Veterinary Medicine Isn't Always Glamourous

Today was a very hard day for me.  I had another weekend emergency/ICU shift, which is supposed to last for 6.5 hours.  I say supposed to because they never do.  My last emergency shift went from 2pm until midnight.  That's right...you do the math (or count on your fingers if you are like me).  Not that I am really complaining.  After all, it's the way medicine is in real life.  Emergencies don't schedule and treatment and tests take time.  But it does wear on a person, especially if that person is sick and sleep-deprived.

So why was today especially hard?  Because it was another example of how much I hate being helpless.  I can't (and won't) go into the specifics, but I ended up dealing with a patient in respiratory arrest that progressed to cardiovascular arrest...and we could not resuscitate it.  Then my other patient, who was also having breathing problems arrested when we took him to get x-rays.  He was only away from supplemental oxygen for less than 1 minute.  Thankfully both patients died peacefully.  

I was reminded that we can't save all our patients and that those who come into emergency are the most critical.  But that is hard for me to take when I don't want to lose hope that we can make their lives better again.  I guess it's just another lesson I have to take to heart: do what I can to help them while they are here.  It just breaks my heart to be unable to help my patients and their owners when they are looking for help. 

I just hope that they know they did the right thing by trying to help, and I hope that their memories give them the peace that their pets have already found.

A Fall Tradition

Over the years we have acquired some pretty fun annual traditions. One of my favorites is something we started once we moved back to Pullman: cider making. How did it get started? I heard about it from one of my classmates during my first year of vet school, and finally convinced (i.e. forced) Keith to try it out. Good thing we went - We had a blast! Every year we go back to make a few gallons of fresh apple cider.

Cider making means driving out to Garfield WA, which is approximately 30 minutes north of Pullman. In Garfield is a family-owned orchard, Bishops Orchard. Yea for supporting local businesses!! Bishops have old-fashioned apple presses and huge boxes of apples just waiting for juicing. The owners of the orchard always go over the proper way to make cider and what apples ratios are best. They are always right too...it is the best cider ever!

Everything is by hand, so Keith and I get a pretty good workout cranking the press. We take turns cranking the press, pouring in apples, and grabbing more apples from the crates. It is a lot of fun to watch our apples turn into golden goodness, even as apple juice goes flying!

After we fill our jugs, we go out into the orchard for some good 'ole apple picking. The orchard has so many different kinds of apples; ones that we have never even heard of! Thankfully, the orchard has a cheat sheet (also on their website) of what they are best used for and a map so we can find what we are looking for. We have tried a few different kinds and have learned to really taste the differences. My favorites are Gravensteins, which make awesome apple pies.

So we stroll around the orchard, looking for apples. I always have fun looking at all the apple trees and all the people who come out to the orchard. Keith's real motivation for apple picking...getting a Liz-baked apple pie. Who can blame him? After all I am a baking goddess.

Not only is making cider fun, it also wonderful since we can freeze and keep it for as long as we want. This means we have real apple cider all through the fall and winter. Nothing can beat a couple feet of snow as a hot mug of cider. It definitely makes winter a little more bearable! This tradition is definitely a marker for the end of summer and the beginning of fall.

Sous Chef in Training

Not only am I budding photographer, I am also still learning how to cook.  I can cook, but only with a recipe in front of me.  I would like to be able to really cook, you know, like just adding a dash of this and that or whatever inspires me.  Yes, I know...sad, but true that I am still learning.  Remember, I am also that girl who learned how to drive at 19 and how to ride a bike at the more mature age of 22.  (That's right, I learned how to drive before riding a bike)  Now don't feel too bad for Keith, since I am a baking goddess (self-appointed title).  Pie, cake, cookies...I can make you love baked goods in so many fabulous ways.  I am adding bread to my repertoire, and some day I will learn to bake tarts.  Oh and fondant...I want to master fondant.  Then I will conquer cupcake decorating, like this awesome picture.  But I digress...

In order to learn more cooking tips, I decided to be Keith's sous chef.  For those who don't know, according to the infallable Wikipedia: a sous chef is the direct assistant of the executive chef and is second in command.  Which makes sense in our house, since there is only two of us.  So I am second in command...over the cats.  Yeah, right.

Anyway, this was a way I could not-so-sneakily observe his mad cooking skillz (that how bad-ass they are, his skill has a "z").  So when he decided to try out a new mac 'n cheese recipe, I was eager to help him out.  We had just returned from our trip to Seaside, and during our trip had purchased a Tillamook cheese cookbook.  The cookbook is great and has an entire chapter devoted to the mac 'n cheese!  Plus we were using our new fancy baking dish we bought in Seattle for the first time.

I figured if I watched Keith cooking with a new recipe and unfamiliar dish I could learn a lot.  So I was in charge of shredding chicken, which takes forever!  But it definitely is yummy.  And I was in charge of the important cheese shredding.  Big jobs!  I was so impressed; Keith is able to manage multiple pans, keep track of what I was doing, and keep following the recipe...all at the same time!  I was impressed and overwhelmed.  I mean, who can keep up with all that!?!

