Soccer Balls

We've had a brief respite in our crazy schedules...last weekend we both worked/went to school Saturday morning and had Sunday off...which gave us a whole day and a half to spend together! It was wonderful! We went to the Museum of Natural Science to see the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit, got to spend some time with our neighbor we miss so much who was in town visiting and go to the Dynamo game...

where for the first time since he joined the league David Beckham actually played in the Dynamo vs. Galaxy matchThen this weekend was Intern Retreat in the Woodlands...which meant all interns got to not work from Friday at 2pm to Sunday at 2pm! It did include some lectures and exciting team building activities...but also included significant others and free time at a nice resort and meant I got to miss part of my Friday call! (Unfortunately I left the camera in the car the whole time.) Now going back to work tomorrow will be hard.

However, now the count down to my scheduled vacation begins...only 16 days and 2 calls to go!

Working

That's really all we have been doing...and it is keeping us quite busy. Jake is also very busy with school; but he likes it a lot, so that part is good.

I have survived my first call month! And now am on to the next...
I will be very glad when November comes and I get a break from working 30 hours straight every 4th day and spending the night in the hospital.

Otherwise, no new news from us...

Growth

things i've been growing this year...

basil plant-which has produced much yummy pesto, zucchini plant, and a pepper plant; all in the new planter built by jake :)

first zucchini flowerscrazy yellow cherry tomato vine that looks dead...but keeps growing and growing and growing

roses

succulentsnow a monstrous zucchini plants that keeps falling over when it rains
baby red pepper baby zucchini
new fall tomato plants

The Last Golden Weekend

This past weekend was my last golden weekend (meaning I was off both days of the weekend) for quite a while, so we thought we would take advantage of it and do something fun to enjoy it. So we packed up the dogs and took a short roadtrip to Corpus Christi to hang out on the beach. Jake and Battlecat driving...unlike Kelsey, BC is not a big fan of the car, she seems to get carsick and prefers to look out the front window when we're in the car
First we headed to Mustang Island where there was a lot of beach and not too many people...so we had lots of room for the dogs to run and play. They had a really great time!
Kelsey swimming- she is rather brave and will swim out to us...BC seems to want to, but is easily frightened by the waves, so mostly stands and watches and slowly creeps forward

Jake and the dogs being eaten by a shark. This was a rather popular store entrance it seemed. And note BC did not go inside it, she was quite frightened.
at the downtown beach

in front of the USS Lexington Museum on the Bay, a WWII era aircraft carrier

Finally us hanging at the beach, watching the dogs play.

And now the real work of residency begins...my first inpatient month and my first month with call--every 4th day overnight in the hospital with only 4 days off for the entire month; I hope I survive it!

As an update, swimming reaggravated Kelsey's limp...it had improved, though not completely, with the rest and medicines...and now we have to start all over again :( And we are now on day 27 of eyedrops for BC...but her eye is now healing.

Poor Dogs

Our dogs have both been rather ill lately...its sad and costly. Battlecat, who tends to be our more illness prone dog, suffers from allergies each Spring (if there is such a season here in Houston) & Summer, which this year have been particularly bad, requiring her to take Benadryl twice a day since the end of April. In addition, she has already had two severe allergy flare-ups which have required her to do a steroid taper and antibiotic eye ointment.

Kelsey, who has previously been perfectly healthy has also been experiencing some health issues. In early June she got an outer ear infection, and for about the past 6 weeks has been walking with a limp. The limp seems to bother her only occasionally--usually she still wants to run and jump and play--but it looks very sad. Initial evaluation from the vet was that it was probably some soft tissue strain and she needed to rest--which how you make a 3yo dog who loves to run, jump and play with her sister rest is rather tricky. When it didn't get better after many weeks, the vet said we needed to evaluate it further to make sure it wasn't something more serious with xrays. So Kelsey had xrays this week...which showed nothing serious in the bone or joints...so still probably soft tissue strain/sprain. Now she is supposed to really be resting (NO jumping, running or playing...pretty much only laying down with short walks to go to the bathroom), while taking a dog anti-inflammatory/pain reliever (like ibuprofen for humans). How we will accomplish this I'm not sure...the vet's recommendation was to keep the dogs separated and Kelsey pretty much constantly in her crate (which she has not been in at all now for more than a year). On top of this, her ear infection has returned.

