I'm really glad that Aurochs are extinct
Or at least that modern cattle have been shrunk somewhat. I can just imagine them sending us out for our Aurochs placement, and us being trampled to death.
I mean, I appreciate all the work that movements for equal rights for the vertically challenged have done, but I shuffle around the five foot mark, and cows are big. I think that working in a dairy is work for taller people, I really do. My arms just aren't long enough.
So my week in the dairy was pretty good, despite my height. The placement people were lovely again...the woman was a vet, and took us along to observe a blood transfusion for a heifer with a clotting problem (which was probably bracken toxicity), and the guy was fantastic too, as was his brother in law, who we helped with the milking. The fact that they were as sane as animal people can be is a big thing apparently...I just saw a notice on the placement board on facebook asking whether rumours of sexual harassment at another dairy are true. The only real issue was their two little kids. I'm not good with kids at the best of times, and they were very insistent on being close a lot. The smaller of the two in particular was constantly asking what we were doing, or trying to steal my glasses (which I was having a hard time keeping clean as it was), or telling us we were gay. Constantly. It got to the point where I wished I was gay, just so that I could turn around and say "why yes, I do find myself attracted to people of my own gender, what of it?", but I don't think that would've been helpful really.
Thankfully the parents started a crackdown on the kid running around shouting "GAAAAAAAYYYYYY", but it just made me wonder...how do you teach a kid that being gay is nothing shameful but using the word the way he was is wrong? I went to see Tangled last week, and I'm pretty sure that kids have absolutely no depth of thought whatsoever (THEY TALKED THROUGH ALL THE EMOTIONAL BITS WHY ARE YOU NOT ALLOWED TO STAB CHILDREN).
Cow-wise...I'm more or less apathetic about cows, with the exception of Scottish Highland Cows which are the best things ever. I'm also mildly disturbed by the amount of skeleton you can see when you look at the average dairy cow. We milked twice a day, at five thirty (which meant a quarter past four, four thirty wake-up, since I have to spend at least half an hour snoozing and then another ten to twenty minutes staring blankly into space before I can get up) and at three in the afternoon. On most of the mornings we also gave vaccinations and mastitis treatments, which was a further kick in the face for the girl from the 1800s who lives in my head and makes me swoon at needles...I didn't take my eyes off the blood transfusion and didn't wibble at all, and I actually didn't have a bad reaction when I had to have blood taken over New Years. I don't know if this is a move towards not being affected by needles, or if it's being latent until the least convenient moment (I'd say the abattoir placement'll be that). Handling the huge needles does make me slightly nervous, and I'm sometimes shaky afterwards, but I think I'm getting there. We also had to dry out a bunch of cows on one day, which involved sticking two syringes of stuff (antibiotic and sealant) into each teat, which pissed the cows off a little.
That still left us with lots of time during the day which we hadn't expected, which meant lots of nap time. Also, daytime television. I crocheted a guinea pig for Cella (which I need to add eyes and ears and a nose to, since I didn't have my stuff with me), so that was productive, and on Thursday it occurred to me that I could read the Harry Potter books that were in the bookshelf...by Friday I'd finished Prisoner of Azkaban, which was the last one they had.
Prisoner of Azkaban is the best Harry Potter book because it has a huge chunk of backstory, half-bird-half-[insert animal here] animals, werewolves, people who can turn into animals, and time travel. Also Cedric Diggory is genuinely nice all the time. This conclusion will be included in the placement diary that I have to turn in to the faculty, as it is Clearly Relevant.
Anyway, that's another placement down, four [+abattoir] to go.
~
I'm in the process of developing what feels like a shockingly bad cold, but I still went to the zoo today. In the blistering heat. The little elephants are adorable, and the leopard seals were right up against the glass, which was amazing (especially since the viewing room has aircon). I got to talk to this keeper, and had a brainfreeze and completely forgot that she had a pug (I would've talked to her about pugs D:). I said that I like binturongs and she said I had good taste in animals :D I spend a goodly amount of my flickr lurking time being jealous of her life, so getting to talk to her was pretty cool.
Speaking of the binturongs, they decided that the best way to deal with the heat was to lie on top of one another in a little box with no airflow. There were three, full grown binties in that box, with their heads sticking out, panting from the heat. I was there in the high 30s weather, wearing jeans. Conclusion: binturongs suck at being practical in the heat.
~
Oh, and it's my Tibet's birthday today! 15 years of my kitty cat <3 For a birthday treat he gets to sleep on my bed, which means I'll probably have a crappy night because he likes to wake me up. Ah, cats.
