Fishing

Saturday morning I was rousted from bed by the phone.

"Is Claire there?"
"This is she."......

"I figured out something we could do."
My mind was spinning, trying to decipher the voice. "...something we could do..." Then it clicked "Oh, it's J- [from my juniors Sunday school class]." I tried to bribe my students into doing their SS lessons last spring/summer by offering to take them hiking. It didn't work swimmingly, but a couple students scored and a couple others showed more initiative than previously.

J and his brother J wanted me to take them fishing. "Would today work?"

I didn't see why not, so 2:40 found me over at their uncle MB's place to pick them up. We headed up toward Estacada, stopping at their house on the way. We saw some fabulous frozen waterfalls along the hillsides.

{It reminded me of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," but there is a key difference between our winter and Narnia's. Winter here is a beautiful thing, another display of God's character and the value he places in beauty. Winter in Narnia stood for spiritual darkness. Isn't it interesting how heat is linked to hell; how cold is linked to spiritual death; how lukewarmness is linked to spiritual mediocrity? But God created each temperature with a concept of its goodness.}

We headed to the PGE reservoir on the North Fork of the Clackamas river. We parked and crossed the river, then trekked, freezing in the windy cold, along the dam toward the spillway. One side of the reservoir was frozen, and a floe of ice had built up by the spillway.
We stuck it out for 40+ minutes, they didn't catch anything but reservoirweed and we decided to head home. I told them they could take a raincheck.

Gumption

If the wind is no longer in your sails, don't sit around wishing for better times. Sail by ash breeze*.
What does that mean? Back in the ole' days, when a sailing ship got stuck in a windless ocean, they would launch a row boat and men would row to tug the larger vessel. The oars were sometimes made of ash wood, so they called it "sailing by ash breeze."

When a professor does a lousy job of teaching, don't blame him for your bad grades. Get out the textbooks and row.

When a friendship is falling by the wayside, don't succomb to self-pity. Don't merely blame the other party. Show yourself extra friendly.

When your church lacks spirit, fire, and encouragement; and no one is moving on with God, that's no excuse for you to do the same. Go to God so he can fill you and make you a light in a dark church.

* Cit. Newberry Award winner "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham

Christmas Party

Tuesday evening was crazy — it was the night of the Christian vet group Christmas party. Not that 'crazy' and 'Christian vet Christmas party' are necessarily synonymous, but anyway...

After messing around at OSU I picked up a couple edibles at Fred Meyer and headed over to J&C C's place (where we have our weekly Bible studies during the term). I sat around in the next door church parking lot, reading "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" and waiting for 6:30. For all my waiting and trying not to be way early (because that could be awkward), I was the first person to arrive at the C's — but at least I wasn't late. Others arrived soon, and we had a jolly time.

It's sort of strange... I am the only third-year student who attends the studies; AK is the only second-year; and the rest are either first-years or undergrads. But the first-year group is a lot of fun (and AK & I hit it off quite well) and they don't snub me as a misfit (actually, I am closer to their average age than to the average age of people in my class, and that helps. While I do okay interacting with those much older than myself, I "can't help" but feel inferior to them.).

We ate chili and corn bread, which was great. Then...

It turned out that a couple people brought gifts for a white elephant gift exchange and a couple people either thought the exchange was no longer planned or had rather forgotten about it/never heard about it. (I belonged to the latter group.) They still wanted to do the exchange, so L, Ch and I piled into Ch's Dodge Neon. We thought to give A a ride as well, but K beat us to the offer and they drove off in his Mustang convertible (he put the roof down (in spite of the freezing weather) and saw fit to fishtail at a stop sign as he accelerated. This was all to the great amusement of the Neon passengers & driver, since we took it all in the fun (as opposed to pride) in which it was intended.) We all headed off to the nearby shopping mall to find <$5 gifts.

I meandered around the local Safeway, trying to find something suitable, sporting a smirk on my face and probably making a few employees wonder what was up. It's the same Safeway I went to with JK last month — I don't know if I've ever been there when I was completely sane (not that that ever happens).
I couldn't find any pickled cactus (I failed to look in the Mexican section, but chances are Corvallis doesn't have a large enough Mexican population to support such rarities), so I bought a jar of Texan pickled okra and we returned to the C's.

The other WE gifts ranged from someone's old desk paraphernalia (too bad I didn't know about the gift exchange or I could have unloaded some of my junk on someone. :( :) ) to a VERY large travel mug. I happened on the later, and joked that I'd have to pick up a new habit (ie coffee drinking). I'll think of some use for it, sometime.
They passed the okra around a couple times — it was actually rather edible, unlike the slimy cooked okra I had previously encountered.

Fun evening.

First Weekend of Break

Saturday... ah, my first day of break! I mostly finished a dress (which, for all you female sewing types, stands unique within my wardrobe having inverted pleats and a front cape with ties).

In the evening I picked up EK (an older lady who lives next to my church) and took her to the Christmas program at my alma mater, George Fox University. My mother plays violin for the Chehalem Symphony, and played that evening along with the symphonic band.

It was a nice program, and I got to talk to Hank Helsabeck (my first academic advisor at GFU) and ST (who used to work in Student Life and who took me out for lunch the day before my graduation).

***
CS and the rest of the Christian Aid Ministries crew returned Friday night from their house building trip to Indonesia. They gave their program Sunday evening at the Brownsville MC, so I attended with MS and my Aussie friend B. On the way down we saw a car by the side of the road with puddles of burning something (gas?) underneath. The car itself may also have been on fire. Freaky.

