Contrasts

It's funny . . . the one thing I never thought about when I got animals and find myself doing quite a bit is vetting. Really, there's nothing that will quite raise your confidence level in your own ability to get the job done as vetting an animal. I've put drops in a rabbit's nose (yes, there is a trick to that), given shots (to sheep, rabbits, and a rooster), drenched for worms, and doctored cuts. I even had to put medicine in the cat's eye. This weekend when I was at a work party one of the guys was trying to describe to me the difference between an IM shot and a SubQ shot and I said, "I'm pretty good with shots; I used to be a nurse. I just need to know where you want me to give it." And it's true; stuff like that comes back to you. After the first one it was like I'd never taken that 20 year break at all.

So on the one hand you have all this doctoring and what's worse, the accompanying anxiety of worrying about a sick animal, and on the other you have the simple, simple beauty of life at its least complex. I was on my way to the barn the other day to take a picture of the bunnies for this blog and decided to also take a picture of this tree that I pass four times every day bringing the sheep out to pasture and back. I love this tree. I wish there had been an October sky behind it when I took the picture, but you know what? Even just the way it is speaks volumes of simlicity and enjoying the beauty in life however and wherever you find it.