Hello, 2010

Really, 2009 is over? I know it's cliche to say "where did it go?" but really...where did it go?! The past few months in particular have felt like no time at all, and if things keep going this way...well...bring on 2010!

So far, as a year, it looks promising. I get to intern at the animal hospital that I've been daydreaming about and drooling over since before I even moved to Portland (in fact, it was one of the reasons I chose Portland in the first place!). I get to graduate and take my boards, and then (hopefully) start working at some awesome and wonderful new job (see previous comment re: amazing internship opportunity). I get to move back to NE Portland, leaving behind the hick-filled, middle-of-nowhere Aloha neigbourhood I've been calling home. Not having to travel 90 minutes to see friends, being walking distance from actual restaurants, and not putting up with my Mexican karaoke loving neighbours anymore will be a thrill, let me tell you.

I get to spend more time with the lovely group of people down here that have become both friends and a surrogate family to me. I'm looking forward to curry buffets, gaming, movie nights, mushroom hunting, coast trips, gaming, pho dinners, gaming, tea drinking, and even more gaming. I'll get to see my actual family when they come down in June for my grad, and I'll get to see Bunny when she comes to visit in March.

Overall, if 2010 can be as good as the second half of 2009 has been for me, I'll count myself very lucky. To have such fantastic people in my life, amazing opportunities, and to be doing something I love? Yeah, I can't complain.

Good Stuff

Alright.
It has come to my attention that Kim will be visiting me in only a few days, and if I haven't updated my blog before then, I'm not sure what she'll do to me. So here we go. When did I last update? Oh my...that long ago, huh? I'm really awesome at this blogging thing. Lets see....

I did end up getting H1N1 this fall, just in time for my second set of midterms. I had to take two of them late, and the 3rd is such a blur I'm amazed I passed it (90% in fact! wow). I can confidently say that having that flu was one of the worst experiences of my life. After 3 days of fever, muscle aches, sore throat and coughing I finally worked up the energy to have a shower, and after 15 minutes had to get out and lie on the bathroom floor because I was too exhausted to stand anymore. Charming, huh? Anyway, I lived, passed my midterms, and managed to be nice and healthy for American thanksgiving. Which was good, because Mom was visiting me!

We had a great time while she was here, eating out at yummy restaurants with my friends, shopping, walking school dogs, playing with the KittyBunny (who is growing up so fast!), and having long chats. It was great to have her all to myself for a week, and I loved being able to introduce her to my friends and show her what my life here in Portland looks like. I've been so happy here, and I love being able to share that with her.

Final exams were this past week, and while I have one mark back (92.3% in pharmacology), I'm still waiting for the others. I'm not sure how I did, since those finals were probably two of the hardest tests I've ever taken in my life. Most of the class seemed to feel the same as I did about them, so we'll see how they get graded.

So, that brings me up to this weekend! I gamed Friday night (KT managed to not kill us all. Thanks KT!), and spent Saturday making tourtiere and lemon bars. Shad came over last night and we ate said tourtiere and lemon bars, watched White Christmas, decorated my Christmas tree (with help from the cats), and drank hot buttered rum. I'd say it was one of the better weekends I've had in a very long time, and as a bonus - I'm still on vacation tomorrow!


Kim arrives Wednesday, and I can't wait!

Stew and tea and viruses!

Despite my fervent wishing, I didn't manage to dodge the multitude of germs flying around school lately. I think I'm lucky in that this only seems to be a cold (and not the dreaded pig death!) but it still means staying home today. I actually don't feel too badly but I didn't want to risk getting lynched by classmates for showing up sick. We're all just a leetle bit paranoid right now.

Anyway, I'm sure this is mostly my own fault for staying up til 3:30am on Friday, but a combination of hot wing veggie bites with bleu cheese sauce, french fries and deep fried oreos (oh yes, I did!) kept us all up til midnight and then BP pulled out the Oolong. If you've never had oolong brewed the right way, you don't know what you're missing. No way was I going to bed before that was done. I think we got about six pours out of ours, and after all that caffeine..well..yeah. I regret nothing.

