Time marches along

Having class with a bunch of undergrads is kind of weird.  Sometimes I feel like I'm not that far removed from undergrad life.  I still live in the same town, hang around the same freakin' campus...am still learning undergrad things....

But then I chat with some and realize "Hm, yeah.  Not so much in that mentality anymore."   This also happens when I think back to myself as an undergrad.  Comparatively, I was drifting in life, not sure of what my priorities or goals were, not sure who I wanted to be or be with or what I should do with myself!  Not like I've got every little thing figured out, but boy, a lot of sh*t has come together for me in the last 5 years.  It's a good feeling, that sense of growth and of crystallization.  I feel as if the unimportant things, the extraneous side-tracks of life have come to an end.  And life is simpler for it...sort of :-)

Not much exciting to report around here.  My cycle of labwork - class - homework - freak out about how much dog hair is collecting in the house - labwork continues.  Lab is good in that it is busy and I'm being sort of productive.  I've been hovering around that line of being too busy such that I'm really unproductive.  It doesn't help that at least 50% of my time is spent just managing/organizing crap and training my new minion (read: undergrad).  Thus I have nothing tangible in the form of data to show for 50% of my time and it makes me feel like a bum.  It's telling that I'm looking forward to being a grad student again where I've got my own project and am not in charge of the managerial tasks that are inevitably given to techs.  Things like freezer inventories and mouse colony data tracking.  Ugh!  I got a taste of the glory doing my Master's degree and now I want it back!!!  (I'm sure anyone with a PhD that reads this will be laughing their arse off, and yes it is meant tongue-in-cheek.)

The furries are all well and handling the return of cold weather fine.  Dax was rather frisky this morning - trotting up and down the fence, tossing her head and generally making clear her displeasure about being fed at 8am rather than 7.  The clickers have shipped and my clicker training book is at the library waiting to be picked up on Saturday.  She's going to be interesting to work with, considering all the pent up energy.  It'll be even more interesting when I start doing walks and stuff....Wed. March 16th is the 60day mark.  She's moving so well now, I'm tempted to push it up, but don't worry - my rational brain won't let me.  I am going to try some toy ideas on her...might make for interesting photos :-)

Hope everybody is staying warm out there.  Any obnoxious weather comments from the California contingent might result in a blog BAN.  You are warned.

Musings on Horse 'tude, a visitor, and signs of Spring!!

Well, well.  Dax has re-grown an attitude.  It’s not surprising really.  All she’s been getting is lots of feeding and lovin’-on.  No work, no exercise, no being bossed around by me.  Without regular bossing around, she gets the sneaky idea that she can start bossing ME around.  Obviously this is not ideal. Exhibit A:

The perosnal-space Invader

Nom-Nom-Nom

This morning I take her feed out to her.  She eats, I take her blanket off while she eats, I put hay out and she starts to nibble.  I notice some peeling skin where she had her injection, so I scratch at it and pull a little to see if it’s loose.  Yeaaaa, it’s not loose, and clearly this takes Dax by surprise.  Her head whips up; she takes a jump to the side and then gives me the tiniest cow-kick. 

 "Ow Mom!  That HURTS."  

She barely brushed me and I don’t even have a bruise, so it really was the tiniest cow-kick ever.

Ok, to be fair she’s happily eating her breakfast, un-tied and had just been petted when suddenly I cause her unexpected and uncommon pain.  I don’t normally do things to her that are painful….and when I do, she is usually carefully held and/or twitched.  (For those of you unfamiliar with twitching, it’s basically a hold form that causes discomfort to release endorphins that dull pain, as well as distract from the pain you have to cause, like an injection.  Twitches usually are on the nose, but you can also do a neck grab that acts like a nose twitch.)  She’s totally used to me picking all over her when she’s eating.  It’s my Dax-inspection time, and she’s rarely tied up.  I’ve pulled ticks off her udder in the middle of a pasture.  She’s not insensitive, it’s just that she’s a good girl and knows to stand still.  When she had to get joint injections to identify the lameness this past fall, she didn’t kick at the vets once.  And she got more than 20 injections into every joint in her hind leg.   Of course she wasn’t happy, but for the most part she was VERY good.  The vets were impressed :-)

