It's a beautiful day here. The sun is slanting across my backyard, highlighting the tufts of white in the squirrels' tails as they leap from tree to tree. With the window cracked I can even hear the sound of one munching on a nut, something I liken to nails on a chalkboard. My chickies are running around, fluffing their feathers and stretching their wings. I think they might weigh a pound each now. And there goes Big Red, my beautiful Americauna rooster who crows his head off from 4 AM to noon. Jasmine is sitting next to my keyboard as I type, plaintively looking at me (she either wants more breakfast or pets, probably the latter).
It's nice to finally have a break to appreciate these things. This past week has been like heaven. I had an exam on Monday which concluded my six weeks of exams, and then it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. My workload has been light, and my birthday was on Friday. I received an invitation to watch a complicated gelding surgery, so I of course took that. It wasn't too involved; one testicle was where it should have been (just not dropped), while the other was up in the flank. I ended up holding the back leg out, while Doc performed the procedure in a way to provide a really good view for his audience. Two of the pre-vet students joined me (and many more wanted to), and got their first taste of vet med. Both are thinking of doing equine vet med, and so it was a good experience for them. They also got to meet the woman who runs the rescue that the colt is on (someone who I am quite fond of), and Doc and Ms. S. One of the girls set up an interview with Doc to start riding along on Saturdays, which I think she will very much enjoy. Doc and Ms. S. invited the club out to his barn again this year for a hands-on equine dentistry wet lab (which we will definitely take advantage of!).
Later, Jared took me out to the Cheesecake Factory and the large mall in Towson, and his parents joined us. I thoroughly enjoy their company and will be missing the family fall birthday celebration tonight with them, so being able to spend some time with them made me feel a little better about that. It was a really nice night. We hardly get a chance to go anywhere, and I had never been to the C.F. out here, and only been to Towson mall twice. I ended up buying a really pretty dress at Macy's which I found out that the register was marked down even further than I thought, ending up only being $10! Jared bought me a really nice watch of a fancy brand I had never heard of, which I protested strongly (walmart watches are more my style) but am rather fond of. Not sure how often I will wear it though; I am rather afraid of hurting it.
Last night was my brother and I's combined B-day celebration with the family. It was a rowdy and loud time as usual, with a lot of bickering going on across the table! My mother prepared a wonderful meal (of course!) and everyone pigged out. She even made two cakes so Dale and I could each have our favorites. Dale got a shopping trip to get him some new professional clothes, and my mother bought me a 60 minute massage (woohoo!) and an engraved Littman Stethoscope. It is gorgeous and the sounds it produces are incredibly clear (much better than my cheap Amazon one). I seriously hope I get in to vet school or else I will have a very awesome stethoscope and no place to use it! (Jared suggested I could always hang it on the wall as motivation LOL). My mom's small animal vet went to VMRCVM and is apparently head of the program that helps first year vet students get settled... including what they need to bring. So she gave mom advice on which one to buy and to get it engraved (to prevent stealing). I keep meeting vets that graduated from there and they are all so enthusiastic and offer to "put in a good word" or are just outpouring about the program's strengths. I would be happy anywhere, but I would love to stay a bit closer to home, and I do love the school. Here's to hope!
Today (to conclude this long post) I am headed with the club to a small exotic rescue a couple towns over (only 20 mins from campus), and then later to a haunted scream park with my friends! Should be a fun AND beautiful day :)
~Melissa
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Friday, October 4, 2013
The Best Thing
This semester has been great in that all of my science classes have been overlapping in really nice ways. Our second unit in Comparative Animal was on muscles, at the same time I was learning about muscle tissues in Human A &P, and just the other day we learned about the detailed bio-chemical aspects of muscles in Biochem. Even in strange things such as learning about crocodile's blood shunting abilities in CAP and then learning about BPG binding (or lack thereof) and hemoglobin affinity for bicarb in crocodile's in Biochem the very next class (both of which are important factors in croc's ability to drown their prey). It's nice because I get completely different things and details in each course, and then some overlap which certainly helps with the studying.
And then there is my Native American Studies class. I love learning about the indigenous cultures here in America. More than that, I am intrinsically drawn towards learning about the social justice issues, racism and oppression going on in the Native communities. It inspired me to sign up to lead a week-long immersion trip to the Great Smoky Mountains in the Spring where we will be doing service projects and engaging in conversation with the Snowbird Cherokee. This is a new trip this year (also called alternative break trips), and I am trying to act as a bridge between the Native professor on campus and the Center for Public Service. In the past, the trips have been viewed as a bit of exploitation and "let's go see the Indians." I'm trying to re-vamp that and make it into a respectful and mutual atmosphere where students are made truly aware of the issues facing the native people in the Americas. I'm really excited about it (in case you can't tell), but it has also been taking up a lot of time.
