Walk like a llama

 I had not realized that another season of the new All Creatures Great and Small was available. I love it so much.  Today was a day of painting dinosaurs, cleaning up syrup, planning Christmas snacks, grazing the top of the laundry pile, lego club, getting stocking stuffers, sending some flat rate boxes to NH, wishing we were seeing some family, and making our own fun walking Wally around Honeyman following Oliver on his bike. Little lady was pretty cooperative on our direction choices, which is good as gentle leaders and chest ropes are not acceptable toddler walking devices. It looks like Seigfried is horse whispering. I don't remember if this actually happened. I don't mind, I think they have captured the essence of the crew and the medicine. The days before mind numbing liability terrors and neighborly medicine seem so sadly long gone.  Ok I'm not loving this war time horse disposal. I suppose that probably happened, but not in my Herriot books! Unless I blocked out t...

 I enjoyed looking through old veterinary school blogs last night. I love that I am able to be a veterinarian. It put me on the thankful bus for all the people, inner mojo and pure gift from God that got me through that. I remember the evening after the national boards where my classmates were celebrating and I found my first 3 gray hairs in the restaurant bathroom and felt convinced that I had failed the boards. I borrowed a functional vehicle to get to the boards and frankly I just didn't know the answers to most of the questions. They appeared to mostly have 2 correct answers. Also who hates the answers that add on "A and B are true. A B and C are true. A B and D are true. B and D are true." Rude.  That said, I still felt the greatest sense of weekly victory yesterday getting my extremely opinionated and picky toddler to eat oatmeal.  My older one invented a dragon that has poop that comes out near his head and has breath that smells like bubblegum. Correction: his bre...

  Ms. Applejacks   I am certainly in love with my llama. Last night Allen (my landlord,veterinarian) came down to the barn where I was staying with my sleeping bag so I could gaze at my llama, and we discovered that "he" is a female. As"he" was thought to be penned with an  uncastrated  male, I have marvelous hopes that I could maybe be a llama grandmother as well. The noises llamas make are absolutely fascinating. After watching her interact with horses and goats for a couple of hours this morning, I have decided that one of my goals in this life is to be just like a llama. She is a bit aloof but never rude, she will let others push her away without much fuss, but if she desires a treat she will shatter their dominance complexes with a simple, fearless  unhalting  stride towards the treat that completely freaks the other animals out. If she senses danger she will tell everyone but she will not come unglued. She'll simply watch carefully and decide what to ...

I like llamas. I like how they walk. I like their dedication to goal, their sideways gazelle hops when snarked at only to snake right back to the goal with ears up, their fine sense of boundaries, their incredible value as a llama that exists despite narrow-minded llama slurs one might hear.  I am a divorced mom of two treasured beings. I am a Christian in a society where that can mean anything and tells you very little. I no longer own a llama but as I wrote that first paragraph I saw my Applejacks in my mind that first evening I let her eat hay in the pen with the pony. I watched her for a very long time with a doofy smile on my face. The smile started as one of pure entertainment but as the minutes ticked by I moved to a landingpad of pure admiration and wonder. Long before men and marriage and veterinary medicine and kids took me on unexpected difficult journeys I saw the dignified lady I planned to be on the other side.  This blog will contain tidbits of my story or just ...