Today’s little cow-kick was clearly demonstration of her growing ‘tude.  She is a chestnut mare after all (chestnut mare = redhead woman = fiery personality).  I can’t let stuff like that slide – it’ll grow into a bigger problem and KICKING IS UNACCEPTABLE.  The only option is to work her, have her acknowledge me as boss and be pleasantly submissive.  This sounds harsh to non-horsey people, but it actually stems from natural-horsemanship and how horses relate to each other.  Here’s a quick breakdown:

Horses are social climbers.  Being top of the herd means getting to eat all the good grass, calling the shots on where the herd goes, and in the wild gets you all the hot dates.  So horses are hard-wired to try to be top of the totem pole all the time.  Domestication has had the effect of convincing horses that we are part of the “herd” and thus can potentially be pushed around.  Add to it that we control food and are much smaller than horses and you have a recipe where most horses will push respectable limits unless those limits are consistently enforced.  A good example would be walking into a pen with food.  A respectful horse will wait at a distance.  They might follow you like a shadow, but they’ll respect your personal space (Horses are ALL about personal space).  A horse that is less respectful will crowd up on you, trying to stick their nose in the bucket, possibly step on you, etc.  You get the idea.

It might seem like a stretch, but Dax standing still and tolerating me causing her a modicum of discomfort is her being respectful of and submissive to me.  Facts of life are that I will need to do things to her/with her that she won’t always like, but for my safety and hers she needs to tolerate it.  She needs to trust me that it’s for her own good, that I’d never do something truly painful or that would really hurt her.  Vaccines are a good example.

Back to the story.  So I put her on a line and ask her to trot (work) in simple circles – once she shows signs of submission to me (lowering her head, licking and chewing, generally relaxing her body) I let her stop moving, come towards me, get a pat and we’re done.  I’ve worked with her this way MANY times, so she knows the game.

WELL….she bucked and jumped and reared and RAN around me. Full display of horsey ‘tude.  I wasn’t completely surprised, and of course I would have rather her NOT be doing that crap, but I didn’t have much choice and she needed to work it out.  It drives me nuts tho b/c she’ll really get herself moving and do the most beautiful extended trot….she can move out when she wants to!  After about 10mins, she finally lowered her head and began to lick, so I invited her in….but on the way she decided she’d rather stop to eat a bit of hay.  So it was back to work…

Eventually she worked it out, came around and was a good girl.  Meanwhile, I got a good look at her movement.  She’s not 100% sound, but boy was she WAY better than she had been pre-injection.  This might just be due to all the time off, but it was still really good to see. 

I know her running around is totally against the rehab plan BUT my rational is that 1) it’s over a month out, so we’re not aggravating a recent injection site 2) it was immediately clear she wasn’t super lame – if she had been, I would have stopped her 3) I’m going to give her a gram of bute (like horsey ibuprofen) to nip any inflammation in the bud.  4) I’ve gotten her to eat the super-expensive supplement, which has all sorts of joint lubricating properties and anti-inflammatory stuff so hopefully that’s helping. 

By the way, my sis asked a while back what I was doing about getting Dax to eat the supplement.  Well, mixing it with molasses, apple sauce or maple syrup all with pellet feed made no difference - she wouldn't touch the stuff!  The solution was mixing it with senior feed.  Senior feed is like horsey-crack….she’s probably eat ME if I were mixed with senior feed.  And the good news is that the senior feed is very safe in terms of not a ton of simple carbs that make her hyper, fat and prone to laminitis.  She only gets ½ lb once a day…it’s really just carrier for the supplement.  ½ lb might sound like a lot to a person, but remember we’re talking about a 1200lb horse. 

