Transition to Campus Life

Well, I am now back at Houghton College.

Saturday my mom and I drove from Plymouth to Houghton so I could move in the next day. Even though my room was probably unlocked and we could have moved in when we got to Houghton I think the drive took too much out of us. Because I knew this would happen and my uncle's house is in chaos with the move to the unfinished house (as far as I know there is one working toilet, maybe a shower and that is all their running water) we stayed at a friend of mine's that lives in town. After bringing all my stuff back up to the fourth floor of Gillette (without the use of an elevator) my mom headed back home. She encountered heavy rain and so stayed in Johnstown and then made it back the next day.

We also helped move in Alice to the fourth floor but to a different section. Then I helped Laura move in to Alice's room. We are all here for orientation team training which is where we get to move the freshmen in and help them out. Laura and I are also here for FYI training where we will be part of small groups made of freshmen.

So far it has been fun. I have been able to catch up with the friends who are here and I wait for those who aren't here. It is also fun to see the different waves of people move in for the various programs they will be a part of. For O-Team training we have done much chatting and game playing and seems like little actual work. We have breakfast in Java before we start, lunch in the dining hall, and dinner family style where ever we are told. Training only takes the mornings so the afternoons are free.

It should be a fun and exciting year with Bethany back from London, getting to know all the freshmen, and taking genetics, physics, early & modern philosophy, and modern & contemporary art history.

I know I have had a lot of fun seeing my friends as they arrive on campus. Just this evening we had story time on second new. A couple RA's worked on their floor decorations while we chatted and then some of us helped them with the decorations so they can be done by tomorrow. It is really nice to see my college friends again and I look forward to seeing even more as they return to campus.

TTFN.

Gone for a While, Home for a Little

Well I've been back home for a couple of weeks now.

The last week that I spent in Lowville I saw a few new things. The first thing was an ear crop. Then we did exploratory surgery on the dog that wouldn't eat. The results were we found a tumor on the stomach walls and surgery would be too invasive to remove it. The dog was released to her owners and allowed to eat whatever she would. She probably only has a few months to live. I also held 11 squirming newborn puppies while they had their tails docked and their dewclaws removed. Then another anal gland surgery. After that we had a splenectomy where the spleen was removed because of cancer. There were some massive clots in the abdomen that I believe were caused by the cancer on the spleen. Although the spleen was removed I was told that the dog probably only had a couple months as the type of cancer it had is very aggressive. I also saw a vulvoplasty. This is where excess skin is removed so the the vulva is no longer recessed. Recessed vulva are many times the cause of recurrent urinary tract infections and vulvoplasty help correct this. After seeing all this I had a few days of relaxation at the lake before Uncle Chuck and I went to my home and a family reunion.

This is a view of Chase Lake from the Allen dock.

This is the lake house as you look from the lake.

This is one of Uncle Chuck's goldens that I spent some time with. She is a sweet dog. This one is Piper and the one who was always wanting to be around people.

When I came home I came home in time to start the painting of the house. Quite the amount of painting to be done but we are almost there.

This is my room and the first coat is now done. This was taken before I finished the first coat.

Cutting in the ceiling was hard so I let Daddy do most of it. When he wasn't painting at the same time as me I did a fairly good job at it. My room is green grapes, the living room/hall is butter, the kitchen/dining room is a green similar to green grapes, the bathroom is pale sea foam, Alex's room is aquamarine, and the master bedroom is Jamaican aqua. The house is becoming quite colorful and will be quite colorful by next Friday.

I leave for school Saturday the 21st and will start classes on the 30th.