I think I forgot to mention that we got more Chanterelles this Tuesday?


Well, anyway....on Saturday I cooked them up and made a yummy veggie stew. The mushrooms were just gorgeous, and the end result made me very happy. Now that I'm sick, having a big container of it leftover in my fridge is making me even happier.
So, have a recipe!

Chanterelle and Vegetable Stew

2 cups sliced chanterelles
1 small onion
1 tbsp diced fresh thyme
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

All purpose flour
1 tetra pack veggie stock (too lazy to make my own!)
1 cup half & half

4 small potatoes, skin on, cubed
1 sweet potato, cubed
3 large carrots, chopped (or equivalent baby carrots)
1/2 cups peas

If chanterelles are dry, skip the dry sautee part. If chanterelles are wet -
Dry sautee first set of ingredients (minus the olive oil) over medium heat until chanterelles are wilted and most of the liquid has been cooked out of them. Drain off liquid and set aside, then add a little bit of olive oil and sautee another minute or two. Add flour, 1 tbsp at a time until you have a roux then add drained off mushroom broth slowly, stirring as you go. Next, add veggie broth slowly, then half and half.

Add in veggies, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour or more. Don't let it reach a boil.

Serve with crusty bread (or, if you're Shad, pour over leftover tourtiere and then proceed to die a little bit from happiness)

Happiness

I think I might have previously mentioned that I enjoy fall. That everything about it - the way it smells, feels, looks - makes me happy. I've finally closed all of my windows and turned my heat on (the cats are grateful), I'm eyeing root vegetables at the store, daydreaming about baking things with pumpkin, and I'm going through tea so fast it's a wonder I'm capable of sleep. Love it! Adore it!

This Sunday I had a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner for my friends here in Portland. I made Tourtiere from Aunt Lynda's recipe (and everyone loved it!) and spiced apple cider, which was complemented nicely by the roasted squash and baked apples stuffed with figs (yum!) brought by one of my friends. Oh, and I can't forget the pink wine. We are a classy establishment, after all.

Monday was my first set of midterms, and while I'm cautious of sounding too optimistic, I really felt like I rocked them. Granted, I don't know yet how this instructor marks, but I certainly felt good about them when I walked out. We'll see!

Yesterday was my weekly Kitty Bunny fix, and since she was doing her usual NotTired!™ performance, we loaded her into the car and drove out to Crown Point. Where the wind appeared to be going about 60mph. Have I mentioned that whole loving fall thing?

This photo is amazingly clear, given that I got knocked off the sidewalk twice while trying to take it. Anyway, the round trip provided Kitty Bunny with enough car time to get a good nap in, and I was just happy to see the gorge on such a lovely day.

Last night was a repeat of Tourtiere leftovers, good movie and great company. It poured rain all night, and today was a beautiful sunny fall day with just enough bite in the air to keep me happy. How could life be any more perfect?

Well, maybe if I didn't have to be researching questions like "How do phenothiazine derivative tranquilizers induce hypothermia?" and "What does it mean when an opioid is described as a mixed agonist/antagonist?" for tomorrow. Yuck. On the upside, this means I will be sticking animals with needles tomorrow to give said "phenothiazine derivatives" and "agonist/antagonist opioids". Yay! Acepromazine and Butorphanol for everyone!


(1: By causing peripheral vasodilation. 2: Because they block one type of opioid receptor while stimulating another)

BP turns 65

So, all those tasty mushrooms we've been gathering over the past few weeks? Yes, we got to eat them last night! BP's annual birthday bash is the event of the year, and to miss it is practically criminal. Friday night he started simmering the fresh picked tomatoes from the garden into a sauce, and on Saturday a horde of us converged on their kitchen to chop wild mushrooms, work pizza dough, mince thyme from the garden, and then gorge ourselves on the best pizza in the universe.

Just look at that! Isn't it beautiful?

Of course, while the food was amazing, it was really the people that made the night.





So, Happy Birthday B! Strange, you don't look a day over 39.....