The horse-crack

As for dealing with my hairy social-climber, I’m anxiously awaiting delivery of some clickers and have got a book from the library on clicker training dogs.  I figure I can get some basic ideas from that, play around with it and see how Dax does.  If all goes well, I’ll pick up a clicker training book for horses (will have to buy, none at the library) and go from there!  Hopefully the clicker training will help re-enforce good behavior, respect and also give her some mental activity.  I know she’s just a horse, but c’mon, she’s got to be bored stiff!  She’s alone, in a small pen all day and all night.  Her interactions consist of two 20min visits from me just feeding, grooming and blanketing - not exactly stimulating interactions.  I’m hoping to avoid any more “work-outs” but keep that growing horse-ego in check.

In other news, we had a visitor yesterday in the form of a super cute brindle & white pitbull.  He was just laying in the cow field, clearly lost and confused.  Zack gave him the usual warm welcome ( Grrrrrr….) but Haley was quite polite.  He had a collar with his name and phone #.  He wasn’t a puppy, but was young and unfixed.  I called the number, found where he belonged and had to take him there b/c the owner was at work until 1am.  He was an AMAZING dog – totally polite and submissive to Zack and Haley, reading their body language and being cautious but not scared.  He knew sit and lie down, was very gentle taking treats, loved being scratched on and gave the cutest little kisses.  He was also underweight and kinda dirty, but had a very nice collar on.  He was quite hungry so I indulged lots of treats.  He listened to me almost immediately, played with Haley a little (she has a hard time playing since she can’t see the other dog…) and was happy to just chill in the living room while we waiting for the return call from his owners. 

Not exactly a perfect lock on that ball, eh?

I’m sorry, I’m going to be judgmental here, but owners who won’t fixed their dog, don’t feed it enough, exercise it enough, or even bother to keep it from roaming DO NOT DESERVE TO HAVE SUCH A SWEET NATURED DOG!!!! I soooooo could have kept that guy….it’s a really good thing he had a collar other wise it would have been straight to the SPCA with a hold under my name.  And yes, I probably would have been threatened with divorce by the hubby for getting yet another pet, but I’d bet a lot of money that this pup could have won him over – he was that sweet!  I know this dog’s situation is a small tragedy in a world full of tragedies, and there are many dogs way worse off.  But it still gets my hackles up.  Sorry I didn’t get a pic of him….he had a double brindle mask on his face with white all over and large brindle spots.  Sooooo cute!

In more pleasant other news....spring is clearly around the corner.  Look at the green!!!

Musings on Physics and feeling dumb

Physics is hard.  Actually, I’m embarrassed to admit that Algebra is hard.  Seriously, for the most part I get the concepts.  Opposite charged particles attract, like charges repel.  Forces acting at an angle are decomposed into x and y components.  Current running through a circuit is a function of voltage and resistance V = IR (and any charged capacitors present if you want to get fancy).  But you know what kills me?  Remembering how to add fractions with variables present.  I. Am. Math. Stupid.   

So I’ve never found math particularly fun.  It’s useful in lab for making solutions and I’ve found myself occasionally using it at home for budgeting and measuring equivalents in the kitchen.  But c’mon!!  How many folks have used anything beyond completely elementary algebra unless they were building something structural or making fancy repair parts for some machine (ehem, DAD you don’t count).  When was the last time you needed to add (1/x^3/2 + 2/x⁴ )???  (BTW, I had to look up exponent rules w/hubby to solve this….  x^2/3 + 2(x^-4) is as simplified as it gets.  I think.)  And who the heck uses sin and cos to determine angles in their everyday life???

My brain operates on the “Use it or Loose it” rule.  Sometimes I get the feeling mental capacity is limited, so whenever something new comes along that I need to know, out goes something I used to know but no longer use.  Talking with some intelligent people I know, I get the feeling this isn’t all that uncommon.  I’m beginning to suspect that the only thing different about those extra-obnoxiously smart people is their ability to keep MORE of the info they once learn on mental-hand, all the time.  Ever been around someone with photographic-ish memory?  It’s really annoying.  In this day and age of informational bombardment, I think our brains are re-wiring to have lots of info coming and going with very little of it “sticking”.  Who needs to (or wants to!) remember what Kim Kardashian is up to five years from now?  But that’s not so good for someone going back to school.   Or who wants to be a research professor.  I NEED information to stick for the long term.  

