"I like that dog.....

.....because if you get tired, you can ride it!"

This was the comment I got from a local fisherman while Dax and I crossed the small spillway in Mint Springs park two weekends ago.  Dax merely looked at him for a moment, then went back to sea-weed eating.  This is her thing - that spillway collects weeds from the lake and she LOVES them.  I don't know if there is something in the plants she likes or if it's just that they are always juicy, either way she pulls me towards the spillway where ever we go by.

So I'm alive, Dax is well and we're following the rehab plan so far.  It's only been two weeks of walks (and not every day) but she's doing great.  She also digs all the attention.....nothing like walking a horse past a playground.  I swear she sucks up to kids....snuffling hands and pockets, licking, making funny faces.  And to think the lady I bought her from got rid of her b/c she thought Dax didn't like children!  Apparently one of the lady's kids had "bumped" Dax with a four-wheeler, and Dax had stomped or shaken her head at the child in response.

Clearly the horse is at fault here. *cough* *sputter*

In other news the last two weeks have been CRAZY but with not terribly interesting stuff, ergo the lack of updates.  Neither time nor much fun to say.  The main highlights are:

1) Had my second physics exam and it went WAY better than the first....I ran out of time on the first one and had to guess on 5 problems.  Had plenty of time in the second one b/c I was much more prepared, both by the first exam and simply refining study methods.  But once again I was up until 2am a few nights in a row cramming.

2) Got to Blacksburg this past Friday and met with profs and looked at houses.  Nothing was decided, and there are clearly more trips in our future.  My priority right now is to find a mentor/lab ASAP so then I can figure out a start date, then we'll know exactly when we'll be moving.  Hubby has meanwhile been busy applying for new jobs all over the place, so please keep your fingers crossed for him.  Of course he's super qualified, has excellent references, is hard working and responsible and generally a great guy but I get the impression none of that is a job guarantee in this economy.  Oh, and I might be slightly biased :-)

That's really all the excitement....otherwise my life was completely consumed by lab work and class work.  Lab has been rough b/c we're super busy with a project and then one of the main people I work with got sick and was out for 3 days, leaving me to pick up the slack and push all of my other stuff back.  And physics just sucks.  It's a ton of work and time - I know I signed up for this and I'm trying not to be a whiner, but exam weeks are pretty rough, especially when they coincide with going out of town and needing to prepare to interview with four professors for lab positions.

I'm going to stop right there before I begin to rant.  Have got some pics to share and more details, so more posts to come soon, I promise.  Rest will make Cat a much happier blogger.

Personal and Pony updates

I'm slowly re-joining the land of the living.  For those of you who don't know, I had minor surgery on Wed. It was no big deal, except that Tuesday I came down with a head cold.  Major stuffiness, sinus congestion, headache, all that fun stuff, but no fever or chest involvement.  So it was up in the air as to whether surgery would go ahead.  However, I still had to follow the pre-surgical rules of no food/liquids after 12midnight the night before and obviously no medications.  The surgery was scheduled for about 3pm, so you can imagine I was feeling great  - thirsty, hungry, tired, totally congested and generally feeling sick and facing anesthesia & surgery for the first time.  Good times!!  The surgery did go ahead as planned, all went well and the head cold is on its way out.  It's like killing two birds with one stone in a sense, as I was going to be stuck on the couch for a couple of days one way or the other!

The couch time has also coincided with some seriously nasty weather - lots and lots of cold rain!!  I'm sure most folks have heard about the tornados in the south and flooding all over the place.   Here in Crozet, we've got pretty good mountain drainage so flooding wasn't an issue, but everything is pretty soggy.  Like standing water in the fields soggy.  That being said, we're way behind in precipitation so the soggy it not a bad thing...I'm imagining underground aquifers re-filling as I type :-)  Pony squishes where ever she walks like she's got wet tennis shoes on, and there are a lot of doggie foot prints on the kitchen linoleum.  The grass is greening at a ridiculous pace....I see a grazing muzzle in someone's future (and a lawnmower in mine).

In pony news, I rigged up a toy a little while back to try to entertain her hairy-ness whilst she was still penned up.  It led to some serious concern and an interesting discovery.

