In the past 45 years, the number of smokers in the United States has decreased to less than 20% of the population and almost 70% of those current smokers want to kick the habit.  Could an understanding of how secondhand smoke affects our pets help encourage more people to quit?

The history of smoking tobacco may reach back many hundreds of years, but research in the 20^th century has made it clear how harmful this habit is.  Furthermore, secondhand smoke has been implicated in the illnesses and even deaths of non-smokers.  What’s even more disturbing is that smokers may have unknowingly contributed to severe disease in dogs and cats.

Most people understand that secondhand smoke from cigarettes contains an incredible number of hazardous substances and many of them are carcinogenic.  These chemicals are found in high concentrations in carpets and on furniture around the home.  Pets sharing this environment will get these toxins on their fur and then ingest them during normal grooming.

Dr. Ann Hohenhaus, a board certified specialist in veterinary internal medicine and certified veterinary journalist, has written that increased numbers of smokers and smoking in households corresponds with higher levels of the by-products of nicotine metabolism in pets sharing that home.  She further describes how carbon deposits are often seen in the lungs of these animals. Read the rest of this entry »

For a majority of pet owners, a quick trip to the local grocery or even pet superstore is the easiest way to pick up their pets’ food.  People might debate favorite brands, but most will use some sort of commercial dry or canned diet for their four legged friends.  For a few pet owners though, preparing a meal for the family dog involves a little more work and a lot of raw meat.  Are homemade or raw diets a good idea?

Take a stroll down the pet food aisle of your favorite store and your eyes will take in every imaginable color, a few cartoon characters and a lot of claims stating the food is “improved”, “natural” or even “organic”.  It’s truly a marketing bonanza!

More than 3,000 brands of pet food fill the aisles and pet owners will spend about $18 billion to feed their pets each and every year.

But, high profile recalls, sick pets and corporate mistrust has moved a small number of pet owners to consider making their pets’ food at home, instead of buying it in a bag.  An Internet search for “raw diets” brings up almost 3 million different results, many of which claim that this sort of food is nutritionally superior to the commercially prepared diets. Read the rest of this entry »

I am home, safe and found (I am not sure how sound I am). My luggage isn’t, probably lost again in China, or maybe Newark. But it’s not like I need it now: maybe they will wash it when it is found. It is very nice to be home. I had a loving wife, 2 very excited dogs who wanted to go out running at midnight, lots of mail, a working computer, and a big soft bed. It is nice to be home.

But I still miss Mongolia. Some things you feel connected to, like they are under your skin, like some kind of deep pyoderma, except without the bad. It will probably take some time to digest, like the Mongolian food, but some of it does become a part of you. And you are better for it.

The flight from Bejing to Newark was long. You know it is a long flight when the shortcut takes you over the north pole; the seats were uncomfortable, the air stuffy, and the food not gourmet, but I would not trade it for anything else. Sometimes we need to be out of our comfort zone to get our heart and minds right.

I thought I might just list some of the things I liked and didn’t like about the mission trip, to give it some perspective.

I did not like the long flight, but I liked the destination.
I liked my quiet, simple apartment, I did not like Bejing hotels.
I liked no tv, radio, phone. I did not like no wifi.
I liked my noise canceling headsets, I did not like the smell of Bejing: I wish they could invent a smell canceling nose set, I would like that.
I liked Mongolian food, very meat and potatoes, and all the small family kitchens that served homemade food in a home environment. I did not miss fast food or chain restaurants.
I like real coffee. I do not like milk tea, Nescafé, Ye Ye or MacCoffee.
I liked the countryside, but I did not like the landscape.
I liked being at the “Caring small animal hospital”, and all the wonderful staff who were present. I did not like the devastating effects of preventable diseases.
I liked the Mongolian culture, I did not like the language barrier.
I liked not being short. I did not like being stuffed by the basketball girl.
I liked traveling the country roads. I do not like the Mongolian driving habits, crossing the road, or city traffic.
I like the ease of getting a taxi. I did not like the Russian circus bus.
I liked vet net and the wonderful work they do to reach out to help the people, with animal care, education, church building, Christian growth and discipleship, and encouragement.