A lot of exams and papers and readings lately (have 5 weeks straight of exams, then a week off and start over)... my grades have not been as good as they should be, but I only have so many hours in a day to study for exams on top of everything else. I've even been neglecting writing on here because it takes time! Speaking of which... I need to go work on my bio paper and my NAS paper and my readings and that video I'm supposed to watch and studying for my exam on Tuesday and working on my biochem HW problems and oh yeah the three or four chapters in textbooks I'm supposed to have read by Monday...
At least its good practice for vet school. Which I may one day get into, and then put myself in debt for the rest of my life.
Happy Tails and Trails,
~Melissa
And then there is my Native American Studies class. I love learning about the indigenous cultures here in America. More than that, I am intrinsically drawn towards learning about the social justice issues, racism and oppression going on in the Native communities. It inspired me to sign up to lead a week-long immersion trip to the Great Smoky Mountains in the Spring where we will be doing service projects and engaging in conversation with the Snowbird Cherokee. This is a new trip this year (also called alternative break trips), and I am trying to act as a bridge between the Native professor on campus and the Center for Public Service. In the past, the trips have been viewed as a bit of exploitation and "let's go see the Indians." I'm trying to re-vamp that and make it into a respectful and mutual atmosphere where students are made truly aware of the issues facing the native people in the Americas. I'm really excited about it (in case you can't tell), but it has also been taking up a lot of time.
A lot of exams and papers and readings lately (have 5 weeks straight of exams, then a week off and start over)... my grades have not been as good as they should be, but I only have so many hours in a day to study for exams on top of everything else. I've even been neglecting writing on here because it takes time! Speaking of which... I need to go work on my bio paper and my NAS paper and my readings and that video I'm supposed to watch and studying for my exam on Tuesday and working on my biochem HW problems and oh yeah the three or four chapters in textbooks I'm supposed to have read by Monday...
At least its good practice for vet school. Which I may one day get into, and then put myself in debt for the rest of my life.
Happy Tails and Trails,
~Melissa
Thursday, September 19, 2013
5 AM Surprises
I leave the window open at night because I like to sleep in the cold and burrow under blankets. This also normally means I wake up with the sun and Big Red's non-stop greeting of it.
This morning I woke up to a different type of chicken noise; a strangled squawking. This noise awoke me abruptly, and it sounded like it was receding into the distance by the time my fuzzy brain recognized it. I threw on my robe and flip flops, turned on the floodlights and went outside. My hens were in the pen, huddled in a corner of the coop, while Big Red was still sound asleep in the house. My two juvenile roosters were nowhere to be seen. I searched around their coop, and checked their house. They weren't in their usual perching spot. There were also no feathers that I could see. My best guess was one of the boys had gotten nabbed by a passerby fox, and the other had run into the corn field across the lane, or was hiding under some bushes. It was still pitch black outside and I wasn't about to go tramping through the corn calling for a chicken that may or may not be there and may or may not come to me.
So I shrugged and went back into the house. Once the sun came up and I had eaten my breakfast, I went back out to investigate. Standing in my backyard were both roosters, who came running up to me looking for food. The white one looked as if he was missing some tail feathers, and he had a strange burr on his belly, but had not a mark on him. There was a trail of white underfeathers spread around the coops and some in the front yard, but how much of it was there beforehand is impossible to determine.
I put an ad on my school digest this morning to try to find them a home. I guess I'm a sucker for a friendly chicken and some pretty tailfeathers. If no one wants them I suppose I'll get up the gumption to eat 'em one of these days but...I was almost hopeful the foxes had taken that decision out of my hands. Guess not. So there they sit, basking in the sunlight beneath the pine trees in my backyard, freely reining the yard since they refuse to stay in their pen and I'm too lazy to figure out a better way to keep them in.
~Melissa
This morning I woke up to a different type of chicken noise; a strangled squawking. This noise awoke me abruptly, and it sounded like it was receding into the distance by the time my fuzzy brain recognized it. I threw on my robe and flip flops, turned on the floodlights and went outside. My hens were in the pen, huddled in a corner of the coop, while Big Red was still sound asleep in the house. My two juvenile roosters were nowhere to be seen. I searched around their coop, and checked their house. They weren't in their usual perching spot. There were also no feathers that I could see. My best guess was one of the boys had gotten nabbed by a passerby fox, and the other had run into the corn field across the lane, or was hiding under some bushes. It was still pitch black outside and I wasn't about to go tramping through the corn calling for a chicken that may or may not be there and may or may not come to me.
