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Yesterday was crazy busy. I wanted to mow my lawn however on my way home it started to rain. Dang.

Had my last appointment with the oral surgeon and the implant looks good and I can resume eating regular food. I promptly picked up a salad at the store...yummy.

I have rowing again tonight and do far the weather looks to be decent.

Today McDonalds is launching their southern style chicken biscuit. I am going to try it with a sweet tea and see if it can even come close to the Holy Grail of Chicken biscuits...the Boj.

Here is a picture of a photo challenge "euphemisms"

Since dog hair is always easy to come by, I chose "Hair of the Dog"



The photogamer word of the day is Medicine, that should be and easy one!

Tonight we officially were on the water. I was mostly petrified of ending up in the water and getting whacked with an oar. The boats are very skinny and to me very unstable. The rowers use their oars to steady the boat, kind of like training wheels as was described by the instructors.

We moved our boat 2 miles. We were not all rowing at the same time but at a few points, 6 of us were going at the same time. I still feel all uncoordinated and hopefully in the next 2 weeks that will get better. Doing more than one thing at a time with my body is hard for me. I quit band when we had to start marching as I could not get my rights and lefts sorted out while playing, the band director yelled at me a few times as well and that did not help either. I was a pretty good clarinet player too.

We row again Thursday night.

Here is the area of the river we are on.





It was a beautiful night though I did not fully appreciate it due to my petrification.

Tonight I had my first rowing class. We watched a safety video, learned about parts of the boat, how to get a boat to the water and back and we actually got into the boat. It is narrow. It is very sensitive to oar movements. I am more than slightly petrified about starting to row on the water. I am not usually very graceful or coordinated.

Friday night I stopped by Marjean and Don's place to see Marjeans new suit she bought for a wedding next month.

When I got there Don was standing outside the front door with this dog on a leash. Marjean was petting the dog.

I asked them where they found it. Don said Mostly Mutts ( a no kill shelter). Don said to Marjean "Happy Mothers Day". She had no idea he had gone to pick up this dog or any dog for that matter. She is a 10 or so year old beagle who has been at the shelter since before November.

Don picked her because "who would adopt a 10 year old beagle". These are good people.

She is called Betsy. I am baby sitting her on Sunday when they go away for the day.

It was such luck that I stopped by at that particular time, I saw her meet her new family and explore her new yard for the first time.

I have a special spot for old dogs.

This is Betsy today, after a bath.

Karin and her kids picked me up at about 8am Saturday and after a quick stop at Sheetz we were on our way to NYC for the 5 Boros bike ride. Other than a bit of fog, the trip was uneventful and we were in our hotel by about noontime.

After a quick snack we hit the pavement. First stop was Gotham Bikes.




I purchased the second most awesome pair of socks on the planet...the humping bunny socks. Kelsi and Karin each have a pair that I have been coveting for the past few years. A pic will follow in a few days, when the socks are out of the washer. We also marveled at all the security items one could purchase for ones bike.





We explored around the SoHo area for awhile. I spent most of my time snapping pictures of bikes chained to things. Eventually we hoofed it over to Chinatown for a noodle bowl. This noodle bowl was equally yummy as the previous one.







On our way to Chinatown we went through a bit of Little Italy and were sucked in by the large round of cheese. Cheese, glorious cheese.







Off to Times Square next. We took the subway and did not get lost!



After we got back to the hotel, Karin and I walked around more while Kelsi and Zach ran up and down the hotel stair wells. They discovered the door to the roof was wide open. Kelsi investigated while Zach was look out. Once they told Karin and me, we promptly went up to see for ourselves.



Saturday morning was cool but NOT raining. NOT RAINING. We all had cow bells attached to our bikes. We sounded pretty neat going down the road. We opted to start at the secondary start a bit in front of the official start. Kelsi and Karin made flags for our helmets...Kelsi drew the chain wheel butts. Before we arrived at Central Park, the kids left us behind. Throughout the ride we continually heard "more cowbell". One person sang "ring my bell" as he passed us. The cow bells made it easy to keep track of ones riding partner without having to look back.









