End of Summer

Summer is almost over and I haven't done half the things I put on my list to complete before school starts again.

I did manage to make some soap the old fashioned, Granny Clampet way, using beef tallow and lye. I can't get over how easy it is and the fact that hardly anybody does it anymore. The biggest disadvantage I can see is that it takes weeks to cure and most of us don't plan that far ahead when it comes to soap. Next I think I'll try making cheese; and if I'm lucky the girl I'm going to buy the raw milk from might just let me milk the cow.

Rocky was gone tuna fishing a couple weeks ago so I had to water the garden where I found this not so little guy hanging out in the beans:

We also have a snake hanging out in the cucumbers, but I didn't think he was cute enough to take his picture.

Here is a shot of me and Carly on the Sea Doos. She absolutely loves them. She's been on them twice now and is difficult to keep off them when she sees them. She does wear a life jacket. We get going pretty fast, but not as fast as I can go without her. I have to slow down when it gets bumpy because she can't really hold on, she just presses harder against me.

New Adventures

I heard a celebrity say recently that every summer you should try something new. I can't remember who said it, but I liked it and thought it sounded like a good idea. I was able to do just that already this summer. In fact, I did two new things in the same weekend. One I would classify as fun, the other as disgusting. A couple of weeks ago, on a Friday, I got to ride a Sea Doo for the first time. I was getting kind of late in the evening so we didn't spend much time on them, and I could see that they would take some practice learning how to drive them well, but it was fun. Carly was with us and she really wanted to get on one with me, but she didn't have a life jacket yet. I'm hoping we'll be able to ride them again soon so Carly can try now that she has her own life jacket.

The other new thing I did that Sunday was get a tick off Carly. It was so gross. I have no idea how long it had been on her, but the body was about a quarter of an inch long. After several unsuccessful attempts pulling it off with tweezers and trying burnt out match tips I used a string with a slip knot in it. I cinched it down around the tick as close to Carly's skin as possible and then pulled so her skin formed a tent. After holding tension on it like that for about five minutes I tugged a little bit harder and the thing came off with a small, thin circle of skin attached. It was a pretty slick method I had read about on the internet that allows you to apply as much resistance as you like without the fear of squeezing the body. The entire tick came off and we didn't have to dig any parts out.

If I can get these images to load I want to share photos of this night blooming plant as it blooms. Our friend Ricky gave me a start of Sacred Datura and I watched one of the flowers bloom

the other night. Now this tells you just how dull my life is when I get all excited over watching a flower bloom, but it was exciting. I could actually see the thing opening up it went so fast. Ricky has been raising these for a few years and he got his original seeds from his sister in Mississippi.

Swim Lesson

Last weekend was the weekend between my two 4-week chemistry classes so we took Carly out to Fern Ridge Lake for swimming lessons. It's funny, I never had to teach a dog how to swim before, but Carly needed lessons.

The bottom where we were had a nice gentle slope and Carly eagerly followed me out which surprised me; I thought I would have to drag her, but she was brave. It started getting interesting when it got deeper than her on all fours. At this point she started paddling with her front legs, but she kept walking on the bottom with her hind legs. When it started getting too deep to do that her head kept going under. After setting her straight a few times she caught on and was swimming on her own, back and forth between me and Rocky.

She really seemed to enjoy it, but also enjoyed taking a break now and then:

Now I'm back in school for another three weeks learning about the shapes of atoms and molecules and the energy levels within them. These Summer courses are really intense, but interesting. Turns out that the teacher I have for this class also teaches at Thurston and Springfield High schools. We've been comparing notes on some of the people we both know.

1st Week of Summer Term

The first week of my first Summer class is over. I'm taking a four week course of General Chemistry I followed by a four week course of General Chemistry II. They call this "Gen Chem Boot Camp"; you can take a full year of Chemistry in one Summer term. Each class is four days per week, five hours per day. I am not signed up for the third class, I'm not going to need it for the program I'm planning to go through. This first week was tough. I get home from school, do homework for a while, take care of chores, more homework, fix dinner, and then depending on what is due the next day and how tired I am either do more homework, watch an hour of tv, or go straight to bed. My dog is bored with me, but Rocky always knows where to find me; sitting at the dining room table with all my books and papers spread out like a warm breakfast.

Back to studying. My first exam is Monday.

Another Term Down

An entire term has gone by since my last post. Yes, time goes by in terms for me now rather than days, weeks, or months.

This term I completed the third class of Anatomy and Physiology. It is always a tough class, but so interesting to learn how our systems work as well as malfunction. I also signed up for Off Loom Fibers which I quickly dropped when I found out that the college I'm planning to apply to does not accept studio art course credits. I am definitely not artsy fartsy enough for this class. When Rocky saw some of the projects we were required to do he asked me if marijuana was one of the supplies needed. It was really weird.

