MUNGO EATS Latin America

I have been wanting to go hiking in the mountains for weeks.  Even though the snow is mostly melted away in town, there has still been plenty snowy in the mountains and so we have not been able to hike.  This weekend we thought we would finally give it a chance.  Our intention was to walk in the Ghost River valley (best place on earth), but we did not even get half way down the access road before we were turned around because the snow rendered it impassable.

Determined to get in a mountain walk regardless of the snow, we headed north up the forestry trunk road until we found some slopes that were devoid of snow, parked the car and started walking. 

This was Sargon’s first “mountain walk”.  He couldn’t believe his luck when we let him out of the car, no leash and told him to run wild.  And run wild he did!! 

He got to smell new things. 

He got to jump over logs and run over hills.

Of course, no trip to the mountains would be complete without some regal standing and posing, sometimes alone and sometimes with a friend.

There were a few less regal moments in the forest, as well.

It was enough to tire a young dog out.

I am pleased to announce, that we have “officially” passed all of our inspections at the clinic.  We had the last inspector walk through at about 3 pm yesterday afternoon and we cracked a celebration beer at 3:05. 

Even though our surgical lights have not yet arrived, the electrical inspector gave us “partial occupancy”, meaning, we are allowed to operate without the lights and when the lights come in and are installed, we will be re-inspected and hopefully given the green light. 

So officially, the doors open Monday morning at 8am (I won’t be there until 9). 

In my last post, I mentioned that I was worried about how long it would take before the first client walked in the door.  I need not have concerned myself.  Just after the beer was cracked (but before much was drunk), I actually saw my first client (by the way, I don’t plan on having an afternoon beer on a regular basis).  A fellow walked in and asked if I could take a look at his dog’s ear.  And following him, I spoke to a young lady about her dog and whether or not we should take xrays to try to identify a pain the dog was having.  I already have a few appointments booked next week, although they are mostly “non-paying” clients, but I do have a surgery booked for Friday (and will be paid for this one!). 

I think we are very lucky to secure the location we did, as it is hard to go two feet in that community and not see someone walking their dog.  I am very excited. 

A few people have asked me for the clinic location and phone number, so I guess I should pass it along.  We are located at 3409 20th St SW and the phone number is (403)265-VETS (8387).  Have a look at our website as well, if you want to know more info:  www.caninecompanionclinic.com

We are very proud of our clinic, and would love to show it off.  Drop by if you ever find yourself in the area.  We would be happy to give you a tour!

The countdown has begun.  We are scheduled to open the new clinic on Monday morning,  April 25th.  The clinic is ready, the shelves are mostly stocked  (still a little short on food, but that ‘s okay).  The exam rooms are ready.  We have all our furniture.  We are still working on getting some art for the reception area, but we know which direction we are going with it now (that’s a big step).

Today we were trained on how to use our new digital xray machine, and let me tell you, it is a super slick machine.  When I graduated from vet school, taking xrays was a 20-30 minute process.  Things got faster when automatic processors became mainstream.  Now you did not have to sit in the dark room, you could just feed the film into the processing machine and it would move the film through the developing process without you having to time it, etc.  The 20-30 minute process was cut down to about 10-15 minutes.  Our time frame now…about 2 or 3 second…SECONDS.  We take the picture and look up at the screen and there is the picture.  AMAZING!!!  Not only that, but we can manipulate the image once we have it.  We can zoom in on areas of interest and change the contrast, etc, etc.  It is just fantastic!!!  I love my new toy A LOT!!

We will FINALLY get our electrical inspection tomorrow and following that, our final inspection.  Our oxygen tanks come tomorrow, and we are then ready to open the doors.  I read an article a little while ago about a clinic in the north end of Calgary, that had their doors open for three days before the first client came in.  I hope we don’t have to wait that long to see client number one, but we will see.

Some days I wonder if I am cut out for this “business owner’s” job.  We are supposed to be opening next week, and although many things are going very well, there are still some significant problems, which may mean we delay opening.

The space is nearly finished.  We should be getting supplies like drugs and food this week, so in many ways, next week could be a go. There is still one significant problem though.  We had ordered some equipment from the States and we are still short on a few items from this order.  Specifically we have not received our surgery lights and a scrub sink.  Although I don’t NEED these things to function, it is possible that we will not pass our building inspection without these items.  They are on the drawings, therefore, must be in the space.  Maybe.

I spoke to the salesman that I purchased the lights and sink from to figure out when our equipment would be here, and he told me that he could not say for sure, that he could likely ship something out by next week.  Items form the States take about a week to get here, and they have been sitting in customs for a week, which would mean a 3 week delay in getting our lights and sink.  Unacceptable!

There is a chance that the building inspector will pass us, IF they are feeling charitable and we just explain why no sink and lights are present yet.  He/she is supposed to inspect the space today.  If he passes us, we will open the doors next week.  If not, we will scramble to find a local supplier for both the lights and sink and hopefully only be delayed a week. 

Keep your fingers crossed for us!!

Time to update you on Sargon’s progress.  The little turkey is now 14 weeks old.  He is growing like a weed.  He is now eating about 4 1/2 cups of food a day and really, I cannot remember ever feeding another puppy quite this much food before.  Just for comparisons sake, Mungo eats just under 3 cups of food daily.  Feeding time is actually quite grotesque, as Sargon eats his meal down in a few seconds!  Before I can walk to the sink to fill his water dish, his meal is done.  Crazy! 

For those readers not living in Calgary, we had a big spring snow storm yesterday.  I am not sure what the official number is, as far as how many centimeters of snow fell, but let me show you by way of a picture. 

This is the picnic table sporting the “new” snow.  All of this snow fell in a 24 hour period.  The table was completely clear before this snow fall.  The nice thing about spring snow storms is that usually once the snow stops falling, the sun comes out and it is nice and warm out.  Sargon is not terribly fond of COLD snow, but spring snow is fine, and he spent a lot of the day tromping around the back yard playing.

Pretty much every time he goes outside, he comes back in with snow on his nose.  Makes me giggle!

When Sargon first came home, he was about 1/4 the length of Mungo.  He is now at least 1/2 if not a bit more!!  He gets his fair share of treats.  Now he gets to lick out the yogurt containers too.  Of course, since his tongue and nose are shorter than the big hound’s, he has to adapt.

(try to ignore the “longhair” in the shot…haircut is coming soon!)

Of course there is the danger that when you use this technique, you may get a little yogurt on your nose…even on your eyebrows, it would seem.

He has started some puppy obedience classes, and Sara is training him.  I am still too busy with Mungo and agility.  She is doing very well with him.  He gets distracted sometimes, but he is nowhere as stubborn or difficult to train as Mungo was.  In any case, he is doing well, growing, learning, and fitting in to this crazy family.  And, of course, after one does all that growing, playing, and learning, one has to sleep well!!

No tooting Mungo!!