So I shrugged and went back into the house. Once the sun came up and I had eaten my breakfast, I went back out to investigate. Standing in my backyard were both roosters, who came running up to me looking for food. The white one looked as if he was missing some tail feathers, and he had a strange burr on his belly, but had not a mark on him. There was a trail of white underfeathers spread around the coops and some in the front yard, but how much of it was there beforehand is impossible to determine.
I put an ad on my school digest this morning to try to find them a home. I guess I'm a sucker for a friendly chicken and some pretty tailfeathers. If no one wants them I suppose I'll get up the gumption to eat 'em one of these days but...I was almost hopeful the foxes had taken that decision out of my hands. Guess not. So there they sit, basking in the sunlight beneath the pine trees in my backyard, freely reining the yard since they refuse to stay in their pen and I'm too lazy to figure out a better way to keep them in.
~Melissa
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Study, study, study
I think this is my life motto! Really!
Well it looks like I spoke (wrote?) too soon the other day. As of now, there are 7 students signed up for Friday, so that is very exciting! I guess I need to learn some patience...
Things haven't been too exciting here on the home front lately. I do have 15 eggs in the incubator set to hatch this weekend, tagged to go to my aunt. I'm hoping for a good hatch rate; this is the first time I have tried an automatic egg turner, so we shall see how it works compared to my lovingly hand-turned eggs. All the animals are doing fine, and the two juvenile roosters are driving me nuts escaping every day! They may hit the freezer sometime soon... I don't know what else to do with them! They aren't bothering anyone but I also couldn't find a home for them, and they are food hogs. We will see if I have the heart to do it...
Just wanted to shoot a little update :)
Back to studying!
~Melissa
Well it looks like I spoke (wrote?) too soon the other day. As of now, there are 7 students signed up for Friday, so that is very exciting! I guess I need to learn some patience...
Things haven't been too exciting here on the home front lately. I do have 15 eggs in the incubator set to hatch this weekend, tagged to go to my aunt. I'm hoping for a good hatch rate; this is the first time I have tried an automatic egg turner, so we shall see how it works compared to my lovingly hand-turned eggs. All the animals are doing fine, and the two juvenile roosters are driving me nuts escaping every day! They may hit the freezer sometime soon... I don't know what else to do with them! They aren't bothering anyone but I also couldn't find a home for them, and they are food hogs. We will see if I have the heart to do it...
Just wanted to shoot a little update :)
Back to studying!
~Melissa
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
This semester has been a little rough so far. Getting back into the swing of things has just taken it's time I suppose. I have mainly been getting B's on assignments, and the few A's have been scrapes. This Friday is my first biochemistry exam, and I am studying every way I know how, and a few ways that I have never tried before. It's never too late to learn better methods!
I have a presentation today, and I also have a seminar to attend. Then I get to get back to working on my endless piles of homework and reading. There literally are not enough hours in the day to do it all. I am in class from 9-5 on M/W and 1-4 on T/Th, with my Fridays being the shortest days, only having two classes. But then I have a 2 hr chunk of time for research, so really it equals the same thing. This is, really, the best prep for vet school I could ever ask for (if I get in!). Talk about time management skills...
We have the first real trip with the pre-vet club this Friday, and I'm getting disheartened already this semester. The first meeting, a wet lab to set up our Dermestid colony, had two officers come to it, my best friend and one first year. No returning members, not even all of the officers. The upcoming trip is to the farm that I work at, where we will be teaching them how to handle sheep, poultry, and piglets, and giving an intro to all the animals on the farm. There will even be a piglet castration demo. But so far only 3 people signed up, two of them being first years. I am happy that even 3 people will go though, and will be benefited (hopefully) by what they learn.
All of the events this year I conferred with the other officers about before scheduling, and received enthusiastic input about them being good ideas. The end of year survey to all club members (filled out by almost 20 people in the club) last year showed that everyone was satisfied with the events and meetings and felt that they had helped them to figure out a career or enhanced their knowledge of the profession. Last year we had a really good core group who came to meetings and trips; about 10 people or so. This year even the other officers don't seem to want to go to things. I advertise via our email and our facebook group, always emphasizing that getting experience in different fields is good even if someone is only interested in small animal medicine.
I know I have wrote about this before, but it seems to be a continual problem here...
Do any of you reading this have any ideas? Are you part of a similar club, or do you know how to get people motivated? I think I need advice...
