A New Face

so as some of you may know, my glasses broke about a week ago! but have no fear...i purchased not one, but two new pairs today! they won't be ready for 5-7 days but just wanted to prepare everyone for a new face...well, an old face with new glasses!

Farewell to a Beloved Co-Worker, Birdie

Christmas brought some sad news this year...one of our clinic kitties, Birdie, was euthanized.

Birdie received his name after falling out of a tree! He claimed his place in the clinic and in our hearts. He was known for his love of kittens, and his disdain for dogs and small children!
He was never a good patient, but always a good friend. Birdie will be missed by all at Gaines School--staff, clients, and furry friends.

Campin'

Em and I went campin' Saturday! Yes, dropping the "g" from camping is required when you 1) you live in Georgia and 2) you park your car next to your campsite! So there was no hiking involved, but we still had a great time.

It was a big surprise, but shockingly Em and I worked TOGETHER to put up our tent...let's just say I haven't had the best attitude towards tent building teamwork in the past!


And the rest of the evening was spent around the campfire...we had an awesome dinner all cooked over/in the fire...and we didn't realize that it had gotten so cold outside because the fire kept us toasty! Thanks to Julie for her vigilance aka pyromania.

Obama out of the Blue!

Emily and Abraham were looking through some pictures on facebook during our visit...and on the side of the page was a small picture that Abraham randomly pointed to saying "Barack Obama"...he's 3...either he's brilliant (my personal opinion) or this campaigning has gone on for too long!

The Big 3!

We celebrated a big birthday on Saturday...Abraham turned 3! He's getting so big so fast...
it was a big day playing at the park, eating cake with friends, and opening presents. He went all day without a nap and without a major breakdown...I was very impressed!
Here are some of the highlights...

Abraham the Birthday Boy!

The Biggest Playground I had ever seen...seriously!

Erinn made 3 delicious cakes...1 chocolate, 1 vanilla, and one cinnamon crunch for her mom's bday! The chocolate one got the candle!

Presents galore!

At home, we had to put everything together...this one toy took 5 adults at least an hour to piece together!!! Hope he enjoys it!

Conversations with a 3-year-old

This is a small snippet of a conversation I caught between Emily and Abraham this morning--remember when "got your nose" was a fun game!

Trick-or-Treat...pull down my underwear!

Em and I are in Baltimore for her nephew's 3rd birthday...and we got to go trick-or-treating last night. Abraham was "Batman"...and finished the night early but with a whole lot of candy and a new phrase..."trick-or-treat, don't pull down my underwear"!

No that is not a WIG!

Last weekend Emily and our friend Elizabeth hosted a "Libra"/Halloween party! This is something Elizabeth does every year because so many of her friends are libras. But a "libra" status is not required for attendance, and costumes are encouraged. It was a funtime for all!

Liz as the "dirty old professor", Em as "John McEnroe", and me as "Bob Ross"
Elizabeth and Kevin "Palin"

Christina and Liz!?!?!?
Amy as a very convincing pregnant redneck!
Tara & Em, note the tennis ball holder sported by Em!
Me painting a "Super-Ben"

Catching Up!

I'm finished...well temporarily that is! I had my last final exam today for this semester's core classes. Monday I start elective courses, but electives are always so much more relaxed! So, hopefully this means our blog will see more regular updates.

FIONA needs a HOME!

Yesterday I successfully completed my first spay (hopefully one of many)! Many thanks to Shirin for help with the first ovary and all her calming abilities! Thanks also to Tammy for her skills on anesthesia! And finally thanks to our pup--Fiona. She is a shelter dog from Washington-Wilkes...and in need of a good home.

So if anyone wants to share their home with Fiona (I don't think she would notice if you changed her name)...or know someone who does...please let me know (bethyash@gmail.com)! She had to go back to the shelter today and we hated it for her!

Look at those ears...she is adorable, weighs about 40lbs, just had a bath (thanks to Tammy and Shirin) and flea preventative--plus, she is SPAYED!

And I Would Walk 2,175 Miles

Congrats to the Appalachian Trail hikers - Bib, Kevin, Kathryn, and Chris (sorry I can't remember your trail names)!!!

They have all officially completed the 2,175 mile hike from Georgia to Maine. Whew!!!

For those of you who don't know, Bib and Kathryn are my sisters.

