Gettin "Cheeky" at Work!

So I was minding my own business at work the other day, about to start my sick calls like I was assigned... and as I am looking at my schedule for the day, amongst the skin and ear issues pops up something a little new. On my schedule, it stated, "Amphibian, name: Hamster. To be seen for large 1-inch lesion in mouth." Instantly my curiosity was summoned... more for the fact that I refused to touch any frog and prayed it wasn't something or possible snake/reptile that was to be brought it. I knew I was working with our snake guru for the day, so I was keeping my fingers crossed it wasn't something potentially cold-blooded.

So I call my potential worst fear into the room, and the lady walks in with a little tissue box. To my surprise and great delight, it was a little 2-year old female Hamster named "Riku!" She had an inverted cheek pounc and mom was afraid it was a tumor or something! (parents always assume it's a tumor, haha!) So we took her in back to perform a re-pouching later that day. I took her little tissue box, set it on the counter on top of her file, and continued about my sick calls. I put a loose piece of tape on top to prevent her from getting out, wrote live animal on the box, and continued about my day...

About an hour later I notice she has a yellow note on her and I walk over to find that her "live animal" sign had come off since it was dry-erase from all the people looking at her, and wondered why someone would put "do not shake" on her note. Come to find out, one of the girls came out, picked up the bo, and proceeded to shake her while asking, "what's in here??"

We, being the humorous bunch we are, couldn't leave well enough alone and had to decorate her. So, she got the aggresive, keep refrigerated, and keep out of reach of children stickers to decorate her sign, haha. She was actually super friendly and I had to stop a couple people from trying to put her in the fridge, and almost had one person convinced it was a Habu snake, which is VERY poisonous! hehe.

So this is Miss Riku... as you can very easily see her little cheek pouch has inverted and is coming out of her little mouth. It looked really uncomfortable and she kept trying to pull it off, poor little thing. It looked pretty gross. And as if you couldn't tell, she was not a fan of 1. being held like this, and 2. having her pic taken this close with the flash going off, haha... she was a good little sport. Plus, it's not every day you get to her a hamster scream!

Doc C, being the genious he is, wanted to keep from having to sedate her since these little ones do not do well under the gas, so she got her poor little head pinched tight, flipped over, and some lubricated q-tips shoved into her mouth to try and put the pouch back in. We tried this about 2 or 3 times unsuccessfully, it kept coming back out, so the doc went for something more drastic... the gas!!

With a little sedation, and two little stitches to tack the cheek back in place, our little furry friend was back to new... almost. Her little face was a bit swollen, but she would make a full recovery. Mom was ecstatic and that was all that mattered!!

This little gal is almost 2 and that's pretty much towards the end of their life, but it didn't matter... she was still a little life in our hands and I got to learn/see something very cool... and now you all do too!

I hope you all don't mind my random work stories, butbeing the animal lover that I am, I sorta assume others find this stuff interesting too. If you think it's gross, feel free to tell me and I'll keep it off the site. If you like it, I'll keep it coming! Interesting stuff happens daily, so lots to share!!

Combat Dining Out Night

Can you see us in the pic? We were pretty well hidden in our matching "His and Hers" camo combo! Mike gets to wear his uniform every day 'cause he's super-cool GI Joe, but I on the other hand only get to wear iton special occasions like this. I took a pair of someone's old pants and turned them into a very cool skirt, and took a jacket and chopped it off to make this little bolero jacket, or whatever they call it... fancy, eh? If you're wondering why we look wet, it's because we are. A big part of this evening out were the watergun/balloon fights!! After the party, we decided to get a coffee at Starbucks off-base and walked in dressed like this... the locals got quite a kick out of it!

Awe, Phil made a friend... I guess he was tired of being the only single guy in the group. I think they make a great couple, even if his friend has no legs and isn't real! Notice that he's soaked as well... Jane dumped an entire bottle of water on his head on her way out the door... the look on his face was priceless!! She later got Sarah too... menace!!

The "Grog Bowls!" These bad boys were filled with some of the nastiest stuff the CE Squadron could think of. The stuff on the seats was chocolate bars and some mustard, but it looks pretty unappetizing. On the inside was the alcoholic and non-alcoholic jungle juice type concoctions. The people would have to do a obstacle course while being shot with water guns from all angles, then take a hit off the ol' grog... quite entertaining.

Most entertaining part of the evening were the table decorations. We had lots of props to make out little Army men act out awesome scenes. In this particular scene, our men on the left come upon a fallen comrad. The man on the left says to the man on the right, "Oh no, Smith's lost both his feet in combat!" Man two says, "Go check out the scene and I'll cover you!" Man on the ground says nothing except screams, of course... I mean, he lost both his feet! Later in the evening we stole a tank from one of the other tables and had awesome re-enactment scenes... it was too fun!