Mushrooms never get boring, right?

Once more into the woods!

We ventured out again yesterday in search of tasty fungus, but I'm a little lower on photographic evidence. A combination of rough hiking (lots of blow downs in our way, and I'm not the most graceful of people even on flat surfaces), cold (numb fingers!), and rain (generally bad for cameras) meant that I really only took pictures before and after our trek.


And what am I going to take pictures of? Why, the cutest thing around, of course. In fact, she was so cute I completely forgot to take photos of the amazing mushrooms we gathered. I think our final estimate was around 8lbs, and while it was mostly chanterelles there were a couple chicken of the woods and lobster mushrooms in there too. Yum.

Aside from wild edible gathering I've been busy studying my butt off for school. The assigned reading this term is intense, and I'm still having a tough time adjusting. My brain seems to want to stay on vacation, so I'll read 10 pages of anesthesiology and then suddenly wonder what in the world it said. Good job, brain. Thanks.

Mushrooms

Well, we had a highly successful outing yesterday! I found and picked my very first chanterelles, and we ended up coming home with two basketfulls of the yummy fungus. BP cooked some up for pasta (with thyme, pepper, blue cheese and tomatoes...mmmm) and the rest will be frozen and saved for eventual chanterelle pizza. My mouth is watering just thinking of it!

And of course we had the Kitty Bunny with us. She was a real trooper - smiling and giggling and just generally enjoying being outdoors. We were taking shifts staying on the logging road with her while the other two people went into the woods to hunt, and my turn just happened to land when she was ready for a nap.

It's a tough job, I'm telling you....but I took one for the team! Can't you just feel those nap waves rolling off of her? Dangerous stuff.

Anyway, not having class on Tuesdays this term means (hopefully) more of this sort of fun in my future. Hard to beat tromping around the woods on a beautiful day, snuggling the world's most adorable baby, and gathering yummy food.

Word of the Day: Orthopnea

First day of school, first day of being a second year. We started off with a bang this morning, taking Anesthesiology at 8:30am (or, as Mom put it, "a class about making things sleep at 8:30am on a Monday morning". Touche, Mom.). My instructor for much of this term is the head of the program, and so far he's a fantastic teacher. We opened with a quote that read: "Anesthesiology: The art of lovingly, carefully, and reversibly poisoning your patient…into a controlled coma". I think that sets the tone pretty nicely. From there we moved into radiology (physics, ew) and then finished class early for the day.

As each term passes, I've found it increasingly difficult to tell stories about what I'm actually doing in class, and I think a lot of it is just increasing difficulty and knowledge level. Some of the things that happen may be funny or interesting, but they require so much explanation that I just don't bother. For example, my joke to Alona today in radiology about increased kVp causing decreased botulism effect...well...actually, bad example, that might not be funny to anyone but us.

Another reason for this might just be the proliferation of inside jokes in my class. In winter term, Dr. Henson was asked a question regarding accidentally puncturing the carotid artery when attempting venipuncture on the jugular (in retrospect, this would be very difficult to do by mistake, but whatever). She told us that you would get an immediate and dramatic fountain of spurting blood, and the correct response (especially if the owner was watching) was to place your thumb over it, smile confidentally and cheerfully say "Well. That was unexpected." This became the new catchphrase for much of the class, and when I found myself holding off the traumatically severed artery of an injured dog during my clinical rotation I was ecstatic. Well, it was unexpected.

In other news, I have no class on Tuesdays this term, and so I have plans tomorrow to go mushroom hunting with BP and the Kitty-Bunny. Hoping for lots of chanterelles!

Home for a rest

I was going to post something long and involved, but Twitters gave me permission to post "cop out" posts tonight. So, instead, look at the pretty water.

VAMPIRE!!!

I don't think I fully realised just how deranged I would look when I made that face.

Anyway, 3 for 3 on my canine blood draws (as evidenced by the blood-filled needles in the photo). It took me 3 tries to hit the lateral saphenous, but I'm not too upset about it. I was working with Brynn and she tends to shriek and squirm when you touch her with a needle, so not being able to hit the smallest and squirmiest vein on the first try isn't grounds for a freak-out.

