Day 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts

From Singles 2011

My god. This starts out to be very demanding. Wouldn't 15 facts serve as introduction enough? And, the photo. Seems that interests a lot of people these days. I've asked Kevin to take one, but that is still in the planning stage - So, here's one from Boxing Day when we went to the GOMA.

1. In the second grade, maybe third, I wrote an "essay" about what I wanted to be when I grew up. For some reason I included what I'd do and what my best friend, Barb, would do. I can't remember who would do what, but one of us was a scientist and the other a veterinarian. Now, several years later, I can report to you I've been both. ("Yes, I was that kind of psychologist." I never get to say that - only the inverse.) I have not succeeded in matching my first "when I grow up" ambition - I have never been a Flying Red Horse.

2. My first job was detasseling corn for DeKalb. That means I walked through rows of corn plants removing the "feathery bit" (the male part) on the top of each stalk. I'm not sure whether I was good or bad - I really only know that I was slow. I'd come out of my row to be greeted by the rest of the crew sitting and resting and the "chief" saying "OK, everybody back in the field."

3. My favorite food as a kid was dried beef. Haven't eaten it in decades. Though I still regularly eat grapefruit and olives. (I was not a candy kid.)

4. Every long term relationship I've been involved with has endured periods of being a "long distance" relationship - even my marriage. Hence, I am a pretty good stamp licker.

5. For my last year of vet school, I refused to look at my quarterly grade cards. I was a bit confused when classmates were congratulating me at graduation. "Hey, we're ALL graduating." If I'd gone to our "End of School" party, I would have known I was the valedictorian.

6. My sister thought it was fun to hide my bra in the freezer and put plastic spiders in my bed.

7. I have very prominent veins. They seem to impress people.

8. I cannot castrate a dove. Probably that is true for most of humanity - but how many of you have tried? Repeatedly? (I can't ovariectomize a dove, either. But, I can surgically sex doves.)

9. I can draw blood from the wing vein of a dove ALL BY MYSELF.

10. I was an extra zombie in "Day of the Dead". So was Kevin. Only Kevin actually appears in the film, however. That's OK. I got a hat.

11. When people ask me how I like my job, I can honestly say, "It is better than prison." I wasn't a convict - I just worked in both men's and women's correctional facilities in Ohio.

12. When asked by an equine resident in vet school what I would be thinking if I looked into a horses mouth, preparing to "float" its teeth, and saw whatever it was she was showing our group, I responded with "Something has gone very, very very wrong with my life." I still feel that way. I try to say "no" to anything that can easily maim or kill me.

13. I spent a summer collecting radioactive horse pee. Enough said.

14. And, two years working with radioactive dove testicles; well, actually, just radioactive dove testosterone.

15. I learned today that my belly button is gone. I can lose anything!