And I really liked the people. There is a bond between people that transcends distance, culture, and language. It is the human bond, that connection at the heart level, when we find our bodies and souls are made from the same substance, by the same creator, for the same purpose. That despite all that separates us and makes us different, in the end we all must make a choice, the choice of who we will serve: ourselves or God. And if we make the right choice, there will be nothing that separates us:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. (Romans 7: 38-39)

May “the Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”. (numbers 6: 24-26)

Until the next time. May God Bless you.
Dr Mike

Today has been a long day. We were waiting to be picked up for the airport when we got word that the flight was canceled because of winds. Apparently in the spring it is common for flights to be canceled during the day because it is windier, so most flights leave at night when it is calmer, I should have known that. So all the connecting flights are missed and I am in Bejing again for a long layover, and I don’ t want to go back to the Stagone hotel again thank you. It is 23:15 and I am waiting for the next flight out. It is unusual here because when they announce a flight it is in Mongul, and everyone rushes all at once and it is just like you are crossing a road in the city again and you have to dodge and weave like in frogger. It is worse than playing volleyball and basketball at the same time and getting stuffed by several girls all at once. It is exciting in a sick sort of way, but that is the way it goes here, on the road, at the airport, handing out cake, you must be careful pale faced Yankee.

I went back to work at the clinic since I had an extra day. There were 2 surgeries to do, and consults on several animals. It is sad to see so many distemper and parvovirus cases die when it is so easily preventable, but they view pets differently here. But the staff at the animal hospital works very hard to try to educate the people about preventive care such as vaccinations, deworming, good nutrition, neutering etc, but it will take some time to change their habits. It is similar with Christianity, because so many people here were raised as Buddhists, Shaamminists, or atheists, that we try to teach them new ideas and principles, but it is hard to change. It is the same everywhere, but the goal is to change, to put off the old, be renewed, and put on the new. We do not break old habits, we replace them. It is encouraging to see how well the team at Vet Net is doing, planting new seeds
all the time. There is much work to be done. I may have to come back.

For dinner, we ate at an Indian restaurant and I had lamb curry, and it was very good. I have eaten a bigger variety of ethnic foods than ever before: Mongolian, Chinese, Thai, Korean, Indian, Russian, and canine (I thought it was a cookie at the clinic, but I think it was for the dog, it was very dry and hard, no wonder the dogs don’t feel well). Another reason to like Mongolia, all the variety and no fast food or chains, a very welcome change. It was also a refreshing change to live in an apartment with no tv, radio, computer, phone, or other distractions. I think our lives get too busy, too many distractions. I think everyone should go on a mission trip at least once, it is good for the soul.

I arrived in Bejing at 3 am, and everything was closed at the airport, except for 1 energetic man who said he had a very good hotel, and he even showed me pictures,(I think they were from the taj mahal) and pointed to the hotel which was close to the airport. Having a long layover and no other visible options, I asked him lots of questions and said some prayers, and went in the hotel bus Da Nang Business hotel. But they do not take visa card, not like the commercial which says Visa card – accepted everywhere. So they take me to another hotel, called Kong Gang Xin Yue hotel, and I think it is the sister to Stagone hotel. No wifi, no exercise room, (not even a good hallway) no food, and smelly like septic problem. And it is near the landing runway, so it is loud, not like Ashburnham loud, but like 4th of July loud, except without the fun. I don’t like Bejing, and I will go through Seoul, Korea next time.

I am excited to see Nancy (and the dogs) and drink coffee, and eat more fruit and vegetables (how weird is that). But I will miss Mongolia, especially the people, and I will be praying for them, and hopefully still helping them as God leads and I am able. And maybe I will write 1 more blog if any one is still reading these, but Nancy says she likes them, so that is enough, because she loves me even when I write in this Mongolian cadence. I will have to adjust back to regular talking soon, but for now I am still in China, as you can hear from my accent.

Until tomorrow. God Bless
Dr Mike

Last night after the coffee tragedy, we went to the gym. Vet Net rents the gym for 90 min and we play basketball and volleyball. On the same court. At the same time. It is basically a small full court basketball court with a net across the middle. And they play full court volleyball and 2 half court basketball games all at the same time. It is idiopathic. Now I am not a good basketball player, and I have not been working out, and I have not been eating a healthy balanced 4 leaf diet, but Mongolians are short and they never eat 4 leaf, so I will look good to them, maybe they will even ask me to join their league. Well it is not pretty, it is even humbling, but when I get blocked by a girl, that is just to much. I want to rough her up a bit, but Mongolian women are strong and tough, and I may not win that battle either. If they see I get beat by a girl they will call me names and say I must be a girly man and maybe they make up a big name for me like idiopathic wimpitis or something and then make me sit in Russian van for a few hours until I toughen up. No, I think I will just quit while I am behind. But if she ever comes to visit I will take her to the ski mountain and tell her we will go on the bunny trail, but I will take her on the expert trail, and then we will see who is girly. I know I should be more humble and loving, but that coffee thing is still bothering me.

