ANIMALicious Has Made Me Famous (Sorta)

I just noticed I made it into the Veterinary Information Network's ANIMALicious blog on February 19.

My friend, who wrote that entry, asked me why her dog didn't have any injuries after falling nine feet.

I asked my friend Dr. Becky Lundgren of VIN about it via instant message.

Me: Shouldn’t he be dead?
Becky: Only animals with brains tense up for the landing. 
Me: Wouldn’t you think an internal organ would go splat?
Becky: Brainless wonders are often lucky.

I wasn’t getting what I wanted to hear. I was lucky that I work with enough veterinarians that I could keep asking until I was satisfied with an explanation.

I IMed an ER vet, our own Dr. Tony Johnson.
Me: Shouldn’t he be dead?
Tony: Empty skull

 

Notice how veterinarians often use humor to try to alleviate unnecessary worry in their non-veterinarian friends? ROTFL

The Opening Line: First Sentences In Books

The first sentence of a book is important. Catching the reader's eye is vital to making a book sell. Good authors sweat over first sentences.

Mystery Scene magazine has a column called The Hook: Intriguing First Lines. It might be better titled The Hook: Intriguing Beginnings or The Hook: Great Openings, because the column doesn't limit itself to first sentences, but usually to entire paragraphs.

To me, it's harder to create a hook with only one sentence, than it is to use a whole paragraph to set the stage.

Dick Francis was good at the first sentence. Five of my favorites are ...

I was never particularly keen on my job before the day I got shot and nearly lost it, along with my life.
Odd Against

I picked four of them up in White Waltham in the new Cherokee Six 300 that never got a chance to grow old.
Rat Race

Art Mathews shot himself, loudly and messily, in the center of the parade ring at Dunstable races.
Nerve

I looked at my friend and saw a man who had robbed me.
High Stakes

I immensely disliked my father's fifth wife, but not to the point of murder.
Hot Money

 

Mystery readers who haven't delved into his books might want to start out with Odds Against, High Stakes, or To The Hilt. All of the books do have a racing backdrop, but they're about architecture, painting, inventors, private investigators, kidnapping specialists, and more. Every book has a "career" in it. It's not just racing, racing, racing, for those readers who avoid anything that has to do with horse-racing. ;-)

Veterinary Students And High Debt

My February 16th entry discussed the state of veterinary medical education and student debt. I'm pleased to point out that the NYTimes had a great article about this topic on February 23. In addition to the comments section, there have been some letters to the editor.

There are a lot of opinions expressed by my colleagues as to how to "fix" the problems of high student debt and over-population of graduate veterinarians. I don't claim to have any answers. I do, however, want young people to know what they are getting into before they leap into this career.

I enjoyed private practice. I liked working with horses, cats, dogs, cattle, etc. The large animal portion was rough on my body, but I did enjoy the work. It involved both physical and mental labor.

I love my current job. I get to help veterinarians find the information they need to handle their private-practice cases. My fellow employees are veterinarians who are/were in academia, specialty practices, general practices, etc. who also enjoy helping our colleagues. It's a great bunch of people working at VIN.

I love my job. But because of the contact I now have with so many veterinarians, I get to hear from far too many who are facing financial problems because of student debt and/or the current economy. When I graduated, it was unheard of for a veterinarian to lose a practice. That's no longer the case.

If you want to be a veterinarian, plan ahead. Make an informed decision. Check out the I Want To Be A Veterinarian website.

Typhoon's Diary, February 20

Typhoon has asked for the podium, again.

 

  

La Dorada Typhoon’s Diary

  

It is with great trepidation that I tell this story. Many of you will be skeptical, many of you will flat out disbelieve, and many of you may get scared. However, I feel it is my obligation to tell, no to WARN you, about one of the scariest thing I have ever seen. You have heard of the Wolfman? Vampires? The Bogey Man Perhaps? I would rather deal with all three than to encounter the thing of which I shall now explain.

 

I started having sightings several years ago. This was when Meredith (she loves me) started coming out to help Carl around the farm with chores here and there. Well, I was a bit shy of her for quite a while, but then grew to love her. But sometimes when she came, I would catch a glimpse of the scariest things ever! Noisy, fast moving, high pitched and utterly scary to be around at all!