~Melissa
I have a presentation today, and I also have a seminar to attend. Then I get to get back to working on my endless piles of homework and reading. There literally are not enough hours in the day to do it all. I am in class from 9-5 on M/W and 1-4 on T/Th, with my Fridays being the shortest days, only having two classes. But then I have a 2 hr chunk of time for research, so really it equals the same thing. This is, really, the best prep for vet school I could ever ask for (if I get in!). Talk about time management skills...
We have the first real trip with the pre-vet club this Friday, and I'm getting disheartened already this semester. The first meeting, a wet lab to set up our Dermestid colony, had two officers come to it, my best friend and one first year. No returning members, not even all of the officers. The upcoming trip is to the farm that I work at, where we will be teaching them how to handle sheep, poultry, and piglets, and giving an intro to all the animals on the farm. There will even be a piglet castration demo. But so far only 3 people signed up, two of them being first years. I am happy that even 3 people will go though, and will be benefited (hopefully) by what they learn.
All of the events this year I conferred with the other officers about before scheduling, and received enthusiastic input about them being good ideas. The end of year survey to all club members (filled out by almost 20 people in the club) last year showed that everyone was satisfied with the events and meetings and felt that they had helped them to figure out a career or enhanced their knowledge of the profession. Last year we had a really good core group who came to meetings and trips; about 10 people or so. This year even the other officers don't seem to want to go to things. I advertise via our email and our facebook group, always emphasizing that getting experience in different fields is good even if someone is only interested in small animal medicine.
I know I have wrote about this before, but it seems to be a continual problem here...
Do any of you reading this have any ideas? Are you part of a similar club, or do you know how to get people motivated? I think I need advice...
~Melissa
Monday, September 9, 2013
Just A Little Hectic
These first few weeks are always a bit of a mess. It takes time to get back into studying habits and time-balance, and it seems like the meetings and planning for other things never stops. I have really been enjoying my classes though. A friend who is in vet school suggested I take A&P, and even though it is the human version, I find it very fascinating and extremely applicable. I have a whole ton of printouts of other animals and their systems which I have been using for species comparison. It makes lots of things that I have seen or just learned on the surface make a whole lot more sense. Since it is not a Biology class, the bio they teach you is rather shallow, but that in itself makes me appreciate Cell Biology last semester even more.
I applied and was chosen to lead an alternate Spring break in TN this year, so I have been going through training for that as well. Between the initial pre-vet club meting and training, I haven't been getting home before 7 each night. It makes things a little rough; especially when I need to still make and eat dinner, as well as do homework and take care of the animals/house. Jared is very helpful, but there are many nights where he gets home just as late.
It will work itself out though....
The PVC schedule this semester I think is pretty good... hopefully others think so too! We are starting with a "wet lab" where we will be setting up a dermestid colony. The club will be maintaining it and once it is mature, putting in specimens for cleaning. Then next semester we will have a lab where we will put the skeletons back together, identifying the bones and the specimens as we go. We are taking a trip out to my farm to give everyone some experience with sheep, poultry and hogs, as well as going to a variety of animal shows and rescues in the area. Speaker-wise we have in the works a small animal vet who does some alternative medicine (acupuncture, muscle maneuvering), a board-certified surgeon, an advisor for Penn Vet program and a current vet student. We are also doing a wet lab with tumors (fixing, staining, ID) and a dissection of some deer parts (we do hardly any dissections at my college).
We have about 15 first-years interested in the club, probably 7 of which are seriously interested in veterinary medicine. I am hoping many of our past members return as well... but we will see!
~Melissa
I applied and was chosen to lead an alternate Spring break in TN this year, so I have been going through training for that as well. Between the initial pre-vet club meting and training, I haven't been getting home before 7 each night. It makes things a little rough; especially when I need to still make and eat dinner, as well as do homework and take care of the animals/house. Jared is very helpful, but there are many nights where he gets home just as late.
It will work itself out though....
The PVC schedule this semester I think is pretty good... hopefully others think so too! We are starting with a "wet lab" where we will be setting up a dermestid colony. The club will be maintaining it and once it is mature, putting in specimens for cleaning. Then next semester we will have a lab where we will put the skeletons back together, identifying the bones and the specimens as we go. We are taking a trip out to my farm to give everyone some experience with sheep, poultry and hogs, as well as going to a variety of animal shows and rescues in the area. Speaker-wise we have in the works a small animal vet who does some alternative medicine (acupuncture, muscle maneuvering), a board-certified surgeon, an advisor for Penn Vet program and a current vet student. We are also doing a wet lab with tumors (fixing, staining, ID) and a dissection of some deer parts (we do hardly any dissections at my college).