Unfortunately is stuff like this that inevitably makes me question my ability to be successful in research/academia/career.  I’m constantly surrounded by brilliant people, lots of whom I’ve seen struggle for exactly the kind of career I think I want.  Some days I believe I can do it – with more training and the focus brought by working towards a personal goal, I know I can solve meaningful questions and write good grants and WANT to be in lab for 10hrs a day.  Other days, I feel like a moron who doesn’t have the mental capacity nor work ethic to handle the incredibly competitive environment that is academic research.

Physics makes me feel like a moron.  

'Nother weekend, 'nother update - school

Hello!

So I've received a bit of feedback about posting....as in, post more often!  Well, I do have a very good excuse for not posting this past week - I had a physics exam on Thursday.  I probably should have thrown a heads up on the blog that I'd be MIA while I tried to cram, and in the future I will.  So have no fear, I'm alive, hubby is alive, and creatures are all OK.  My brain just hurts from the past week!  Also, I’ve got enough stuff to update on that I think I’ll make it multiple posts….so patience!!   

First, an update on school stuffs.  

I did get a rejection email from UC Davis as expected, so it makes going to Tech completely official!  Hubby and I will now officially begin the process of transition to Blacksburg.  I've had a few folks ask about how we're handling things, so here's the gist.  The DVM/PhD program is a minimum 7 years, and could easily be 8.  Seeing as Tech is in Blacksburg VA, which is over 2hrs away from Crozet, we will both be moving to Blacksburg and H. will find a new job.  It helps that he works in research, so going to a town with a large university means good job opportunities for him, relatively speaking.  Ideally, he wants to move into an environmental science lab (fresh water management particularly), but push comes to shove he can stay in his current field (microbiology).

Obviously this means we need new housing!  I love living in the country and having Dax at home, but I also recognize that for 7 yrs my priority is going to be my education.  Also, the dear H. HATES long commutes....as in would probably donate a kidney before he'd pick living with a long, traffic filled commute.  Anyway, the point is we're planning on finding a place "in town" so that we can bike to our respective jobs/classes.  I'll admit, he's converted me to the bike-commute.  If you've got the right bike and layers, it's wonderful!  Not having to worry about unexpected traffic or parking is a major factor, but of course the exercise, lack of pollution AND saving a bunch of money on gas and vehicle wear means it's a no brainer.  Yes, there is the risk factor of riding in traffic, but both H and I are extremely careful  - all safety equipment, obeying traffic rules, the whole 9 yards.  I realize this is no guarantee of safety, but I do believe risk can be minimized and the positives of bike commuting outweigh those risks.  So that means we're specifically looking for places with bike-friendly routes to the university.

When I say looking for places I mean we're primarily looking for rentals at this point.  We're still debating the buying vs renting thing.  The length of time we're likely going to be in Blacksburg means buying *might* make sense, but it's not like we know we'll be there for 15 or 30 years so....ugh!  Another tough decision.  I think we're going to talk to a realtor and probably a mortgage specialist about what makes sense - maybe rent for a year then buy?  The more cautious of my readers might say just rent and not worry about the responsibility of owning a house.  BUT have any of you had to find rentals with good landlords, that aren’t dumps, are reasonably priced AND allow two dogs and two cats?!?!?  I can tell you, they aren’t a dime a dozen.  I’ve been pretty lucky in the rental department and I realize it….I don’t like the idea of having crappy landlords that won’t get things fixed when they break and raise the rent with little warning.  It’s also frustrating to be gouged with extra pet fees because some idiots won’t give their pets flea control or prevent them from chewing on walls (our creatures get flea/tick preventative and don’t chew…..structural stuff at least).  Annnnyway, it’s clear I have NO IDEA what we’re going to do yet.  Happily, hubby is spear-heading this front since I’m so tied down with physics and getting the school stuff figured out.