So basically this night was about just having fun. All the girls dressed in camo, all the boys chopped up their old uniforms, wore camo face paint, and carried squirt guns! We all did the presenting of the colors, had a mess-style dinner with eachother, watched people do the gauntlet and drink Grog, and then had a massive watergun fight in which we all got soaked, it was too fun!! I have more good video of this too which I will put up soon! This is what happens when you live in foreign countries, you gotta do random stuff on the weekends to keep yourself entertained, haha! Too much fun!!

Oktoberfest... AKA... You're gonna be hung over-fest!

So Friday night was the famous "Oktoberfest" at Butler's Officer's Club... and let me tell you, all the stories I heard about this bing one heck of a party were totally true!! The Marines know how to put on a fiesta! This is us, obviously, shortly into the night when I only had a couple of lovely draft Pilsners in me...

The fest came complete with German goodies for the mouth and for the eyes... check out those suspenders ladies! Ya know, it's not the size of the horn that matters, it's if he knows how ot use it... and boy did he! This polka band was amazing, the say Highway to Hell, the Chicken Dance, and even a Prince cover! They had the ladies so wound up, one actually got up on stage, grabbed one of the guys suspenders, and shimmied up and down him like he was some kind of stripper pole... boy did he ever blush... and in his super cute little German accent he yells out, "Oh Jesus!!!" Too funny...

Mike is looking very guilty here... what number biru are you on, sir? You're supposed to be our DD!!

Left to right... David Wilder, our fearless Lt. Col. of the 718 Squadron, Sarah is in the front, Phil is totally wasted in the back, and David's wife Jennifer is on the right... what a crew we have! Not sure why Sarah is scowling though, perhaps her beer stein have runeth empty? Either way, I still love her!!

So anyway, the party was a total blast! They had very yummy German food, the music was very catchy and fun to dance to, Phil almost got into a fist-fight with some old guy with a ponytail about his missing mug, and I got exceptionally tipsy! I'm not normally a big drinker, so a few beers in me and all of a sudden I was all like, "KOMPAI!!!" which is Japanese for "Cheers!"

So on the way home, I start to hiccup... I get into a deep philosophical conversation (that I don't remember) with Mike about why we need to hiccup, why beer makes us so drunk, and then I proceeded to come home, tried to sleep but I got the spins, and when Mike tried to snuggle with me, I had already passed out cold, and I'm not talking about snoring passed out, I mean literally was close to death kind of passing out where you wake up the net morning wondering how you got home and in bed kind of passing out... not pretty. I don't recover like I used to... needless to say, but 3pm today I was finally able to get up and out of the house. It was ugly... I have some video of this evening I will have to post to really put us all to shame!

Ah... I love Okinawa!

It's a POOPY!!!

So... I was minding my own business one day at work (Wednesday) when out of nowhere this little black ball of fluff was put into my hands and I was told, "Hey, you like black labbs, right? Want this one?" so I was like, sure, I'll take her home... not realizing the girl was serious. I was then informed by the "owners" that they were a one-dog-family and already had a lab mix, and just didn't want her any more and didn't want to have to pay another 100 to surrender her when they already put like $500 into her to get her healthy. Apparently they found her on her death bed and she was dying from complications from kennel cough and starvation out in the wilderness, poor little puppy. They didn't want anything from anyone except the guarantee that she would be in a good, loving home... and what better a person to take her than one that actually works at a vet clinic, right? So, me being the bleeding heart that I am, I scooped her up, got her a first round of vaccs, her heartguard and flea/tick meds, and some dewormed from her very poofy wormy tummy. Then I had to make the call to the hubby...

I said... hooooooony, how much do you loooooooooove me?? He says, "What animal came across your path today at the clinic that you just have to have?" and I said, well, congrats daddy, it's a healthy 8 lb. baby girl!! There was a sigh on the other end, but I could tell he was excited it was at least it was a puppy this time and not something random like a ferret or a dog that needed hundreds of dollars of surgery... I mean, look at that face.... awwwwwwweeee

So allow me to introduce "little puppy." (To be named at some point...) Cute, huh? She's definately black lab and something else we can't figure out. I'm sure being from Oki she's mixed with something small so she won't be huge like our other two, but she goes with the color scheme we seem to have going at this point.

Charlie, being the good little mommy he is, threw out the olive brance to the little sprat when we got home. I'm sure Chloe was off scowling somewhere at this point. Little puppy just walked in the house like she owned it, grabbed a toy, and plopped down on the bed and started to chew away... at that point I was like, yeah, she's gotta be a part of this family.

