Piano tuner

I haven't been posting a lot recently. I think it is because I finally realized that I am not going to become rich and famous from blogging. I think that more than 7 people would have to read it for that to happen.

Some fairly exciting things have happened in our lives recently:

- Juno had another litter (6 this time!)
- We got a new camera.
- I got a job.
- I have a week left of clinics.
- Alex has more than a week left of school.
- Spring has sprung.

In bad news, we have one unsolved tragedy/mystery. Remember the beautiful forsythia in our front yard? It straddles the fence between us and our neighbor, being mostly on the neighbor's side.

This year, right at the beginning of the yellow bloom, our neighbor took it upon herself to trim the WHOLE THING down to bare nubbins! I am still mystified. Does she hate the color yellow? Allergic to forsythia pollen? Miserable and wants us to take it out on the world? I don't understand.

Back to a happy note, we got our piano tuned today! It was fascinating to watch. It requires such precision and strength, and a good ear of course. I learned from our piano tuner that during the Great Depression, many existing piano makers folded and sold their names to other piano making companies. Nowadays, it is not uncommon for a single maker (usually in China) to have the rights to 20 piano brands and only make one type of piano. In fact, sometimes when you buy a piano from them, you get to choose your list of brand decals to have put on the front of your piano. 

I learned that Steinways are the best pianos to get if you want your piano to retain its value. Steinway is a German family company and many decades ago, one of the sons of the family went to New York with the piano design and started making pianos. German Steinway sued Steinway USA for using their design and the lawsuit lasted something like 70 years. Finally they worked it out and Steinway USA now has to pay a royalty for every Steinway they make. I would love to own a Steinway. Oh by the way, a new normal sized Steinway grand piano would cost almost as much as our house. 

Finally, I learned that 42% humidity is a piano's favorite humidity.

So let's see if I can figure out how to post some pictures from the new camera.

Easter bunnies 

Easter eggs

Easter piano guy

A riddle

Once again, the adventures of veterinary school have taken me away from the plains of central Illinois. Let's see if you can guess where I have been. Here are some hints:

It looks like this at the end of March

But when the clouds finally clear, there are some gorgeous sites

 The desert sagebrush...

and the mountains... not something you see in Illinois.

And everywhere you look, there are sheep! Even places you don't look. (And everything you see, including clumps of wool, piles of snow, and rocks start to look like sheep.)

(Warming up chilled lambs in a lamb jacuzzi)

Stinkers. Moms put up with so much.

(Getting weighed)

Here's another hint: It's a federal facility, so you can't ride in the back of the truck.

Me, Nicole from UC Davis and Melissa from University of Wisconsin.

There's also a real live veterinarian, Dr. Liz Adams.

She's a super rockstar.

Since there are so many sheep, you might come across something strange every now and then.

(two headed. He (they?) didn't make it)

Final hint: while I was here I was able to make my sister's birthday cake.  Thank you, David Lebovitz, for an awesome recipe.

And of course I visited this whipper snapper.

 Look at her awesome hair!

The end. If you still don't know where I was for the sheep part, I will give you a final hint. Ok, that wasn't really a hint.