This weekend I am frantically carding fiber and preparing for my booth in the Black Sheep Gathering trade show at the Lane County Fairgrounds next Friday through Sunday. It is always a fun show in between the hard work of set up and tear down.

The day after the show I start Summer classes. It is hard to believe that I've already been in school for a year. That's right, last Summer was my first term back. I have my courses planned for the next four terms and then I should be ready to apply to the Medical Technology program next Summer.

This past Thursday I was able to get in a day of observation at Peace Health Lab here in Springfield. Wow, it is a fascinating place! There are so many different areas where a technologist can specialize. There is this one system there that looks kind of like a train set. It has a track that the test tubes travel on. There are several machines hooked up to the track. Each tube has a bar code that has information about the patient and the tests ordered by its doctor. As the tube travels along the track and approaches one of the machines a scanner reads the code, if that is one of the ordered tests the tube travels into the machine where it draws out the amount of blood it requires before sending the tube on its way down the track. If that is not one of the ordered tests the tube travels onto the next machine. It is pretty cool. I was amazed over and over again all day long. The experience just gave me a huge boost of motivation about school. I am begining to truely believe that I was meant to be a lab tech.

Before signing off I have to show you Carly photos. She has a new past time:

Four wheeling!

You can't tell me that isn't the face of a happy dog.

She won't ride the four wheeler with Rocky because she knows she needs a helmut for that, so she just sticks to the trailer when he's driving.

She tries so hard to get the kitties to play with her, but they're just too old and grouchy.

Today she figured out how to open our back door to let herself in. The knob on that door is the lever kind. I suppose we're going to have to teach her how to close it now.

I almost forgot. Remember that fly rod I built for Rocky at an ODFW workshop? Well, Sharon and I went to another ODFW workshop a couple of weekends ago. We spent three days taking four hour classes at a Mennonite church camp near Lincoln City. I took Woman v. Wild, GPS/Map/Compass, Fly Tying, and Archery. The accomodations were comfortable, the people were friendly, and the classes were quite informative. It was a really fun weekend.

16th Anniversary Vacation Photos

Now that I've learned how to upload photos from my new camera here is a brief run down on our trip:

We spent a week on Ambergris Caye, Belize with a group of friends. The weather was perfect and the company even better. One of the more relaxing vacations I've had in a long time. The only down side was that our resort was a long boat ride from everywhere we wanted to go.

On the day Rocky went bonefishing I went to see one of the Mayan ruins with other people in our party. I think Rocky really missed out on this. It started with a long boat ride across the sea to a river. In the sea we had a bottle nose dolphin encounter that was a real treat. The guide stopped the boat and the dolphin swam all around us.

In the river we saw a Jesus Christ bird:

Named for its ability to walk on water using the lily pads.

Oops; this photo is out of order. It is a bird that hung out at our resort.

Here is what our boat ride looked like as we rode through the mangroves:

Somewhere along the river we got off the boat, onto a bus for a long bus ride, and then onto another boat for another long boat ride up another river where we saw interesting plants and birds:
This is a barge built by Mennonites. The Queen of England invited them to Belize in the 1950's because of their ability to farm, weld, and construct. Apparently they have been a great asset to the country.

This plant was at the ruins:

Another photo out of order. This is a hermit crab that lived under the steps to our cabana during the day and came out in the evening making what looked like bicycle tire tracks in the sand.

At the ruins Will and I were the only ones to climb one of the structures. It was a lot of fun and we both appreciated that the other was there to enjoy it and not be the only one holding up the rest of the group.Our bus ride included Evelyn, the bus driver's 2.5 year old daughter:

Here's Will passing out rum punch, trying to get us all drunk on the way back.

Here's the group from the ruins trip. From left to right around the table: Dick and Deanna, John, Clella, me, Will, Pat, and Marlis.

I did that geeky thing of taking my own picture in the mirror to show you my hair after a day in the salty Belize wind:
A braid was a must. If I lived there I would probably have to keep my hair short. Every evening I had to spend extra time combing and ripping knots out of my hair.

Several of us were celebrating anniversaries on this vacation so on our last night the resort baked us a cake and decorated it with the ingredients they had on hand.

Back home. Here's Rocky, Lera, and Carly having a visit:

Just a Quick Post

I'm studying for two exams this week so I don't have much time for blogging, but I wanted to tell you all about a movie on HBO right now called "Temple Grandin". It is about an autistic woman who was able to get through college (I think she even got her Doctorate) and became instrumental in the designs of American slaughter houses. I was fortunate enough to see her speek at an alpaca conference a few years ago; it is something I will never forget. The movie is a must see for everybody.

Back to my Chemistry homework.