We have about 15 first-years interested in the club, probably 7 of which are seriously interested in veterinary medicine. I am hoping many of our past members return as well... but we will see!
~Melissa
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Back to the Grind
I've been back to school a little over a week now, and it is already hectic! My semester consists of taking biochemistry, comparative animal physiology, human anatomy and physiology and native american studies.
I also found out last week that I will definitely be doing research this semester! While unfortunately it is too late to actually help me with vet school applications, I am very excited to have the opportunity to see what it is like to conduct a behavioral research experiment! Even better, my dear friend Gael will be doing it with me, as well as my VP for Pre-vet club, and an ex-pre-vetter who is a hoot. We are going to be studying dog communication and trying to determine whether dogs can distinguish barks in a certain way; testing two hypothesis about the purpose of barking. I'm still a little fuzzy on the details (I have a reading list a mile long to take care of this week), but it seems like it will definitely be a good experience! I will probably be adding it on as a fifth "class," Bio 460, which will show up on my transcript and give me credit (not that I need it :P).
The last few weeks have been rather eventful. I worked my butt off at the farm right up to the last day before school. We had a lot of changes with farmhands and staff, and so I was training away, as well as finishing all the little things that needed to be done before I went back. I helped ear tag and deworm this years lambs, and we had two more litters of piglets born, which all had to get teeth clipped and iron shots. I will still be working there on Saturdays, and covering when they need me to (like this Thursday morning before class), but so far my schedule has been a bit interrupted.
This past Saturday we had a funeral for my great uncle Frank, who was tragically killed when someone ran a stop sign and literally plowed him and his motorscooter over. While it was very nice to see all of my extended family, it was sad to be attending a funeral rather than the party that had been planned. But, in true fashion of my large Polish family, there was far more laughter than tears, people spending all day telling their favorite stories of Frank, and they even ended up having a small party after all. Grief mixed with healing.
I also have a whole new pile of fluffballs in the garage, which are for my aunt (with a few to replace ours which were eaten). My neighbor's dog came into the garage and disemboweled five of my day old chicks before I dragged her butt out of the box, leaving me with fourteen and a really, really bad attitude.... I don't even want to talk about that because it still pisses me off. So we have another dozen in the incubator; this time trying an egg turner.
I will be getting back into posting regularly now; at least once a week if not more! While I am sure plenty of it will be rather boring, we are doing some pretty neat stuff this semester with the PVC (can you say dermestids??), and I have a good bit going on at the homefront. So stay tuned!
~Melissa
I also found out last week that I will definitely be doing research this semester! While unfortunately it is too late to actually help me with vet school applications, I am very excited to have the opportunity to see what it is like to conduct a behavioral research experiment! Even better, my dear friend Gael will be doing it with me, as well as my VP for Pre-vet club, and an ex-pre-vetter who is a hoot. We are going to be studying dog communication and trying to determine whether dogs can distinguish barks in a certain way; testing two hypothesis about the purpose of barking. I'm still a little fuzzy on the details (I have a reading list a mile long to take care of this week), but it seems like it will definitely be a good experience! I will probably be adding it on as a fifth "class," Bio 460, which will show up on my transcript and give me credit (not that I need it :P).
The last few weeks have been rather eventful. I worked my butt off at the farm right up to the last day before school. We had a lot of changes with farmhands and staff, and so I was training away, as well as finishing all the little things that needed to be done before I went back. I helped ear tag and deworm this years lambs, and we had two more litters of piglets born, which all had to get teeth clipped and iron shots. I will still be working there on Saturdays, and covering when they need me to (like this Thursday morning before class), but so far my schedule has been a bit interrupted.
This past Saturday we had a funeral for my great uncle Frank, who was tragically killed when someone ran a stop sign and literally plowed him and his motorscooter over. While it was very nice to see all of my extended family, it was sad to be attending a funeral rather than the party that had been planned. But, in true fashion of my large Polish family, there was far more laughter than tears, people spending all day telling their favorite stories of Frank, and they even ended up having a small party after all. Grief mixed with healing.
I also have a whole new pile of fluffballs in the garage, which are for my aunt (with a few to replace ours which were eaten). My neighbor's dog came into the garage and disemboweled five of my day old chicks before I dragged her butt out of the box, leaving me with fourteen and a really, really bad attitude.... I don't even want to talk about that because it still pisses me off. So we have another dozen in the incubator; this time trying an egg turner.
I will be getting back into posting regularly now; at least once a week if not more! While I am sure plenty of it will be rather boring, we are doing some pretty neat stuff this semester with the PVC (can you say dermestids??), and I have a good bit going on at the homefront. So stay tuned!
~Melissa
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