Today was my last full day. And I am sad about that. I have really grown to love the people here, except that basketball girl, and I enjoy spending time with them and learning about their culture, and we talk about faith and Christian living. They are very open and honest, and they like to talk to you and get to know you. They listen better than most Americans. I have learned more from them than they have from me. They are always happy and willing to learn, whether it is about veterinary medicine, or the bible, or anything you want to talk about. And they want me to come back so maybe I am not idiopathic after all. They also want Nancy to come next time, and that would be great if she can.

We had lunch next to the Russian embassy, and it was very good. I have never had Russian food before, and I can’t remember the names of all the different things we tried (you usually get 3-4 things and then you all just eat off of every plate, everybody shares) but it was very good. I thought maybe we should go next door to the embassy and tell someone about those Russian vans, but they probably don’t care even though I am American and I like borscht and am almost a knight. I guess i will just boycott russian vehicles, which won’t be hard because I have never seen one for sale. I would not even pay 2200 tugrigs for 1. For dinner we walked a little farther because they had a special treat for me. I have been waiting for this, and now at the last meal I finally get to eat old Wilbur the horse. Now I don’t want to hear from you horse hugging celery eating people, or from my sister Judy who begged me not to eat horse, because it was really good. Now I know horses are cute, but so are calves and little piggies and even lobsters (but only the red kind with butter on the side), and it is ok to eat them. And it’s not like I was eating dog or cat or anything smart like that. When in Mongolia, eat like a Mongolian. Except for the milk tea. And Ye Ye. No no.

And on more thing. Even though everyone eats a lot, always, and you are never hungry, except maybe later in the morning because you don’t eat breakfast because you eat so much before, like a yak at the rack, as they say ( or not), they always find room for more. So because I have enjoyed my time here so much and I really like the people, and I even find myself feeling better about the basketball girl, but I still want to take her skiing, I do what we do in America, we eat cake. And do they like cake. They do not eat much desert here, but when they do, they have a lot of fun and eat with gusto. With big slices. I could only eat half. Another reason I like Mongolia. I like them a lot.

Until tomorrow. God Bless
Dr Mike

Today was a good day. We started with devotions, but instead of 1 big group, we broke into smaller groups of 5 or 6. We talked about Romans 6, that we are no longer slaves to sin, but free for righteousness. It was good, but Mongolians do not talk as much in a group as they do on the cell phone. If you ask a question, sometimes no one answers. They are just not as used to interactive classes. Maybe I should call in my questions on their cell phones – then I will get plenty of response.

After that I taught some of the teachers about biblical counseling. They were very intent and interested in the subject. Because Christianity is relatively new in Mongolia, they do not have much Christian books and information. It is a big disadvantage for them, but they are trying very hard and are very dedicated to God and their people. They are all trying to learn English, but it is very hard because it is so different from Mongul. They are the first people to try to do biblical counseling, and I will be praying for them.

After that I went out to the countryside with Tsek, a large animal vet. We did a couple of calls on sick horses. Now Ulaanbaatar is just north of the gobe desert, and it is very dry. The landscape is brown, treeless, and waterless. I don’t know how they survive here, but they do well. They mostly ride horses, often bareback, and they love horse racing. Not the sprinting kind, but the long distance 25 km kind. We did a call on a sick horse with liver disease: it was the winner of their biggest horse race last year, and is pictured below. He is improving, but he will probably never be a champion again. They live in geres, which is a round hut covered in animal skins. Tsek wanted to show me one, so he just opened the door and walked in. Now we are spoiled in this country with houses with thousands of sq ft, most of it unused. But this gere, which is the average size of about 20 ft diameter and maybe 300 sq ft had 8 or 9 people in it, and they were not fighting or arguing about anything, they even seemed happy that we barged in on them and offered us candy. They were boiling milk, and when it cools they will skim off the cream from the top and make butter. It smelled good which seems surprising when you have that many people living that close together for that long. I bet they don’t eat Korean food. Then it would not smell good. Not one bit.

