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The Squeal from Miss Vivi – September 2012

Well hello!

It’s been a good long while since I had a squeal so I thought I’d drop you a line.  I hope the year hasn’t been too hard on you.  It seems to be zooming towards the end now, so if it’s been a bit rough at least you know you’re almost at the end of it.

We’ve had a move recently into a bigger, brighter shed which has made the job a lot easier.  We finally have enough concrete to drive things around on pallets so a lot less muscle is required.  This has led to less squealing from me which has been a blessed relief to Mr Vivi.

The squeal from the abattoir is that the cost of plucks is going up.  Sadly, we’ve got to pass this on but I think we’ve come up with a compromise. We’ve negotiated to have a pluck without a liver delivered which drastically reduces the weight of the specimen.  We can offer these at the old price of $12.00 and the pluck we’ve always had will go up to $16.00 each.  We have a stockpile in the freezer now and we are able to fit 3 of the new plucks into a small, $2.00 box so it’s going to drastically reduce your cost of shipping as well.

We’ve been lucky to be able to supply plucks at the same price for nearly 3 years now.  There will be a new price list up on the website on 1 October in time for the new term.

There are a few interesting specials up on the Off Cuts page on the website at the moment.  I’m about to advertise our new simulated blood powder which makes up a litre of the ‘blood’ that is used in medical training facilities and emergency services training scenes.  I have 36 in stock for $10.00 each.  If there is a high enough demand for it I can always get some more.  Here’s what Liz from Armidale had to say about it:

“We just used that fake blood you sent and it’s fantastic! Took me right back to my days in Path!! I quite liked that there were a few undissolved lumps…..told the kids they were clots!!
Thanks again for sending it and next time I order anything I’ll order some more.”

I hope you are planning some rest and relaxation in the next couple of weeks.  We’re looking forward to seeing you at some upcoming conferences in Sydney and Melbourne.  Come over and have a squeal, won’t you?

Miss Vivi

 

 

ps.  I was sent this cartoon by my friend Mrs Jill who was asked during a piglet dissection “which bit does the bacon come from?”  I hope it gives you a giggle.

 

sunbathing pig turns into bacon

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Special specimen: pig pluck with sectioned larynx

sectioned pig larynx
Sectioned pig larynx

Here we have the sectioned larynx of a pig still attached to a pluck. Someone got a bit knife happy at the abattoir so all the internal structure of the larynx has been revealed. That’s harder than it looks. We’ve tried to do it with knives and with scissors and never had any luck.

1 only available. $12.00. Check out the Off Cuts page for more specials – but remember they are always advertised on the Facebook page first.
Miss Vivi

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One of those days

I’ve been working from home for a week now and I haven’t crossed a single thing off the list of “things I’ll be able to get done when I don’t have to go to school”.  When I get into a routine I’ll have time to write some dissection guides and run some workshops, in the meantime the phone rings and I can answer it, the email doesn’t pile up all day and keep me up until all hours of the night and I can pick up and deliver all over town at a reasonable time of the day.

Today, for the first time, I even stopped for lunch.  It was 3pm and the phone rang in the middle of it, but at least I sat down and ate something between breakfast and cheese-and-bic.

This afternoon I set out to pack an order for tomorrow, take the dog for a walk and be able to hang out a load of washing before sunset.  Then, since I was in the shed anyway, I thought, “I’ll just cryovac that pluck in the fridge”.

So I did.  And this is what happened:

cryovac machine full of blood
Never put off until tomorrow what you can make an awful mess of today - cryovac machine full of pluck juice. Yuck.

The pluck expelled at least a cup of blood, lung goop and general grossness into the machine and all over the baseboards inside it.  Between them, around them, under them – everywhere.  Ugh.

If anyone from the abattoir is reading this, then this is the reason I complain when the plucks are ‘too big’.  If anyone from the cryo rental company is reading this, don’t worry.  I’ve cleaned it, disinfected it, dried it out and turned it off.

Ah, well.  Order packed, cryovac cleaned from top to toe, dog walked to the bottom of the hill and back, washing still in the machine and it’s after dark.  Cheese tastes better when it’s had a bit of time out of the fridge anyway.

Miss Vivi

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~ of or relating to a chicken

Galline plucks now available!

Galline pluck $5.00

A permanent addition to the product list and only $5.00 each.
Miss Vivi has plenty in stock and our good friend J has suggested arranging it on a piece of styrofoam, covering it in gladwrap, freezing it and then taking it into the classroom mostly frozen.

It’s probably a good idea because they do pong a bit.  Interesting though…

We also have a couple of sets of chicken heads and feet available for comparative anatomy study.  $5.00 a set while stocks last.

Miss Vivi

Aug 23, 2010