Whirlwinds, Puppies, and Quilts

I have to admit I don't remember much of what I've done recently except yesterday. It has been really busy lately. We have a dog that we were told hasn't eaten in four days yet it has so much energy for not eating. In surgery Uncle Chuck pinned a fractured leg on a dog, and pinned a broken leg on a cat, carved grooves into I think the femur on both legs to fix a luxating patella on a little yorkie, had a spay and a neuter. At the end of the day there was a mastiff that came in for a c section. There were 16 puppies that went out the door crying their lungs out. We also saw a cat that the owner had been putting frontline on that was anemic due to the massive amount of fleas on her. We ended up doing a blood transfusion from one of the cats that the clinic is trying to find a home for. There was also another quill dog that came in but it didn't have quite the Santa look that the other one had had. The yorkie came with a brother who got a dental but he has what is know as a collapsing trachea so we didn't tube him. When he gets stressed he starts breathing more rapidly and sounds like a duck. I ended up having to hold him a while after his dental until he quieted down.

Uncle Chuck's oldest son Jordan came up with his girlfriend for a couple of days. While they were here we stayed at Camp. Caryn went to pick them up at the airport and then they met us in Old Forge where we watched Inception. What an ending. It certainly is quite the conversation starter. The next day I did a lot of reading while Jordan and Emily went to the house and then grocery shopping for the stuff to make dinner and Chuck and Caryn went to Croghan. I then helped make dinner. After dinner we played Trivial Pursuit. Today I am just hanging out at the house catching up on a few things while Chuck is out fishing and Caryn makes her way home from dropping Jordan and Emily off at the airport.

This is a picture of a quilt I made. It is the view from the bell tower of the St. Lawrence cathedral in Trogir, Croatia. I made it before I left for my uncle's.

This is the picture I took on my trip that the quilt is based on. As you can see I took the artist's liberty with it and made it brighter, without the influence of civilization that is in in the picture, and it came out pretty well. I seem to do one quilt a year so far but we'll see if that keeps up with all the excellent pictures I have that can be turned into something amazing. One week left and I'll be able to see what I can do with the time I have left until school. TTFN

Tourniquets, Intubation, Vaccines, Relaxation

Well I have been busy. They have started to have me help out more and more and are keeping me busy. So far I have held dogs while they are being given shots or blood is being drawn. This means that I have one are with the elbow under the neck and the other arm is acting as a tourniquet on the leg closest to it. Once they are sure they have hit a vein (they draw blood in the syringe) I let up on the leg if it is a shot but keep my hand on if it is for drawing blood. I have also intubated dogs and I have prepped one for surgery. The other day I watched bladder surgery where a bladder stone was removed. The stone looked painful. Most recently I have started to draw vaccines. The techs are really nice especially the ones at Otter Lake. Amanda and Alicia give me bits of information about what they learned in school when it pertains to something we are doing. It is really a learning environment here.

When I'm not at one of the clinic sites I am mostly at camp. The other evening Uncle Chuck and I went for a canoe ride with the dogs. We even ended up seeing the loon that seems to have a residence somewhere on the lake. This weekend we have been kicked out of camp by Aunt Caryn. She is having a bunch of friends over. Uncle Chuck will be going camping with a friend so I have the house to myself this weekend. I'm thinking of going into the clinic on Saturday just to see how another vet works (Uncle Chuck really thinks I should as I spend so much time with him). Then who knows what I will end up doing. We still need to get food as we spend so little time here and there isn't much.

Well until the next update. TTFN.

Arrival

It's been a few days since I made it to Lowville. Since I have been here I have seen a lot. The first day I came to Uncle Chuck's house and hung out for a little and then when he came back we went over to his camp which is on Chase Lake. I went for a dip in the lake and while there saw a duck with five ducklings that would come very close to humans. The next day we went to the Otter Lake clinic which is a very small but quaint building. There is only one receptionist and vet tech. I watched two spays with hernia repairs, a neuter (all dogs), and a tumor removal of a tumor on the skin. Then we had the office visits where I learned that a vet's job security is people feeding their dogs and cats wheat and milk products as there is a certain protein that creates an allergic reaction. The day went very long. After finishing there we went to the camp where we stayed the night.