The contraption is very simple, just an old apple cider jug with large holes cut in it, hung by the handle at pony-nose height.  See:

Stuff treats in those holes, and Dax gets to bop it around to get the treats out....it really does take a bit of bopping to get them out, and I watched her mess with it for a good bit of time the first day I put it out.  I'm thinking "Great!!  She's bright enough to figure this out and will hopefully keep herself busy messing with it for a bit each day!".  Horsey people are probably thinking "Yeah right, she's going to figure out she can grab it and pull it down with her teeth in about two seconds."  And we're both wrong.  Second day out, I put treats in it, and she completely ignores the contraption.  I come back that evening, and they haven't been touched.
Seriously....fresh cut carrots and Mrs. Pasture's horse cookies....untouched.  
My god, is she colicking?!??!?
No, she's just fine. I get a friendly nuzzle and she dives into her evening hay.  No signs of distress what-so-ever.  Hmmm.
This goes on for a few days.  I shake it, let her eat what drops out, she snuffles my hand as I put the cookies in the jug....and proceeds to ignore it.

I get the worried suspicion that my horse is, well, stupid.

As I've mentioned before, she's trusting to a fault, thinks pretty much the world is her oyster, all humans are good and she has the least play drive I've seen in any horse, ever.  Play in animals is often considered a sign of intelligence....it's often the first step in learning.

Oh dear lord, I think my horse is simple.

OK, can this really be true?  How does one tell??  Generally when one thinks of a stupid horse, we think of one that doesn't understand simple riding cues, or is scared of every thing, or is easily overwhelmed to the point of emotional melt-downs.  But these all depend on the horse having a functional fight-flight response, right?  (And I want to note that often these "stupid" horses are just very sensitive or simply high-strung and need a calm leader they can trust to excel.  It's really the people who are stupid and don't see what the horse needs.)  Anyway, the above described horse has to be smart enough to be scared of things like a normal prey animal.  What if my horse is so simple-minded that she isn't even scared of things for her own good???

I'm mulling over this possibility when my training clickers arrive.  Right, here's a test - will she get the click-equals-treat thing and can I mold a behavior with her, or will she fail miserably and prove to me once and for all that I actually own a special needs equine?

I have tried to teach her to bow previously by tempting her with a treat between her front legs - this is a no brainer, because her nose/mouth just follow the treat as I lower it to her knees.  But I wanted to see if I could get her to do it without the lure, and on command.  I follow the basic instructions of simply introducing the clicker "click" followed with a treat.  Let's see if she can figure out that the click means "at treat is coming".
Click, wait a second, treat.  Dax loves this game.
Click, wait 5 seconds, treat.  Dax thinks the treat must be in the other hand.  Tries to eat the clicker.  Finally gets her treat.  "Geez, what's with the 5 seconds mom?"
I do this for a minute or two  - it's pretty clear she gets the click and treat connection.  That or she can detect treat molecules on me and won't leave my side till she's inhaled every one.

Ok, time to up the stakes.  I don't do anything, and wait for an interesting behavior, something like a bow.  This is as simple as her dropping her nose to the ground or her leg.  As it turns out, nose to the ground is the first thing she does.  I click immediately and shove a cookie in her mouth.  Her ears are glued on me and I can almost hear the gears spinning behind her bright brown eyes.  She tries gently nudging me, looks around, then drops her nose again.  I manage to click while her head is dropping (you always click while the behavior is happening - timing is key).  'Nother cookie.
I swear she smiles at me.
She drops her head.
Click - cookie.
She drops her head again.

She learned to bow in three clicks.  A few more, and she was basically doing it on command.

I'm not worried Dax is simple anymore.  I'm now worried that she's so smart, she thinks the treat-jug is boring and frustrating, and will likewise ignore any of my other home-made toy ideas.  Crap.  

Still alive...

Hello!

Yes, I'm still alive and fine, as are all the creatures.  I'm sorry to have neglected the blog, I just can't seem to get on top of my other duties and thus have no time for "fun" stuff.  For example, I spent ALL DAY Sunday filling out an application to VaTech's graduate school - it's a formality since I've been accepted into the DVM/PhD program (i.e. I'm pretty sure they just want the application fee!).  Anyway, I'm thinking to myself "Oh, this will only take a few hours because I've already got essays and CV and all that together...."  That was my first mistake.  First, my CV needed just a few tweaks.  Then it turns out they wanted a description of past research experience and future research goals.....er, yeah.  Don't have that one.....so tack on another three hours to write up an intelligible and grammatically correct research history.  Oh, and they also want separate transcripts for undergrad and grad work.  Add another hour of fighting with adobe to try to split a .pdf document only to realize I can't b/c it's locked.  There was a break thrown in for me to go outside and check on the pony in the pouring rain, but that counts as part of my lunch break!!

Anyway, just as all that was done and submitted and the fee was paid, our power died.  So much for internet!  And thus so much for blogging plans.  But have no fear, I have stories and pictures to share which shall be up shortly.  Actually, you can brace yourselves for blogging bonanza as I've got a bit of time off this week and will be spending lots of it on the couch :-)  Yea for spring break!!

Be back soon.

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.