Afternoon in the waves...

Mike and I decided to take the kids for a swim one afternoon, which proves to be much harder than you think when you own two water dogs who hate the water... Mike literally had to drag them in the water with him. He finally ended up getting into his boxers, picking them up, and dragging them out with him, haha. Needless to say, Chloe didn't care for it and she's not the best swimmer... I supposed we should take them out more often!

Charlie and Chloe trying to get out of the water as quickly as possible... haha, I love the look on Chloe's face!!

Charlie exhausted after all the wave dodging... wasn't from swimming, that's for sure. He didn't even like the waves touching his toes!!

Shortly after this picture was taken, Mike took his shorts off down into his undies, picked him up, and carried him out into the water... poor dog look completely panic-stricken when he got back to the shore!

Needless to say, it was an entertaining afternoon on the East side of the island. Nice little beach for a dog who actually likes the water, not so much for our kids though! We'll try again another time...

Some Yummy Som Chai

So I have been trying to stay away from the food posts, but this one was way too yummy to not share with everyone. We have been to this place called Som Chai a few times now, and every time we're gone it has been EXCELLENT!! This pic up above is my Pad Thai, MILD. The first time I came here I failed to mention that key word and the food almost scorched my esophogus. I should have known when the plate came to me and it was covered with red peppers, haha!

So this my amazing home-made Chai they serve there. You can tell it's going to be amazing before you even take a sip because the milk they use has to be close to half and half or heavy whipping cream, because it's super thick and floating on the top of the ice... yummy!

This is the inside of the resturant. The guy in the black t-shirt owns the place and is super super nice. He always comes to everyone's table to ask how everything was, speaks perfect english, and will alter any of his nigthly specials or daily menu to make you happy! There are only about 15 seats in the whole joint, and it's very quirky inside. The only thing I find odd about the place is there is a sign that states that he will not serve anyone in uniform... but yet he welcomes american in civilian clothes... weird, I know. Regardless, anyone who comes and visits will have to be taken here in the future!!

New friend... for keeps?

Hey everyone, here's the latest addition... Miss Jesse!!

This poor little face was given up by her first family to the kennels, then adopted out. Since she had such bad ear problems, her next owners just didn't want to be bothered with the hassle I suppose, and they sent her back to the kennel as well... Well, I couldn't stand for that so I went and got her once I head she was sent back to the kennels...

Here are the three kids trying to make sense of why all our stuff was going into boxes and leaving the house... they were like, ah man... not again!!

You're all probably wondering how I know about this little pup's history, but the trust of the matter is I met her at the clinic. The first time I saw her, she weighed almost 100 pounds (she now weighs in at 66lbs), and had quite possibly the WORST ears I have ever seen on a dog...

Poor little Jess had a hematoma on left ear that was the sive of her entire ear and about 2 or so inches thick, which for anyone who doesn't know, that's like disgusting and unnatural. We tried to treat her and she got sent back to the kennel since she wasn't privatly owned by a family...

The next time I saw her she was a tad smaller and was adopted out by a Major and his wife. The seemed like they were doing great things for her and life was getting better for Miss Jess... well... needless to say I thought things were going well until one of our Military techs told me they saw her again at the kennel and they were debating euthanizing her because of her chronic ear problem and no one wanting her or to deal with the issue... I wasn't about to let that happen.

So, a couple days later after some negotiation with the kennel, I went and picked myself up a new friend! She's been an absolute delight to have, regardless of the stinky ears, cleaning of the ears every other day, lots of meds including a run with some prednisone which sent her into camel-drinking mode, and special food for horrible allergies...

She's a great girl, follows you around everywhere and will lay down wherever you stop for more than a minute, like the kitchen, laundry room, and even tries to follow you in the bathroom and will sit on the floor mat and wait for you in the shower despite the heat and the steam that don't seem to help her constant panting she does anyway. Her favorite thing to do it put her paws in your front lap and root her head into your neck and sneak her paws up onto your shoulders to really get into full snuggle-mode. She's a nut. We're working on taking treats nicely and sharing with others, but she never barks or complains, and is crate and potty-trained. All around a great puppy.

Poor little pooch is going to have to be on a month's worth of injectible meds to help with her ears. We finally got her meds sorted out and hopefully this will kill the 4 types of staph she has and the one random protazoa... she'll probably need surgery and will always have hearing problems from double ruptured eardrums and irriversible damage to her canals, but she will make a most excellent pet for someone once she's all tuned up. For now, she's living the high life with us here, and I'm in no rush to get rid of her!!

Higashi Dam... Dam it was scary!!

So this is Higashi Dam that we crossed right before we got to the coffee farm. It's on the Northeast side fo the island on the Pacific Ocean side. It wasn't anything super special, but the bridge we had to cross over was like super-skinny, even by Japan standards and I needed to get out and scope it out before I could let myself cross it in a car... 'cause you know how I feel about bridges. So anyway, we stopped and took a couple pictures real quick just 'cause it was pretty!!

Hiro Coffee Farm... Home grown and oh so tasty-roasty!!

So, since I'm so far behind on my posts, I decided I should probably start with the most recent stuff and work my way backwards to the point where I stopped, which at this rate I think was back in October... ugh... I'm such a slacker.

