Lyrics to "Video" by India Arie
Sometimes I shave my legs and sometimes I don't
Sometimes I comb my hair and sometimes I won't
Depend on how the wind blows I might even paint my toes
It really just depends on whatever feels good in my soul
I'm not the average girl from your video
and I ain't built like a supermodel
But, I Learned to love myself unconditionally
Because I am a queen
I'm not the average girl from your video
My worth is not determined by the price of my clothes
No matter what I'm wearing I will always be India Aria
When I look in the mirror the only one there is me
Every freckle on my face is where it's supposed to be
And I know our creator didn't make no mistakes on me
My feet, my thighs, my lips, my eyes I'm lovin' what I see
I'm not the average girl from your video
and I ain't built like a supermodel
But, I Learned to love myself unconditionally
Because I am a queen
I'm not the average girl from your video
My worth is not determined by the price of my clothes
No matter what I'm wearing I will always be India Aria
Am I less of a lady If I don't wear panty hoes?
My mama said a lady ain't what she wears but, what she knows
But, I've drawn a conclusion, it's all and illusion confusions the name of the game
A misconception, a vast deception
Something's gotta change
Don't be offended this is all my opinion
ain't nothing that I'm sayin law
This is a true confession of a life learned lesson I was sent here to share with ya'll
So get in where you fit in go on and shine
Free your mind, nows the time
Put your salt on the shelf
Go head and love yourself
Cuz everything's gonna be all right
I'm not the average girl from your video
and I ain't built like a supermodel
But, I Learned to love myself unconditionally
Because I am a queen
I'm not the average girl from your video
My worth is not determined by the price of my clothes
No matter what I'm wearing I will always be India Aria
Keep your fancy drinks and your expensive minks
I don't need that to have a good time
Keep your expensive car and your Caviar
All I need is my guitar
Keep your krystyle and your pistol
I'd rather have a pretty piece of Crystal
Don't need no silicone I prefer my own
What God gave me is just fine
I'm not the average girl from your video
and I ain't built like a supermodel
But, I Learned to love myself unconditionally
Because I am a queen
I'm not the average girl from your video
My worth is not determined by the price of my clothes
No matter what I'm wearing I will always be India Aria
This is one of my favorite lyrics of all time, she says so wonderfully what I´m thinking...
I found this text on yimpian, but had to edit a couple of lines and correct some spelling first... They got a couple of things wrong!
Saturday, January 11, 2003
Thursday, January 09, 2003
Eggs
Do you ever wonder where your eggs come from? Check out these sites from the Australian RSPCA, the british chicken rescue, as well as the canadian Vancouver humane society...
Do you ever wonder where your eggs come from? Check out these sites from the Australian RSPCA, the british chicken rescue, as well as the canadian Vancouver humane society...
Wednesday, January 08, 2003
I just got a brand new diary from the Icelandic Veterinary Association with my name inscribed on the cover, how cool. I almost feel like a real vet... I have started serious work on my thesis. I have quit all other activities from 9-4 and started going to the library in the morning as if I were going to work, which I kinda am. So far so good, got some feedback from my teachers and feel more confident on the structure, feel like I am half way there, however all the epidemiologic calculations still lie ahead...
Tuesday, January 07, 2003
Frodo and Sam
I feel compelled to tell you about my kittens. Their names are Fróði and Sómi, Fróði is named after one of our earlier cats and Sómi after the cat that moved in with my parents in-law from across the street and lived to the ripe old age of 17, helped by a generous diet topped with raw meat, fish, shrimp and lobster, provided by my late father in-law, who was a great animal lover. Incidentally their names correspond with the Icelandic translation of the main hobbit characters of Lord of the Rings, Frodo and Sam. Coinicidence?
Fróði was chosen by my husband while I was away in California, to be our son´s first very own personal pet. The cat seemed to take to this role from the start, following his friend around and sleeping in his bed. He likes being stroked, but not held. That is, if we pick him up he will struggle to get free, but when little Baldur holds him he is very calm, even in the oddest postitions... He has always been very fond of water and now his favorite place to sleep is the bathroom sink. He will not move, even if you turn on the water to wash your hands, on the contrary he seems fascinated to watch the water trickle down his coat. The only thing that can get him out of the way is the smell of toothpaste, go Colgate! He also likes to lie in the shower and watch the drain (???), even if there is water in there, then he will stand and shake like a dog to splash the water on anyone standing by. He is turning into a beautiful cat, sleek and long, with a solid gray coat and the facial features of an oriental cat w. the high cheek bones.
