Monday and Tuesday

Monday

Clare left in the morning and headed back to southern Wyoming and I headed to Basin to the Saam Veterinary Clinic where I would be spending the next two weeks in Wyoming. Dr. Gretchen Saam was great and super nice and everyone at the clinic was wonderful. We weren’t terribly busy but still saw a few appointments and then finished the day by pulling a dead lamb from a pregnant ewe. It took a lot of time and three people to get the large, dried up lamb out but in the end we succeeded. The poor ewe certainly had to feel better after that.

Tuesday

Tuesday started off busy and then slowed down by the end of the day. We neutered a beautiful cream colored kitten and then did a necropsy on a cat with an unknown gastrointestinal disorder. I’ve gotten to practice drawing blood and placing catheters in small dogs and cats here which has always been difficult for me. In the afternoon, we went out to a ranch that is getting out of the rodeo bucking bull business. We needed to do TB, Brucellosis, and Trich testing on a big bull named Redbird. I had been warned that the owners were a little…different…but still nice folks. We were required to whisper when we worked around the bull—never mind that rodeos aren’t exactly the quietest places :) But it was neat to see these massive animals up close and not-too-personal. We headed back to the clinic and I enjoyed the view on the ride. It amazes me how different the landscape is from this side of the mountain compared to the east side. This area was all dessert with sagebrush, minimal grass, and limited water. It was a stark contrast to the green valleys and flowing rivers of Paradise that I was used to. But it was a different kind of beautiful here. We got back to the clinic and finished up a few things before heading out for the day. The hotel was quiet, as usual, since as far as I knew I was the only guest staying here during the week. I found a TV channel about Alaska which entertained me for several hours while I cooked dinner and packed up a few things. I ended the night by watching an episode of Dr. Quinn on TV that I honestly don’t know if I’ve seen before. It was an end to a good day!