 

Now I wasn’t the only bull to be scared of them either.  Early on, we had a bull named Aries. He was one tough bull, I’m here to tell you, as I still have scars from him.  Another bull whose barn name was Texas, not as tough as me, but a bull none the less and several others were ALL Scared of these…. these… things!

 

Let me give you an example of just how scary these things can be.  One summer afternoon, Carl and Meredith were working on something in the barn. I kept seeing glimpses of these fast moving things around, so I was on alert. When all of a sudden, the littlest thing started making the single most awful noise I have ever heard. It was even worse than Mica bellowing on about not being fed grass first. This was ear piercing. Carl and Meredith came running right up to the scary thing! Man they are brave! Scared us bulls so bad, we took off running in the other direction. Meredith physically lifted the thing and squeezed it tight and soon after it stopped making that awful noise. I heard her tell Carl it was something about a bee sting? Lord only knows what that is.

 

On another occasion, Meredith was out with Carl getting grain and preparing to split wood. I noticed this fast moving, colorful little thing on MY hay bales! This was awful. Get it off. Then, there were two of them! What? There was this noise they made that was all new to me. Carl and Meredith called it giggling. I called it scary.  It kept on and kept on until Meredith the Brave had these creatures get down.

 

Now these kinds of sightings went on for quite a while. Years of being scared, but the littles seemed to get bigger (not a lot, just a little) and somewhat quieter.  I am still not convinced that these things are safe, but now, I have trained myself to look away and look brave when they appear.

 

What are these things you ask? Carl and Meredith called them….. Children! Sometimes I heard them being called Kathryn and Jack.  So beware, children are about!!!

 

He is such a drama queen. LOL

I Want To Be A Veterinarian

My grandfather was a veterinarian. He graduated from KCVC (Kansas City Veterinary College) in 1911. He was a veterinarian in the US Cavalry. He raced trotters. He imported, bred, raised, and trained guard dogs. He raised and trained horse and dogs that he sold to circuses. He worked for the federal meat inspection service to feed, house, and clothe his family during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s (the Great Depression and WWW II). He provided veterinary care to his neighbors after his meat inspection workday. When he retired from meat inspection, he went back to the farmstead, and worked as a mixed-animal veterinarian in a rural area of Kansas, in an area that had an abundance of horses (Mennonite settlements). I was tagging along with him on his calls by the time I was three years old.

I am a veterinarian. I graduated from K-State in 1977. I started my own practice straight out of vet school. I worked in a rural area, dealing with dogs, cats, horses, cattle, etc. Twenty years later, I added a job with the Veterinary Information Network (VIN), helping veterinarians use an online service that was designed to help them with their medical case and management issues. Eventually, I closed my private practice and went to work for VIN full time. Including tagging along with my grandfather while we treated our animals, and then working in my own practice, I've been involved in veterinary medicine for over 56 years.

In 1911, when my grandfather graduated from vet school, he had no educational debt. Back then, you paid as you took your classes. No money, no enrollment for that course.

In 1977, when I graduated from vet school, I had educational debt in the amount of $35,000.

In 2012, a typical vet school graduate had educational debt of $150,000 - $200,000.

The educational debt has risen immensely, but the salaries have not. Yet many students have no idea how this debt/income issue will actually affect their lives.

Veterinarians have started trying to educate high school and pre-vet college students, to alert them to the issue. Nobody is trying to stop people from going to veterinary college. But we're all trying to ensure that the people who do go are knowledgeable about the issues ahead of time.

So, the VIN Foundation created the I Want To Be A Veterinarian website.  The website has a brochure about veterinary medicine as a career. It also has the Student Loan Repayment Simulator.

If you want to be a veterinarian, that's great. I love my career -- and my grandfather loved veterinary medicine. (He didn't love meat inspection. Remember, he worked during the years when meat-packing reform was just starting.)

But if you want to be a veterinarian, at least know what you will probably be getting into. (You can't know it all, and you can't foresee the future. After all, when I graduated, where was the Internet?  LOL  Who could have predicted that I'd be using my training to help my colleagues around the world?)