Sómi is quite different. He came to us from a family that couldn´t keep him anymore because their youngest child has asthma (this is their story). He had a little hernia, that I closed at the same time as castrating them. He was supposed to be a month older than the other one, but this is definately bullshit, since he was a lot smaller and also lost his milk teeth a couple of weeks after the other one, my guess he is about a month younger and was taken too soon from his mom. He is the cutest little thing, reminds me of that cute cat Garfield hated so much. His fur is black and white, still soft like a kitten´s now that he is almost a year old. He seemed to have a great need for suckling and at first he would suckle on Fróði´s fur. After a while Fróði got sick of this and told him off. Since then he has taken to suckling the fur on his own tummy and consequently has a couple of spots where the hair is getting thinner from wear... I will have to do something about this, time to test my skill with behavior modification...
Anyway, anyone who has owned pets will understand me when I say how much they contribute to the family. To me there is no home without a pet (you would be surprised to know how many vets do not share this opininon!). It´s funny how you feel all fuzzy inside when you stroke them and they rub their cheeks against your hand or face, scentmarking you as "their" person.
I feel compelled to tell you about my kittens. Their names are Fróði and Sómi, Fróði is named after one of our earlier cats and Sómi after the cat that moved in with my parents in-law from across the street and lived to the ripe old age of 17, helped by a generous diet topped with raw meat, fish, shrimp and lobster, provided by my late father in-law, who was a great animal lover. Incidentally their names correspond with the Icelandic translation of the main hobbit characters of Lord of the Rings, Frodo and Sam. Coinicidence?
Fróði was chosen by my husband while I was away in California, to be our son´s first very own personal pet. The cat seemed to take to this role from the start, following his friend around and sleeping in his bed. He likes being stroked, but not held. That is, if we pick him up he will struggle to get free, but when little Baldur holds him he is very calm, even in the oddest postitions... He has always been very fond of water and now his favorite place to sleep is the bathroom sink. He will not move, even if you turn on the water to wash your hands, on the contrary he seems fascinated to watch the water trickle down his coat. The only thing that can get him out of the way is the smell of toothpaste, go Colgate! He also likes to lie in the shower and watch the drain (???), even if there is water in there, then he will stand and shake like a dog to splash the water on anyone standing by. He is turning into a beautiful cat, sleek and long, with a solid gray coat and the facial features of an oriental cat w. the high cheek bones.
Sómi is quite different. He came to us from a family that couldn´t keep him anymore because their youngest child has asthma (this is their story). He had a little hernia, that I closed at the same time as castrating them. He was supposed to be a month older than the other one, but this is definately bullshit, since he was a lot smaller and also lost his milk teeth a couple of weeks after the other one, my guess he is about a month younger and was taken too soon from his mom. He is the cutest little thing, reminds me of that cute cat Garfield hated so much. His fur is black and white, still soft like a kitten´s now that he is almost a year old. He seemed to have a great need for suckling and at first he would suckle on Fróði´s fur. After a while Fróði got sick of this and told him off. Since then he has taken to suckling the fur on his own tummy and consequently has a couple of spots where the hair is getting thinner from wear... I will have to do something about this, time to test my skill with behavior modification...
Anyway, anyone who has owned pets will understand me when I say how much they contribute to the family. To me there is no home without a pet (you would be surprised to know how many vets do not share this opininon!). It´s funny how you feel all fuzzy inside when you stroke them and they rub their cheeks against your hand or face, scentmarking you as "their" person.
Monday, January 06, 2003
to be continued...
, Ása Ólafsdóttir is one of the artists. In my opinion she is very talented and her work appeals to me, probably because I like doing it myself, she mostly does needlework (cross stitch), but also some picture weaving and painting. She dyes all the yarn herself and her work is like painting with thread on canvas. There was an aspect of the show that intrigued me, they had a video running in a little room, where you could see the artists at work in their studios. Often there is so much labour behind every piece of finished art work, and one rarely gets to see inside the artists studio, for me this was very interesting and gave a whole new outlook on the projects.
, Ása Ólafsdóttir is one of the artists. In my opinion she is very talented and her work appeals to me, probably because I like doing it myself, she mostly does needlework (cross stitch), but also some picture weaving and painting. She dyes all the yarn herself and her work is like painting with thread on canvas. There was an aspect of the show that intrigued me, they had a video running in a little room, where you could see the artists at work in their studios. Often there is so much labour behind every piece of finished art work, and one rarely gets to see inside the artists studio, for me this was very interesting and gave a whole new outlook on the projects.
Art exhibition
Yesterday I went to an art exhibition, called Samspil, in Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjörður. My dad´s girlfriend, No comments:
Yesterday I went to an art exhibition, called Samspil, in Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjörður. My dad´s girlfriend, No comments:
Lord of the Rings
I saw LOTR II on saturday, I think director Peter Jackson has done a good job on this ambitious project. However, the movies are not quite as spectacular as the ones playing in my head when I read the books... I have been a fan of the books for many years, ever since they were published in icelandic. I was always going to read them in english, but never got around to it, then when they were published in icelandic (the first one in 1993) I got the first one for christmas and stayed up all night reading. Been hooked since...
