tennessee Theater (the last time I was there was my vet school hooding ceremony.)  He was hysterical - but I was tired!  We went with my bestest, Candi and her hubby, Jonathan.  Good times, good times. 

Yesterday was a gorgeous September day and thanks to my friend, Chris - Matt and I attended the UT football game.  We had great seats (AND a free parking pass!) and we won.  It was a great game that was a lot of fun. 

We went to dinner afterwards with Chris and some new friends and today we drove to Greeneville (my hometown) and have been hanging out with my family.  My niece beat me at my new favorite game:  Spot It. 

Seriously.  I was creamed by an 8 year old. 

:)

 Go VOLS!

Day 277 - Budding Trees in Arlington

Taken this past spring on our trip to D.C. with my brother and his family. 

Day 276 - Bob's Camera

Taken inside the American History Museum in Washington, D.C. this past April.  We were taking a little bit of a break.  We managed to go in all 4 Smithsonian museums in one day.  Whoooooo. 

Day 275 - The Shenendoah Valley

I took this picture this past May with my little camera, out my truck window, while driving (shhhh!) - I think it turned out quite well.

I live in a beautiful place.  :) 

Day 274 - Rachel and Violet

I did not blog last night as I was out with some friends of mine hanging out and eating.  

I take a lot of pictures.  A lot.  And sometimes, in that mass of pictures, one gets passed over.  Like this one.  I had no idea I had this!  Violet (the wee one) is one tough cookie to photograph - she almost never looks directly at the camera and if she does - the look is not a happy one!  

I love the sweetness of this picture.  Mother and daughter both look content and beautiful. 

I love these two ladies.  I'm glad they are my friends.  :)

Day 272 - Bruise on my Thigh

So....cows.  I love cows.  I grew up with cows.  Cows are great. 

But sometimes cows are not so nice.  

Right now I'm dealing with rabies post-exposure vaccines because I saw a cow that I suspected had rabies this past Wednesday and in order to confirm that, her brain had to be tested.  In order for her brain to be tested, her brain had to be removed from her body.  I cut myself while removing the head and now feel like I've been run over by a truck because of a reaction to the vaccine.   And I get another one on Monday.  Oh, joy.  

This picture represents another time when I felt like I got run over by a truck - I got run over by a cow!  Funny story.....

I was called to a farm about an hour away that I had never been to.  The call was for a cow that had a prolapse (I'll leave it to you that want to know more to google that one.)  Since I did not know what sort of handling facilities the farm had, I took along my dart gun.  

When I arrived, I was met by a very nice farm hand who told me that the cow was a Jersey cow.  Jerseys are small little dairy cows known for their calm temperament.  He told me she was mean.  I laughed a little. He told me that they bought her to be a nurse cow to calves who lost their mom in their large beef herd.  She had not raised a single calf and had really been nothing but trouble.  

There was a small fenced in paddock on the back side of the barn.  There was a large gate on the side of the paddock we shall call gate # 1.   After entering the paddock, I had to cross over a large gate to enter the barn - this was gate # 2.  Once inside the barn, I was standing in a small area with another gate separating me from the cow.  This was gate # 3.   The area the cow was in had a doorway that led outside of the barn into a runway with a chute.  All we needed to do was move the cow through the doorway and we would have her caught so I could work on her.  I had one of my techs with me and we waited outside out of sight so the farm hand could move the cow out.  

After several minutes of him yelling at her with no success in moving her, I decided to try to help him.  Cows will often move away from strangers more-so than they will people they know and trust.

I went to the back of the barn, crossed gate # 1 into the paddock, crossed gate # 2 into the barn, and then crossed gate # 3 to be in the same pen with the cow.  I yelled at her a bit, never touched her, and as soon as she turned her head and saw me - she came after me!  

This is not normal cow behavior.  They normally warn you before they charge you.  They stomp their feet or blow hard out their nose.  But not this little Jersey!  She charged me quick as a wink. 

