There was a time when I wanted to be a veterinarian.  That dream was born in the afterglow of reading James Herriot's remarkable books, All Creatures Great and Small as well as All Things Wise and Wonderful. Heriot was the pen name for James Alfred Wight, a British veterinary surgeon whose books lent a certain romance and charm to the idea of being a country vet.

    My interest in the field led me to a farm in the small community of Grantsville, West Virginia during the summer of 1979, the year I graduated from high school.  I worked on the farm during the day and traveled with the local vet in the late afternoons and evenings. It was a first hand look at the not-so-romantic life of a country veterinarian.  Maybe it was just me, but I didn't find anything particularly intoxicating about having my entire arm up the business end of a cow searching for remnants of her afterbirth.  Nor do I remember Heriot ever performing surgery on a skunk to remove the "scent sacks" just to port and starboard of its rectum.  Apparently in West Virginia, once they are "de-skunked," skunks make wonderful pets.  Who knew?

    Much of our time was spent driving long distances between farms to perform rather mundane tasks: vaccinating a herd of cattle, giving medicine to horses, the occasional castration.  To be sure there were highlights: delivering a breach calf after midnight on a starlit West Virginia night, getting attacked by a hen after I got too close to her chicks.  Good times.

    In the end, though, it wasn't that summer which derailed my veterinary dreams.  It was biochemistry in my sophomore year at Tufts University.  I quickly realized that as an aspiring veterinarian facing a lengthy and complex science curriculum, I made a hell of an english major! Things seem to have worked out.  I may not be a country vet, but I do live in the suburbs and have a dog....and I'm a long way from the business end of a cow!

Editor's note: You can see Anthony living out some of his veterinary passions on an upcoming edition of Chronicle, or you can watch his stint as a veterinary technician by clicking on "Chronicle Extras" on the Chronicle section of thebostonchannel.com

    Monday was an absolutely beautiful day.   Yes, this past Monday.  You know, the one with the Nor'easter that threatened to cancel the 111th Boston Marathon and flooded basements and knocked out power throughout the Northeast.  Well, on that very same day, it was sunny without a cloud in the sky in Chatham, Massachusetts on Cape Cod.  I kid you not.

    The fact is Cape Cod, as WCVB meteorologist Dick Albert told me, "is perhaps the single most difficult place to predict weather in New England."  Not only is it geographically diverse, but the effects of the ocean, bays, sound and canal that surround it are almost impossible to predict in a forecast for the entire Cape.

    It is why Cape Cod business and tourism officials are no fans of the 5-day forecast.  The fact is would-be Cape visitors often begin changing plans by Tuesday or Wednesday if the forecast looks grim for the upcoming weekend.  The problem is what might be a cloudy or even rainy day in Boston could be a beautiful day on the Cape.

    At no time was that more evident than Monday.  Mind you the Cape got its share of wind and rain out of the Nor'easter. But when I arrived in Chatham around 1:00 that afternoon, it looked like a beautiful spring day.  Bright sun, clear skies, tulips in bloom.  In the greater Boston area it was still ominously cloudy, windy and raining heavily.

    Don't believe me?  Then tune in next Thursday night, April 26th when Chatham is featured in our "Spring Getaways" segment on Chronicle.  Even I wondered how we would make it work when I left my "near flood stage" basement at home and headed for Chatham on Monday.  It turns out not only was it a getaway, but it was actually spring!

    I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Bob Woodruff and his wife Lee today.  They are the authors of  the best selling book In An Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing.

    Woodruff, you may recall, is the ABC news anchor seriously wounded in Iraq when an IED exploded near the convoy in which he was riding.  Woodruff suffered a traumatic brain injury, and his survival and recovery are nothing short of miraculous. 

    The book he authored with his wife is the story of Bob's recovery, but it is also the story of the incredible effort to keep a man, a family, and a marriage intact when tragedy strikes - as the title suggests - in an instant. By most accounts, Bob should not have survived the blast. His cameraman Doug Vogt also suffered a serious but less life threatening injury.  But the injury to Bob's head and neck also threatened his voice, his speech, his memory, his motor skills and many other critical brain functions.  The odds of making it through a 36 day coma with all of that intact were astronomical.  Bob beat the odds thanks in no small measure to the love of his family and the dedication of his remarkable wife Lee.

    The book is - to use an old journalism maxim - a good story, well told.  It serves as a reminder that all of us have much to gain, and much to lose...in an instant.  It is a reminder that we have much for which to be thankful. 

(l-r) Bob Woodruff of ABC, his wife Lee, WCVB anchors Natalie Jacobson and Anthony Everett

    Despite what the title suggests, this is not the beginning of a Dr. Seuss rhyme.   Fans of the New England Aquarium are probably well acquainted with Myrtle - a green sea turtle that tips the scales at close to 600 pounds and has been at the Aquarium since 1970 - a year after the Aquarium opened its doors.

    The staff at the Aquarium estimates her age to be somewhere around 70 and she could easily live to be well past 100.  She has become a generational phenomenon: parents who remember seeing Myrtle when they were children are now bringing their own children to the Aquarium for a visit.

    I have seen Myrtle many times over the years - from my first visit as a college student in the 80's to countless visits with my own two children in more recent years.  But I had a unique chance to get "up close and personal" with Myrtle just last week. 

    As part of our dirty/dangerous/interesting jobs series, we profiled one of the divers who enters the 200,000 gallon Giant Ocean Tank five times each day to feed the fish and clean the exhibit.  With more than 650 animals representing 120 species, the tank is a busy place.  And since fish do, after all, have bodily functions - it can be a pretty dirty place as well.

    My job was rather clean - I got the chance to feed Myrtle.  It is impressive to see a 600 pound animal gliding through the water; it is intimidating to see that same animal moving toward the piece of fish in your hand with her mouth open. Myrtle doesn't come at you fast, but she definitely comes at you with a purpose.  You don't exactly get to be 600 pounds by being bashful at feeding time.

    It was a treat and a delight to be up close to this magnificent animal.  I must admit my technique improved over time.  The first time she came at me, mouth agape, I think I kind of threw the piece of fish in the general direction of her mouth and she missed it.  But I came around quickly and literally had her eating out of my hand.  She even delighted in a quick backrub - although I'm not sure how much she can feel through her shell. 

    Needless to say, it was a treat to meet this gentle giant up close.  You can see more of her on Channel 5 in an upcoming episode of Chronicle. I would end with a cute rhyme, but while Myrtle the turtle rhymes well, there isn't much that rhymes with Chronicle!