Kathryn and Chris finished September 26th and Bib and Kevin finished October 1st.

Way to go guys!!

I guess now the only question is, "What next?"















If anyone is interested, you can check out Bib and Kevin's blog for pictures and stories from the trail.

You Say It's Your Birthday, It's My Birthday Too!

Yep, number 29. It was a nice birthday weekend, except for the fact that the Bulldogs lost on Saturday night.

Elwood getting ready for the big game.
Unfortunately, his good looks didn't bring any good luck for the dawgs.

Birthday Lunch at Transmet on Sunday.
Someone thought it would be funny to play a joke with the candles. 18, yeah right!


Beth dishing out the birthday cake.

Obviously, explaining something extremely complicated to Tina and Ben, and having to use hand gestures.

Cecile and Christina seem perplexed.

Katz cooling off with one of my Birthday gifts, a Spanish fan from Christina.


The fan turned out to be the party favorite.

I also received a fire pit from Cecile and Liz (thanks guys!) and an antique record player (that works) from Beth! No pics of these yet.

VET SCHOOL has taken over my LIFE!

So, obviously it's been awhile since I have last posted a blog. This would be due to VET SCHOOL. It has taken over my life once again. My friend Shirin keeps a pretty good account of our life at vet school. If you are interested, you should check out her blog (www.modaresibeal.blogspot.com)

Yesterday was a rough day for me. We did our first surgical procedure of the year--a canine neuter! Which was a great learning experience, and we were able to do the neuter on a shelter dog, making it more adoptable! But on top of that I have a radiology test looming overhead (thursday to be precise)....this is not my strongest subject! And then they threw a kink in my spokes...by "informing" us that the alternative in place for the terminal surgery lab isn't what we thought it would be--and I broke down!
our surgical candidate--ROCKET!
he is now neutered and up for adoption at Washington-Wilkes Animal Shelter.

Basically, we are required to conduct an exploratory and OHE during our surgery lab. This is normally done on a pig or dog that is euthanized after surgery. I feel that killing an animal for my learning is unacceptable. I'm in vet school to help animals, not kill healthy animals (even if they are pigs that will be taken to market). As an alternative, we would like to obtain ethically-sourced cadavers (animals dying of natural causes or being humanely euthanized in face of pain/suffering). However, this is NOT the alternative given to us. Our so-called "alternative" is conducting surgery on a freshly euthanized pig--bought by the university! Sorry, but this is unacceptable to me!!!!

I don't want to continue ranting...so I'll leave it at that...still not sure what "option" I will choose...seeing as there isn't really an option!

And I promise, my next blog will be happier than this one!

Cil's Kitchen (err...Cecile cooking in our kitchen)

Say cheese! Yes, we finally got our camera back from Beth's sister and we've been putting it to use!

Cecile came over to cook us some dinner on Sunday night and as always it was delicious!

Thanks Cil!

Cecile hard at work - if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen!



Yum-O! Spinach and Artichokes.


Pretending to fry some pork chops (I don't even eat pork chops.)

Finally, Chow Time!


Beth getting crazy with her napkin bowtie.

blogging on hold...be back soon!

so...beth has been sick...allergies just making me feel kinda blah! and my sister borrowed our camera...and let's face it...blogs are just no fun without pictures...therefore, our blog is on a temporary hold!
be back soon...

Clinics

Today in class, Shirin and I noticed that one of our fellow classmates calculated the number of days until we begin clinical rotations. Apparently, I have 197 days until I am let loose to practice on animals!!!! AHHHHHHH! It is both scary and exciting. I'm so ready to be putting my knowledge to use, but at the same time, feel that I know so little!

So, I was inspired by my classmate to keep a countdown of my days left in the classroom...
please note the awesome puppy on the rainbow design I have obtained! perfect!

Miracle Harness

My dogs are 5 years old, but up until recently they have been horrible leash walkers. Mostly, b/c I didn't train them well enough, but also because they are two big, rowdy dogs! A couple months ago I picked up The Easy Walk Harness.

Although we learned about this harness in school, I was a bit apprehensive to purchase it...one, b/c they are $25 a piece times two, and two b/c I wasn't 100% sure it would actually work! The harness is designed to gently discourage your dog from pulling while walking on a leash. According to their website...

