Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Disturbing

If you have a weak stomach, procede with caution. I've been awaiting the opportunity to describe some of the nasty stuff I deal with and one just popped up.


I just did one of the grossest things I've ever done in my life. For something to gross me out, you know it has to be pretty bad considering I make a living playing in cow crap, stinky uteruses, and relish finding the biggest and ripest abcesses to pop.


So what could gross me out? Not the smell of a calf that's been dead in utero for 2 days and it starting to fall apart. Not a prolapsed uterus (that means the cow didn't quit pushing after giving birth and pushed her whole uterus out the back end) that is covered in manure and you have to literally put the whole thing in your lap and feed it back in that "small" hole little by little - think something about the size of 2 40lb bags of dog food into a hole about the size of a medium pizza. I am fascinated by trying to find large abcesses. I think my record is probably about 4 gallons of pus! I can even stomach doing a necropsy (autopsy) on an animal that's been dead and sitting out in 90 F heat for a day.


But tonight I was happily going through the garden minding my own business. I've been really irritated that something is destroying my 4 tomato plants. I was informed it was a horned catipillar. Well, I caught one of these SOB's in the act of eating my plant. I was so horrified and angry that I swatted it to the ground and quickly went STOMP!!! ARGHH!! It exploded with such force that all the green guts flew through the air and landed all over me! My arm, shirt, FACE, legs! I momentarily felt the need to hurl. This ranks right up there with maggots, which are another thing I really don't like.


So here's a pic of my victim. Imagine him like 3 times this large (due to the fact that everything was shot out of him). Too gross.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

July!

One of our favorite times of the year is July. First, there's the Fourth, which Gabby said this year is her favorite holiday. It was always mine, too. Funny that so many kids love this holiday and it's not even one where presents are involved. We spent the morning at the parade, then at my parents, and then went to the fireworks on the lake. They were great! Usually they light one and then you wait a minute til the next. They finally figured it out and it was a great show!
The next great thing about July is blueberries! My family loves blueberries and picking them. It's much easier than strawberries, too. This year we were joined by our friends Steph and Jacob. The kids ate a TON of blueberries, but didn't seem too ill afterward. We actually picked 10.6 lbs of yumminess between the three of us, and Steph and Jacob picked around 6lbs. Then we enjoyed "Blueberry Grunt" for dessert that night. It was a new recipe and was pretty good, but not to die for. So here's to July and all the fun times we've had so far.


Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Correction

In case you tried to link to my cousin's web page, I pasted the wrong link in the last post. Instead, the correct link is now listed as one of my blog friends, then use my email address docbennecke@hotmail.com to sign in. Sorry for the goof!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Real Quick

I'm running on 3 hours sleep last night and over 45 hours of work in the past three days, so this will be short. I can't find one camera and the other is malfunctioning, but I'll post pics soon. All is well
For those of you following my cousin and his wife Bridget's story, here is a link to a web page they are using now for updates. http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/viewHome.do You can sign in using my e-mail address docbennecke@hotmail.com
Have a great holiday weekend celebrating freedom!