Karin and I stopped at the halfway point for a snack and a pee. I was ready for a snack as I did not eat near enough complex carbs for breakfast. Given the soft diet requirements I had yogurt and applesauce...not enough.







The finish, Staten Island. This is where Zach got a flat tire. We saw many riders, mostly roadies, changing tires along the way. We were thankful most of our tires remained in tact and we remained up right on our bikes. We saw a few accidents along the way and rumor has it has it that some riders were delayed for an hour due an accident requiring an ambulance.



We lucked out and hardly had to wait for the boat back to Battery Park.





We were back at the hotel by 1pm. After grabbing a snack, we hit the pavement again. I went off on my own to B and H Photo for some nerd time. Met the others in Chinatown for fried rice at the same place as the night before. Then we walked though Little Italy where we had gelato. Karin and I decided we must eat in Little Italy next time we are in NYC.



Stopped at the hotel for a bit and spent the remainder of the evening walking through Battery Park.







Today we rode the bike path to 48th street and then into the city.





It was a great weekend- no rain, we all remained upright on our bikes, we ate well and returned home safely. I will do this again next year and I am hoping Gail and Alice will join Karin and me as well.

I am headed to NYC for the weekend with Karin and her kids. We are riding in the NYC 5 Boros bike ride tomorrow. the forecast looks a bit better today than it did yesterday. There is still the possibility of rain.

The art opening was nice last night. Mom, Dad and Marjean came along. My photo did not get any additional recognition however of 160 photos submitted, only 55 were chosen to hang in the show sO i am honored I had one displayed.

I had better go feed the herd and get ready for the trip.



And for a laugh...

(farmer that leaves cows out even though he know you are coming) + (almost loosing a boot and twisting a knee while trying to pull boot out of cow shit the consistency of fresh poured cement) + (horse owners dog bit me on the leg) + (somewhat unmanageable horse) = (my tolerance of people spiralling downward exponentially) x -57682

This is what we do on bike rides...



Last night there was music and a mojito with friends-

I submitted four photos, this one was chosen to hang for the show.

Makes me happy.

Saturday morning I met Karin and her kids in Lewisburg for the Bike for Bob charity bike ride. We went about 22 miles.







Cows along the way.



After I was back I participated in a drum circle.



Steve drumming.



Me drumming.




The new vet and I met at the mall to do some shopping. I needed to find something for a wedding and some new clothes for New Orleans in July. Most of my "meeting clothes" are of the fall variety and so not appropriate for the hot and humid that is the south. We were both a site to behold as the new vet was in work clothes and I was in a biking skort, t-shirt and I had helmet head disguised under a bandanna. The new vet found 2 shirts and a dress for me! Whoot whoot. It is so difficult to find neat things in my size but we were victorious yesterday. We also found a dress for her. She continues to try and convince me to buy some heels....I am pretty sure that will not happen!

Today I went to Mom and Dads for a visit, shopping and mower plade sharpening. I was going to take them to lunch but Dad treated instead. During lunch we were chatting about Sis and the Husband as they are riding cross country on their tandem bike. It is an organized ride and Sis has worked for or ridden with the company for several years. In fact Mom and Dad have had her dog(s) every summer for the past probably 10 years. Sis and the Husband arrive at the finish line mid May and a few days later she starts working for the company again by driving the vans back to CA to start the 6 week cross country tour finishing up in August. Mom and Dad have her dog and are taking care of her yard (her house has yet to sell). I made the comment as to her living the life of leisure. Dad proceeded to talk about each of our paths not that one is better than the other. Sis went to school for 4 years and worked and has worked (she did get her masters while working-the school paid for it) for longer than I have, I had gaps in my working history due to school. He then implied or it is how I heard it, that some people could consider that a life of leisure. I told him that maybe an undergrad education could be considered a life of leisure however, vet school could not. Classes pretty much went from 8am to 4 or 5 pm, not to mention clinics 4th year. And I reminded him that I worked a few hours a week during vet school and before vet school, I took a night class a semester for 3 semesters (as an employee of the vet school I could take one class/semester for free) to update my prerequisites for vet school. Now the residency was no cake walk either nor was my first two years of college (vet tech school), in fact my particular major was viewed as the hardest in the school by friends who were not in my major. So while my working career has been much shorter than hers and our paths have been different, I am pretty sure an elementary school teacher turned elementary school guidance counselor are not quite in the same category as a veterinarian and should not be compared.