Speaking of school stuff, I’m currently getting going on all of the fun paperwork and other crap starting a program like this entails.  I’ve got to contact everyone in every department to let them know I will be attending.  I need to find out exactly what I’ve got to do about the DVM acceptance since I’ll actually be completing two years of the PhD first.  I have to complete a graduate school (PhD) application as a formality, but that includes sending more transcripts AND recommendation letters…oh yea, and I also need to find a PhD mentor ASAP.  Minor details, you know.

Ok, so I realize this might make much more sense if I explain how this whole program is going to work.  Here’s an outline for those of you I haven’t filled in:

-       First two years PhD – classes, research in lab, must pass qualifying exam/thesis proposal (Summer 2011 thru Aug 2013)

-       Four years DVM, classes first 3yrs, clinical rotations 4^th year, do research for thesis during summer breaks, pass board exams  (Aug 2013 thru May 2017)

-       Complete PhD work, write and defend thesis (May 2017 thru May 2018-ish)

Wow.  2018.  Somehow I managed to sum up 7 years of busting my a$$ in three sentences, more or less.  Makes it sound easy, eh? 

Back to my point – the way they run their PhD program is that I have to contact professors who have labs and do research that I’m interested in.  I’ll meet with some to go over details of their work and get a feeling for compatibility; kind of like another interview.  Yipee.  But first I’ve got to review publication records and send out a bunch of emails to faculty – just because I’m interested in their work doesn’t mean they have space or money for a grad student (or will like me for that matter).  I will ultimately find SOMEONE who will take me J then I’ll figure out precisely when I’ll start this summer.  It could be as early as May 23^rd, but I’m hoping more like in June for sanity’s sake!  I mean, my physics class final is May 12^th – I don’t want to be packing and studying at the same time if I can help it!  More on the physics struggle later :-P 

In other news, the weather around here has been crazy.  We’ve had a really cold winter until just recently.  Yesterday was 75*!!!  Unfortunately is also been super dry.  That combination was mixed with high winds today and made for some disastrous wildfires.  There was a big fire not far from our house in Ivy and apparently there was another even closer on Brown’s Gap Turnpike.  Anyway, H. got some pics of the Ivy fire from the end of our driveway – I’d be way more concerned if the prevailing wind wasn’t driving the fire directly away from us.  Other fires in Louisa county to the east has caused evacuations and burned homes.  I know this is nothing compared to what So. California deals with, but then again this isn’t dry desert area.   

I know fire is a natural and important part of forest regeneration, but it's hard to watch.  

MAIL CALL!!!

I GOT ACCEPTED TO THE DVM/PHD PROGRAM!!!!

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*pant*pant*pant*

It's official, and the whole trajectory of my life changes.  I know it was likely after I got into the DVM program, but still.....you never know until you've got it on paper, and now I've got it on paper :-)

Tonight, hubby and I are celebrating at Duner's and I'm just going to revel in it.  Tomorrow I'll think about the fact that I'm celebrating getting to work my a$$ off for the next 7-8 yrs.  Celebrating getting to take many more extremely hard classes, board exams, qualifying exams and thesises.....oh, I have so much to look forward to!

The furry boredom

As mentioned before, I have photographic evidence of the general slothful atmosphere around the house these days.  (short days + freezing weather x sniffles = couch time)

 Snoozy Haley

Cato snuggles in H's lap.  Cato is normally super hi-strung.  We think it's likely due to her being of feral kitty stock, or she just might not be that bright :-).  Anyway, she seems to be mellowing a bit with age and has bouts of affection-ness.  To be honest, Sammy the snack and the dogs are so attention-needy that it's nice to have one creature who's a bit more independent.

Well, off to errands and studying.  No news yet from the mail....

Illness, waiting, and physics. Ugh.