Why it works:
Traditional harnesses can actually encourage dogs to pull harder because of the “opposition reflex.” That’s the reflex that makes sled dogs do what they do. The Easy Walk Harness' unique front-chest leash attachment stops pulling by tightening slightly across your dog's chest and shoulder blades. The gentle pressure steers your dog to the side and redirecting his attention back towards you. The Easy Walk Harness never causes coughing, gagging, or choking because the chest strap rests low across the breastbone, not on the delicate tracheal area.

The first time I put the harness on, my dogs were angels on leash! This harness works MIRACLES!!! not only do they walk on leash without pulling, but they no longer lunge at other dogs while walking! I also threw one on my sister's dog, Porter...he was the worst on a leash...and now he too is an angle!

This is one product I endorse 100% and I have already started suggesting it to clients with ill-behaved canines on leash.

Charlotte or Bust!

Emily and I made a trip to Charlotte, NC this weekend to visit my cousin, Megan, and our friends Jon and Jackie!

We had dinner with Megan and her friend John on Friday night, and then ate a fabulous brunch on Saturday (thanks Uncle Johnny!)...then on our way to see Jon and Jackie (who live about 30 minutes north of Charlotte) we stopped by Emily's old stompin' grounds at UNCC.

Em's tour included her dorm, the practice fields, soccer stadium, field house, and all her old running routes! I don't think she had much of a life outside of soccer in those days!

After Em's trip down memory lane, we made our way to Jon and Jackie's. They live near Lake Norman in a nice neighborhood. We had more good eats that evening, and lots of beer!
Then Sunday brought some time in the sun, and a great Thai lunch.

Minus the sunburn that Emily picked-up, we had a really good weekend.

Summertime Shades!

Elwood sporting his summertime shades!

A Summer Garden

For the first time ever, Emily and I planted a summer garden! We started out with a couple of basil plants, 4 tomato plants, 4 squash plants, and 6 pepper plants. We are now down a few pepper and squash plants, but the tomatoes are growing strong!

Emily was a great helper in the initial stages of preparing the soil and planting, but now she merely takes pictures of the "evil" pests trying to eat our harvest!


Thankfully, the horn-worms Emily was so excited about taking pictures of were easy to remove, and didn't get too many of our tomatoes. But even before the horn-worms there were aphids, which I took care of with peppermint tea!

I love having a garden, but must say that I have found it very tough and somewhat time-consuming. I now have a TON of respect for organic farmers!

The Evil that is Walmart!

I've been reading this book that Em's sister Bib had in the house, it's called "How Walmart is Destroying America (and the World) And What You Can Do About It."
Full of behind-the-scenes insights into the business practices of Walmart, this book is a real eye-opener. I was aware of the low-wages paid, lack of healthcare for most of their employees, and I figured that a ton of their merchandise came from sweatshops, but this book reveals horrors beyond my own imagination...Discrimination against female workers, costing tax-payers billions of dollars per year, exploiting undocumented workers, destroying towns, and on and on and on...WALMART is truly EVIL!!!

This book just reaffirmed any negative feelings I had for the mega-business that is Walmart. But more importantly, it gives info on what you can do about this EVIL business...

Wake-up Walmart is a great site for more info!

So I pledge today that I, Beth Yash, will never shop at a Walmart store again!!!

Give Me A Boost!

I must say Emily did some good work with the dogs...they went from wanting to eat the cat to giving her a boost!
Emily=Caesar, I think yes!

Where Have I Been? Mrs. Nixon's Classroom

Friday was my last day working in the small animal clinic, but instead of rest and relaxation, I have a million little things on my to-do list. First and foremost was helping my sister, Jenna (aka Mrs. Nixon) set up her classroom.

Jenna is teaching 4th grade this year and at a new elementary school--Holsenbeck. She always has so many creative ideas for her classroom. And since she is working on her masters in Children's Literature, she also has plenty of books and ideas for reading, writing, and language boards.

But, sometimes she needs help limiting her imagination and pulling her ideas together. That's where I come in!

I love helping her work on her classroom. This is probably because I don't have to be there when the kids are present! Plus, since she is sharing her room with the EPI teacher (who helps the slower kids), we had to do a LOT of brainstorming to get everything to fit!

We have the classroom more or less finished and now need to get started on her paperwork!!! YIKES! Maybe next week....