I tried a few of the quizzes out there and I kept getting elfish results, either Legolas, Arwen or Galadriel, guess I´m kind of elfish!? Next to the elfs my favorite characteres are the hobbits, a hobbit´s hole sounds like a good place to live. Tolkien used to say that in all respects other than size he was a hobbit.
I'm Arwen! Who are you?
by
eikocarolchan
I saw LOTR II on saturday, I think director Peter Jackson has done a good job on this ambitious project. However, the movies are not quite as spectacular as the ones playing in my head when I read the books... I have been a fan of the books for many years, ever since they were published in icelandic. I was always going to read them in english, but never got around to it, then when they were published in icelandic (the first one in 1993) I got the first one for christmas and stayed up all night reading. Been hooked since...
I tried a few of the quizzes out there and I kept getting elfish results, either Legolas, Arwen or Galadriel, guess I´m kind of elfish!? Next to the elfs my favorite characteres are the hobbits, a hobbit´s hole sounds like a good place to live. Tolkien used to say that in all respects other than size he was a hobbit.
 |
| What LoTR Character Are You? |
I'm Arwen! Who are you?
by
eikocarolchan  If I lived in Middle-Earth, it would be in: The Shire The rolling green hills, the springtime weather, and especially being surrounded by the ones you love makes the Shire a comfortable area for you. You love being surrounded only by the ones you care about, and you only desire this in an environment that is vast and open to nature, unlike in the cities or the caves.
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Sunday, January 05, 2003
At last the holidays are over, the thirteenth and last day of Christmas (at least that´s the tradition here in Iceland, don´t ask me why) is tomorrow, back to school for my son and back to writing my d/&$# report for me. Hubby started working last thursday. He has decided to go back to school, to become a master of his trade, auto mechanics. Here in Iceland (probably it´s the same in most countries), auto mechanics and other craftsmen must complete this course to be able to hire apprentices, and also it is a good course on running your own business. I think this is an excellent idea, although this will mean a lot of work for him, as it is a night school and we will not see each other four days a week while he is in school. However the course is only two semesters so we will probably survive this as we have other things in the past.
New Years Eve was spent at home, just the three of us. We had a gorgeous meal as always and shot up lots of fireworks, I read somewhere that Icelanders blew up 3 tonns of fireworks this New Years Eve, so you can imagine the lights over our little city! We have an excellent view from our flat and enjoyed the show. However, tonight I am cursing the bastards that did not finish on New Years Eve and are blowing the blasted things at 11pm on a sunday night, although my son has always been able to sleep through anything, bless the little angel. Tomorrow on the last day of Christmas there is a tradition for shooting some fireworks too, so we will probably finish our little stash after dinner tomorrow. We don´t usually spend a lot of money on fireworks, but this year my husband got some as a christmas present from his company.
A lot of people fus over how much money is spent on the holidays buying presents and fireworks. To me it´s very simple. People can do whatever they want with their hard earned money, if they have lots they can buy expensive presents and light the rest up on New Years Eve, those that have less give less expensive presents and watch the others burn their money on New Years Eve. Those that buy presents they can´t afford and have to pay for until the end of september next year are not very wise and will probably never have any money, since they don´t have any sense in their little brains (I was going to say they were stupid twits, but was afraid of hurting someones feelings...).
New Years Eve was spent at home, just the three of us. We had a gorgeous meal as always and shot up lots of fireworks, I read somewhere that Icelanders blew up 3 tonns of fireworks this New Years Eve, so you can imagine the lights over our little city! We have an excellent view from our flat and enjoyed the show. However, tonight I am cursing the bastards that did not finish on New Years Eve and are blowing the blasted things at 11pm on a sunday night, although my son has always been able to sleep through anything, bless the little angel. Tomorrow on the last day of Christmas there is a tradition for shooting some fireworks too, so we will probably finish our little stash after dinner tomorrow. We don´t usually spend a lot of money on fireworks, but this year my husband got some as a christmas present from his company.
A lot of people fus over how much money is spent on the holidays buying presents and fireworks. To me it´s very simple. People can do whatever they want with their hard earned money, if they have lots they can buy expensive presents and light the rest up on New Years Eve, those that have less give less expensive presents and watch the others burn their money on New Years Eve. Those that buy presents they can´t afford and have to pay for until the end of september next year are not very wise and will probably never have any money, since they don´t have any sense in their little brains (I was going to say they were stupid twits, but was afraid of hurting someones feelings...).