So the lovely cold the hubby shared with me has followed the same path his did.  I thought I was feeling better on Monday so went to work....had long day at work....had physics homework kick my butt that evening....low and behold I was in worse shape Tuesday, stayed up half the night coughing and finally decided to drag my pitiful butt into the doctors yesterday.  So it's on the antibiotics and codeine syrup train now *sigh*.  And my voice has blown out from all the coughing so I sound ridiculous.  At least this didn't happen during my Tech interview, right?!? SILVER LININGS, DAMNIT!!

Unfortunately the cold happened just when I was supposed to be catching up on the physics reading and studying I had blown off while prepping for my interview....so now I feel doubly behind.  Not just feel, but am.  I am hereby taking control of the situation NOW.  From now on, I am cut off from TV during week nights  -  it's either reading/studying/working on physics, or doing dishes, or bed.  (You all might find me going to bed at 8:30pm from now on...).

Seriously though, one of my biggest problems is that after a long day working in lab, bouncing to and from class and what ever else, I'm POOPED in the evenings and find myself too often staring blandly at the TV until 10pm.  When I'm already kinda tired, all will power to shut off that soul-sucking electronic devil is washed away.  I realize that I still need to devote the majority of each weekend to physics studying and practice, but even if I get two pages read on the weeknights, that's something!!  Plus TV shows just make me wish I was thinner, witty-er and better dressed *sigh*

This actually leads into my hypothesis that TV is the root of all societal discontent....but that's for another post.

In other school news, I found out letters for the combined degree from Tech should have been mailed *today*.  I haven't gotten an email, and I don't know if they'll send one, but regardless I should get the letter pretty quickly.  Like tomorrow or Saturday.  Will keep ya posted!
I also found out that I should hear from UCDavis between the 14th and 18th...again, not holding my breath for this at all, but a decision one way or the other will just help solidify plans.  I mean, in the very far off chance I did get an interview at Davis, it would really complicate the decision making process.  The details are neither interesting nor pertinent until I find out, so I will spare you all.

Wish I had creature news, but don't.  All the furries are stable, and totally bored with Brian and I for being couch potatoes for so long.  I have a few pics I should probably get up but...yeah...been too busy coughing.  Dearest H. (H is for hubby) is getting much better, so hopefully life will return to happy normalcy soon.  Off to do a post-physics-lab quiz and split some cells.  Good times.

Procrastinating

Yes, I'm avoiding studying physics.  Blogging is so much more fun!!!  As a few of you know, I'm taking the second semester of undergrad physics as the final pre-req for vet school.  I probably should have pointed out that my admission to vet school is dependent on satisfactory completion of this class.  I think I can manage the C+ minimum requirement...I rocked the first semester....in 2003.  So I might be a bit rusty, but I have the advantage of 1) I actually think physics is pretty cool and generally get the concepts without too much difficulty 2) I can run crying to my Dad when I get confused about anything.....he's such a nerd :-)  Seriously, this class' focus is on electricity, circuits and magnetism which my Dad happens to LOVE.  I remember him trying to explain circuits and motors to me when I was about 11yrs old.  Needless to say that didn't stick.  Now his explanations of photosynthesis and creature anatomy did stick - a statement of how my brain is oriented rather than his teaching skills.  Dad, if you're reading this, I get nostalgic every time I'm in the physics building b/c they've got a big machine shop that makes the entire place smell like metal and coolant!!  

My biggest problem with physics is the math.  Yes, it's a problem.  Physics class isn't about the concepts so much as it's about being able to mathematically represent those concepts.  F=MA sound familiar?  Force = Mass x Acceleration.  Woo algebra and trigonometry!!!  I'm lucky that the department offers a non-calculus based physics seeing as my calculus background is weak (at best).  Those dusty parts of my brain are slowly re-activating....I really used to know how to do this stuff!!  However it's a clear statement of how little I use those skills (other than basic algebra) even in a graduate biomedical science degree/environment!