We toured the vet school. It is not like our schools. But they are improving quickly, and they work hard and do the best they can. But when a pale skinned foreigner in a bright blue ski jacket walks into a lecture room, well it is like a pig in a parlor because I don’t fit in, so I took 1picture and left; they did not know I was almost a British knight, or they would have been more deferential.

For lunch I had a big portion of mutton, potatoes, rice and salad. They know I like coffee so they bought me some. It was a mug of hot water and a packet of Ye Ye coffee. Now if Nescafé is not good, this is worse. It is basically imitation coffee flavor with imitation creamer, and lots of sugar. It is not good. Even the name is not good. I don’t think the name is Mongul. I think it is English because it is the same sound they make when they are laughing at you because you paid money for this drink. I will not drink it again.

For dinner we were full because we had a late mutton lunch, so we decided to get desert. We went to the market and there were wonderful cakes and pastries…and coffee, all kinds of coffee, expresso, cappachino’s, and such. So we bought an entire chocolate cake and I got the MacCoffee, the picture was the best. It came and the cake was not so good. Anytime there is more frosting than dry cake flour, you know you are not eating Betty crocker, but at least I could wash it down with some real fresh coffee. It came as a mug of hot water and a packet of instant coffee, except instead of Ye Ye, it was MacCoffee. It was the exact same thing as before. This must be some kind of practical joke right, and they would all laugh and then bring me the real stuff. I waited, but no one bought anything, no one laughed, they just asked me why I did not finish my cake and coffee, was I not feeling well. This is not right. Don’t they know I am almost a knight? Maybe I will complain to the British embassy. But they will probably just say I should drink tea. Maybe I will challenge them to a game of sheep knuckle and after I beat their yaks off I will make them sit in a Russian van for a few hours until they do the right thing and make real coffee. I am trying to be more flexible and patient, but I am wearing down. Tomorrow is my last full day and I am sad, but I will not miss milk tea or YeYe coffee. Not one little bit. I think I need yak. I like yak.

Until Tomorrow. God Bless
Dr Mike

Monday’s are Mondays everywhere (I hope I am not getting to profound for you). I was still full from all the Korean food, but I had to be on my best for my final day of devotions. So I was up early prepping for my talk, then we walked to our pick up spot, and then that flexibility thing I mentioned before came into play. They pick us up in a Russian made van. It is pictured below. We packed 19 people into that circus wagon today. Now Russians may be good at some things, like maybe sheep knuckle games and things like that, but they are not very good at making comfortable vans. They have bars under the seat that are there for no other reason than to make you hurt in your yak. But I am becoming more patient and flexible by the day, thank you Lord. And when I get home and I am driving in my big old comfortable Toyota sequoia I may even feel a bit guilty. But I won’t have a pain in my yak, so that will be good. And I won’t squeeze 19 people into it unless I get a lot of visitors from Mongolia, and then I will stuff as many into that puppy as I can, just so they can feel at home.

Mongolians like chocolate. They also like gum. I bought a lot of gum with me (I don’t chew a lot of gum but my lovely wife made sure I had lots of everything so she gave me 6 big packs). I passed it out, and low and behold they chew gum just like me: loud and vigorous, like you are chewing on whale blubber the way the eskimoe’s do. My daughters get mad when I chew gum around them because I chew so loudly. But I felt right at home in that Russian stalag van as we all smacked and snapped our gum happily. Another reason I like being here.

It was a steady day today. I taught them how to do an entropion eye surgery, on a large Mongolian sheepdog called a Bachar. They have a lot of distemper and parvovirus here, and it is sad to see some of the dogs not make it. A puppy came in with a broken leg, but they left before we could cast it. It is frustrating when you can help them but they won’t let you. They need to go sit in that Russian van for a couple of hours and maybe that will adjust their bad attitude. Maybe I will get one and bring it to work and use it as a time out spot when someone gets a bad attitude. I bet it would get a lot of use. They would probably make me sit in it everyday. But the joke is on them because I have toughened up my yak so it won’t bother me one little bit.