So ...
If you want to be a veterinarian, please check out those resources.
If your child/grandchild wants to be a veterinarian, please check out those resources.
If your students want to be veterinarians, please check out those resources.
The VIN Foundation created these resources to help our future colleagues avoid unknown pitfalls, so take advantage of the opportunity and use them.  ;-)

Hope Is Not A Plan

In the last eight days, we've gotten three inches of rain. This is more rain than we got in the previous eight months.

Both my house well and the farm-yard well have been dry since November. I haul water in to keep the house (and the six cows who are living on my side of the hill) covered.

The ponds on the other two home places are way low, and it's hard for those seventy animals to get to those water sources, so city water is our backup.

But how long until the rivers and reservoirs that supply the city water supply run out? How long until those sources have to ration water?

That's hard to say.

We could get extremely lucky, and start getting moisture again, and maybe the ponds could refill. I can't see how the wells would be restored, though.

But as John Maddux says, "Hope is not a plan. Drought tends to happen in slow motion, lulling some producers into a wait-and-see approach. Now is the time to identify key dates and action plans in the event the rains do not come."

We're keeping an eye on everything, and will be ready to do whatever it takes to maintain at least some of the herd.

Check out more drought advice here.

Typhoon's Diary, January 30

 Typhoon has asked for the podium, again. LOL

 

  La Dorada Typhoon's Diary

I was meandering around the bull pen late one afternoon, eating some hay here and there -- some fresh grass too -- doing my best to just avoid Mica (he is so moooody), when I noticed another car driving by slowing down to stare at us. This car pulled into the lane, however. I acted like I didn't notice, so as not to give a show and encourage the onlookers. I heard the car door open and shut. And there she was! "Hi Ty, How's my boy?" I couldn't believe it! Meredith was here! During the week! And holy cow (no pun intended), she was all dressed up for city work. I am used to seeing her in her farm clothes, hair pulled back, with work boots and hat on. Wow! She came to see me! During the weekday!

She walked up and got some range cubes and, for some reason, all of the stars and planets aligned just right for me because Mica let me go to her and she got to pet me and rub my face! (For a little while anyway.) Then with this loud bawling noise, Mica expressed his envy and I moved aside to allow him to have some of my range cubes. I gave Meredith the "It's ok, humor him" look, so she gave him some.

Now, feeding range cubes to Mica is like giving a shark a steak! Mica is working on his manners, but he has a ways to go. Meredith has commented many times on what a gentleman I am. I never grab at her fingers. I always carefully and gently take the range cube. (I am pretty sure she is immune to bull spit, though, as she never seems to mind when it gets on her.)

After a couple of minutes humoring Mica, Meredith was ready to head back to work. What a great surprise for my week! I watched her car until I couldn't see the car anymore. All I can say is, I hope she washed her hands before she started typing on her computer again.

 He's such a ham. LOL

Give People The Benefit Of The Doubt

I admired Ann Brenoff's post:
"Long after people have forgotten your words, they remember how you made them feel. The ability to show restraint is a virtue. Don't get mad and don't get even. Just let it go. Life is cluttered with petty annoyances and small injustices. Not every one of them is worth addressing. Being angry at every slight, at every instance of life not behaving fairly -- it's all just too energy-zapping. Letting go instead of exploding is often the emotionally healthier route. The world is populated with a lot of jerks. It's also populated by pretty decent folks who on occasion have a jerk-like moment. The trick is in differentiating between the two. Give people the benefit of the doubt."

Seems like it's too easy for some people to jump (to conclusions, off a cliff of anger) whenever they don't get what they want. Most of the people around us aren't doing things to spite us or to cause problems for the people around them; they're just muddling along in their lives, doing the best they can, trying to stay on top of life. So if someone inadvertently mucks up your life, there's no need to go ballistic. Just point out how their actions have affected you. Your response can keep the situation from escalating and can promote positive interactions with others. What you sow often is what you reap.

Fudge And The Hay Bale

The weather is bouncing back and forth -- some days are a high of 20, and some are a high of 46. When it's nice, and the wind isn't blowing up our skirts, the cows wander the different "strips", looking for green grass. Pretty small chance, with the ground as dry as it has been. But it gives them some variety in their hay-and-range-cube diet. (And while they're grazing, the neighbor's new alpacas are staring at them. "Just what are those things over there with those horns???"  LOL)

Hot Fudge Sunday showed everyone how tough a bottle calf he is when we set the big bale yesterday. He huffed and puffed and challenged the front-loader tractor, to show the bale who was boss. It was hilarious. And once we put the bale down, he butted it vigorously, and threw hay as hard as he could. Considering his horns are only 2 inches long at this stage, he didn't do any damage to the bale. But he thinks he did. Ah, the innocence of youth.