Well, I should get my rear in gear.  Unfortunately I'm not feeling any better than yesterday, and maybe even a little worse.   I'm thinking a hot bath might help with congestion and coughing.  Hubby is still a mess too.  The dogs just don't get it and I suspect are plotting their pack take-over once the current leaders are weakened enough.  Now if they just didn't need us to open the dogfood canister.....  

BIG update...and a few smaller ones

Well, most folks have already heard, but I did receive an acceptance letter from VaTech's DVM program Tuesday evening.

WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!

Honestly, I wish I could say that I jumped around and shrieked so loud the entire 7 floors of my building heard me, but my biggest response was simply relief.  After 8 years of saying "I'm going to go to vet school"  I actually AM going to vet school :-)  But I'm still waiting to hear from the combined degree committee about an official offer from them - I should hear either way sometime in the next 10 days.

I did celebrate that evening with a few friends, some of which I hadn't seen in a while but we were all very adult and I was home to my sick hubby by 9:30pm.

Speaking of which, it was a huge bummer that he was too sick to celebrate with me.  I don't think I've seen him hit by a cold/virus this hard since we've been together!  He went to the doctor without me suggesting it!!  Poor guy felt that bad.  They gave him a Z-pack (kick-butt antibiotics) on Wednesday, and he's STILL sick :-(  It's pretty clear he's had a virus, but definitely developed sinus/chest secondary infections.

Considering how sick he is, it probably comes as no surprise to anyone that I've caught it and am currently on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, nursing a ginger ale.  I started feeling crummy Thursday evening and woke up at 3am running a fever.  I was totally wiped out yesterday and woke up this morning to a raging sinus headache, but as of this evening (Saturday evening) I'm actually feeling a bit better.  I hope laying low tomorrow means I'll be alright by Monday....but the hubby's cold has been dragging on for 6 days now, so we'll see.  I'm gobbling vit C, eating carefully and keeping fluids up so I can't do much else!!

Of course being sick doesn't mean I get off horse poo-patrol.  Ah the joys of having pony-butt at home!  All I get is a slightly more frantic neigh in the morning as I walk too slowly to the shelter with her breakfast.  Dax has managed to eat all the old grass in her pen area, so she's gotten more attentive to breakfast and dinner.  I actually let her out in the 90acre pasture yesterday - she had two incidences of galloping, but they were pretty much short-ish spooks and otherwise she was eating very peacefully.  I realize the running around is NOT good for her stifle, but it was kept to the very minimum.  I haven't tried to trot her out carefully to asses the lameness, but she'll sometimes take a funny step that makes it clear to me it's still sensitive/sore.  As it was, she was SOOOOO happy being out in the bigger field and eating all afternoon....I wasn't worried about the eating since all she's getting is last year's dead/dormant grass.  I kept her in the pen today because of the two running instances....if she hadn't run at all, I probably would have let her out again.  Speaking of this reminds me to bring up my rehab ideas.

Dax's Rehab Plan
All the instruction I got from the vet for rehab was "Wait sixty days, then put her back into light work and see how she feels".  Riiiiiiight.  Seems to me that the definition of "light work" is pretty variable.  In addition to this, after a recent backpacking excursion I realized how much extra weight can stress/strain muscles and connective tissue.  I just don't feel like it's a great idea to take Dax from layup pen to being ridden, even lightly.  Also, I'll be so out of riding shape that I wouldn't be much help!!  So here's my plan:
1.  Turn her out for 2 weeks in the full 90 acres.  If she come up lame just doing her normal stuff on her own, then I definitely know she's not ready for more work.
2.  Assuming she passes #1, I'll start taking her on conditioning "walks".  Literally, like a dog on a leash, I'll start taking her for walk/jogs at the park across the street with some nice hills for strength building/cardio.  This solves both my and her problems :-)  This is also a good way to introduce trotting without stressing things too much (hopefully).  Again do this work for a good 2-3 weeks, depending on her response.  Any signs of soreness takes us back to another 30 days off.
3.  If all else goes well, now I will introduce gentle trail riding, just walking and some easy hills will still doing work in hand.  Maybe add in some lunging to have her work in a smaller circle and work on flexibility.  I'll probably also re-introduce some easy dressage flexion, bending and easy stuff.  I'm thinking riding just 2x a week to start, working up from there.
4.  Ultimately work back into a solid 4x week of dressage and trail conditioning for 3 months.
5.  I'll consider her completely recovered if she can manage all that without soreness, and we'll get back into jumping.