I am pretty sure Dad did not remember that I had worked during vet school and taken night classes while working full-time at the vet school as a technician.

Dad took my life of leisure comment as a negative one. It was not supposed to be negative I meant she is riding bike for a month with the husband and then working for the touring company where she gets to ride part of the days route nearly everyday which for her is the equivalent of me spending a month just doing photography and pottery.

After that came the discussion of how Sis and I spend out money differently. I have expensive hobbies that I enjoy and have set up to do at my home when my schedule allows rather than having to work around Bucknells Craft Center hours. I mean I do work weekends and my hours can be irregular.

Sometimes I just do not do anything good enough...I have too many dogs, spend too much money, work too hard...yea work too hard. Like I told Dad, it comes with the job. He says they still worry about me working hard.

Mom and I did a bit of shopping. She had tried on some pants and while in the check out line, there was no one else around, she pulled a lint roller out of her purse and started lint rolling her pants getting all the strings off her pants-apparently they picked up strings while she was trying on something.

Sturdy Girls 1st

Happy dogs -1st. I am especially pleased that this one got some recognition

Winter Cow-3rd

Guy Playing Bass 3rd

Poke Me With a Fork Honorable Mention

I did better than last year, last year I got 3 ribbons, this year 5.

Now on to the juried show. Hopefully something will get selected to hang.

I am behind on blogging and replying to emails-I will catch up tonight.

'yesterday I assisted the new vet with a calving. She was perfectly capable of dealing with the call but I was in the area and sometimes it is nice to have another educated body around. Plus I know the client can be a bit of a pill and not always very helpful. Today was no different.

By the time I arrived the new vet had the calf into the normal position but the head was too large to come out vaginally and the calf was dead. She was about to cut the head off so i helped her. The client and his helper were nearly useless. We continually had to keep telling them to hold the tail over and more importantly to keep the cow pushed over so she cannot swing her butt left and right and risk breaking our arms. (I am very serious about that, it happens.)

I am pretty sure those two guys were getting their jollies watching us work.

The new vet was frustrated with the whole situation as was I, though not as much as I did not have to be there quite as long.

Tonight is the opening of the photo show in Lewisburg. I am excited to see if any of my photos were chosen for recognition.

Time for work.

In July I am going on an excellent educational adventure to New Orleans.

I had offered the annual bovine meeting to the new vet as it is only fair for her to have a chance to go, I have gone every year since forever. Shortly after that offer was accepted information about the AVMA meeting appeared on my desk.

I looked at the topics offered online last night (today was the last day of preregistration-nothing like waiting till the last minute) and there are several camelid and small ruminant topics as well as bovine.

AND there are lots on pet fish....PET FISH. I am not sure if the boss was more keen on me going to the camelid stuff or the pet fish stuff. He digs the goldfish as much as I do. Tomorrow I am getting a new goldfish and algae eater of some sort.

So Cheryl, I hope you can sign up too. Keeping fingers crossed.

Karin and I picked up Janelle at about 7am. Even with a delay on Rt. 80 and an ugly yogurt spill in the car while entering the Holland tunnel, we were walking in NYC by about 11am. The weather could not have been any better. We started out in the Trebecca area and just started walking. We had no plans really other than to have lunch in Chinatown. Lucky for us, our path of choice ended us at Crumbs for a mid morning snack. Last year sis and I ran across this place. They make amazing cupcakes. Janelle has perhaps an uncontrolled addiction to buttercream.



I opted for the all chocolate variety.



After that delicious treat, we continued walking and came across an outside market and street food. As tempted as we were to sample a few items we opted to wait for lunch. We walked and walked, stopped in a few stores, and walked some more. Till the day was done I think we walked for about 6 hours total.



Street musicians. The guy on the right is playing what I think is a diddly bow.



A little man and his little dog.