Someone from the British embassy came in and they wanted to see the foreign vet. They had a cat who was having trouble eating hard food, but could eat soft food with no problem. Now I was built for moments like these; I could diagnose this without even looking. This was my chance to shine, and maybe they would be so impressed they would want me to join their staff at the embassy or make me a knight, or something British like that. The trick when you diagnose dental disease is not to get bit when you open the mouth, and scratches and bite marks don’t look good on a knight’s arm either. So I very carefully opened the mouth and guess what? The teeth were whiter than mine, and the breath was better ( the cat had not been stuffing itself on spicy Korean food). I did a complete physical and could not find one little thing wrong. Now I am a specialist at putting big words together to try to sound smart. Start with idiopathic and end with itis and anything can sound impressive, like idiopathic stomatitis/gingivitis with grade 4 periodontal disease. You can charge extra for a diagnosis like that, and maybe even get knighted. But no, I could not use any of my collection of big words, and I mumbled something like it needs a dewormer, which is always our fallback treatment when we don’t have anything else to do. My chance for glory gone, just another peasant in the vast Mongolian desert. I need some chocolate. Or maybe yak. I like yak.

And one other thing. Mongolians like to talk on their cell phones. They are always on them. Constantly. During office visits, staff meetings, devotions, church service; even during surgery. I guess it is one of those “cultural” things, but they probably should learn to be a little more discreet. Maybe I will invent a name for it: how about idiopathic yakitis. Yea, maybe I will get knighted for being the first to diagnose this common Mongolian condition. If I don’t come home on time, maybe you will find me at the british embassy. And you will have to call me Sir Dr Mike. Yea, I like that too.

Until Tomorrow. God Bless
Sir Dr Mike

Today is Sunday. It seems Sunday is a rest day everywhere. After morning devotions and prayer my mission was to find a coffee shop with wifi that was open. After walking down a very quiet and tranquil main st, I saw an open sign at the Amsterdam cafe. I had a large coffee with sugar and milk – no yak cream though – and toast with jelly. It was wonderful. And I had a long FaceTime with Nancy; I miss her and it was very nice to finally talk. And as a bonus I got a 3rd period update on the bruins game. Mongolians do not play ice hockey, which does not make sense because they have ice 9 months a year. Eric should come here and talk some sense into them, but they need to follow the bruins and not the maple leafs.

We went to a service at a church called the river of love, led by a very nice pastor named tsoloman, and his wife Lkhagva, who works at vet net. Although the entire service was in Mongolian, we had an interpreter help us with the sermon, which was on humility. It was really moving and encouraging to go to a worship service in a different part of the world and still be completely connected to Christian brothers and sisters as we worship the One True God. We have many differences, but at the heart level, we are all the same. We are all His children, and it was an honor to be with Him and them in Mongolia.

After service we went out to lunch with Tsoloman and Lkhagva and their daughter to a restaurant called Buffalo’s. It did not serve wings or pizza. It was a great combination of Korean/Mongolian/Chinese food, and we ate a lot of meat (surprise): chicken, lamb, salads, and bowls of soup the size of small crock pots. It was very good. I am still full 5 hours later. They did not have the one thing i was looking for; the one meat everyone says is the best, better even than the best beef. No I do not mean Yak. I mean horse. Yes that is right, I want to try horse. Now all you PETA people can just calm down, and you 4leaf people can suck on a celery stick, but I want to try horse. And when I do I will send you a picture. I hope I can find horse. If not I will have yak. I like yak.

They have a traditional Mongolian game called tsewelmaa (I did not make that up, not that you would know anyway) and it is played with sheep knuckles. It is like marbles, but you use sheep ankle bones instead. It is the talus bone from the hock, but they don’t care the name of the bone, they just like to play it. I played it once and beat Jonathan, so now I am hooked. I bought some of the ankle bones, so if you want to I will play you when I get home. And I will beat you. Badly. But I must not be to proud, so when I beat you badly, I will not rub it in. Because I learned about humility, and even though I am better than your sorry yak, I will not gloat. Not one little bit. Nay.

Until tomorrow. God Bless
Dr Mike

Today was a free day. Well actually it was not free, but I was not scheduled to work, so we spent the day touring. It started with a breakfast and men’s group meeting where we talked about sharing our faith at work. Breakfast was a big platter of hot meat, sort of like fried bologna, fried eggs, cheese, bread, and cold meat, like a salami. Very 4 leaf. They always have milk tea, but I don’t like milk tea. It is very salty and reminds me of something I should gargle with. But other than that I like everything else. I especially like yak, but I think you know that.