If everything goes along smoothly (HA!!) that will probably take us into moving time....end of July or so.  Of course it never goes smoothly, there will be set backs and we might not even get past step 1.  The inevitable move will pretty much force a riding "vacation".  Depending on where I go (remember, still waiting to hear from UCDavis) will dictate how long that is.  Regardless of where Dax is in work, I think a couple weeks off won't hurt her in the least.

The whole rehab process is going to be a daily re-evaluation process.  At the slightest hint of soreness, I'll have to back track and keep a close eye on her.  It's pretty frustrating that I have no way of evaluating Dax's recovery other than by her level of discomfort.  This is especially problematic b/c she's not terribly sensitive.....she's always had a high pain tolerance (no prob w/ shots!!).  That just means more attentiveness on my part, but I have a tendency to second guess myself :-P  THIS IS WHY I NEED TO GET TO VET SCHOOL ASAP!!!

Meanwhile, I'm investing in some clicker training books and clickers and I'm going to see if I can teach her to lay down....I've got to do something horsey to keep me sane!!  Besides picking up poo.  That doesn't count.

No updates at the moment

So after announcing to lots of people (or at least my sister and Judi :-) that I would hear from Tech today, of course I didn't.  Actually, I did get an email around 8pm stating that there had been a scoring issue which had delayed sending out the offers until tomorrow around 5pm.  The email did apologize for any stress which was caused.

I appreciated that because I WAS FREAKING STRESSED!!!  Seriously, I checked my email spastically as often as I could all day.  Trying to focus in physics class on electrical potential and U = EA was really challenging.  C'mon, a single email is going to dictate whether or not a major move happens in about 7months, not to mention my career path for the rest of my life!!!

So as much psychic crap as I'm piling up on this decision, I should probably let everybody know that there are some good back-up plans/alternatives that still take me in the career direction I want to go (career direction => furries).

First off, I also applied to UC Davis' DVM/PhD program (although they refer to it as the VSTP - Veterinary Scientist Training Program.  Spiffy!)  I won't hear ANYTHING from them until closer to the middle of Feb.  As in I don't know if I'll get an interview, much less an offer.  Being out of state, the chances are much worse than the chances of wining the 164 million jackpot.  Seriously worse.  It was probably a waste of money to apply......I applied to NC State's and Colorado State's combined degree programs but didn't get interviews.

Now the other possibilities are to do a PhD only, first.  I've applied to  Colorado State's Micro program in the veterinary college, and I've applied to UVa.  Yeah, I know0 UVa doesn't have a vet pro52gra.......ok, that was the Sam.  He's decided he needs0.111111111111111  Get off!!!!  Ugh, he's decided he needs love so bad that typing is unacceptable.  He's swatting my hands as we speak.  Er, as I type.  Whatever!

Maybe he's letting me know I'm running on?  Anyway, long story short I'll do a PhD first if I have to, then reapply to vet programs.  And UVa is a viable option because 1) It's a great program with really good faculty and research 2) I've already completed 99% of the course work 3) I do like having easy access to Gearhart's chocolates, at least 6 wineries and 3 breweries all in 20 mile radius.  Crozet rocks :-)

All those are decisions to be made after I get more information (as in an offer or rejection!!) and I'm not worrying about it now.  Off to bed and hopefully some sleep......*sigh*

ps- came home to a sick hubby.  He'd been off at a conference and brought back a present!!  Yippee!!  I'd rather he not share this particular present......poor guy :-(