Places were just opening up for the day. Till the end of the day, places like this were overflowing with people.



My favorite thing...a glider.



It was now near to 2:30 and we were starving. Initially we were going to take the subway to Chinatown but opted to walk instead, the day was just that fantastic. Had we taken the subway we would have missed this...



Chinatown.



Given my soft food dietary restrictions, it was suggested that I go to Chinatown and try a noodle bowl. Friday afternoon I did a bit of searching for place to eat in Chinatown and came up with Yogee Restaurant. We walked in and were the only non-Asian people there and on the table were just chopsticks. It looked like we picked a winner. Janelle needed a coke in a bad way.



The menu had some very interesting items on it...



Karin and I ordered a seafood noodle bowl while Janelle ordered spring rolls and shrimp fried rice.



This was the most fantastic thing I had eaten in awhile. There were a few mystery items in there...a big flat oval piece of meat looking thing which Janelle thought was conch. The texture was not right for tofu. The other mystery item was the color, shape and size of a mozzarella ball, Karin and I decided that was probably tofu. Karin saved a piece of the big flat thing and when we showed it to the waiter he said it was fish cake. Janelles rice dish was amazing and as much as I wanted to try a spring roll, I refrained. Just after our meals were served, I sent the noodle bowl recommender a picture message via cell phone, my first picture message EVER. I got a text message back. Janelle and Karin got a great laugh watching my try to text message. It took me 5 minutes to type out "eating conch i think". Turns out my phone was set with some "smart texting" where the phone thinks it knows what I want to type and automatically finishes the word.....so I am not quite that remedial of a texter.

After lunch we were on a mission to find some gelato. During my internet searches I found a gelato place close to Chinatown.



More walking through markets. We were trying to decide what kind of green veggie was in our noodle bowl.





Street tofu.







In line for gelato.



Dark chocolate and orange--oh so wonderful.



Making our way back towards the general direction of the car, we saw her....



She lives at the firehouse. She is liver and white. My first deaf Dal, Helen, was liver and white.



Karin and I drooled over Gotham Bikes Jerseys here.



Bikes seen while walking.







Spending the day with Janelle and Karin was just so fabulous and enjoyable. We all just wanted to enjoy the city, walk and eat. I would have liked to have taken more pictures but I have concluded that is more of a solitary activity. I will take more pictures when I am back with Karin and her kids for the 5 Boro Ride in weeks.

Sadly Fish Two is no more. He/she died over night. Not sure why, consulting with the fish vet to see if there is something we could have done differently. Of the fish has not been flushed, we may send him for an autopsy of sorts.

We tried.

NYC was great- more tomorrow

Today Fish Two had her eye removed. Photos taken by the bosses daughter.


Anesthesia machine and surgery table.


The offending eye.


In the induction tank.


Sedated.



Hooked up to the anesthesia machine.


Aspirating the fluid around the eye.


Removing the eye.




Stopping the bleeding.



Recovery tank.


Rushed back to surgery because she started to bleed again.


Using a silver nitrate stick to stop the bleeding. Hopefully silver nitrate is not toxic to fish.



Recovering again, hopefully we did not damage her slime coating.


Recovering in her ICU tank.




Happy surgery team.


As of 8:30m, the Fish Two was resting in a normal position. Hopefully she will survive.

More pics here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/twisteduterus/sets/72157604615743297/

I was given a ticket to see the guys from Mythbusters. They were at Bucknell. It rocked!

I had the weekend off. Praise all things that are sacred. It was very difficult to get moving Friday. The boss felt the same way.

Friday night I went to listen to some live music. It was excellent.





Saturday Karin, Kelsi and I took a 16 mile bike ride with some pretty good headwinds.


It was warm enough for cycling sandals.



Fat bottomed girls.

Then we stopped for ice cream.


In three weeks, Karin, Kelsi, Zach and I are riding in the 5 Boro ride in NYC. We are all very excited about it.

Things are starting to bloom...


Slinky and Gracie


Submissions for the juried show. Hopefully one will get chosen.


And for the Lewisburg Show, I need 5 of these. Which one should stay home?