Tarrraaaa! Meet Lappi, son of Loppa

This is Lappi in the arms of his new daddy-O Sverrir. He is now 2 and a half weeks old so I still have 5 and a half weeks until I get to take him home, but I will be visiting him again and also maybe borrowing him for an hour at a time when he is a bit more capable. Isn't he just adoooorable?!

First casualty

Today I had a bit of a lousy morning as one of my patients died on me, just like that. It was a calving cow that couldn't take the calcium I was giving her. The calf died as well. Bummer! Then when I got back to the clinic Gummi was humming "Killer Queen" and ended up tracking it down on YouTube just so that he could play it for us all. I have to admit that in spite of me being rather down about the whole thing, he managed to cheer me up a bit. And it is a great song of course.

Now I am in my bed finally at half past midnight after driving 120 km tonight to put even more calcium in even more cows all over the place. One was totally 'stargazing' and cycling with all four legs but we managed to get her up after being doubtful about her for 1,5 hours. Anyway, have had enough for now and not even sure I want to be a vet anymore-I want to take up professional knitting. Now that would be a great job to have...

End of an era

My dear readers, sorry for being so quiet. Me and Sverrir took a trip to Copenhagen to pack all my furniture and what was left of my stuff in my old flat and to hand over the keys to some real estate dude. This four-day trip was pretty rough on both of us and involved a lot of travelling and not much sleep.



On Friday night after work I planned to take the bus into town, but we had a crazy storm going and so they didn't drive further than Selfoss as the heath was closed due to high winds and slippery patches. So I was put off the bus there and had to sit in the petrol station for four hours waiting for the weather to quieten down so somebody could come pick me up. I wasn't alone for the whole time as I got into talking to a local (Benóný) who'd just popped out for some snuff and obviously was feeling a bit lonely! So Benóný kept talking at me for two hours and trying to get me a lift over the heath with every passer-by until dad and Sverrir got there to save me. At this point it was nearing midnight and we were in Reykjavík by half-twelve, and ended up getting only three hours' sleep before getting up early to take the fly-bus.



Once in Copenhagen we started to pack and clean and pack and clean. And kept doing that until we had delivered the lot with the shipping company and wrapped it all in sticky plastic. Well, when we got to the airport we were absolutely knackered, just hung there trying to stay awake. We were at Sverrir's around half-twelve, and boy, I was happy to get into bed-finally!



Anyway, now all my stuff will soon be found in one place after my having three different places of residence simultaneously!

Equus mortus

Today I felt like somebody out of CSI, collecting DNA samples from a dead body. The dead body was a 29 year old mare that was supposed to be alive and I was there to sample, but who died during the night. I presume it was of old age, as she just seemed to have dropped dead out in the field. Her owner found her this morning when they went to gather the horses and she wasn't covered with much snow yet so it had just happened. However, when we went around lunchtime to the field to collect the sample the ravens had been at her and I had her empty hollow eyesocket "staring" me in the face as I rubbed cotton swabs in her nostril. Oh well, I guess it was her time and the best way to go was like this, quickly and out in the snow covered field. I should have taken photos today, as the light was fantastic between the snow showers, but didn't take the time to do it.

Hello world!

Today the inhabitants of Siglufjörður in the Eastern fjords are having truckloads of pancakes to celebrate the return of sunshine to the village. The sun has not been seen there since november 14th, so every year they are really happy to see it again.

I am also really happy of course, due to the fact that just about a week ago I finished my PhD and had a good party involving a lot of champagne. Also the snow seems to be sticking for a bit. Last night I returned to Hella on the bus after a weekend in the city. Apart from me, the bus was occupied by children who were put on the bus by weekend dads, grannies or aunties. We had to pass the heath in a proper winter storm, seeing nothing but hail and snow all around us with high winds forcing in the bus windows. Behind me two boys of nine were chatting away and it seemed to me that they knew each other from their weekly trip on the bus. I enjoyed listening to their conversation:

Boy 1: "I am going to Africa, to Morocco this summer. I will see my granny and grandad"
Boy 2: "Is your dad from Morocco, and your mum?"
B 1: "No, she's Icelandic. I had a Playstation of my own when she was in the hospital"
B 2: "When did you first know she had cancer?"
B 1: "When I was 3. I only knew about the brain cancer later"
B 2: "So what sort of cancer was it to begin with?"
B 1: "Breast cancer"
B 2: "Is breast cancer contagious?"
B 1: "contagious?"
B 2: "Yup, can you catch if off someone?"
B 1: "No"
B 2: "How old was she when...."
B 1: "...when she died?...fifty"
B 2: "Jón Páll (Icelandic strong man and world's strongest a couple of times) was 26 when he died"

Life can seem so uncomplicated for children!

Winter Walk

Went for a walk to the bakery today after discovering the bread I had was mouldy. Gave the rest of it to the little cold birds (snjótittlingar in Icelandic, literally means snowdickies, but I guess are in family with the similarly rude sounding blue tit). They went absolutely mad for the bread and fat meat that I gave them. I trudged on in the knee-deep snow, managed to fall once but made it to the bakery and back in half an hour. The Polish bakery girl was serving a Thai guy, in Icelandic, of course ;). Yup, little Hella is multicultural, just as any other metropolis!

Other news: Have been reading up on my referring papers today and trying to put together a list of stats questions for Darren, who was so sweet to offer me his help in the last couple of days before the viva. So, getting along ok. In an hour or so I will have to take a little brake for the handball game against Sweden in the European Championships. Will make good use of my time and have my tea at the same time! Trout and potatoes sound good?

Interesting choice of career

I wonder, doesn't the phrase "erotic spy-thriller" sound like something you would like to do for a living? I hear this phrase a billion times a day in a radio ad for Ang Lee's latest film as I am sat in the car for a good part of the day.

Today I spent quite some time in the car, as it has been snowing like mad all night and all day and as everything was drowning in snow, I had to drive slowly on my rounds. Made it there and back again on an 80 km round trip where I had to plunge through meter-high drifts on the road and really enjoyed myself. We had an early closing, as everyone seemed to be snowed in and didn't make it to the clinic or were just curling up inside. When I headed home, after all my snow-plunging I managed to get the car stuck with one half on the drive and its bum sticking out onto the road. Nice!