New Faces

You leave the camera out on its own for a few minutes and this is the result!!!!!

At least Rachel is working! Which means there is no verbal abuse in my direction.

And Snail would be if Emma would put down the camera and lift the Dog.

Edinburgh Sights

A few sights around Edinburgh first the two bridges that let us all escape from the city quickly

The more famous rail bridge which is always being painted!!!!

And very bad phot of Arthurs seat it was covered in snow while I was in Pontefract apparently but today its just wet

Our part time guest is home at the moment but shes decided she doesn't need to bite me any more

More Vetting around

I have landed in Pontefract for more Giggles and work in this Northern town ( no its not in Wales) . Its at 1c out there or possibly colder which is t shirt weather hereabouts. No pictures from here yet as another vaccination is indescribably dull but I am back in Edinburgh at the weekend and if I can stay out of the Pub I will take a few shots of that area and post them at the beginning of the next week.

Still I have lambed my first ewe in years today and if the little buggers had obliged me by breathing then all would have been good

Nae luck though...

The Family Pets

This is Chipper, our old dog (15), whom my mother wants me to call the stupid dog, he is the only one in the house at the moment but occasional house guests come to stay

The other permanent member of the household is Pirate. He has 3 legs as I had to remove one early in his life for medical reasons. He has only just forgiven me for that and that was 5 years ago

Behind the family home

The other side of the Strathmore valley is the Sidlaw hills and the house is placed on the side of the valley (just in case you thougfht I was hiding a small city behind the house)

The snow hasn't been here yet but it might get here yet.

Other pictures

The panorama is a little too dark and small so I thought I would put the individual pictures up once I had a chance to do a little work with picasa.

This is the Srathmore Valley which was formed by a glacier in the last ice age. The grampians are across the valley in the north.


My high school is just about to get covered in something nasty and cold across the other valley. Its about 12 miles away from where I am standing

This was at one time some of the best farmland in the UK. It possibly still is!

The grand house across the small valley is Kinnetles house. Glamis castle is hidden around a hill at the other end of the Panorama from this house.

Home view

This is the view from my parents place. Pity its not a sunny day at the moment as it looks nuch better but snow is coming. I might be stuck here

If not I am going home to Edinburgh tomorrow and in a private tradition I will be having a pint in Utopia in easter road, Feel free to join me from about ohhh 7pm tomorrow. I'll let you know if I can't make it honest.

Home!

So I managed to get home after a bad flight. Diverted by Helsinki for medical emergency. Food spilled on me twice, one missed flight and my baggage someplace unknown.

I needed to sleep badly last night!

Normal service resumed as soon as possible. Pictures of home as soon as the required hardware arrives at the door.

Pyramids

Not the massive structures in Egypt, though they would be fun too. Pyramids is a card game that I was introduced to that I am going to get people to play at home. However in the interests of responsible drinking I won't post the rules here. Its fast, fun and simple to play but very deadly as I have found out to my cost!

I'm a what???

So you thought I might be a redneck ehhh? Can't think why apart from the beginnings of a sunburn that is.

Hong Kong Airport

Hi all,
Getting home eventually kicking around in the airport wishing that the internal flights would allow me to have bought that bottle of rum. It probably wouldn't have made it to the UK anyway Might have to go hunt a Chinese beer and read the latest travel book " The God Delusion" flight doesn't take off til 1am any way..
I'll need the alcohol to get off the plane in Glasgow anyway as antifreeze.

Its cold up there.

I hear from My Parents that its cold up there in Scotland. Say it isn't so I may have to stay here.

Just for Pam

I have been looking for a good one of these ever since I got here. None of the rest have been quite so impressive. She's lovely!! I thought my good friend Pam would appreciate this.

Forgot to put a scale but she's about 5cm from leg tip to leg tip


Hope you are impressed Pam.

The last week

I have finished here at Narromine and its sad to leave but I better get on with the rest of the things I have to do instead of enjoying the work here.

Skippy has been having a bit of revenge against this boxer dog I really don't want to get kicked by a Kangaroo at all
Still I got it all wired into place and he looks (almost) normal now, he wasn't all that normal to begin with and I have now addicted him to heavy duty painkillers so he thinks I am his dealer as well.

Leaving party tomorrow so I will probably be very ill for the flight home not the first time :-)

Farm animal stuff

I've actually been a farm animal vet. It seems to be me giving advice as to whether I would feed this to my animals
I wouldn't

I have x rayed and removed the horns from this fella
And cut out an abscess from the flank of a small calf...