Monday, December 30, 2002
Whew, half-way through the holidays (yes, only half way, we still have the New Years Eve stuffing our stomachs to do). Christmas came as usual, and nothing was finished as usual... But after having survived years of having exams either before or after christmas every year, and cramming all the Christmas preparations on the day before, still managing to have a peaceful time when the moment came, I no longer suffer from holiday stress.
This year I had a wonderful relaxing time, getting some of the home-made presents ready on time (the last one was packed 2 hours before dinner), the others bought without guilt. We had a wonderful meal of roast turkey w. all the trimmings, mother in-law came to enjoy dinner with us. The biggest thing at christmas for anyone who has children is experiencing their joy and excitement. My son was very well behaved as always, we even persuaded him to have dessert with us (this did not work the last couple of times, after he was old enough to associate the unpacking of presents with dinner being over). He was very surprised on the morning of dec. 24th (the evening of which is the main celebration here in Iceland, w. opening of presents after dinner) to find a huge package under the tree that had not been there the night before. This was the present from mom and dad, a sleigh w. a stearing wheel, the no 1 wish, even though we have not had snow this winter yet, not even in the north part of the country.
I got some nice presents, only one book though (The Hobbit, by Tolkien to complete my Tolkien collection in icelandic), a couple of sweaters, a mobile phone and some joint presents with hubby, including a soda stream drinks maker and a frying pan (I guess people see us as gourmets or something...) and a bottle of aromatic massage oil. Oh and from my little sister, a toothbrush holder and a couple of cute santa christmas ornaments. All in all a pretty good christmas.
This year I had a wonderful relaxing time, getting some of the home-made presents ready on time (the last one was packed 2 hours before dinner), the others bought without guilt. We had a wonderful meal of roast turkey w. all the trimmings, mother in-law came to enjoy dinner with us. The biggest thing at christmas for anyone who has children is experiencing their joy and excitement. My son was very well behaved as always, we even persuaded him to have dessert with us (this did not work the last couple of times, after he was old enough to associate the unpacking of presents with dinner being over). He was very surprised on the morning of dec. 24th (the evening of which is the main celebration here in Iceland, w. opening of presents after dinner) to find a huge package under the tree that had not been there the night before. This was the present from mom and dad, a sleigh w. a stearing wheel, the no 1 wish, even though we have not had snow this winter yet, not even in the north part of the country.
I got some nice presents, only one book though (The Hobbit, by Tolkien to complete my Tolkien collection in icelandic), a couple of sweaters, a mobile phone and some joint presents with hubby, including a soda stream drinks maker and a frying pan (I guess people see us as gourmets or something...) and a bottle of aromatic massage oil. Oh and from my little sister, a toothbrush holder and a couple of cute santa christmas ornaments. All in all a pretty good christmas.
Thursday, December 26, 2002
Saturday, December 21, 2002
In sickness...
I am sick as a dog today. Went out on the raz last night with Íris and Herdís, Stína was sick and Erna stood us up, shame on her! It was a lot of fun, and no I´m not sick ´cause I drank too much, I didn´t have a chance too. We were talking and having fun and after a couple of hours I started getting stomach cramps. I ignored them for a while, but at half past 12 I also felt nauseous and dizzy. I felt a strong urge to go to the bathroom, but to my horror they were all occupied! I hurried to say goodbye to the girls and got out of the smoke. Across the street there was a sleazy, half-empty bar. I hurried in and found the bathrooms vacant. After that I ran out and was fortunate enough to find a taxi right away to take me home, where I continued to expel vomit and diarrhea throughout the night. Today I feel horrible, and very sorry for myself. The vomiting has stopped, and I´m feeling a little bit better in the intestines, but still dizzy and nauseous, and very very tired as I hardly slept a wink all night. To top it off my little boy got sick too so we can feel bad together. He seems to be a little bit better off than me though, he hasn´t puked yet, at least.
The yuletide lads have brought him a Harry Potter outfit, piece by piece in his little shoe in the window. This morning he prodly wore the whole assemble, cape, glasses and magic wand. He looked so cute! Must be the most beautiful child in the whole wide world...
I am sick as a dog today. Went out on the raz last night with Íris and Herdís, Stína was sick and Erna stood us up, shame on her! It was a lot of fun, and no I´m not sick ´cause I drank too much, I didn´t have a chance too. We were talking and having fun and after a couple of hours I started getting stomach cramps. I ignored them for a while, but at half past 12 I also felt nauseous and dizzy. I felt a strong urge to go to the bathroom, but to my horror they were all occupied! I hurried to say goodbye to the girls and got out of the smoke. Across the street there was a sleazy, half-empty bar. I hurried in and found the bathrooms vacant. After that I ran out and was fortunate enough to find a taxi right away to take me home, where I continued to expel vomit and diarrhea throughout the night. Today I feel horrible, and very sorry for myself. The vomiting has stopped, and I´m feeling a little bit better in the intestines, but still dizzy and nauseous, and very very tired as I hardly slept a wink all night. To top it off my little boy got sick too so we can feel bad together. He seems to be a little bit better off than me though, he hasn´t puked yet, at least.