I jumped gate #3 - and so did she!  She was seriously wanting to 'get in my pocket' as Dr. B was prone to saying.  I jumped gate #2 and continued out the paddock and cleared gate # 1.  She stopped chasing after her first gate jump and was still contained in the barn behind gate # 2.  

Wowzers!  The farm hand looked at me and said "I told you she was mean!"  

I decided to try sedating her.  I loaded a syringe with a sedative and had the farm hand get me a bucket of feed.  

If you were standing at the back of the barn at gate #2 looking to the front of the barn where the doorway is, you would see a solid wall on the right side.  On the left, there was a feed bunk platform about 4 feet off the ground with bales of hay forming a wall to the left beside it.  The feed bunk itself was approximately 2 feet wide.  I decided to stand in the feed bunk and try to feed the cow.  Once her head was in the bucket, I would pop her in the neck with the needle.  Being elevated from the ground, I felt pretty safe.  

I approached her, held out the feed bucket, and the darn cow came up into the feed bunk after me!  I was unfortunately standing right in front of the post that gate # 3 was attached to and she butted me into the post pretty hard.  The bruise in the picture above was given to my right thigh by her head.  I had a smaller one on my left thigh from the post.  

My saving grace is that as she came after me, she got stuck around that post.  Her front legs were on one side and her back legs on the other (this is really hard to describe!) and she was stuck with her belly in the feed bunk.  

I tied a halter on her (that was fun!) and had to figure out what to do.  I did not want to sedate her in that position because then she would be even more stuck.  So, I had to get my shocker and really 'motivate' her to get her loose.  Once she was loose, she came through gate #2 after my vet tech and almost came after her over gate # 1 - but she didn't. 

She was now outside in the paddock.  And it started to rain.  Great.  

I used the dart gun to sedate her and tied her to a post and fixed her problem.  And I informed the farm hand that I would highly recommend selling her.  He agreed.  

Nice bruise. Not nice Jersey cow.  

Day 271 - Pretty Red Flowers

Taken at Sherando Lake last week. 

Day 270 - Andrea Hugs!

A friend of mine posted some pictures today of Seaside, FL - which reminded me of my time in Panama City Beach, FL during the summer of 1999.  One of my great friends from that summer (and there are so many that I am so thankful for) is a gal named Andrea.  Her nickname was 'Ang' (with a soft 'a' and 'g'.)  Like 'on-j.' 

She is a delightful woman.  Strong, fierce, BOLD, and loving.  Look at that smile!  My heart is warmed just seeing it.  

She was a woman that during our summer together re-enforced that my high standards in guys was a good thing.  She showed me how to really trust another person with my soul - she kept me accountable in a way no other person has ever done.  She loved me.  She is the only person I have ever known that has the true spiritual gift of evangelism.  And walking beside her on the beach telling others of our Hope is something I will always remember. 

I feel really compelled to tell this story, so I'm going to.  It will be a long one, but I've got the time tonight.  :)

On Summer Project, one of our activities was going out on the beach on Saturday afternoons and talking to people about spiritual things.  We had surveys and other tools to use as a bridge into those conversations with people who were just hanging out.  I am still just as amazed as I was then at how open people were to talking about God.  Sure, we had people that did not want to hear what we had to say and we respected that.  But most people really were eager to talk about their beliefs and to hear about ours. 

We would gather as a large group (72 of us) and pray before we left.  And then we would 'pair up' with another person before we hit the beach.   Two-by-two we went out.  

One of those Saturdays, I was paired with Ang.  

I already knew her well.  Though she was not one of my roommates, we worked together everyday and met frequently as accountability partners.  I also knew her gifting.

As we entered the beach, we stopped to pray.  I remember very clearly her asking God to allow us to share His gospel with 6 people that day.  Six.  That was actually quite a lot - but in Ang's eyes - it was an easy request.