This picture of Fudge is from 2 months ago.

The Beginning

I remember when I first purchased two cows – just to keep the grass down in the pasture. Within six months I had added four more cows and a bull.  I know my experience isn’t different from that of other Ankole-Watusi breeders. They buy a couple just for fun, and “BAM!” they want more!  Whenever anyone says they want to buy just two, I smile – because I know they’ll be back. Ankole-Watusi are addicting.

In 1983, the AWIR dream began. The dream of sharing these magnificent animals with other progressive thinkers throughout America.  I’m grateful to the charter AWIR members for their foresight.  Without them, I’d have missed some of the best times of my life. I have a duty - as do my fellow breeders - to pass that legacy on.  When I take the time to share these animals with 4-H clubs, FFA members, elementary school students (during their study of Africa [6th grade]), Lions Clubs, Ruritans, state fairs, etc., I’m helping to spread the word about these wonderful cattle.

THE ANKOLE LONGHORN CATTLE OF UGANDA

There is a 30 page paper (with photos) called THE NEED TO CONSERVE THE ANKOLE LONGHORN CATTLE OF UGANDA: A COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVE. It presents the viewpoint of herders of the Nyabushozi, Kiruhura District, South Western Uganda. The meetings were held between February and April of 2009.

You can read the whole paper here, but Ankole-Watusi cattle enthusiasts might find this excerpt interesting.

Our Ankole long horn cattle have long white horns though there are those that are hornless.Their eyes, nose and ears are small (however smallness of the nose is relative).They are tall with long legs, have long navels and small humps. They are normally deep or dark brown (Bihogo) though some have different shades of brown (Siina & Gaaju) and others have different colour patterns (mayenje – small spots on the belly) with short hair. They also have a beautiful “moo” (i.e., they have a nice sound).

The Ankole longhorn cattle were the first cattle in the whole country and they resist any kind of suffering (i.e., they are hardy) and eat little grass.

The name “Ankole” is wrong, and the correct one is “Nkore” The writer G. N. Kirindisays that it was the colonialists who named our land “Ankole’ because they could not correctly pronounce the name “Nkore”.

Another name for Nkore is “Kaaro Karungi”. This name is a result of the war between Nkore and Bunyoro. When the Banyoro captured Nkore, they marveled at the beauty of the land and said “aka Kaaro Karungi” meaning “this is a beautiful village”.

The first breeders of the Ankore cattle, are our ancestors, the people of Nkore mentioned below; The Bachwezi (Founders of Nkore Kingdom and ancestors of the Banyankore), the Bahima and the Banyankore (present habitants of the area).

Factors That Are Considered When Selecting An Ankole Cow (Listed By Importance)
1. When selecting our cows, we consider beauty as number one. [Beauty includes size (big with long legs), colour (especially deep brown “Bihogo” and other beautiful colour patterns), and height, (white and beautifully shaped horns)]. If there is a beautiful bull, the offspring shall be beautiful
2. High and good quality milk production and character/temperament are very important.
3. We select our cattle in order to get offspring of the same colour or pattern since these would look beautiful, would always move together, love one another and other people would love them and they would be easily identified e.g. if lost or stolen.
4. Our prestige or status comes with our carefully selected herds for their strength and beauty.

Reproduction
Most of the Ankole heifers conceive for the first time between the ages of 2.5 to 4 years. However some well-suckled heifers conceive for the first time between the ages of 1 and 2 years.

An Ankole cow, if well fed or given proper care, can take between 2 weeks to 8 weeks to conceive after giving birth and if not given proper care, it can take four months. The cows with short calving intervals commonly have little milk and those with long calving intervals can produce 7 – 10 litres. The well-fed cows will give milk for up to a year but towards the end of this period the amount will decrease.

