This day started out normal enough... cept for the fact that I was hungover and my friend had to pick me up from my house to take me to where I left my car last night (no drunk driving for this girl!). I got my car around 9:20 and headed to school. Why school on a Saturday, you ask? Well, I was signed up for treatments at the Wildlife Clinic today. Our current patient is a yellow-bellied sapsucker, a woodpecker type bird. He has a broken wing and we are working on making him better.
This is not him, just an example of what he looks like
Unfortunately, he is non-releasable because of how his wing is broken. He won't ever really be able to fly, but there is a place in Chicago that has agreed to take him in as a display bird. This is really great because he is a very beautiful and fun bird. If we couldn't place him, we would have had to euthanize him.
So, I went in to the clinic with the intention of feeding our little friend, giving his meds, cleaning his cage and running home. It would probably take me about a half hour, at most.
However, things never really go as planned. As I was there, a 2nd year guy on another team came in alone to check out a new case they had. It was a squirrel that had gotten hit by a car the day prior. Usually teams assign two people for each treatment shifts, but sometimes people go alone if, like in my case, the patient is easy and treatments are quick. The 2nd year came in alone for reasons unknown to me because his patient was anything BUT easy. As I was in the other room, getting food ready for our sapsucker, I hear yelling, a bit of crashing and some mild cursing. I peek my head out of the room to see a large squirrel skittering about the room followed by the 2nd year and another girl from a different team.
"GET A NET!"
I grabbed a net and ran out to help catch the obviously recovered squirrel. He was running around the room, under cages and tables, and spinning back to RUN AT US. Finally he got underneath a cabinet and wedged himself in there. Since squirrels bite through any sort of glove, we couldn't just stick our hands in there. We ended up using a bunch of tools to try to push him out. He was growling and screaming at us as he wedged further under this cabinet. After an hour, several nets, mirrors, sticks, and brooms, we moved the cabinet a bit and lifted it up to poke at him better. He hurtles out at us causing us to scream and jump back. I quickly grab the net and chase him across the room. As he got to the end of the room he turned around and ran straight for me. This time I was ready and slammed the net down over him. CAUGHT.
We all stood there for a while staring at him wondering what the heck we were going to do. Eventually we decided that if he was that crazy and athletic, he was not suffering any ill effects from his run in with the car. We should probably do the safest thing for everyone and just release him. Since we couldn't assess him at all, it was our only option.
So we wrapped him in the net and a towel and walked him across the street to this park. As we were crossing the street, I made a joke along the lines of, "Wouldn't it be awful if we go through all this trouble only to have him be released and immediately get hit by a car?" At that very moment he somehow escaped the net and ran INTO THE STREET! We all screamed but he made it across safely and quickly went up a tree. Laughing, we watched him for a bit and then returned to the clinic.
I was a little exhausted by the time I got home, but unfortunately (and fortunately!!) my parents were coming to visit so I had to clean up my house before they got there. We went out to lunch and then walked around main campus for a while with my cousin who is starting his undergrad here in the Fall. As we were on our way back to my apartment, my parent's van started shaking. Worried, we drove it to the shop by my home and asked them to take a look at it. After a couple hours, it was determined that the fuel injector was busted. By then all the auto parts shops were closed and wouldn't open until the morning. The mechanic is going to come in tomorrow morning and fix it for us on his day off because my parents have to head back to Colorado on Monday. This also meant that my parents took my car back to Chicago (where my aunts and uncles live and where my parents are staying) and I am supposed to bring them the van tomorrow after it is fixed.
After my family left, I finally had a chance to sit down and relax. It was then that I realized that it was The Boyfriend's and my 2 year anniversary. Whoops. So I made nice to him and just wrote this day off as a "study fail." As I am probably going to do with most of tomorrow... and last night. Bah!! I really need to get more on top of things!
But I had to go out last night! It was a vet med costume party. There are few things I love more in this world than a costume party. I love dressing up and crazy makeup. Speaking of which, here's a taste of that. This picture was taken after I got back from the party so it is a bit smudged and I look drunk... cuz I was.
Drunk eyes
So, starting tomorrow evening, I will be a good kid - study hard, get good grades. I will also be dogsitting the cutest, most fluffy sheltie! I'll post a pic after she comes. I adore her.
That's all for now, have a Happy Easter tomorrow! <3