I'm not going to get into the theological rightness or wrongness of praying for a specific # of people to talk to.  This story is about 2 young girls and their hearts and how God spoke to us and used us.  

Almost immediately, we saw a group of people sitting on a picnic table near a volleyball net.  She asked them if they would like to know how to know God.  They said 'yes!'  Wow.  Just like that - we were able to share the full gospel with 3 people.  

Not 5 minutes later, we were able to share with another couple.  I don't actually remember them or the circumstances.  That memory was erased by the last encounter.

You'll understand in a minute.

We had one more person to talk to in order to meet our 'goal.'  Storm clouds were brewing overhead and the sky began getting really, really dark.  I think I told her that we should turn around and head back to the hotel, but she was insistent that we keep going.  (This may not actually be true, but it's how I remember it.....and it seems like something I would have said.)  

Then we saw a girl about our age sitting alone.  We did not know it at the time but she was with her boyfriend and her young daughter - but they were off playing in the surf.  

She was open to talking with us and Ang carried the conversation.  I sat off to the side and prayed.  Her response to Ang's question 'do you ever think about what will happen when you die?' was a quick and solid 'yes, I think about dying all the time.'  That was a very different answer than most people give - especially someone young like her.  

She explained that she was a single mother and she worried about what would happen to her daughter if she died.  Who would take care of her?  

Ang moved her through the tool that we used to share the gospel, the 4 Spiritual Laws, with urgency in her voice.  This girl was looking her square in the eyes and listening and questioning with great intensity.  It was amazing.

The reason it was so amazing is this:  there was a man drowning 30 feet from us.  And neither Ang nor the girl saw any of it.  

I had my back to them - I was facing the ocean.  I saw the whole thing.  The girl was facing the same direction as me - and did not see it.  Ang's back was to the ocean and did not see it.  

It was awful.

An older man and his wife had been out on a float.  With the storm coming, the waves picked up and the man fell off the float.  His wife signaled for help and the lifeguards responded - including a jet ski buzzing right by us.  About 6-7 people helped to drag the man to shore and they started CPR.  I could hear the conversation that Ang and the girl were having - it was so intense.  I was stuck in this weird place of wanting to draw their attention to the scene before me and praying that they were not interrupted before Ang could tell her the whole story.  

The girl's boyfriend and daughter saw everything, and for some reason, he stayed away and let them keep talking, as well.  

It was raining ALL around us.  But it was not raining on us.

The fact that the conversation of those two was not thwarted by the sheer number of distractions that were happening around them is still one of the most faith-affirming moments in my life. 

The curtain was held closed around them for just long enough.  

Ang was able to tell this sweet girl how she could cross over to eternal life.  She was not sure, she wanted to think about it some more.  Ang handed her the booklet to take with her.  

As the sobs and wails of the elderly woman grew louder in the realization that her husband was now dead, it started to rain.  

The boyfriend and the girl's daughter came to her to leave the beach.  Ang and the girl saw the scene and what was going on for the first time.  It was a frantic moment.  The ambulance pulled up. There was a large crowd.  There was crying.

As they quickly gathered their things to go, Ang took the girl by the hands.  She told her to look at what was in front of her - death.  She told her that she was not promised tomorrow and she could die at any moment.  She told her not to put God off for too long, for it might be too late.  

Number 6 heard the story.  The entire story.  And then we went back home.

I can say with certainty that was the most intense spiritual moment of my life.  Death and Life facing off in the great battle that is always raging just behind the veil.  That day we asked to be on Life's team and I believe we both were changed as a result.  

The pictures of us are 1) on Summer Project  2) at our second project reunion in Texas and 3) at our third project reunion in CO.  

Andrea is all grown up and married to a wonderful man and they are expecting their 4th child.  I certainly don't get to talk to her as much as I would like - and I think I am going to have to make it a priority to go out and visit her.  :)  

She is my sweet sister and I'm so thankful that I was privileged to walk beside her that day. 

Love and miss you, Ang.