Economic Uses And Functions
1. Our cattle live long
2. They rarely fall ill
3. They are resistant to hunger and drought
4. We use them as a source of income (e.g. sales of live animals for money- hides to those who make shoes, bags, belts and drums, horns for buttons, trumpets, ornaments, handcrafts, and smoking pipes. Hooves are used to produce gum)
5. They fetch a higher price than the Nganda breed.
6. They produce good dung for energy-biogas
7. Our status is rated by the number and beauty of cattle one possesses
8. Their maintenance costs us little: e.g. they survive on only grass and water and Nkore has good grass, they survive under any condition and can be owned and managed by anyone (even the poor ones).

There are several very nice photos of local cattle in that paper. You can see that the conformation of the American animals holds true to the original form. ;-)

Typhoon's Diary, December 24

La Dorada Typhoon heard I was talking about him. So he's asked for equal time. Spoiled rotten, he is, as you can tell by his diary. LOL

Typhoon's Diary

 

Well, it was another beautiful fall day, sun was shining, and a slight crisp breeze was in the air with the colors of fall all around.

 

I was minding my own business, munching on some hay, when I heard them. Carl and Meredith were here! I heard my favorite sound ever, "Hi Ty! How's my boy?" Oh she does love me so much. Of course I had to act somewhat nonchalant, but make no mistake; I was excited to see her!

 

Carl and Meredith fed us bulls some grain, as usual, and of course Meredith hid some range cubes in my tub just for me. She waited strategically to see what tub I would end up with after Mica made up his mind on what tub he was taking over… (I guess you could say he is the 'boss' of the bullpen.)

 

While we were eating, I heard another one of my other favorite sounds, the tractor. Carl and Meredith were headed into the bullpen to split wood. I do enjoy watching them.

 

They got everything set up and started splitting away. I was trying to hurry up eating my grain so I could get over and help. When I was finished, I casually strolled over, while watching my Meredith lift those heavy chunks of wood as if they were nothing. She is “strong like bull:, worth many horses”!

 

I stood there looking handsome, and waited for her to notice me. Nothing, so I moved a little closer. With horns like mine and these big handsome eyes, how could she not know I was waiting for her to see me and scratch my face? Oh enough already … I moved in for a scratch. She flashed that giggly grin, slipped me a range cube and started scratching my face and rubbing my eyes and nose. A few more range cubes and I saw Carl just laugh and say, "Oh alright, we will wait for a bull.” He handed her even more cubes for her to give me, and kept the other bulls at bay so I could have all of the attention. I am not sure who loves me more, Carl or Meredith.

 

This went on for a while, and finally, Carl said, "OK, we have work to do" so back to splitting they went. I reluctantly moved aside, only to secretly stroll my way around to the other side of the tractor to stand by Carl -- again, away from the other bulls. He believed me when I claimed that I needed more range cubes, and obliged me with a few more. Then I stood close and watched as they finished splitting a most impressive pile of firewood.

 

They then climbed onto the tractor and off they went. Oh I can't wait for them to be back and to hear Meredith say my favorite words: "Hi Ty! How's my boy?"

Yep, he knows how to get what he wants. LOL

Treat Others Well

People remember how they were treated. And they learn how to treat others from the way they were treated. If we treat people like friends on a new adventure, they will feel the love, and will share it with other newbies. It doesn't take much to make the ripples expand and to encourage the community to "pass it on". Share your passion with others, and encourage others to share their hobbies and adventures with you.

Why is this the Watusi Life?

Why Watusi? Because I've raised Ankole-Watusi cattle since 1983.

 

This bull is La Dorada Red Eagle. He's kind of pudgy in this picture,

but my animals live the good life. ;-)

He is a big pet, always looking for more attention.

 

And this is La Dorada Typhoon, another Foundation Pure bull.

He is another big pet. He loves to have his head scratched.

His eyes go all relaxed, and he practically sighs with pleasure. ;-)

 

Everyone needs a hobby. Or a passion.

Some last decades. Some last weeks.

I've been blessed by these animals for nearly thirty years.

Language And Understanding

When you really stop and think about communication, you realize that it’s a miracle that we understand one another even half the time.

And written communication is harder than face-to-face communication.

But every method of communication is tricky. Because the way people understand words varies. The "definitions" that people use vary. And the words people use for an object vary.

Language is one big, messy, pot of mess.