I mean, I appreciate all the work that movements for equal rights for the vertically challenged have done, but I shuffle around the five foot mark, and cows are big. I think that working in a dairy is work for taller people, I really do. My arms just aren't long enough.
So my week in the dairy was pretty good, despite my height. The placement people were lovely again...the woman was a vet, and took us along to observe a blood transfusion for a heifer with a clotting problem (which was probably bracken toxicity), and the guy was fantastic too, as was his brother in law, who we helped with the milking. The fact that they were as sane as animal people can be is a big thing apparently...I just saw a notice on the placement board on facebook asking whether rumours of sexual harassment at another dairy are true. The only real issue was their two little kids. I'm not good with kids at the best of times, and they were very insistent on being close a lot. The smaller of the two in particular was constantly asking what we were doing, or trying to steal my glasses (which I was having a hard time keeping clean as it was), or telling us we were gay. Constantly. It got to the point where I wished I was gay, just so that I could turn around and say "why yes, I do find myself attracted to people of my own gender, what of it?", but I don't think that would've been helpful really.
Thankfully the parents started a crackdown on the kid running around shouting "GAAAAAAAYYYYYY", but it just made me wonder...how do you teach a kid that being gay is nothing shameful but using the word the way he was is wrong? I went to see Tangled last week, and I'm pretty sure that kids have absolutely no depth of thought whatsoever (THEY TALKED THROUGH ALL THE EMOTIONAL BITS WHY ARE YOU NOT ALLOWED TO STAB CHILDREN).
Cow-wise...I'm more or less apathetic about cows, with the exception of Scottish Highland Cows which are the best things ever. I'm also mildly disturbed by the amount of skeleton you can see when you look at the average dairy cow. We milked twice a day, at five thirty (which meant a quarter past four, four thirty wake-up, since I have to spend at least half an hour snoozing and then another ten to twenty minutes staring blankly into space before I can get up) and at three in the afternoon. On most of the mornings we also gave vaccinations and mastitis treatments, which was a further kick in the face for the girl from the 1800s who lives in my head and makes me swoon at needles...I didn't take my eyes off the blood transfusion and didn't wibble at all, and I actually didn't have a bad reaction when I had to have blood taken over New Years. I don't know if this is a move towards not being affected by needles, or if it's being latent until the least convenient moment (I'd say the abattoir placement'll be that). Handling the huge needles does make me slightly nervous, and I'm sometimes shaky afterwards, but I think I'm getting there. We also had to dry out a bunch of cows on one day, which involved sticking two syringes of stuff (antibiotic and sealant) into each teat, which pissed the cows off a little.
That still left us with lots of time during the day which we hadn't expected, which meant lots of nap time. Also, daytime television. I crocheted a guinea pig for Cella (which I need to add eyes and ears and a nose to, since I didn't have my stuff with me), so that was productive, and on Thursday it occurred to me that I could read the Harry Potter books that were in the bookshelf...by Friday I'd finished Prisoner of Azkaban, which was the last one they had.
Prisoner of Azkaban is the best Harry Potter book because it has a huge chunk of backstory, half-bird-half-[insert animal here] animals, werewolves, people who can turn into animals, and time travel. Also Cedric Diggory is genuinely nice all the time. This conclusion will be included in the placement diary that I have to turn in to the faculty, as it is Clearly Relevant.
Anyway, that's another placement down, four [+abattoir] to go.
~
I'm in the process of developing what feels like a shockingly bad cold, but I still went to the zoo today. In the blistering heat. The little elephants are adorable, and the leopard seals were right up against the glass, which was amazing (especially since the viewing room has aircon). I got to talk to this keeper, and had a brainfreeze and completely forgot that she had a pug (I would've talked to her about pugs D:). I said that I like binturongs and she said I had good taste in animals :D I spend a goodly amount of my flickr lurking time being jealous of her life, so getting to talk to her was pretty cool.
Speaking of the binturongs, they decided that the best way to deal with the heat was to lie on top of one another in a little box with no airflow. There were three, full grown binties in that box, with their heads sticking out, panting from the heat. I was there in the high 30s weather, wearing jeans. Conclusion: binturongs suck at being practical in the heat.
~
Oh, and it's my Tibet's birthday today! 15 years of my kitty cat <3 For a birthday treat he gets to sleep on my bed, which means I'll probably have a crappy night because he likes to wake me up. Ah, cats.