Today we went back to the Otter Lake clinic where there was a cat spay and then office visits. One of the more interesting ones was a dog with a bone stuck around his mouth. It was one of those rawhide circles and he somehow got it over his canine teeth and it was stuck there. So we got it off for him. Then we headed to the Lowville clinic for more office visits. Over these couple of days I have seen many cats and dogs as well as kittens and puppies. One client is even trying to get Uncle Chuck to take one of her papillon puppies that is the runt (and what a cutie he is) he is resisting however which is what you have to do or you would acquire too many pets. Well I have the day off tomorrow so maybe I will go to camp and hang out in the lake if the weather keeps being as hot and sunny as it has been. I'll keep you posted. TTFN

Leaving...again

Well everything is going great here. I am getting ready for my internship at Countryside Veterinary Clinic in Lowville, NY. I leave Monday and feel like I have so much I have to do on top of working at Hannaford. I still have to pack but my bicycle is ready to come with me and take me to my job if I find I need transportation. I started a quilting project that I meant to start a while before I left but just wasn't in the quilting mood. Of course I want to get it done before I leave so that is adding to the to do before I leave list that I feel is growing. If I can get to a point in the project that just requires thread and needle and an iron I could take it with me but I have the feeling I am going to need a sewing machine to finish it. Who knows maybe I will drag out my mom's old machine, some of her thread and bobbins and they will find their way into the car.

Tonight I went to the Hannaford in Franklin to work. I got paid for the mileage as well as my hours. Interesting crew there. It seems like most of the people from front end I meant were recent hires. They really appreciated my being there as it was busy and they were trying to train someone in the service center. Not used to having to drive a long way to get home after work though.

The house is coming along great too. Went out there with my mom to drop off water and cookies around 11 and they had most of the 1 inch foam boards up on the outside of the house. These will be used to help insulate the house and the siding will go up on top of them. When I go out to Lowville I will have to rely on my mom's blog to keep me posted on the progress of the house as I won't be able to help in any way or even go and just look at it.

What else do I want to do before I leave besides quilt, work, and look at the house? Well I want to read (there is so much I want to read that I just can't fit them all in), hike (Alex and I still haven't gone anywhere although we did have our fun in the creek), and hang out with my friends. In the time I have left I feel like there is "so much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it."

Well next time you hear from me I should be in Lowville. TTFN

Splash

Yesterday was a hot and sunny day so we went down to our house for a little clean-up and creek splashing. All the windows and the door are now in place as well as the porch.

This is the front of the house and the next step should be the siding which my parents a cream colored siding for. It will make the house look wonderful.

Alex and my dad started the clean-up by folding a tarp in the side yard. Looking at the house the windows are (from left to right) my parents bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, dining room and the one all the way to the right is the living room.

Alex posed for a picture while he was tarp folding. Usually he gives a more goofy grin for pictures but I guess he wasn't in the mood as he just wanted to go down to the creek.

This is the inside of the house. One of the reasons we went yesterday was to pick the spot for cable and phone lines in each room. The electrician wanted us to go through the rooms and decided where the cable would go and where the phone would go so he could put them in. After he does that the walls can start to go up and we'll be that much closer to moving in.

Ginger came with us for the day so when we were doing things outside we put her in the house so she wouldn't get loose. She enjoyed being able to go through the "walls" but she didn't like being left inside. We eventually took her down to the creek with us.

While down at the creek we explore up and down and the split. We wanted to explore more but couldn't with Ginger with us as she doesn't like to get too wet and most of the creek was too deep for her taste. She tries to avoid having her belly get wet and only likes to go wading. She ended up doing a lot of rock hopping. After we took her back to the house and went by ourselves to the creek.

When we did we had a contest to see who could be the master of getting wet. While the creek has some deep spots they only go up to my knees so the best way to get wet is to go dunking. We found a nice place, sat down, and put our heads under. Although you can't tell from the pictures, we were soaked and dripping all over the place. Alex really enjoyed it and wants to go it again sometime.

Overall it was a great day although I ended up going into work when we got back. I was tired and a little sore today from all the slipping and sliding and the one big fall I took while exploring the creek but it was well worth it.