I did, however, hit the cephalic and jugular on my first try, and man did that ever feel good. Dr. Henson was right, this whole blood drawing thing is both cathartic and addictive. I've caught myself staring at veins on animals, people, whatever...and just thinking "I could hit that...". This is bad.

After lab, Perri, Cat and I went out to the stable and gave Dave a bath. He's so furry that it was more like bathing a giant dog, and we pulled what seemed like 50lbs of hair off of him. He was very good about the whole thing and seemed to quite enjoy the attention.

Doesn't he look pretty?

Blood!!

Yeah, I know, slacking again.

Anyway, this week was back to class, and we spent a large portion of our time handling blood. On Tuesday, I did my very first venipuncture, and managed a successful jugular stick on our sheep, along with a slightly less successful cephalic stick. I got a flash in the hub of the needle on the cephalic, but couldn't draw blood to save my life. My teammates couldn't get blood from the cephalic either though, so I think our sheep was just faulty. The jugular more than made up for it though and I easily pulled a full 3cc's. Took me about 7 tries to hit the vein, but I got blood, didn't blow the vein, and got the blood into the purple top with no spillage, so I call it a victory.

Thursday and Friday were spent analyzing said blood, which was highly entertaining. Thursday was all about learning how to do good blood smears, and let me tell you....it is WAY harder than it looks.

Dolores gave us 2 demos, and then did a demo using her left hand (and it still came out perfectly), so I was starting to think I wouldn't have too much trouble. I mean, really....place a drop of blood on the bottom slide, touch the edge of the top slide to it so the blood wicks along the edge, and then push the blood into a smear. Easy.



Yeah, so. About that easy bit....

To be fair, that pile of rejects isn't just mine. Alona and I pooled our spoil pile to save on cleanup, so at least half of them are hers. Still, we went through almost 2 boxes of slides in search of....



The perfect smear! See the pretty rainbow? The feathered edge and distinct lack of streaking? The way the blood doesn't run over the edges of the slide? Oh yeah. It's beautiful.

Friday was spent learning how to do hematocrit readings, total proteins, and fibrinogen levels. I learned that Dave is nicely within normal ranges on all of these, and that I am a total wimp when it comes to the necessary snapping of capillary tubes. Breaking glass on purpose just freaks me out, ok?

Both days were also spent being total dorks with classmates. Have I mentioned how much they rock?

Home

Finals are done (I passed, I passed!) and I'm back on the island for a few days. Kim and I took her dogs out to Uplands park and enjoyed one of the rare sunny moments. Garry Oak meadows like these are what the south island would look like (in between the patches of temperate rain forest) if humans had left it alone. It's too bad I'm not here about two weeks from now because the Camas is about to pop and the meadows would look like something from a fairy tale. Ah well, still beautiful!


Sol being a doof.



"Choose your path wisely...."



Not sure what they were excited about here....



Ah, Home.

Making my sister proud

Last night I played pool at a hick bar while listening to Toby Keith.


And you know what? I had fun.

Got a little captain in her?

If anyone ever wonders why I love some of my classes so much, this is why. Dr. Henson rocks.

This is why she has angels. Henson's Angels, to be exact:


And if you're wondering, the weapons wielded here are a spray bottle of disinfectant, a hair removal roller, and a keystone cattle dehorner. The keystone is what we call a "testosterone tool". As in, you need an overload of testosterone to be capable of, or even want to, use it on a full size cow who is adamant about not letting you use it.

Horses, Bean Salads and Best Friends

I've spent most of my spare time over the past few days studying, and I decided to take a break today and go groom Dave. Something about the smell of horses just calms me down, and Dave is great to talk to when stressed. He listens quite nicely, leans into the curry brush, and half closes his eyes and sighs when you start on him with the dandy brush. Best of all, once you're done, he turns around and just rests his nose against your chest and breathes. It makes me feel like all really could be right with the world.
Of course, spending time with horses usually leads me to thinking about my best friend back home.

