The birds are going crazy.

We got buzzed yesterday by what I think was a sharp-shinned hawk. Hard to say really, as he was moving fast and I'm not used to identifying flying hawks from above. Little bugger swooped in and actually hit Bruce with his wing before spinning off and heading away.

Then this morning, I went into the garage and there was an adult flicker (biggest one I've ever seen, I swear) circling around inside. He buzzed me 4 times before I got the door open and he flew out.

Some days I would really like to twist my receptionist's neck. She does some unbelievably frustrating things.

Like today, I get back from lunch to be presented with a mostly fledged, apparently perfectly healthy robin chick in an otter-pops box.

Receptionist informs me that a young girl dropped it off with no information except "found it in the yard."

Receptionist apparently is unaware that any child old enough to explain that she caught the bird in her yard is old enough to know her parents' names and phone number, despite having raised several children of her own.

Receptionist also apparently did not think to walk out to the parking lot and look for the parents, since we're about half a mile from town, and I'm pretty sure the kid didn't walk all the way out here, down the highway, on her own. Most likely, the parents were cowering in the car hoping to get away without having to pay anything.

So now I'm stuck with a damn bird that's too old to want to eat from me, and perfectly healthy other than having been picked up by a meddling human while mom was teaching it how to fly. And since I don't know where it came from, I can't take it back. So I can keep it until it starves to death because it won't eat, or I can turn it loose some place random and hope it lives without its parents to teach it anything. Because the receptionist WHO SHOULD BLOODY KNOW BETTER didn't ask the kid her frelling phone number.

GRAH!!!

It's not the full moon, that's next week. So I have no explanation for the past 2 days.

Yesterday started off right after 8 with a walk-in sick cat. Followed by a mauled-by-dog cat, followed by a hit-by-car dog. These in addition to the regular surgery and appointment schedule.
Dr M had finished his surgeries and was working on the mauled-by-dog cat while I worked on the hit-by-car dog. In the midst of this, Dr M gets the dreaded call from his mother--his dad had died. So I'm trying to help him finish stitching up the cat while the tech cleans the wounds on the dog, so he can get gone sooner.

The receptionists scramble around trying to get in touch with all M's appointments for both yesterday and today.

And in the midst of the scramble, a woman calls with a llama that gave birth the day before. Won't let the baby nurse at all, and has something (vagina? whole freaking uterus? owner doesn't know) prolapsed. She does not, of course, own a trailer or have any way to haul the llamas to the clinic. Sorry, but I cannot just drop the 3 emergencies I'm already working on to drive out to GOK where. Get a trailer, and call back, or call a different clinic to see if they're less swamped. We didn't hear back.

Then I spent my whole lunch break filling out the morning's charts and returning calls from the day before and that morning.

The afternoon was merely busy, not frantic.

Today's emergency theme seems to be head trauma. First one was right after 8am, kitten with a bloody nose and very poor response to stimulus. Owner has no idea what happened. When I say that it looks like he's taken a whack to the head, she wants ME to tell HER how that happened. She also doesn't want to spend any money 'on a kitten she's trying to give away anyway'. Great. Manage to talk her into supportive care, but no diagnostics. Depending on how things go, I may end up with a fifth cat, because I think he'll come out of it, but I don't know if she'll give him the time.

Reception couldn't get in touch with everybody on M's schedule yesterday, so some of them still showed up this morning; was fun trying to juggle them in with mine and the emergency.

My favorite was someone who showed up without an appointment, wanting to see M. When told he wasn't here today due to a family emergency, they snapped "well, what am I supposed to do with my cats then?!" There's some sympathy for you. Guess M's not allowed to have a life outside the clinic, and is expected to drop the whole family for someone who can't bother to make an appointment?

Just before lunch (and I mean JUST before; 11:58am, baby!) I get the second head trauma of the day; a wild rabbit that's been hit by a car. This one actually IS mine, I can't give wild animals back as pets. Lady that brought him in gave a little money, but surgery's coming out of my pocket. Eyeball's ruptured. Managed to sneak a damn-fast (if I say so myself) enucleation in between appointments this afternoon. If he survives the night, I'll take him home and pen him in my yard for a while to get used to the whole monocular way of life. I think I'm calling him One-Eyed Jack. We'll see how well he adapts, if he looks like he'll handle it, I'll turn him loose in the great big field behind my place.

Ok, tentative schedule:

Arrive late Thursday night, harass ehron and roomie into letting me sleep at their place.

Friday morning: find the museum to drop off the package from my mom's co-worker, and meet up with bat rescue lady.

Friday afternoon: is looking boring people, someone better entertain me

Friday night: possible karaoke with livingdeadpan... julzerator will you take me there so i don't get all lost and confuzzled?

Saturday: sleep in! is that allowed? hmm. no specific plans for this day, except hanging out with ehron and roomie and friends? perhaps a trip up to the Mt. Vernon/Burlington area if there's anyone there who wants a piece of me?

Sunday: Bite of Seattle with 13fetters and khiril

Monday morning: breakfast with funranium and then head back to the desert.

Someone please explain to me just what the )(#@$ is wrong with people!!!
I just (yes, 11 PM!) got a call from a woman that wanted to know if she could bring in a wild bird for me to look at that she and her friends found earlier in the day while they were outside playing. That's all fine and dandy, but when I warned her that there'd be an emergency office call fee for that, the response was "I don't have $70 to save some stupid wild bird!"
Then she wanted to know if I thought it had the bird flu. Possible, but probably not the one everybody's scared of, what with that not being on this continent yet. "So what do you think is wrong with it?" 'Cuz I've got a magic crystal ball I can just look through and tell you without actually examining the animal.
Hell, they can't even figure out what species it is. "Maybe a quail or a pheasant or something" she says...cuz those two birds look anything similar beyond the fact that they both have feathers and feet. For all I know from her description it's a Kiwi bird that someone dropped out of an airplane.

OK, first off, $70 is a pittance for an emergency fee--I got smacked with a $500 bill for walking into the emergency room in Spokane. But onto the things that really annoy me: why did you call me at all if you're not willing to pay for anything? Why did you wait until after most working people are asleep to call when you found the bird several hours ago? What did you think I was going to do, drop my life (boring as it is) to come in after I'm already in my pajamas so I can not get paid for my time and effort? It's a business, not a charity, people. Let's join the real world please.