The yuletide lads have brought him a Harry Potter outfit, piece by piece in his little shoe in the window. This morning he prodly wore the whole assemble, cape, glasses and magic wand. He looked so cute! Must be the most beautiful child in the whole wide world...
Friday, December 20, 2002
My wonderful computer
... just got back from the dealers and is now sporting the brand new mac os x system. I love it! I have no idea how to work it yet, but it only took me ten minutes to get hooked up to the internet, so how hard can it be? Macs are so cool, PC´s always look gray and dull. The new mac´s at the store looked so cool, like some fantasy space equipment from MIB V or something. Bill Gates eat my shorts! (he should be so lucky!) I have a PowerBook, but unfortunately an older version, not the titanium 1" thick cool new one my dad and my older brother have. Have to save money to buy me new cool computer..... I have never ever gotten a virus on my computer, I don´t think they make those for mac´s, hahahahahaha I laugh when I get virus warnings by mail from the PC suckers... Yupp, as you may have guessed by now I´m one of those mac fanatics, you will never convert me you hear!
... just got back from the dealers and is now sporting the brand new mac os x system. I love it! I have no idea how to work it yet, but it only took me ten minutes to get hooked up to the internet, so how hard can it be? Macs are so cool, PC´s always look gray and dull. The new mac´s at the store looked so cool, like some fantasy space equipment from MIB V or something. Bill Gates eat my shorts! (he should be so lucky!) I have a PowerBook, but unfortunately an older version, not the titanium 1" thick cool new one my dad and my older brother have. Have to save money to buy me new cool computer..... I have never ever gotten a virus on my computer, I don´t think they make those for mac´s, hahahahahaha I laugh when I get virus warnings by mail from the PC suckers... Yupp, as you may have guessed by now I´m one of those mac fanatics, you will never convert me you hear!
Monday, December 16, 2002
Thursday, December 12, 2002
Christmas
Christmas is around the corner, I am planning to make most of the presents myself this year, as I may have mentioned earlier. I have to send some of them overseas, so I better get sewing then. I finished the one for mum yesterday, making one for her hubby and my little sister tomorrow, must send them asap as they all live in Denmark. My aunt in California will hopefully get hers before christmas, am shipping it off tomorrow... After all the years of being a student and taking exams around christmas time, this year was supposed to be more relaxed, am so not getting there. I think I´m so used to the spirit of Christmas arriving on december 22nd that it will probably take a few years to unwind. Although after living in Denmark I got used to shopping presents in October because they had to be sent back to Iceland, and also because I had no time to think of them in November and December when exams were drawing nearer.
I had to go out at 10:30 last night to get something for the "santa" to put in his shoe in the window. Unlike my friend Stína I don´t have to worry about my son becoming a chocaholic as he doesn´t like chocolade. When I was a child I didn´t like it either, or coka cola! I have since grown up... Here in Iceland there is a tradition for children to put their shoes in the window and then the 13 yuletide lads take turns putting something nice in the shoe on their way to town. I don´t know where this tradition comes from, according to my resources it is only about 50 years old. The icelandic yuletide lads however are very old, they used to be trolls who would steal food and other neccessities from the homes and their mother ate the naughty children! The household cat was an enourmous beast who would eat any child that didn´t get a new piece of clothing for Christmas. The stories of Grýla (yuletide lad´s mom) and Leppalúði (her husband), along with the Christmas cat were told as horror stories to children to scare them so they wouldn´t misbehave. Apparantly the Danish king (this was back when Iceland was under Danish ruel) heard of this atrocity and issued a law to forbid scaring children with stories of Grýla and her kind.
Christmas is around the corner, I am planning to make most of the presents myself this year, as I may have mentioned earlier. I have to send some of them overseas, so I better get sewing then. I finished the one for mum yesterday, making one for her hubby and my little sister tomorrow, must send them asap as they all live in Denmark. My aunt in California will hopefully get hers before christmas, am shipping it off tomorrow... After all the years of being a student and taking exams around christmas time, this year was supposed to be more relaxed, am so not getting there. I think I´m so used to the spirit of Christmas arriving on december 22nd that it will probably take a few years to unwind. Although after living in Denmark I got used to shopping presents in October because they had to be sent back to Iceland, and also because I had no time to think of them in November and December when exams were drawing nearer.
