Paging Dr. Carpenter

Posted on April 21, 2008 | 6 Comments


When I was growing up, I wanted to be a veterinarian. A little friend and I would go down to the dog pound and stare at the dogs for hours. We thought about setting them free and having our very own Dog Ranch. I wanted a horse. But in the end, I was a city kid and the 4H children seemed wildly exotic–and kind of boring–to me. Now I wish I had done 4H projects in our backyard. I ended up ditching the vet plan when I saw a dog hit by a car. My friend and I followed the dog to a shady, ferny, moss-covered place. He was a big German Shepherdand he was dying in this little forest near the road. We sat there in the glade and pet him and said nice things, until his eyes dimmed and he died. I guess we were lucky he didn’t bite us–he was clearly a good dog. The vet came along (who called him?) and unceremoniously tossed the dead dog into the back of his truck, and took off. This was not what I wanted to do with my life.

So now I find myself, finally, doing my own little 4-H project in the backyard. I’ve got CDT shots in the fridge for the goats, and wormer mixed with cereal on the shelf. A few days ago I gave the goatlings their shots and felt awful when they yelled about it. The wormer, which is a bloody bitter mix of wormwood and other herbs, goes down better when it’s mixed with molasses and honey and puffed oats. The other day I half-entertained a thought about applying for veterianary school. I mean, I have a biology degree, I could do it. But then I’d have to drop this life that I’ve built, and that would be too bad.

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6 responses to “Paging Dr. Carpenter”

  1. Unknown's avatar duane marcus <a href="http://www.facebook.com/people/Duane_Marcus/541048543">Facebook me!</a> | April 21, 2008 at 11:16 pm |

    Did you really taste the wormer concoction, Novella?

  2. Unknown's avatar Novella Carpenter | April 22, 2008 at 12:45 am |

    duane, i did. i’m naturally curious and i may have some worms that need to go.

  3. Unknown's avatar Farmer boy | April 22, 2008 at 11:55 am |

    do you make the wormer or do you buy it? also love your blog!

  4. Unknown's avatar Novella Carpenter | April 22, 2008 at 5:28 pm |

    hey farmer boy: i didn’t make my own, but next time i probably will, there’s a herb exchange where i can get the ingredients, then i’ll be totally witchy poo. thanks!

  5. Unknown's avatar CG | April 22, 2008 at 11:11 pm |

    Ummmmm, CDT is a vaccination for enterotoxemia (a clostridium bacterium thing — the C&D types) and Tetanus (T). Clostridium is a gut thing, and tetanus a wound thing. And CD&T are ever present. I’ve never heard either being a cause for blindness (nor have I ever known a blind goat, although I do have a half blind horse, from ERU) and know of no such preventive action from the vaccines. So, Dr. Carpenter, want to fill me in? I’m always looking to learn what I don’t know.

  6. Unknown's avatar Riana Lagarde | April 23, 2008 at 5:33 pm |

    i have wormwood and all kinds of herbs that i could send you. going to vet school would be kind of cool especially if you were the urban farm vet, a specialist in your own field. Then you would have extensive background on all animals and more answers to any questions that peeps can pose.

    ps my friend’s goat Millie was blind

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