And now, here is a recent picture of Battlecat, not wanting to open her right eye...so newly diagnosed on Thursday...Battlecat has a Corneal Ulcer (sore in the clear outer covering of eye...exquisitely painful in humans) from all her constant allergy-related eye scratching...AND she continues to scratch...she pretty much directs her dewclaw directly into her eye. I have been trying to keep a sock on her paw, we'll see if it works. Next we are going to an Elizabeth collar...which is sure to make her very pleasant.

Here is the current dog medicine regimen at our house:

Morning: Battlecat- 2 benadryl tabs, 1 pain pill, 1 eye drop; Kelsey- 1 pain pill, ear ointment

Afternoon: Battlecat- 1 eye drop

Evening: Battlecat- 2 benadryl tabs, 1 pain pill; Kelsey- 1 pain pill

Night: Battlecat- 1 eye drop; Kelsey- ear ointment

In short my dogs have become very high-maintenance! Hopefully they both feel better soon!

More Pictures of My Niece

because she is super cute...and getting so big. She really enjoys reading books, dogs, and recently enjoyed her first boat ride

Alaska: Glaciers

Finally, photos from our Alaskan cruise with my mom and grandma in May.

Alaska is very beautiful...I especially loved the combination of huge mountains right on the water. One of our favorite parts of our trip to Alaska was seeing a few active glaciers. Our cruise ship journeyed up Endicott Arm Fjord one day for an up close view of a glacier. We even got to see it "calve"--watch/hear a piece of it break off and fall into the ocean.

Entering the Arm

Beautiful glacial carved U-shaped valleys

Waterfalls and lots of floating ice...which seals use to sun bathe

Approaching Dawes Glacier

Close-up view of the edge of the glacier

The family in front of the glacier.

We also were able to visit Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau

Sea Lions & Whales

Another favorite part of our trip was getting see some wildlife...we saw mostly seals, sea lions and humpback whales...including a calf and its mother. We saw these both from the cruise ship and we did a Whale-watching excursion in Juneau. Sadly, we didn't get to see any bears or Orcas. Here are a few of our best photos.

On the Ship

A few pictures of how we spent our time on the ship

*Eating- the food wasn't as good as I expected from what other cruisers had said, maybe mostly because I am scared of buffets...which was probably a good thing; but we did have some nice dinner meals.a poor photo which shows the great table with a view we had for dinner, so we could continue whale-watching and observing the beautiful scenerya few pictures from one of the formal dinner nights

*Exercising- we walked around the track on the top deck and visited the gym a few times (Jake & my mom more than I)

*Playing cards *Whale watching...

*Jake & I also spent a lot of time re-reading Harry Potter 6 (and then 7) in preparation for the new movie :)

Ports of Call

Here are a few photos of the ports we visited along the way

*Icy Strait Point- near Hoonah, AK , a Tlingit village

*SkagwayWe were able to ride the Whitepass & Yukon Route Railway, which is a rather steep climb and has interesting gold rush history. Below a view looking back at the port and cruise ships from the train *Haines- on the recommendation of one of my friends who used to live there, we took the ferry from Skagway to check out Haines. It was also a very beautiful little port town with lots of dogs and friendly people....and home to a huge Bald Eagle Preserve.

AND there was a beach...and the weather was beautiful and there were lots of kids out playing in the water...a site we never considered we would see in Alaska!
*Juneau- our final port was Juneau, where unfortunately we didn't have much time to explore the city, but we were able to go on a whale-watching tour, which also included a trip to Medenhall Glacier and a yummy Salmon lunch at Orca Point Lodge.