I had to go out at 10:30 last night to get something for the "santa" to put in his shoe in the window. Unlike my friend Stína I don´t have to worry about my son becoming a chocaholic as he doesn´t like chocolade. When I was a child I didn´t like it either, or coka cola! I have since grown up... Here in Iceland there is a tradition for children to put their shoes in the window and then the 13 yuletide lads take turns putting something nice in the shoe on their way to town. I don´t know where this tradition comes from, according to my resources it is only about 50 years old. The icelandic yuletide lads however are very old, they used to be trolls who would steal food and other neccessities from the homes and their mother ate the naughty children! The household cat was an enourmous beast who would eat any child that didn´t get a new piece of clothing for Christmas. The stories of Grýla (yuletide lad´s mom) and Leppalúði (her husband), along with the Christmas cat were told as horror stories to children to scare them so they wouldn´t misbehave. Apparantly the Danish king (this was back when Iceland was under Danish ruel) heard of this atrocity and issued a law to forbid scaring children with stories of Grýla and her kind.
Monday, December 09, 2002
I have been so busy lately, in fact I still can´t see rest ahead. I am now back to working every morning in my dad´s firm, and three times a week I soak in the blue lagoon after lunch with my fellow sufferers. This leaves two afternoons a week plus weekends to work on my paper, which is coming along slowly on account that I am always tyred when working on it. Since my husband usually works until 6 or 7 (sometimes longer) I have to pick up our son from school, shop for groceries, make dinner, make sure homework gets done, wash dishes and in the evening I work on the home-made christmas presents I´m giving this year. Presents are homemade mostly because I like home-made presents better, but also partly because they are cheaper and we have to save money since I only have half an income while still not finished with school. Finances should get a little better in january when I get paid for my stay in the country, however I do not seem to find time to write the 50 or so bills I have to send to the farmers myself. I keep telling my husband that when I start working as a vet and earn twice what he gets we can afford to have another child and he could stay home and look after the household . Strangely enough cooking and cleaning all day does not seem to appeal to him very much... In fact it´s not my dream either, so who´s gonna do it??
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Some thoughts on today´s farming
There are drawbacks to old-fashioned farming though, the biggest one I think is that a lot of the farmers don´t see themselves as food-producers. They are in it for themselves and they think it is nobody elses business how they run their farm. Most farmers that I have seen here do a good job though, but there are some black sheep that don´t care for their animals well. However, they can´t really make a good living since they only have a few animals, and if these are not cared for properly they will not produce as much. The biggest problems with animal welfare lie in pig and poultry farming where large flocks of animals are kept indoors their whole lives and the indiviual animals do not make a difference for the general profit margin.
Talking about animal welfare there is a growing concern among consumers in Europe and the USA (here in Iceland I find that most people do not care/think about where their food comes from, they just assume that everything is honky-dory ok), this farm in Holland does alot to promote contact between consumers and farmers. I also find that on a lot of farms here people take less care of the animals that do not produce food (i.e. make money), such as cats and dogs.
There are drawbacks to old-fashioned farming though, the biggest one I think is that a lot of the farmers don´t see themselves as food-producers. They are in it for themselves and they think it is nobody elses business how they run their farm. Most farmers that I have seen here do a good job though, but there are some black sheep that don´t care for their animals well. However, they can´t really make a good living since they only have a few animals, and if these are not cared for properly they will not produce as much. The biggest problems with animal welfare lie in pig and poultry farming where large flocks of animals are kept indoors their whole lives and the indiviual animals do not make a difference for the general profit margin.
Talking about animal welfare there is a growing concern among consumers in Europe and the USA (here in Iceland I find that most people do not care/think about where their food comes from, they just assume that everything is honky-dory ok), this farm in Holland does alot to promote contact between consumers and farmers. I also find that on a lot of farms here people take less care of the animals that do not produce food (i.e. make money), such as cats and dogs.
Sunday, November 24, 2002
Double district
As of friday I am now serving two districts as the vet in the district west of here, Kirkjubæjarklaustur, went abroad for the weekend when he heard I was coming... As fate would have it all the cows in his district fell ill just after he left, so I had to make a trip over there on friday to see some cows, a couple with ketosis and one w. mastitis. It was a beautiful day on friday, the sky was clear for the first time since I came here and I stopped for lunch at Skaftafell national park. I just pulled over by this incredibly beautiful glacier, parked with a wiew of the glacier and nearby mountains and felt in awe of their beauty as I munched away. It was late when I got back, the trip was about 500 km. I was so tired I slept for 10 hours. The problem with being a country vet in Iceland is all the driving, I love the work, but the driving is not my thing. I guess I´ll stay in Reykjavík then, if I can get any work there...