Of course Friday closing time has to be celebrated especially as we have been having a tough week!!

and in a celebration of Aussie optimism they call this a river

Mind you Skippy still seems to be enjoying the weather

Memo

To all the animals in New South Wales....

re change of life status.

Please not that there will be no changing of life status from living to living impaired (previously known as dead) without the proper paperwork being submitted. It has come to my attention that a number of unauthorised transitions have occurred. These have included a foal in the recent past. The equine species is therefore to consider itself on probation until further notice and will be under careful observation for further infraction. The canine population is also to consider itself under official warning at least one unauthorised attempt is being prevented tonight.
Both the bovine and ovine populations are to be complemented (unusually in the ovine case) for not attempting a change of life status without proper authorisation. The other species are to take note!


Proper authorisation can be gained from the nurses and the Veterinary staff in extreme circumstances, however please not in common with governmental policy 4 weeks notice will be required.

Your cooperation is appreciated


(Felines will of course do whatever they please as per usual)

Busy busy busy

Yes there is a foal on the floor here its trying to die from malnutrition (terrible mother) there's a dog trying to die from eclampsia (Stupid owner) someplace there is a rabbit trying to die from fly strike (see above)
Our little friend looks like he wants to sleep for the rest of a very short life but with persuasion


We managed to win and with the aid of a very good team None of the animals actually succeeded in their aim of actually dying, or as i have come to call it living impaired.

Nat is providing scale here as even aussies think this steer is huge!

He's in to get a lump on his face sorted out tomorrow so I get to play with x raying the head and medicating and stuff..... more on the diagnosis later. Just one thing those horns are coming off tomorrow.

………and salt on the hidden grave

There was a comment on a previous posting that things might be winding down. Not a good thing to say before a weekend on call. I started on Friday night with a cow that had abdominal pain. So once that was sorted out I had a little sleep until 5:30am when a whelping bitch woke me up and I was managing that 'til consults started at 9am. Those finished at 2pm. Then I had a horse with colic that required two visits. An RTA dog and a pup with a suspected broken leg. Then another colic horse 70km away with a friend who managed to cut his shoulder. The evening finished at 10:30 pm with a cat that was dead on arrival. There were a few others in the list, enough so that breakfast was at 4pm as I hadn’t had a chance to stop all day. I entirely blame this on the person who asked if things were winding down. To this end I am going to find said person kill them and bury them in an unmarked grave, I might even pour salt on the ground where I leave them. I am joking about the last bit honestly! (mostly)

No pictures that’s how busy I was!

Veterinary activities!!!

More veterinary activities just in case you thought I was getting slack. Besides there has been a lack of gory photographs in recent posts. You may not think that but I do so there.
Nat hadn’t done a castration so when we had an adoption kitten to be castrated she begged to do it. So I gave a “Master Class” in the art of surgery.


Despite my supervision the surgery went well and the kitten is with a loving family. Though I hear there is a 4 year old living in the house, a new kitten and a youngster, glad I don’t live there!

More gory photographs below you were warned.


A drought means that the animals are on the lean side. As demonstrated by this ewe. though the tick was a little fatter!


The owner was concerned that he was losing a percentage of ewes. So we post mortemed this one. We found liver abscesses and the heart was looking a little flabby.

We also found this passenger.


This is a hyatid cyst on the serosal surface of the rumen. This is a tapeworm just waiting for the sheep to be eaten. Fancy that in your lamb chop? I thought not! (It would look better as a movie as it moves in that fluid) Funnily enough the girls helping me felt like a thorough shower after I found this.

I used the new stable complex for something sensible. Well the sheep pens aren’t ready yet!


The worst thing about this picture is that I was convinced that it was my brother doing the PM, now that is scary!

Caesarean in Australia

I finally got the chance to Caesar a cow in the hot sun. This is novel because it is usually a 3am in the freezing rain job. However I took a few pictures of the area because I still have difficulty believing that people have been farming here for generations and that it is this dry!
It is a beautiful part of the country and world but how people can make a living of the land is amazing. It does rain in this part of the world and when it does it comes down quite hard and suddenly. There can be a dust storm leading the storm edge.

The rain has allowed standing water to accumulate but the timing seems to be a little late to allow significant growth at the moment. We shall see what the next week or so brings.