I was fortunate enough to be invited to the grand opening red ribbon cutting of a state of the art Veterinarian hospital. My invite was through a friend of mine, Diane. She was in charge of getting the new clinic up and running. The 'old' Poulsbo clinic was around 1200 sq ft, and the new clinic is around 5K sq ft (if memory serves me correctly). It must have been fun (and apparently UBER stressful) plotting every square foot of the new facility, from what pee-proof flooring, to overhead light fixtures. Now after months and months of planning, the new digs were up & ready to run. After the ribbon cutting, Diane treated friends Sue & Nick, Barbara and myself to a personal tour of this state of the art pet hospital.
The spacious Receptionist area
Exam Room where even the table drawers were special ordered (having no slits where dirt can accumulate & clean-up is a snap)
Where the 'real work' happens!
I thought this was nifty - a very comfy tiny bedroom at the clinic, where resident and/or visiting veterinarians can catch some shut eye after long shifts at this 24/7 hospital.
Memorable Mugs in the Staff lunch room
Truly a work of art - a Cat Scan for Cats... and dogs... and ferrets...
Tee Hee...
Unique to this hospital is a totally separate room where the ailing kitties are kept. That keeps them from having to be kennel neighbors with barking dogs which stresses the heck out of cats.
Separate kitty quarters for the hospital was the idea of Diane, and she is understandably proud. To the right is a cute little salute to Diane, that is sort of hidden, on the outside of the cat ward. Someday it will truly be the Diane Memorial Feline Ward. Here's hoping that particular honor is decades away.
Teeny IV & IV regulator on a kennel
I thought the most innovative thing at the hospital were the high-up monitors that held info on furry patients at each step of the way. Even I could see them and know what pup was getting what med, and when, and where the critter was in each stage of its hospital visit. I haven't seen that level of care at human hospitals. Catch up human hospitals, catch up!
[UPDATE: So late one Saturday night I woke at 1:30 AM to a phone call from my neighbor Barbara. Next thing I knew, I was dressed and driving her and her black kitty Bug the hour and a half drive to Poulsbo for an emergency pet clinic visit. Bug had woken Barb up with 'an awful noise!' and she was terrified Bug was dying and would be dead before we got to the clinic. Uh... thanks heavens, that would be a 'nope'. Bug had possibly inhaled something that got his lungs stressed out, so with prescribed antibiotics, a series of x-rays and several hundreds of dollars later, I was dropping sleepy Bug n' even sleepier Barb, back home around 5AM. Whew! What a night. Who knew we'd be back at the hospital so soon after its grand opening. With a little luck, it'll be the last visit... at least for a while.]
Daughter does traditional Hula while her mother sings and keeps time on the ipu
Sometimes I feel my fitness trainer is actually my event planner. She's told me when exciting things are afoot, such as when Dandelion Botanical Company opened up about a mile from my house. I am totally enraptured with that store and I get all my medicinal herbs - uh... and some crystals - at that wonderous shop. Back on topic, recently Karina let me know there was to be a Hula presentation in the field behind the Sequim library. OMG I was so excited! She told me about the hula because I have been attempting to learn a 'simple' non-traditional hula. Most of what I learned so far is there is no such thing as a simple hula. That's for me at least, as I can't coordinate my arm and feet movements to save my life. I used to do so easily but someone seems to have cut the connection between my feet, arms and brain. Go figure.
The lady who lead the event was brilliant and taught the gathering a ton of information, much of which was new to me. I'm not going to try to relate any of it, but will instead include this video of the lady singing beautifully as she plays the ipu as her pretty daughter danced a traditional hula. Enchanting chanting all!
My favorite part of the demonstrations? When all those who wished for a little Hula lesson to come up front! All the little girls in the audience raced up onto the stage, and the far more timid adults, which included me of course, stayed down in front of the stage. I was surprised there was only a handful of adults - all women - who wanted to dance. I kicked off my shoes so I could feel my toes in the grass and enjoyed my 2nd ever Hula lesson - and so close to home! As usual, as I fought to hold back tears of joy as I followed along the arm movements and steps we were shown. We all managed a complete dance and I was clumsy on certain moves, but not half bad on others - you know - not ready for a prime time Luau, but my heart was in it. Can't wait for my 3rd Hula lesson - hopefully back on the islands again.
UPDATE: Karina, my exercise trainer discovered the following photo the audience participation dance session and I'm right chuffed to have it. Thanks Karina!
"Get that arm up Miller!" In my defense, that's my 'bad' arm! : )
Had a fun week my friends Robbie & Rhonda, who are in the NW this month, up from California. While they were here they participated in lots of hiking and sight seeing. The Olympic gods were with them as Mount Baker which can't be seen much of the time, was shiny and bright in the Northwestern Sky. It can even be spied from my house... downstairs, blocked a bit by a Corkscrew Oak and a powerpole... but present nevertheless.
On their last day I drove them to many of my favorite spots to see Bald Eagles. On Holland Road we ran into a swarm of bees . None of us had ever seen a swarm outside of Ticktock.
When we'd had our fill of the bees, we stopped at one of Sequim's 'Pick Your Own Berries and Lavender' Farms. Loads of Raspberries were picked, and wolfed down later in the day.
Robbie volunteered pick us some raspberries
Of course it is cruel to take someone to a lavender farm and not try out some lavender ice cream so that was next on the agenda. We got the Whitbey Island Ice Cream bars at a 2nd lavender farm, down the road from my house.
Robbie tryed to convince the hen that ice cream was no good for her
Another day we drove up to Hurricane Ridge at the top of Olympic National Park. While while my
Comma Butterfly
friends hiked the high country, I roamed around closer to the Visitor Center. Spotted a nice 'new to me' butterfly and some Avalanche Lilies.
Avalanche Lilies
Then on our way down from Hurricane Ridge, barely a mile from the top, we spotted a Black Bear. You KNOW that made my month. This is the 3rd spotting of a Black Bear I've seen in the area so I'm thinking the bear population must be kind of HUMONGOUS.
Always a joy to see one of the park Black Bears
The bear had Cocker Spaniel eyes... so soulful, as well as a mouthful of tasty grass
One of the days I drove them around to my favorite haunts, with the goal of showing them a baldie or three. We caught one in flight over the Holstein dairy farm. I took them around back of the Olympic Game Farm where after Bald Eagle chicks have fledged (left home, i.e., nest) can be seen sitting on fence posts, sometimes a half dozen at a time. But that day, no baldies at all. As a last resort I drove them to Marine Drive, about a mile from my house. Stopping at the roadside, I pointed to an empty branch up high in a coniferous tree that overhung a cliff.
"Well, you guys are having crap luck today. Sometimes there are as many as a pair of eagles sitting on that horizontal branch..."
On cue, up from the cliffs below winged a massive Bald Eagle juvenile, obediently landing on the branch I'd indicated.
"Ooops! Take that back, you two are having FANTASTIC luck today!"
Training that baby baldy really paid off big time.
Robbie & Rhonda ended up spending an extra day with me because they awaited a package at the post office. That made me sooo happy, because I so enjoyed having their company for the week. But finally the time came for them to leave. Robbie was to meet up with her hubby Bill up in Vancouver and Rhonda went to visit friends, in the Seattle area? Well somewhere up here. Fun and helpful house guests whom I hope return next summer. I might have a few more critters trained to show up on cue by then, you never know.