The weekend was spent driving from farm to farm, vaccinating lambs for paratuberculosis (also called John´s disease), and deworming the farm dogs, since I was there anyway. Oh, and saturday night after dinner I went to place uterine sponges in some thirty sheep at a local hobby-farmer´s. He had been pestering me since the night I got here, and there was some trouble getting the sponges sent over from the capital, seemed they forgot to put them on the plane thursday when they were supposed to come. Apparantly the trouble is "if you don´t order on time you can´t get semen from the really good rams and have to settle for borrowing some bastard from you neighbor and get crappy lambs in the spring". The purpose of the sponges is to make all the sheep ovulate on the same day, which is very practical if you have a small flock. The bigger ones just put a ram in with the flock and let nature take it´s course...
Tomorrow it´s back to the slaughter house, jibbi jei.
As of friday I am now serving two districts as the vet in the district west of here, Kirkjubæjarklaustur, went abroad for the weekend when he heard I was coming... As fate would have it all the cows in his district fell ill just after he left, so I had to make a trip over there on friday to see some cows, a couple with ketosis and one w. mastitis. It was a beautiful day on friday, the sky was clear for the first time since I came here and I stopped for lunch at Skaftafell national park. I just pulled over by this incredibly beautiful glacier, parked with a wiew of the glacier and nearby mountains and felt in awe of their beauty as I munched away. It was late when I got back, the trip was about 500 km. I was so tired I slept for 10 hours. The problem with being a country vet in Iceland is all the driving, I love the work, but the driving is not my thing. I guess I´ll stay in Reykjavík then, if I can get any work there...
The weekend was spent driving from farm to farm, vaccinating lambs for paratuberculosis (also called John´s disease), and deworming the farm dogs, since I was there anyway. Oh, and saturday night after dinner I went to place uterine sponges in some thirty sheep at a local hobby-farmer´s. He had been pestering me since the night I got here, and there was some trouble getting the sponges sent over from the capital, seemed they forgot to put them on the plane thursday when they were supposed to come. Apparantly the trouble is "if you don´t order on time you can´t get semen from the really good rams and have to settle for borrowing some bastard from you neighbor and get crappy lambs in the spring". The purpose of the sponges is to make all the sheep ovulate on the same day, which is very practical if you have a small flock. The bigger ones just put a ram in with the flock and let nature take it´s course...
Tomorrow it´s back to the slaughter house, jibbi jei.
Thursday, November 21, 2002
Playing vet...
An unexpected turn of events lately. I am now at Höfn in Hornafjörður, in south-east Iceland, serving as district veterinarian. A call came in a few days ago, from the ministry of agriculture. They were in desperate need of a releaf veterinarian here as the one who serves here had to have an operation on his back a couple of days ago. They were apparently desperate enough to be calling studenst such as myself. Since I have completed all of my exam and only have the stupid thesis left, I am almost a vet, and I really couldn´t let this opportunity to do some large animal practice pass me by, so I said yes. I will only be here for just over a week though, I can´t bear to be apart from my family for as long as last time (for the unenlightened I´m referring to my adventure in America for three months earlier this year).
Well, it takes about 6 hours to drive here from Reykjavík, so I set off rather early to try and get most of the way before dark. Darkness is rapidly descending upon us here, daylight hours are from about 10 am to 4:30 pm as I write this and about a month from now the shortest day of the year with no light at all. That´s around christmas and is the biggest reason Icelanders are crazy about christmas lights, they light up the neverending night. I always leave the outside christmas lights up until march when it finally gets noticably lighter (i.e. there is some light when I get up in the morning and some left when most people come home from work).
Anyway, by the time I got here someone had already called requesting the service of the veterinarian in charge, i.e. your´s truly. As it turned out the first job was to give a little poodle bitch her contraceptive shot (the use of wich is still very common in Iceland as it is cheap, but getting rarer because of the potential life-threatening side effects of the drug used). Then, after dinner I was off to see about a cow with ketosis. I had of course consulted with an older collegue, I am on the phone with the guy I´m releaving about every four hours... o.k. every two or so... When I got there the patient, Alma (in Iceland cows have not yet been reduced to mere numbers), was happily munching on her hay, but was not touching her "energy" feed (sorry, I have no idea how to describe this in english). I had of course put on my very professional-looking clinic outfit, complete with a stethoscope around the neck, and looked very much the part if I may say so myself. Pretended to know everything there is to know about cows (which I don´t as I grew up in 101 Reykjavík), and used all the right lingo I picked up from my earlier phone conversation with my collegue, proceded to check out the patient, did a ketone test on the milk (fortunately the farmer was busy holding the cow´s tail for me so he couldn´t see the fumbling to get milk in my test cup!). I decided there was indication for a pour-in (that´s how they describe it apparently, hella í ´ana) intravenous glucose treatment and some steroids. It´s probably been about a year since I last had to inject something intravenously into a cow, but it seems it´s like riding a bike, your hands remember, and it was successful. "let´s hope she get´s better now" I say calmly, not revealing my inner thoughts (please do not let the patient drop dead after my treatment!) "she´ll be all right after this treatment" the farmer replies and somehow I felt releaved, he has probably seen this a lot more than I have!