Twitters (the nickname I saddled her with when I was about 12) and I have known each other for around 15 years now. We both went to the same school (though she was a grade behind me) and our little sisters had met and become friends. On one of their play-dates, we happened to start talking and realised that not only were we both horse crazy, we were both just a little bit crazy, period. I can't remember the first time we hung out together, and I can't remember when I first started thinking of Twitters as my best friend, but I do remember how much fun we've had.

There was the treefort incident, where we painted the inside and then leaned over the wet paint to do the outside (somewhere there's a really charming picture of us coated in brown paint), and the time I fell into the giant ditch in their front yard. There were the frantic mornings when I'd wake up to see snow outside, as well as a neat row of snowballs on our fencepost, signaling her already prepared ambush. After the ambush, we would sled down the hill at the end of the street, towed by her dog, BJ. There were the endless summers of swimming at the lake, eating salmonberries and dumping each other off the converted surfboard we'd paddle like a canoe. There was the time we figured out we could see each other from our kitchen windows if the trees weren't in bloom, the light was just right, and we jumped up and down waving like crazy.

Best of all though was the horse stuff. We took a riding camp together one summer, and we are still talking about that one week as if it were yesterday. On our third day at the camp my horse tried to take a jump without my consent and I fell off. When I managed to get back on my feet, Twitters was right there. "You went into a perfect three point position before you fell!" she cried. "Really?!" I said, "Cool!!"

We spent hours creating our dream stables using her extensive collection of toy horses. We would build miniature dioramas on her front lawn while having serious discussions over the amount of necessary shade, spacing and types of feed we would use. We'd grab all the free horse magazines from the tack shop and then pore through them and call all the ads for free stuff. Free leg wrap samples, complimentary product guides, more free horse magazines. We didn't really need any of it, just as I didn't really need the hoof pick she gave me as a present one year, but that didn't mean I loved any of it less. I still have the hoof pick.

When we were teenagers, we both got a job at the local petting zoo. The owner couldn't tell us apart, not because we looked similar, but because what one knew, the other knew too. Any job or task I was capable of, so was she, and as far as staffing was concerned, we were pretty well interchangeable. We were dubbed "Weiner" and "Turkey" (though who was which varied) and often simply referred to as "Double Trouble". We transferred our horse obsession (which was sorely lacking in real, live horses to feed it) to the goats at the farm, and soon became the goat goddesses. We could name any of the 30-odd goats, name their siblings, mothers, and how old they were at a glance. When the goats were stampeded up to their barn at night and needed to be separated back into their individual family units, we were the best. Goat sorting could take 20-30 minutes for most people, but we could do it in 10. We were (and still are, I think) quite proud of this.

A few months before I moved away Twitters invited me over for lunch. She's an amazing cook, so I was excited when she said she was making something special that she wanted to teach me. It turned out to be a fantastic bean salad that even I couldn't mess up, and I've made it at least every month since I've moved. I made it today, right after I got home from grooming the horse, and all of it has made me miss her a lot.
So, Thank you Twitters! For sharing my animal obsession, for the bean salad recipe, and most of all for being my best friend.


Twitters' Bean Salad
(I've slightly adjusted the original ingredients, but that's the magic of this salad...just add what you want, leave out what you don't!)
1 can wax beans
1 can green beans
1 can chick peas
1 can baby corncobs
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 tomato, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped

mayo
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
pepper
cumin (lots!)
cilantro, coarsely chopped


Chop onion and place in a small container with some balsamic vinegar. Shake well and let sit for an hour or so to take some of the bitterness out of the onion.
Drain the canned ingredients and rinse well under cool water to remove excess canning water. Pour into large bowl and stir gently. Add onion.
In a smaller bowl, mix together mayo, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper and cumin. This part is to taste, and you want to have enough to cover all of the beans without making it too sloppy.
Pour the dressing into the bean mixture, stirring til entirely covered. Add tomato and cilantro. Serve.