The Dairy

For my science class, I had a very fun assignment. I had to choose a place of interest, such as a farm, vet clinic, zoo, etc. and shadow someone there. So... I went to a dairy. I like cows and I want to be a livestock vet so I might as well see what my future might be like, right? I had a great time and everyone was nice. We went on the day that the vets were there to palpate some cows. Here's the definition if you don't know what exactly that is.

rectal palpationpalpation of the posterior abdomen and the organs in it by inserting the hand and arm (in horses, cattle and pigs) in the rectum

 Somehow they could tell whether a cow was pregnant or fresh or other things. It was extremely interesting.

Fieser Dairy, Inc. in Deleon Springs, FL

 Palpating a cow.

Those are the cows waiting to be milked. The jets sort of start cleaning off the grime from the udders.

The cows line up ten at a time to be checked.

This cow right here got the cow version of Gatorade.

You probably can't tell, but the cow in the foreground is missing it's left eye.  It had some cancer on its eye lid so the vet wanted to take it off. They put the cow in a stanchion and secured her head so she couldn't move it. The vet was only planning on taking the eye lid off, but after he did, he saw the cancer went behind the eye so he said, "We're going to have to take it out."  I looked at Daddy and said, "The eye? They're going to take the whole eye out?"   So I stood there and watched the whole thing. It was interesting and gross at the same time. I can watch that kind of thing, but I'm not so sure if I could do it...  I think the thing that surprised me the most, and I know it shouldn't have, was that it was a spur of the moment thing. 'Oh, we'll have to take the whole eye out' and then inject more pain killers and operate.

Later, someone asked me which vet I liked the best, the older one or the younger one. I don't know. Probably the older one better because I just like old people and because he made Mr. DJ (who was helping him take the cow's eye out) go find the eye he threw into some grass so I could see the optic nerve. :) But I like the younger vet too because he drew a smiley face on the side of a cow with his cow crayon. That made my day. Now there is a random cow out there that has a smiley face on it's side. On the way home, we went to Tractor Supply and got some cow crayons and drew on Honeybelle and Sugar Muffin. :D

Leigha

Updates

Awesome Frisbee shot

Hey y'all! How time has flown! Tomorrow is December!!! I've just been so busy with school and the holidays. I'm thinking about making this a summer blog. I hope everyone out there has been having a just as awesome holiday season. How was your Thanksgiving? A ton of family from all over (Tampa, Tenn.) spent Thanksgiving for us. We had a ton of fun. I was the first time I saw my cousins from Tennessee since my oldest one (Shelby) got married in March 2010. Christmas is my favorite time of year with the cookies and parties and music! I've been knitting all of my presents. At church we are going to sing the Hallelujah chorus in the choir. The first time we practiced, I thought we would never get it right. :) We're getting pretty good at it. The Voices of Victory are learning new Christmas carols also. So far, my favorite carol is "Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming". While we're on this subject, I might as well tell you that the guy who invited us to England has withdrawn his offer... However, Pastor said that if we are set on going somewhere this summer, he will arrange for us to go to some English speaking country. :D
Macy had some major ordeals lately. We were dog-sitting Aki and Kuma (the teacup and toy poodle) when it happened which made it even more complicated. We had Macy spayed. We thought she was recovering well, but she didn't eat for 6 days! If she did eat something, she would barf it all back up. (We still have stains on the carpet around the house because of it.) We took her back to the vet and they did some blood work and x-rays. She had a lot of gas but we didn't know what was wrong. The vet wanted to operate (again) to see what was going on. When they went inside, they found out that some of the stuff that was supposed to help stop the bleeding from the previous surgery got wrapped around her small intestines. I'm glad they did the surgery or she would have died. The recovery took a little longer than expected, but everything is all right now and Macy is catching Frisbees just like before. :)
I've been going to a lot of theme parks lately too. On October 20th, I went to Seaworld with my co-op. It was fun. I went on Journey to Atlantis twice. They changed it since I last went. There was a twisty part added near the end.

Clyde and Seamore show at Seaworld

On November 21st, I got to go to the new Legoland Florida with my umbrella school! It was a great deal: $5 a person because we are a school group. I kicked myself in the parking lot when I realized I forgot my camera. Sorry. My friends and I went on every single roller coaster they had. The park is aimed for kids up to 12 years old so the rides were sort of disappointing. All of the employees have little Lego people on their name tags and if you bring your own, you can ask them to trade with you.
Other than that there really isn't anything to say... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Macy's Vet Appointment

The doctor said it's probably just a sprain but since she's on pain meds, we don't know for sure. She said to keep giving her medicine until it runs out and then see if she's still in pain. Here are pictures.

They have a dog park/training area called Central Bark. We played there some afterward.

On the way home we stopped at the Seven-Eleven to get gas.

We saw this ad and got excited until we found out they all sold out.

We found a Alligator Snapping turtle in the road so we brought it home so we could eat it. Here is a picture and a video we took. In the video he snaps off a twig and snaps at the air. It really is "Whoa".

So far that's what's happened today. By the way, a few days ago, Ben made us all Chocolate covered Peanut Butter Balls! How nice.

           TTYL!   Leigha♪