Altivo

Hah. The American workforce has no interest in the reason for any holiday, beyond the fact that it's a day off work or school.

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marzolan.livejournal.com

*shrugs* It's just another day here. In fact, I'm overdue for leaving for class. *waves*

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rrwolf.livejournal.com

Yay a day off of work, oh wait I'm still on call, scratch that note.

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Yeah, not much of a day off here either. Not going to the library, but...

Gary's got classes today in Dekalb and Crystal Lake. He left at 8 am, will only be home from 4 to 5, then back to class until 10:30 pm. So, I'm the animal care person today, also doing the grocery shopping and house cleaning. Nice day off. ;p

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Yep, most schools get Martin Luther King day instead of Presidents' Day now. Hmm. Maybe that will change now that there's been a "black" president?

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doco.livejournal.com

The Japanese actually call that three-day weekend generator the "Happy Monday System", funnily enough.

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No stupid customers tho ^^
And I am sure Tess will appreciate the extra day of attention ;)

Hmm... Contessa? Can't rmeember her full name too well.

*hugs* Feel free to drop me a line, I'll probably be on all day(night) again as usual. :P

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Yep, it's Contessa. She's still grumpy because there's no grass to eat yet. Gonna be another month or more.

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Awww... :>

I hope the grass will be delicious and juicy so it will be worth waiting for :)

*hugs*

Send some nuzzles and cuddles to the girls and the boys from the silly, old and lonely zebra.

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Oh, it will be good all right. Then she can be grumpy because she's only allowed out for a few minutes each day so she doesn't eat too much and upset her insides. ;p

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Aww...

She likes to be grumpy?

I guess it is normal for horses to go "YAY! GRASS! *omnomnomnomnom* Oofff... I think I ate too much" in the spring. :)

I wonder... What kind of upset are we talking about? Diarrhoea or a colic?
I am not very familiar with horses yet (may change if I ever win the
lottery). I wish I was tho... *sighs and hangs head low*

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Colic is possible, so is diarrhea. However, with Tess we have a past incident of what's called "grass founder." This can be a crippling disease if it strikes hard enough, but fortunately I caught it right away and the vet put her on a strict diet for a whole summer. She hated that.

New grass can have a lot of sugar in it. Horses don't handle sugars well if the level goes up or down suddenly. One of the side effects of that glucose intolerance is that their feet swell, hence founder and foot damage. I have to start Tess on 30 minutes a day out on the grass, and gradually increase her time week by week until she can spend hours out there. Usually by then, it's July, and the grass is starting to dry out and be more like hay, so she can have as much as she wants except on the first day or two after it rains.

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I see. Grass founder causes the hoof grow abnormally?

I thinkt he diarrhoea is more desirable out of the two. A colicky horse is always in danger. :(

I didn't know this blood sugar level thing about equines. I guess you learn something new every day :)

Let's hope Contessa will have a nice and enjoyable spring with lots of sunshine.

Speaking of blood sugar levels... I think this delirious zebra
has had enough alcohol for tonight and should head to bed.
It is 5 in themorning after all and it is getting hard to type.

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Abnormal hoof growth is a consequence of founder if the horse survives, but is not the primary issue.

Founder is a circulation and inflammation thing. The swelling in the foot is trapped by the hoof capsule, which can cause really serious damage to the tissues there, up to and including actual tissue death. The victim can be so badly crippled that she can no longer stand or walk. There's no recovery from that.

Horses that survive acute founder will often have serious hoof deformities because of scar tissue formation and other issues. The collapse of internal structures can actually cause bones to shift position as well. It's a very nasty disease.

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Oh, dear, oh, dear... I will have to keep that in mind. o.o
I just hope there won't be any cases of that any time soon... Or ever.

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On the bright side, mules, zebras and donkeys don't seem to be very prone to founder. They are smarter about what they eat, I guess. Horses don't always have the good sense to stop eating, and they will gorge themselves on stuff of which they should only get tiny amounts at best. Sweetened feed, newly grown grass, and rich grains are the most common causes. Tess is no longer allowed to have any raw grains or sweet feed. She gets a pelleted grain substitute that is formulated to have less simple carbohydrates, and she gets only a tiny amount of that. We've had no more problems, and her feet are better than ever.

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Heh. Thank you. This zebra seems to be a bit dumb tho...
My teeth and intestines are totally trashed. And the trend goes on. :P
But I understand what you mean. Zebras and donkeys in general. :D

Poor Contessa, having to be on such a strict diet.
But I guess she is sweet enough already. :)

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Hit the nail on the head there ;) I'm curious to know if you have any insight as to why Abe lincoln's and George washington's seperate birthdays were merged together to make this holiday... any ideas?

(Also, Doco- I don't think the words "cunning plot" can be used in connection with the American workforce... it just doesn't seem plausible in any sense of the word)

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Sweet? Sometimes. When she's not being grumpy. ;p

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See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidents_day for the whole story.

In short, Lincoln's birthday was never a federal holiday. Washington's was, however, having been named as such in 1880. Some states, including Illinois, observed Lincoln's birthday as a state holiday. In the 1970s, Congress moved a number of federal holidays, including Washington's birthday, to the closest Monday. Independence Day and Thanksgiving were not included, but Memorial Day and Washington's Birthday were.

It was later proposed to rename the holiday to Presidents' Day to honor Lincoln and all other past presidents, but that proposal failed in Congress. So the federal holiday is actually "Washington's Birthday" though many states and a lot of retail chains prefer to call it "Presidents' Day."

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Ooooooh, okay. I think I heard somewhere Washington was a Pisces- my sign- but I never bothered to look it up....

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Washington's birthday is today counted as February 22, but when he was actually born it was February 11. That's because the colonies were still using the Julian calendar at the time. However, the Julian calendar was out of sync with the sun and the equinox then, which is why it finally got replaced by the Gregorian calendar.

Just off-hand, all I can say is that I've never looked at the corrections needed to figure out a horoscope from that time period. Washington was born near the cusp of Aquarius and Pisces, but which one the sun was actually in I don't know.

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Ah, well- thanks for tryin'. I geuss I now have a question for small talk if I die & go to heaven >_>

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Here you go:

http://www.astrotheme.com/portraits/HT4hA2dVLwD6.htm

According to them, he was a Pisces.

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^_^ Thanks, Alt... I'll look into it as my birthday gets closer. But I mean really I guess it's all heresay, isn't it?

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Or made up nonsense. I think the accuracy of Washington's birth data is probably reasonably good. But the validity of astrology is mostly pretty dubious.

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*snickers* Yeah, I know. I came to that conclusion awhile back. I find it interesting in the way it attempts to categorize people and try to convince them they should use their sunsign to decide what to do and how... just another shellgame. I dabble in a lot of things I myself find foolish :)

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Well, if you were to take astrology at all seriously, you'd have to chuck the sun-sign/newspaper column stuff. The sun-sign is easiest to guess because it goes by birth date, but it's far from the most important element of the horoscope.

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*smiles* Do tell...

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