She's a very low-key gal... she'll go balls out for a while, then zonk out so hard you could shakehe and she'd still sleep. I'm trying not to get too attached to her since I just want to find he a good home. Her previous owner had a collar for her, gave me a couple bowls, some food, her favorite toy, and a blanket for her which I thought was nice, and even brought me all her medical records from off-base the next afternoon after I took her. (The Japanese are such nice people!)

So we've had her for a few days now and she's doing great. We are learning to potty outside, having fewer and fewer accidents, no pooping in our kennel after the first night, is good with the other two, and LOVES Charlie! They snuggle all the time, it's adorable! He must smell good or something, because all the little ones love him! I've got a few people interested in her, so I don't think she will be with us for long, but I enjoy having a little one around the house... keeps things lively and me on my toes at all times! I've been throwing a few names around but I am really trying hard not to fall in love with her.

Ok, so I'll tell ya... we're been thinking about "Piper," "Sage," or my favorite, "Basil." Yeah, I'm kinda into the spice name, haha. Any opinions people have will definately be taken into consideration, but now it is time to get going... the little one just woke up form her name and it's potty time :-)

Is that Godzilla... no, it's Insect-a-saurus

Chloe watches the eveil monster from a distance, weighing her options of attack... meanwhile the monster ravages through the livingroom causing total havoc!

She pounces without warning and bravely drags the evil monster back to her secret lair... the foot stool!

The monster rallies and puts up a good fight, so Chloe is forced to call in for back-up from her trusty side-kick, Charlie! Chloe attempts to stun the monster with her super blue "Lab Eyes of Death" while Charlie busts out his trusty "White Paw of Power!"

The two combine their powers to attempt defeating the evil monster once and for all... To be continued...

Haha, so okay... for all of you who have not seen monsters vs. aliens, the cartoon, you wouldn't recognize this little guy. He's on of the characters called Insectasaurus, or however you spell it. He's a huge fuzzy bug that is actually very sweet in the movie. So anywho, I saw this plushy guy in the BX and it was on the clearance shelf, so I couldn't resisit. I gave him a good squeeze to make sure he was all fluff and didn't have any of those plastic beads in him, and we were good to go.

I brought him home and the pups instantly made it their business to destroy him at all costs. Now, we have a squeeker toy here about the same size they carry all over without ripping at all, and we've had it for months, but for some reason they felt it absolutely necessary to rip this poor guys to pieces. I had to put the poor guy up on the shelf to avoid him being completely de-fluffed. Chloe had her entire snout stuffed into his body ad was yanking out fluff everywhere, while Charlie had his nose just about ripped. I was able to refill his fluff up, but the poor thing took a serious hit! At least they get a kick out of it though!

You're probably wondering why I devoted a whole post to this... well, I love my little poochies more than anything in the entire world and I think every little thing they do is adorable. Therefore, I feel the need to share the very cute things they do with all of you. Plus, the grandparents just love grand-puppy pics!

A few pics from the North Steps...

This is a big puffer fish we saw when we went to the North Steps. Mike tried to catch him by the tail to make him poof up, but he was too fast and I hear they have really huge teeth...

Some clown fishies...

Some very weird little egg formation tucked behind some coral. I was betting they were shark eggs and some huge momma shark was gonna jump out from behind of somewhere and eat me!!

Some more of my little clown fish buddies... they are so cute!! This one actually came outta nowhere from below me and almost bumped into my goggles... he was very protective of his little anemonea!

So yeah, just a few fun pics of this week's dive... the battery died after our first dive so unfortunately I wasn't able to catch the illusive cuttlefish that I saw hanging out.

The missing Sac, and other fun what"nuts"... hehe...

This is Gizmo... he's a 9-month old bully baby and today he had a chery eye repair and a neuter. He's actually in a heated and oxygenated kennel. He was still kind of loopy in this picture, but I thought it was adorable that his face was pressed up against the door and his little tongue was pressed to the glass too! I kept trying to shift his head and put his tongue back in, but gosh golly, it just didn't want to cooperate! End result, very dry puppy tongue, had to clean the glass, and a very cute picture!

I could tell you were all just chomping at the bit to see some sugicated dog sac... well this is at the begining of the hematoma dissection. As the surgeon started cutting deeper, you could see the clot poking out. Not pretty...

Tah Dah!! And it's off... gross, huh?

Me gettin' my surgication on... attractive, huh? Any time we walk into one of the surgical suites, you gotta be stylin'! Hairnets aren't just for lunch ladies anymore, fool!

So the sac pic is pretty gross, but from our point of view it was really cool! It's not every day you come across one of these bad boys!