I managed to do everything yesterday with help from Peter

[puppetmaker]

I did the field trip, voted at the library, returned very over-due books during the amnesty day so we had no fines, helped with the blood drive, gave blood, and went to the PTA meeting and participated. Peter put together a lovely dinner for the family so I didn’t have to worry about that too.

The blood drive people loved me because I could answer all the basic questions including aspirin and products with aspirin along with the difference between aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen. I also know the composition of various compounds over the counter pain meds a lot of which contain aspirin as a component. I was complimented by the principle of Caroline’s school for my cheerful and helpful manner.

Today I plan for the day to be a little less full. There are things I want to do and things I should do (laundry) but it is not going to be such a full bore to get everything done. I do have bowling this evening but that is my only scheduled activity.

Caroline had a blast at the farm. The smell took me back to my childhood and my grandma’s farm. I ended up being the chaperon who help handle the animals for the children to pet. I held a gosling, a bunny, and a kid of the goat variety so the kids could touch them. I also had a lot of animals interesting in me which was commented on by one of the farm hands. Some of the children figured out that if they were near me, they got a better look at the animals so I had a set of groupies.

Caroline learned a number of things about farm work and decided that working a farm was not for her. So strike one thing off the long list of careers she is looking at. I did point out that the smell she was smelling is going to happen if you have a lot of large animals together. I also reminded her how the elephants smelled at the Atlanta Zoo and how it was similar to what she was smelling in the barn. I like that the farm hands who are trained to teach the children didn’t sugar coat how hard farming was or how early they have to get up and take care of the animals.

I am grateful that both Caroline and I had such a great time at the farm.

Comments

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Thank you for being able and willing to donate blood.

Now I want to make a "Hey, babe, what's your blood type" joke...

Chris
(O-Negative)

P.S. How did the animals react to you? I'm guessing you're good with animals.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

B-negative which they love to have since apparently we (B-) don't donate often.

Peter calls me the Animal Magnet. If there is a critter that likes humans at all, they will seek me out of a crowd. Always been that way.

[geekgrl64.livejournal.com]

What an awesome field trip for her class. I am glad that you both had such a good time. :)

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

It was a lot of fun. Caroline drew a picture and wrote out what she liked best about the farm/ The spelling is a little off but I can read what she wrote.

[prairie-dweller.livejournal.com]

My family always thinks I am nuts when we go into the livestock barns at the state fair and I comment "smells like home." They have not had the joys of farm living as I did as a youngster.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

There is just a smell that brings one back to the farm. It doesn't matter what country you are in either. I was in a horse barn in Austria and it smelled like my grandma's barn.

[blueashke.livejournal.com]

B-... you are one of only 2.5% of the population! I'm B+, so a bit more common (8.5%), but still more rare than A or O.

Yes, we do love people who know the answers about the aspirin questions especially! Thank you for donating and helping with the drive. *adds 'donate blood' to the list of things to make you do if you ever visit SF* (We're raffling off a car this summer ya know...)

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I could have been anything. My mother is AB neg and my father is O pos. We ended up all over the map. Peter is AB pos so I had to get additional shots to make sure my body didn't try to reject my baby.

[blueashke.livejournal.com]

Did she have any children who were positive? There's an ongoing discussion of those of us here who aren't medical types wondering if there are more early miscarriages connected to incompatible mother/child blood types than people may realize.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

There is. Medically proven too. Esp. if the mother has had a child that is the opposite rhesus already. The body sees the fetus as an invading organism.

From the Wiki article on Blood type:
One of the major advances of twentieth century medicine was to prevent this disease by stopping the formation of Anti-RhD antibodies by RhD negative mothers with an injectable medication called Rho(D) immune globulin.

Both of my brothers are positive rhesus and my sister and I are negative. There were some complications with the two boys.

[blueashke.livejournal.com]

I win. My coworkers were convinced I was making it up. I just hadn't had a chance to google it. Thanks!

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

You are the bravest woman I know. Donating blood makes me queasy and I'd be passed out like a log when I need a blood test.

You have my utmost admiration.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Needles don't bother me esp. if I don't look while it is being inserted.
Heights and I, however, have serious problems.