Sorry, I've been so quiet lately. I just was so very busy with school and work, that in my free time, I didn't feel like spending even more time on the computer than I absolutely had to for my classes... But I have so much to tell!
I wanna start with my animal practicum class.. So many things I got to do! Last time I told you I would work with pigs next, and I did. We learned about reading their ear notches, got to put in ear tags and how to move them in the best way possible. And we got to cuddle with the new piglets! Oh my! So adorable! The next week, we went to the dairy farm for the first time. I love them. I enjoy them much more than beef cattle. Those are unpredictable as compared to dairy cattle, who are so used to people being around them all the time. They are much calmer during their handling. They sent us in pairs into the pen with a ton of dairy cows, but it was no problem at all. We found our assigned cow and herded her into a nearby pen, where we had to feather and palpate her. I love them, but sticking my whole arm into a cows butt is definitely not one of my favorite past times.. I came back to the farm pretty soon after for an independent milking lab. I helped milking about seventy cows and that was pretty cool. I actually got some milk with my hands. Hhaha I've always heard that it was pretty hard.
Horses were on the schedule for the next two weeks. I loved it. Although the first lab seemed pretty pointless to me. I know there are people in my class that have never touched a horse ( SAD I know!), but all I did there that was new to me is use a measuring tape to figure out a horses weight and listen to the heart and intestines. Pretty cool, but still. It would have been day without class if not for that. One thinpretty barn manager is pretty good at though: making horses sound like the most unpredictable and dangerous animals, and putting on a halter like rocket science. Lol.. The next week was pretty cool though. We learned how to vaccinate horses and promptly did it on the UGA Equestrian team horses. Awesome!
This week we worked with the beef cattle again. But this time with the young ones. They were so cute. We freeze branded them and put in ear tattoos. The one I did the tattoo for had a mark on its head that looked like a cow. Hahaha pictures later. It was an interesting lab. I may end up showing that cake at out livestock show in three weeks. It's hard with my work schedule, but I'm trying really hard to work something out for the practices. I've never done a livestock show and I really wanna try. Next week we have weanling handling with horses! :D
The Guide Dog Foundation has finally called and e-mailed me and I have a puppy workshop in three weeks. If everything goes right, I will be getting a puppy next summer to take care of for a year. :)
Work is really stressing me out, but it's nice to make some extra money. It helps a lot. I just don't appreciate being stuck in the dish room all the time when other people never have to do it. It's supposed to be a rotating schedule. Pshh, whatever!
Classes have been going pretty great! My grades are much better yet than expected. Two As on calc quizzes and an 89 on the test. I studied really hard for it and just wanted to pass, so that was a pleasant surprise. My chem quizzes are so so with some 100s in between, but I get perfect scores on all my homeworks, so that makes up for it. I also got a 96 on the test! Bam! Pretty good average in that class so far. My animal classes are good and great hahaha with the hater class having the higher grade.. Lol English sucks though. I hate that class. So much. If you don't write exactly about her opinion, then you're out. Which it seems like I am. Ughh. I have to write a completely new paper because apparently my last one sucked..
It's going wonderful with Juan. We had some ups and downs, but it's really getting much better. He's hopefully getting his car (fixed this time! Gasp!) back today which means I will get to spend the weekend with him at a horse show in Conyers! :) He's making better money now and selling more and more grooming and tack boxes. So next time the car breaks or something like that happens, it hopefully won't be as stressful as this time. And I get to see him more than just once every few weeks. That's been really hard. I'm so stresses out and just a few minutes to cuddle every week will make it so much easier to handle :)
I've been riding. It's so hard to get back into it. Especially on that huge draft horse I am riding. Lol he can be a bit stubborn and it's hard to get him to do something if he doesn't want to because he is so much stronger than I am. But it feels awesome to sit on a horse again. :)
Ps: he's thinking about getting an engagement ring.. ;)
