Jack Frost - no longer welcome!

These are the seedlings I started 2 weeks ago, anticipating a distinct lack of outdoor frostiness in the near future. This hasn't happened yet and the sweet-peas are waging a war on my kitchen. I'm nervous that the nasturtiums are going for a coup as well. Why did I choose climbers for my first seedlings of the year??


In other news, I survived the flu bug, though it was not a pleasant experience, to say the least. So far 3 students and one instructor have caught it (and one student's disabled son...poor lady!) and several others are feeling like they might be next. From what I've been reading on the Portland forums I visit, the whole city is spreading it around and people are just dropping like flies. Not fun!

Had my first practical exam in nursing and restraint yesterday, and it wasn't my best showing ever. Part of my problem was nerves (when the head of the program is watching you do something, you kinda want to get it right!), part of it was not having consumed anything but water and crackers for 24 hours, and part of it was the lack of instructional time our lab group has had due to being snowed out one day. We're so far behind that there were items on the practical that we hadn't even covered in lab yet, let alone had time to practice. Dr. H graded accordingly (ie, when I chose an injection site on poor Bryn that would have gone right through her sciatic nerve, she only marked me down half points, not full), but it was still frustrating. I know I failed a few portions (the otoscope looked like it was put together right, but darned if I could get it to turn on....) and rocked a couple others (all the ones in front of the head of the program, booyah!).

On an interesting note, I caught this cool shot of Minnow that made me think she might have a deficient tapetum lucidum in her right eye. This isn't the first picture I've taken of her like this, but it's the first time I've really thought about it (go A&P!)

The "red-eye" effect that humans get in photos is a result of light reflecting off the red capillaries in our retinas. Cats (and many other species) have a shiny coating over their retinas called the tapetum lucidum which helps to reflect light more strongly, thereby allowing them to see better in the dark. Light reflects off this in several different colours depending on species, but some animals will have deficient tapetum lucidums causing a red-eye effect in photos. A lot of siamese cats are genetically prone to this, and I just found an article on taurine deficiency in pregnant females potentially leading to it in kittens. It doesn't really mean much, especially since Minnow doesn't go outside, but it made me curious.

However, upon further study....


It would appear she is perfectly normal. Well....no, not really. But her eyes are anyway.


(yes, I know she's getting chubby. In my defence, that isn't actually a belly on her, it's the loose tissue from her stump)