Dogs Enjoy Seeing Us Again

Things have finally slowed down a little for us. We have some time during the evening (when I get off of work) to spend some time with each other, but also with the dogs. They have been really good about seeing us so sporadically during the last 9 months. But seeing us again means the stupid stuff they do get posted for everyone to see...:)
We took the dogs for a long walk last night (in between rain showers). Lucy was busy looking at some bunnies in a yard and didn't see the straw laid in the grass ahead of her; we didn't think anything of it either. But as soon as she stepped on it she sank in mud about 8" deep, up to her belly! Not sure why it was so muddy, but it was hilarious to see her reaction. She trudged right through it though. Since they were already bound for a bath we took them to the park across the street and let them run around in a creek for a while. Linus found something to roll in, and (as seen in the video) almost rolled himself right into the water. His beard got a little wet, but we were really hoping for a big splash! He then shorted a jump across the water and got a little more wet.

Tonight Lucy was staring out the back door (as usual) and a June Bug started buzzing the screen. She almost bit through the screen trying to get it, but eventually gave up...well we made her stop when she started pawing & jumping on the screen.

2 nights ago we made some Sushi/California Rolls, which we haven't made in a REALLY long time with being so busy, not to mention the meager pickings at the grocery store. Try finding seaweed wraps in a grocery store in a town this size! It turned out as good as we remembered it!
We haven't gotten out as much as we were hoping since the weather has been so rainy. Linus has been even more neurotic with thunderstorms lately. This morning he wouldn't even eat, go outside, and we had to drag him out from under the bed. Not a great way to start the day. Here are some pictures from the last few days...

Great Job Mike!

Mike gave his masters presentation today at the noon seminar series. He did an AWESOME job! I offered to videotape but he declined:)
I'll let him do a post about his project since I'm sure I would butcher it. I took a picture of him before his talk but it's on my phone and I can't remember how to get it off...
I'm really proud of Mike, he did great this quarter and put a lot of work into his project and into making his presentation fantastic!

Finals are over!

Third quarter is complete! I had the last of my finals this morning and then next week I have clinical skills testing and a CPR/Basic Life Support course but aside from that I am done for a few weeks. The first two weeks of July I will be working with a physician at his clinic in Milan, MO (a town even smaller than Kirksville). This should be a chance for me to practice my exam and H&P (History & Physical) skills. It seems pretty crazy that we've been here 9 months already and that I will be starting my second year of medical school in a few short months (technically I have 1 more quarter in my first year to be completed in August).

Since we've been pretty busy I didn't have a chance to post any pictures but we took quite a few study pictures and some showing off the puppies more neurotic side.

Linus - The Chosen One

OK, we took some pictures of Linus with our phones when the sun was pretty low in the sky. First it was just because he was spacing off and it looked funny, then the lighting was so perfect, he looked like some sort of fluffy canine diety. Hope these make you laugh like we did!

How 'bout That!

According to our counter on the blog, less than 1,100 days of medical school left for Mara...:) That's including next year's classes and two years of clinical rotations, but it's not including residency (tack on another ~1000 days or so).
Not really a good pep talk since we have finals this next week. I have 3 (Medical Microbiology, Immunology, and Biostatistics), and I am done Wednesday, then I have a presentation to give about my graduate project Friday. Mara has Medical Microbiology & Immunology as well, but also has Anatomy (Lab & Lecture), DO Physical Skills, AND Physiology finals next week. It is just going to be an absolute endurance test next week!
We are going to get out and enjoy the daylight as soon as we are done since we'll be holed up in our study caves until then...and it's supposed to be gorgeous golfing weather this weekend too! :(
Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Happy Mother's Day!

We just wanted to wish all the Moms a Happy Mother's Day, and all the soon-to-be-Mom's like our friends Tim & Allison! :)

Not much is happening here (of course) except for studying (of course). We have one week of classes left, then finals for a week, then Mara has her OMS Testing, then MAYBE we'll have a couple of weeks off. That will be nice, if there was only something to do here!

We hope everyone had a good weekend! We are headed back to school, but wanted to share some photos and a video of Linus. Linus NEVER plays with toys, but once in a blue moon he'll go crazy for one of Lucy's stuffed (formerly stuffed) animals. The pictures are just randoms from the last few days, but we hope you like them!

Study Breaks

With finals fast approaching (2 more weeks, but 8 test before then) we decided we needed to take some extra breaks in between studying (& work). On Wednesday it was 75 & sunny so we headed out to the lake to bask in the sun & let the dogs run wild. They've adjusted as well as they could have with us being gone all day/night, but really appreciate the extra time we can spend with them that isn't sleeping.
Here are a couple of pictures of our trip out to the lake:

We also had some friends head out of town this weekend so we went out and fed their dogs. They have a huge field behind their house so we let Linus & Lucy run around with their dogs Spot & Butters (don't ask). Lucy all of the sudden took off on a dead sprint into the field and wouldn't come back when we were calling. When she was about 1/4 mile away she stopped and started rolling. We knew it was going to be bad since she obviously smelled it from that far away. It turns out the owners had a coyote die last fall and they were letting it "dry out" so they could get the skull. Well...it had been there for 7 months and was now in the "Liquified" stage of decomposition. The smell was easily one of the worst I have ever smelled, and no way in HELL she was getting in the car like that. We ended up hosing her down in their driveway and then running her dry so we could take them home. Good thing we brought the kennel, just in case something like this happened (we've learned our lessons in the past). Here is a video of Lucy looking pathetic while we hose her down: