Busy week

Last weekend was the Fathers Day race and this weekend was Andrews graduation and the Quarter Horse show in Sussex, NB. Work has also been busy with some different things coming in (a black bear, pot belly pig, some ortopedic surgery, etc).

My first race went fairly well. I finished, which was the main thing :) My plan of slow and steady worked out nicely, the last hill was the most difficult! Here are a couple photos:




I can't believe my little brother graduated from high school! I feel old LOL Here are a few from Andrew's graduation some by me and others by Chris:




On Sunday I drove to Sussex to take in a day of Quarter Horse showing :) I only had my little camera but got a few shots that I was pleased with. It was the perfect day for it, not hot and not raining! Lots of lovely horses and good competition. I can't wait to get back into it !!

Now for a more detailed post...

It was a long awaited arrival for the large envelope to be delivered from AVC. I've wanted this for as long as I can remember... And having gone through three attempts to get in, all the hard work finally paid off! In four years I will be Dr. Power :) Sounds kind of foreign!

I'm still in a bit of shock. There is so much to do this summer to get ready to go to school I have to get out of my apartment in Truro, move my stuff (somewhere... home? PEI?), find a place to live, get a student loan, a bunch of other paperwork to do,figure out when I'm moving back... etc. etc.

And THEN comes the hard part. I have 8 courses per semester for the first year... I have about 2 weeks off for Christmas, and two days for spring break (2 days!)... the rest of the time will be spent with my nose in the books and probably a mental breakdown or two. LOL I know its going to be harder than anything I've ever done, but its what I've always wanted. And it will be worth all of the blood, sweat, and tears in the end!!

I can't wait!!!!

This is just a quick post, but I had to share the news...



I'm going to vet school!!!!!!



I still don't believe it... But I can't wait til the Fall! :)

End of May

It has been a while since I posted, but a lot has happened and I have been very busy!

The trip over to PEI went very smoothly. I drove all of the way except onto and off of the ferry, and I only stalled when I got into downtown Charlottetown at 5pm! I've settled into my old residence with two of my old roomates and one new one. I have the "closet" room, but it is sufficient for the 4 weeks I will be here. If I had brought all of my stuff, it would be a different story!

My AVC interview went very well. I got many compliments from the interviewers about how they were impressed with how much I have changed in the past 2 years, and how they hope to see me in the fall :) Obviously they don't not get final say over who gets in, its all controlled by numerical ranking of your whole application. But I am hoping my connections will pay off in having the upper hand on the interview this year, where most people were probably not aware of the changes. I will find out next week hopefully... keep your fingers crossed!

My externship is divided up each day into a new department. Occasionally we get to repeat a department. We also have a few planned talks or special events planned. I've enjoyed getting to observe some cool cases, but am a bit disappointed that we haven't been able to do much hands on work.

My driving skills have been improving, it is getting to be a habit and I don't have to think so much about the clutch vs gas etc. I am lucky to be able to borrow Dad's car ;)

I have been able to get into a running routine, since I no longer have a horse to take care of/ride. Its kind of a nice distraction from everything going on. This week I have built up to 4 miles, which is closer to my goal :) I may not be fast, but I like being able to finish without walking.

Tonight I start my night shifts, which I am not really looking forward to. I am afraid it will be very boring and I will be falling asleep. Is it wrong to hope that emergencies come in??

One more week!

I have one week until my vet school interview! I am excited and nervous about it... I know I have the best chance that I've ever had, and if things go well in the interview I will have a good shot at getting in. I have been practising answers to behavioural questions, and trying to come up with strong examples of experiences that show my good qualities and that I have thought about these experiences. Some of the types of questions are really difficult and hard to come up with examples... especially if you were put on the spot! But I think my 9 pages of questions should prepare me for just about anything they could ask me... and I can always modify my examples to suit the questions being asked.

Can't wait!! :)

Thea left Saturday, and I have been feeling a little odd about it. I am used to going to the barn and doing 1-2 hours of chores every day. I didn't mind that actually, I enjoyed it. So it is weird not being able to do that anymore. I have a lot more free time, and can be more flexible (I used to have to decline doing anything when it was supper time for Thea). But I still wish she was here...

I've started running more again. I'm back up to about 30 minutes. I have a map of a race course for a 5K that I have been doing, which is a loop from around the campus, up college rd, across to pictou rd and back. I've done the loop both ways, since I figure its good to have some variety. I like knowing how far I've actually gone in comparison to how long I've been running. I actually did the whole loop in 35 minutes tonight :) Something to improve on! Although I will be leaving on Saturday for PEI, so I will have to come up with a new route... I could use the confederation trail, as it has Km markings, but its not really a loop, rather a straight line...

That is all for now! I will update with pictures of our adventure with the car and trip to PEI this weekend!!

Last day with Thea

Thea is leaving today for Fredericton for a month trial. So yesterday I recruited a photographer to do a mini photo shoot, and get all dressed up :) Here are the results...

Zoo trip!

Our class had a field trip today to the Oaklawn Farm Zoo in the valley, NS. We had a great time, with a couple personal tours! First was the reptile house where we got to handle some snakes and see some endangered turtles.



Then we wandered around to see zebras, a "zonkey" (half zebra, half donkey), camels, lamas, alpacas, lemurs, mokeys etc. When we reached the barn and farm animal section we noticed a goat in labour and almost got to see the birth! But then she was taken into the barn.

There was aso a goat that looked ready to explode... poor thing!






After that excitment we were ushered off to a personal tour of the big cats. We went through the outer cage section and within reach of the big cats. First were the panthers, and we were allowed to touch them through the cage!!








Next were the cougars... ( no good pics, sorry!)

Then Tigers...





The Jaguars...




And finally the Lions! our tour guide even went in with the pride and gave one of the boys a good scratch under the chin. The reason she could do this was because she raised all of these cats from cubs, so they are used to human interaction. Very cool!

April Update

Half way through the month! Exams went uneventfully, should get our marks back next week. We're halfway through our first week of intersession. I'm really enjoying the hands on stuff, and we are being kept very busy. I've gotten to take blood from a kitty and IV injections (under anaesthetic). Next week I am scheduled for surgery assistant monday, anesthesia tuesday, and surgery assistant thursday :) And I got the only dog for the anesthesia, so I will get to try and intubate!! Can't wait...

Also exciting is my recent ebay purchase. Not quite as exciting as my saddle, but none the less well anticipated. I got a stethoscope. Not just any stethoscope, but a Littman Master Cardiology... and of course in blue. LOL Here is a picture of the pretty beast:



Here is what they say about it:

The Littmann® Master Cardiology™ stethoscope offers a handcrafted stainless steel chestpiece with the portable convenience of a single-sided stethoscope. The tunable diaphragm conveniently alternates between low- and high-frequency sounds with a simple pressure change on the chestpiece.

Additionally, the stethoscope comes with a special procedures adaptor for difficult site or pediatric auscultation

This should be more than adequate for a vet tech, and good if I do anything beyond that! ;) And I got it at half the price of regular retail in Canada. I love ebay!

Classes are finally over! We made it through "Anatomy Week" with 3 tests in Anatomy. Now all thats left are 4 final exams next week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We had a surprise birthday celebration party for one of our instructors, Chas, our last day. It was fun not to do school work!





Here is a picture of our mock emergency with "Fluffy". We had to do CPR and draw up emergency drugs etc. Our instructor also acted as the "distraught client" LOL. It was fun :)



Last night we went out to Damascus to celebrate with pizza,Chocolate Eruption cake, and a few drinks :)





I've been getting quite a few rides in the past couple weeks. Thea is going great! I was able to get some pics and a couple videos. Its great to see how far we've come since September!

St. Patty's Day, etc.

I've been a bit busy with school and everything else, I didn't get a chance to post St. Patty's Day pictures until now. It was a great trip to Halifax, thanks to Liz and Michelle! I definately needed to have some fun time away from Truro.


Dave looking a bit spaced out, Liz and me.


Green beer! (not that I was drinking it, yuck!)


Steve singing to Dave...


Sandra and Liz


Statler in his attire


Liz and Michelle


Liz and I


Me and the boys


Not sure whats going on here...

And now there are only 2 weeks left of classes! And then we have 4 exams in 3 days. Should be stressful times. I'm still waiting to hear from a vet clinic for my externship... it would be nice not to worry anymore :(

But more importantly, I got an interview to AVC!!! :) Wish me luck, three times should be a charm :P