The girls are now a little over 7 weeks and they are getting bigger by the day. It is getting to the point where I can not visit them while wearing flip-flops in fear of them stepping on my toes (ouch!). I am trying to teach them not to jump up on people, but it is not going very well. I guess dog training methods don't work so well on goats?
So this last weekend it was time for their CD/T vaccine. Unlike dogs, you don't take them to a vet to get their vaccinations, you have to do it yourself. So I ordered the vaccine, syringes, and needles from a goat supply website. Once the vaccine came from UPS I promptly put it in the refrigerator. On Saturday morning, I brought all my supplies down to the barn to set up my "lab". When I was ready for my first patient I called in Oreo (who doesn't come when called. Again, nothing like a dog). These vaccines need to be administered subcutaneously (under the skin), not in the muscle. Which just means you pull up the extra skin between their shoulder blades and administer the shots there. This is easier said than done with a squirming baby goat. So I called in Kevin. I held the little goat and whispered sweet nothings into her ear while Kevin gave the vaccine. What a team!
So now I have two dirty needles. If any of you guys know me, I will NOT put these in the trash. I don't put batteries, electronics, paint cans, light bulbs, etc in the trash. In fact, pretty much nothing goes into the trash. So I will definitely not put dirty needles in the trash. After so many years working at HEP, I thought it would be easy to dispose of them since in California there are locations for clean needle swaps. Not so!
I call my local sanitation company and they will only take them on certain days/times in an approved container, which I do not have. So I call CVS, they will not take them. So I call Rite-Aid. The pharmacist there told me to put them in a mayonnaise jar and bring them to the hospital for disposal. Great!
So I hop in my car with my little jar of needles and happily go to the hospital. I walk through the front office, who sends me the lab. Nope, they won't take them. At this point, I am having a serious internal debate on being a good citizen. Is this really worth it?
On the drive home from the hospital, I stop at Walgreens, who sells the approved containers for used needles. I grumpily fork over the 15 dollars. As I am walking out, the pharmacist hands me this:
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| Really?! Really?! I was just there! |
I almost lost it on the pharmacist, but she was tricky and got a phone call just in time to avoid my whole diatribe.
So I go home and put my two tiny needles in the world's largest landfill filler.
This is a video of the goats doing what they are supposed to... eating weeds! I am sorry if this video is totally boring to you, my dear readers, but it makes my all excited and giddy. We have a LOT of weeds and I need these goats to eat them. They haven't really been eating them since they are still being bottle feed, but soon they are going to be taken off the bottle and they are going to have to learn to eat those weeds!
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