So to start, there's an issue with how my photos upload so they are kind of all over the place, my last photo was supposed to be first, etc. I have no idea what happened. Anyway, This is Sarah and my adventure to Higashi Village and the Hiro Coffee Farm. It was quite a hoof to the Northeast of the island, but totally worth it.

At the Coffee Farm, they obviously make their own coffee, which is the only place in Japan which does. Apparently the conditions are just right for some super yummy medium, and dark roast. It doesn't look like much when driving up, but it was well worth the trip!

This is the view outside of our little "Tasting Bungalo" as I like to call it. There were like 3 or 4 little covered seating areas with table and picnic tables and whatnot, all spread out over this little tiny plot of land. It was so cute... minus the cookie-crazed chickens that begged for toast and cookie scraps!!

This was out little table, complete with very small menu, fresh flowers, burlap coffee sacks on the wall, and a little hot pad for our pot of coffee...

Cheers!! Here's to oishi coffee!! (That means yummy!!)

Another cute little seating area with rejected coffee beans on the ground... crunch crunch...

This is the "main bungalo" complete with roasting area, food prep area (it's ok, they only offered toast), and area to make purchases like fresh roasted coffee and other fun whatnots like your own coffee plant!!

Here's the guy roasting some coffee that I purchased... literally, my bag of coffee was still warm from being so fresh off the roaster! His little room was like 5x5 and smalled like he was cooking fresh pasteries, it smelled delicious!!

A view of the front of the main store. To the left is where we were sitting, and to the right was where the room with the coffee ground was, and there was also another room that a local guy was sitting in with his two little puppies, which made me smile! Next time I go, Chloe is gonna come with me, as long as she can behave around the chickens!

So all in all, it was a great little adventure! I got myself and the fam some fresh coffee, had about 4 cups myself, and left perfectly filled with medium roast deliciousness and the shakes, haha. Nothing I like better than a good coffee jolt! This will be a must-visit place the next time the parents come in.

I suck, and I am sorry

Ok my faithful readers, this us yet another public apology about how much I suck at keeping up with the blog... in my own fairness though, it has been a hectic few weeks, er.. months. Lots of pics to come, gotta make up for when mom and dad were here, scuba pics with the fam, lots of Xmas and New Year celebrations, etc... keep a watchful eye, within the next few days I am gonna try to play major catch up and get some serious pics up here... and to let you all know, I will be posting all my pics onto shutterfly so you can see all of the album, not just a select few that I put up on here... just go to www.nordinsinokinawa.shutterfly.com to see them all!!

Fun Times at the Oki VTF!

Ok, so I know I tend to complain a lot about my job, but in all honesty, it's a lot of fun and I get to learn something new just about every day. It's stressful, we're always understaffed and overbooked, and people are generally not too happy about having to wait to be seen, but all in all I really do love it. I figured since I apparently spend way too much time griping about how horrible I always feel when I get home and how my life apparently sucks, I would show everyone the lighter side of things and why it's fun!

For example, this little dragon up above it wicked cute, and how often do you get to play with one of them? You cen tell his front right leg just isn't quite right, but after xrays were taken, the doc thought it may be neurological. All he knows is that he was fed so many meal worms by us, he probably felt worse going home then he did when he came it... what can I say, we kill with kindness!! Ok, not really, we try really hard not to kill at all actually!!

This little one was a tough case. Little kids found this poor little wild bird, which ended up being a Starling which are anything but nice, and he had a pretty severe broken wing way up almost in his little shoulder area. He was in some serious pain and there wasn't anything we could do to help him. He was wild so they couldn't keep him, and no animal preserve would want to take him in we thought. He ended up passing away shortly after this picture was taken, but it was cool to hold a wild bird.

This is the money shot... quite easily the number one reason why I love my job. Look what I get to work with all day, that's right... PUPPIES!! His name is Charlie, just like my boy! I wanted to hide him and not give him back to mom and dad, but alas, he had to be returned. He was quite possibly the cutest puppy I have ever seen walk into the clinic, hands down!

And yet another reason to smile on the job, look at this little face. Yuki here has been through quite a bit in her lifetime. Her mom and dad are in their 70's at least, and actually, I think their tongues hang out just like this too! Just joking... although I think they all had just about the same amount of teeth, which aren't many as you can probably tell. She has a crazy problem where her gums grow really fast and almost calcify, or get hard, almost bone-like. The doc pretty much had to shave down her gums almost a half inch or so, so all her teeth were exposed again, not covered by nastyness. Her little face was probably pretty sore at this point, but she was a real trooper through it all!!

So yes, I know I complain a lot about my job, and you would too if you worked in the madness we did too. Just some quick statistics for all of you out there... we have over 9,000 ACTIVE clients, with people constantly coming and going from the island and getting new fur kids. That number doesn't even inclue all the working dogs from all the branches we see too. On an average day we have 2 sick call rooms running with 30 minute back to back appts, 2 vaccine rooms with 15 minute back to back appts all day, a drop-off sched with 5-7 pets almost every day, and depending on the day up to 16 surgeries daily... so yeah, it's hectic. But I love it!

I have more pics of work to come. I got to scrub into a surgery this week called and FHO, or femeral head osteo-something or other... which was basically removing the head of the femur bone from this little jack russel. It was very cool, but unfortunately in my poofy hate and HUGE gown, I look fat and not really like me... but ah well, it was cool none the less. The doc let me close up... which was basically using the stapler, but cool regardless. Those pics to come soon! Hope you enjoyed these few for now!