Alive!

No really....I am!
Not sure why I felt like posting, but whatever. Maybe just because I have so much that's new right now, and pretty well all of it is cool and awesome. I had my tech school orientation last week and started my actual classes yesterday. So far, it all rocks.

First day was pretty standard. Our class of 30 is all female, not a single guy, and the head of the department kept emphasizing the importance of teamwork and warned us not to get "catty". He seemed a little nervous about that. It was kinda strange and awesome to be in a room where everyone is so "vet-ish". Everyone was talking about their clinics, their pets, their experiences, and there was none of the usual sort of toning down that usually happens when you discuss bodily functions or trauma. It was fun.
Anyway, we spent a bunch of time with the 2nd years who kept telling us that the first term is the worst, and really weeds people out. Again and again, from multiple different students we heard that the next 6 months would be brutal, and that we shouldn't work or take any extra classes if we didn't have to. I'd been planning to take Russian this term, but I dropped it after hearing all that. We were getting nervous and hyped up when the coordinator handed out a cd-rom and announced that it contained all our notes for Basic Animal Science class and that the instructor wanted us to have them printed out for our Tuesday class. I was starting to get worried and thinking "oh man, we're getting into it already...how hard is this going to be?" and then she announced "oh yes, and the instructor also asked me to tell those who have lab on Tuesday to bring their farm gear. Your first lab is on horse safety." Rock on!

The next day we met Dave. Dave is the program horse, a 30 year old appaloosa. The farm caretaker (Terry) told us to excuse Dave's tricks. His only real joy in life now is picking on students, and he *loves* finding students who seem nervous. He looks slow and harmless (and usually is) but apparently he has a pretty decent kick in him still.

We also met the dogs we'll be looking after this year. The program adopts 8-10 dogs from the spca each year and uses them for our learning. We do anesthetics, catheters, handling, restraint, everything with them. We also teach them basic obedience commands and socialize them, so that by the end of the 9 months they're with us, they've become totally desensitized to handling and vet offices, they're trained and socialized, and have about a 10 times better chance of finding a home than they did when they left the shelter. They've also been medically evaluated every day of those 9 months, so any health issues are well documented. We do the same with cats, but the college is finishing construction on the new cattery, so this years cats won't arrive for a couple of weeks. The new kennels were finished this summer and they're wonderful. Especially after seeing the old kennels, which were mostly outdoor and looked like they'd be awfully cold in winter.

Yesterday was actual class. We've been divided into "care groups" and we rotate weeks to do care duties like feeding, watering and cleaning for the animals. Each team is also assigned a dog to be responsible for (training goals, enrichment, field trips, etc). I'm on "Team Mocha" and Mocha is a cute brown lab mix. Unfortunately, she's an unspayed female and she just went into heat. And three of the male dogs are intact. Joy. At least 2nd year surgery rotation is coming up soon, so they should all get snipped in the next few weeks. I also signed up for a dog training class on Friday afternoons and managed to get my name in to work with Drake. Drake is an adorable yellow lab with a permanent big goofy grin. He has gigantic paws, gigantic tongue, and looks like there are perhaps 5 functioning brain cells in his entire head. Sweet, but very lab-ish.

Today was our animal science lecture/lab. The prof is a riot, and I think I'm going to enjoy this one. She's vocal, opinionated, impatient and told us that we are "expendable" and "ignorant" on multiple occasions. She also said that she has to teach us to not get hurt or killed because we were being stupid, because she hates the paperwork involved. Despite all that, she has a wicked sense of humour, seems very fair when it comes to grading and assignments, and is more than willing to toss us in off the deep end of something, just to see if we can swim. If we can, great....if not, she'll laugh at us, bail us out, and then make fun of us for the rest of our lives. I like this class!

Today's lab was supposed to be horse safety, but that got shortened because our class's pigs had arrived. Each lab group (15 Tuesday, 15 Thursday) gets 2 feeder pigs to work with and care for. We were told right off the bat to not get attached because the pigs will be slaughtered at the end of the term, which I'm surprisingly ok with. We'll see how I feel once I actually get to know them. Our team named our pigs Salsiccia (Italian for sausage, "Solly" for short) and Captain Cauliflower (he has a mangled ear). We'll be responsible for their care, and will do a term project on them as well. Our first task was to get them out of the truck and weigh them. We were trying to grab them by the legs, but they were amazingly slippery. The first girl to get one kept saying "why are you guys so slippery? pig pee can't be that slippery!". We were having a hell of a time with them, but we managed to get them weighed and into their pens with no escapes or disasters. That was when about six 2nd year students popped out holding cameras and clapping. They announced that we had done very well and that we were now responsible for passing on the wonderful tradition of greasing the pigs for the first years. Evil!

Anyway, tomorrow I finally get to start A&P, the class I'm dreading most. I'm going to have to work my ass off for this one, and study like mad. Some of the girls have already started making flash cards, and we haven't even started yet! ACK!
So. Homework and bedtime.