Today I went to the local slaughterhouse for an inspection, they had a couple of pigs, some horses, two lambs, two calves and a reindeer hanging in the cooler! I also went to treat a retained placenta in a young cow (I believe they´re called heifers in english) this afternoon (for the first time ever), for those of you that don´t know it this involves putting on some very long plastic gloves and sticking your arm in the cows uterus to manually loosen the placenta, lots of blood and goo coming out. The farmer told me he had to pull a dead calf from her yesterday, I felt sorry for the cow, all this trouble and no calf to show for it. Now I am planning to vaccinate some sheep this weekend, about a thousand or so, give or take... I never know what´s ahead, the calls usually come in the morning, but of course an acute case may come up any time, day or night, I am on 24/7 while I am here. I jump in my seat every time the phone rings, what if...
An unexpected turn of events lately. I am now at Höfn in Hornafjörður, in south-east Iceland, serving as district veterinarian. A call came in a few days ago, from the ministry of agriculture. They were in desperate need of a releaf veterinarian here as the one who serves here had to have an operation on his back a couple of days ago. They were apparently desperate enough to be calling studenst such as myself. Since I have completed all of my exam and only have the stupid thesis left, I am almost a vet, and I really couldn´t let this opportunity to do some large animal practice pass me by, so I said yes. I will only be here for just over a week though, I can´t bear to be apart from my family for as long as last time (for the unenlightened I´m referring to my adventure in America for three months earlier this year).
Well, it takes about 6 hours to drive here from Reykjavík, so I set off rather early to try and get most of the way before dark. Darkness is rapidly descending upon us here, daylight hours are from about 10 am to 4:30 pm as I write this and about a month from now the shortest day of the year with no light at all. That´s around christmas and is the biggest reason Icelanders are crazy about christmas lights, they light up the neverending night. I always leave the outside christmas lights up until march when it finally gets noticably lighter (i.e. there is some light when I get up in the morning and some left when most people come home from work).
Anyway, by the time I got here someone had already called requesting the service of the veterinarian in charge, i.e. your´s truly. As it turned out the first job was to give a little poodle bitch her contraceptive shot (the use of wich is still very common in Iceland as it is cheap, but getting rarer because of the potential life-threatening side effects of the drug used). Then, after dinner I was off to see about a cow with ketosis. I had of course consulted with an older collegue, I am on the phone with the guy I´m releaving about every four hours... o.k. every two or so... When I got there the patient, Alma (in Iceland cows have not yet been reduced to mere numbers), was happily munching on her hay, but was not touching her "energy" feed (sorry, I have no idea how to describe this in english). I had of course put on my very professional-looking clinic outfit, complete with a stethoscope around the neck, and looked very much the part if I may say so myself. Pretended to know everything there is to know about cows (which I don´t as I grew up in 101 Reykjavík), and used all the right lingo I picked up from my earlier phone conversation with my collegue, proceded to check out the patient, did a ketone test on the milk (fortunately the farmer was busy holding the cow´s tail for me so he couldn´t see the fumbling to get milk in my test cup!). I decided there was indication for a pour-in (that´s how they describe it apparently, hella í ´ana) intravenous glucose treatment and some steroids. It´s probably been about a year since I last had to inject something intravenously into a cow, but it seems it´s like riding a bike, your hands remember, and it was successful. "let´s hope she get´s better now" I say calmly, not revealing my inner thoughts (please do not let the patient drop dead after my treatment!) "she´ll be all right after this treatment" the farmer replies and somehow I felt releaved, he has probably seen this a lot more than I have!
Today I went to the local slaughterhouse for an inspection, they had a couple of pigs, some horses, two lambs, two calves and a reindeer hanging in the cooler! I also went to treat a retained placenta in a young cow (I believe they´re called heifers in english) this afternoon (for the first time ever), for those of you that don´t know it this involves putting on some very long plastic gloves and sticking your arm in the cows uterus to manually loosen the placenta, lots of blood and goo coming out. The farmer told me he had to pull a dead calf from her yesterday, I felt sorry for the cow, all this trouble and no calf to show for it. Now I am planning to vaccinate some sheep this weekend, about a thousand or so, give or take... I never know what´s ahead, the calls usually come in the morning, but of course an acute case may come up any time, day or night, I am on 24/7 while I am here. I jump in my seat every time the phone rings, what if...
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