But I did learn some stuff, but most importantly we learned some things together:

1.  We can totally work together, even in a small kitchen.

2.  Quality cheese is important.  Period.

3.  Our baking dish is fantastic.  I heart Le Creuset.

4.  We have a great mac 'n cheese recipe. 

5.  Pulling any meat can take a long time, but goes faster if the meat is still hot.

 

New Toy...Photoshop Elements

Not really anything to post...but did learn a little bit playing with Photoshop!  I am so excited to have it and play with more photos.  For right now, see my latest stuff!!  I have been wanting to try out black and white with color for a while now, and think it looks pretty great.  

And last, but not least - my favorite one.  It is definitely fun, so expect more to come!

The Epic Saga: Basement Project

So when we bought our house in Pullman, we knew we were purchasing a "fixer-upper".  It is a cute house that is ~100 years old.  Over the decades, there have been additions to the original house...like updated electrical wiring.  Oh yes.  But it is a cute house and has lots of potential.  So we were happy to move into it, after we had to thoroughly clean it from the previous owners (one word: ick).  Little did we know how much we were in for.  The basement was unfinished and a blank slate.  What we didn't realize was how much that meant.  So here is the short version of what has been accomplished (mostly by Keith since vet school sucks out all my time).

First we had an old heater.  Like seriously old.  Like probably original to the house.  It was an honest-to-God coal furnace.  That was updated to be come a gas heater some time in the '60s.  So half of the basement was taken up by the updated coal furnace.  It was quite impressive.  So we had it removed (aka we took it out).  And we had to get these awesome 1950's gas masks to protect us from the asbestos that was used to tape together this piece of fancy technology.  Now we have a beautiful modern-day heat pump.  That alone brought our house into the current decade.

 Keith and the coal furnace.  You can't tell but it was 8 feet in diameter.

 The hole in the foundation where the coal chute used to be.  
That's right.  Our house has a coal chute.

When we were taking out the furnace, we found out that the wooden floor was not really a floor.  Instead it was a wooden platform...sitting on dirt.   Let me say it again: There was just dirt.  We had a house that had a dirt floor.  Ahhh!!  So the wooden "floor" had to be removed and the dirt dug down so concrete could be put in for a base.  That was when we found...the coal.  Seriously.  There was still coal underneath the wood.  And not just a little bit, but huge chunks in a large pile.  Which means this coal is probably as old as the house, or close enough.  Crazy*.

 The first piece of coal we found.  Little did we know there was more hiding.

After the removal of the dirt and coal, the process of pouring the new floor was started.  This was done in conjuction with adding some new supports to help level the main floor.

 Keith and Doug working on the pouring the new floor.

Our backyard during the project.  Think this is messy?  This is actually neater than it is now.

Next was the stuff originally thought we had to do to finish the basement: building walls, putting in new wiring, redoing the bathroom.  At this point the glamour of finishing the basement had lost all its shine and appeal. 

Our wonderful sister-in-law Teresa came over from Eugene to help Keith put up all the dry wall.  It was amazing to see the projected planned rooms really begin to feel and look like rooms.  It was definitely a great reminder of how great the space would be once it was finished.  As every piece of drywall went up, hope was being restored and memories of the dirt and coal became fainter.

This past weekend Keith's parents, Doug and Beth, came out to help us continue the work on the basement.  That means a three-day weekend full of plastering/mudding, putting up more sheetrock, priming/painting, and putting in a new corner shower (replacing the old one...that looked like they stole from an old, nasty RV.  one word: ick).

Doug hiding behind the the shower installation instructions.

Today we finished the remainder of priming the walls.  Tomorrow, hopefully we will finish the painting.  Then, onto hooking up the bathroom.  Exciting!  Maybe we'll have two bathrooms!?!  I know, I know...crazy talk.  But cross your fingers, it may happen.  And hopefully before Keith has his shoulder surgery.  We don't know when that will be, but we do know that he will need to be resting afterward. 

Keith looking happy that the basement project is coming together!

*Speaking of crazy - time for a random aside.  Crazy fact #1: We also found some children's toys under the floor too.  We had heard that before the previous owners there was a woman and her five children living in our 3 bedroom house.  So that means that was probably someone's bedroom.  You know...wooden platform floor on dirt.  Crazy fact #2: Also before the person we bought the house from - a couple lived here and had a huge fight (or something).  So the husband moved out...to the one-car garage.  He converted it to a room: took out the garage door, put in a wall with insulation, placed a little corner woodstove.  I am not sure what he did for a bathroom.  Apparently they got back together, but he lived there for a while.  Crazy.  What I don't understand is that there is a switch in our living room that can turn off the power to the garage.  So I wonder how often he actually had electricity out there.  Think about it.  Something bad enough where is living in a garage, clearly during winter (needed a woodstove)...and she still controls the power?  Crazy.