We went to their government center and national museum, which is surprisingly called the national museum of Mongolia. It was very interesting and informative. Ghengis Khan is there national hero, but you must pronounce his name right or they get upset; it is chingis Han, so please say it right from now on. For lunch I had Mongolian meatballs and rice, called tacajab (I just made that up), and it was pretty good. I have not had coffee in a week because all they have is instant Nescafé, and I am a coffee snob, so I am boycotting coffee for now. But as soon as I see real coffee I am going to have a big one, with extra cream and sugar if they have it. Yak milk is very creamy. I think I will buy one. But I don’t want to spend more than 2200 for it.

Today I went shopping. At a place called the black market. It was muddy though, like a brown market. But I guess they did not like that name. Now I don’t like shopping unless it is Cabellas or LLBean, and this black market was a huge collection of small vendors selling anything you wanted ( except yak, I didn’t see any of them). I was on a mission. Buy something nice for my wife and 4 daughters. Now walking around a crowded black market with professional pick pockets in a foreign country where you don’t know the language does not scare me. But shopping for 5 girls, that is terrifying. At Christmas I only have to shop for Nancy and if I make a mistake I can just return it. And all I have to do is sign my daughters cards and pretend like I know what they are getting for Christmas and I am all set. But here I am on my own with a no return policy. What should I get, what size, what color. If I get to big they will say I think they are fat. If I get to small they will say I think they are fat. If I get the wrong color, they will say I think they are fat. They are not fat, they are all beautiful girls. But now I am scared to pick out anything with a size. Maybe I will get them a snuff bottle. Mongolian women love snuff bottles. Maybe someone can tell me what a snuff bottle is for, But I don’t know Mongolian. This is to much pressure. Maybe I will go back to the clinic and do something relaxing like a cruciate surgery.

And one other thing. When you cross a road in Ulaanbaatar, you must be an athlete; an agility course sprinter to be more accurate. It is like the old video game “frogger” where you jump from lane to lane without getting hit and when you get to the middle of the road you must stand sideways and suck in your gut and wait for an opening and then sprint between the honking cars. It is exciting in a sick way, but that is what you have to do. I have not seen anyone get hurt, but I have not seen one frog since I have been here. I guess they are not fast enough.

Until tomorrow. God Bless
Dr Mike

It was warm and sunny today, just like back home. Except it was 20 degrees instead of 80; but the people here are very hardy – this is t-shirt weather for the young. Kids are the same no matter where you are.

I am beginning to understand things now. Like their money, called tugrigs. I bought 2 small pastries today (don’t worry, they were the 4leaf kind) and it cost 2200 tugrigs. Now I don’t consider myself cheap, but I don’t like paying 2200 for anything, except maybe a used car or a yak or something big like that. So I gave the cashier the right color money, but it still seemed like a lot for 2 little healthy pastries. But I felt better after Eunice, a very nice 4th year vet student from Michigan who is doing an internship at the hospital, told me it was really only about $2. Maybe I will bring some back and give 2200 tugrigs to the dunkin donuts cashier and he will think I am giving him a huge tip and be very thankful and give me an extra donut hole.

I also do like Mongolian food. For lunch we had boonz, which is a dumpling with meat inside, sort of like a poutin. For dinner, we went to a cafeteria and I had something called Tsogo, which is sort of like shepherds pie, with ground lamb covered in mashed potato. It is very good. Actually Tsogo was our host, but since you don’t know Mongolian and I don’t remember the name of the dish, I just made it up. But whatever it is called it is good. And they really like chocolate, especially Hershey’s chocolate. I had a bag and opened it in the van. Their eyes opened wide and they ate it all, every last kiss. No matter what culture or language you have, it is universal that you like Hershey’s.

It was a slow day in the clinic today, but that is normal for here. Somedays are busy, some are slow. I give a talk to 4th year vet students every day, and they are very attentive and eager to learn. Many of them will work in countryside, which is anywhere in the country outside of the big city, Ulanbaataar, or UB. They live in a gere, or round hut, with the native people, who are nomadic. They love horses here, and also have cows, sheep, goats, yaks, and camels. It is all very interesting. And we get the chance to talk about our faith sometimes, and they are very interested in that. I enjoy the daily devotions at the vet net office, and the people are very sincere in their faith. It is encouraging to be with them. And even though I stick out like a Boston bruin fan at the Montreal forum, they are still very nice to me. Maybe it is the chocolate.

Until tomorrow. God Bless
Dr Mike