Christmas Pageant

I never knew that 2004 OVMA president Tom Keck was an actor -- that is, until last Friday evening when I attended the Rickreall Christmas Pageant with some friends.

Here's how it all began. I was innocently studying for my imminent small animal surgery test, and my cell phone rang. I didn't recognize the number, and it turned out to be my old friend VB from John Day, OR (she is referenced here).

"Do you want to go to the Christmas pageant with us?" she queried. "We have an extra ticket..."

"Um... sure." I didn't have anything planned for the evening, and a chance to visit with VB was not to be passed up.
Almost as soon as I gave my consent, it occurred to me that pageants involve acting and that perhaps I shouldn't go. (Why? because of the set of standards I agreed to live by when I joined Hopewell MC.) However, I realized in addition that a number of people from church regularly attend Christmas pageants, and considered that the interpretation of our standards may not necessarily exclude members from attending pageants. Perhaps they are not considered part of "commercial motion pictures and theatrical events." Considering the possibility that I would not be breaching my vow by attending the event, and considering that I did not have anything personal against it, I decided to stick to my decision and go.

After work at J&J I headed north on 99W to the small town of Rickreall. My family used to live in West Salem, back in the 90's, so the Rickreall area is part of my old stomping grounds. We used to get produce from Hewitt's produce stand and drive slowly past the local dairy to look at the cows.

The pageant was held in the gym of the old Rickreall public school (which is now Jubilee Christian Academy) and firefighters directed the car parking.
I was looking through the program, waiting for the pageant to begin. I came upon the list of innkeepers, and lo and behold, Dr. Keck's name. It figured, since he has a clinic in the area — but was still a surprise. He turned out to be one of the more animated actors.

A few other comments:
It's a good thing I wasn't acting... they had live and open fire on the stage, which I in my klutziness might have transferred to my robe or sent to the floor.

Their angels were all females, which goes against my grain. I know it probably doesn't matter — angels may be genderless, anyway — but have you ever seen angels referenced by the pronoun 'she' in the Bible? Maybe I'm forgetting, but none come to mind.

It's too bad the three wisemen came to the nativity instead of waiting until Jesus was older and living in a house. Oh, well. They did a good job singing.

On a positive note, there was a donkey and a dog in the play, the sets and costumes were nicely done, and they quoted a lot of Scripture.

Redemption

A little (??) recap of the last week.5's happenings, not that you care, necessarily...

I pulled the ox/ass/sheep out of the ditch and studied large animal medicine Sunday a week ago. Ideally I would have studied ahead of time, would have lifted the sheep out prior to the sabbath. However, since it was still there on Sunday and I knew it would be rather ill Monday following the LAM test if I did not see to it on Sunday, I created an aberrance in my primarily clear window of mid-Sunday work and studied. It's a questionable practice and I by no means plan to make it standard Claire conduct... what do the rest of you think (castigate me if you desire).

I got the oil changed in my Toyota a couple weeks ago, down at John and Phil's Toyota. They checked my tires, and lo, three out of four were given a red score. Yaks! With icy weather coming up, I measured harshly the foolishness of driving such tires and had them replaced at Les Schwab-Corvallis last Monday. They should be good for 75,000 miles, and if they aren't there's a grand warranty on the mileage.
Took the car in for an alignment Tuesday -- the man didn't charge me a halfpenny and said he couldn't've asked for a better alignment. I really don't understand how that could be -- my parents' road is full of potholes and I've done my share of running solidly into/driving off curbs. But hey, I'll take it. Kudos to Toyota for sturdy cars.

The surgery test on Friday... hmmm... remember that test panic back in October/November (Good and Bad and Not Quite as Bad and Dustiness)? Well, Dr. G gave us a chance to redeem ourselves -- he figured our grades with and without the midterm and gave us the higher of the two grades. (There was a 32% difference between my final grade and the midterm grade.) Very, very nice of him.
The final exam was sort of fun -- drawing orthopedic repairs, assessing different fracture repair techniques, etc. Tension banding a trochanteric osteotomy, anyone? Don't worry, I wasn't sure what a trochanteric osteotomy was, either -- I decided it might have something to do with cutting the greater trochancter of the femur and sticking it back on in a more desirable position. The physics and mechanics of orthopedics is grand.

Return from the Wilderness

Claire Varney, back from the mental wilderness of finals and a period of mourning (over grades now cemented in stone).

I had a good time (compared to the norm of such times) studying for finals. It always seems like I get into the studying groove around finals week and then have to stop mid-steam-up and take a break. Hopefully my enthusiasm will carry over four weeks to winter term. It will help me carry out my new challenge...
I've been thinking lately about graduation (1.5 years distant, but coming up nonetheless), and I foresee two possibilities. One, I will feel inadequate to competently assess and treat my clients' animals -- and may therefore enroll myself in an internship to provide better supervision of my activities. Or two, I will go out to meet the world with confidence in my knowledge and ability to apply it to clinical situations. To be ready for the latter would be the most desirable. To have that degree of confidence my knowledge will have to be substantial, so I'd like to spend some time perusing vet journals and books, really immersing myself in common animal diseases with the hope that more and more of them stick in my cranium. (Not the material diseases, you know -- that would be entirely undesirable -- but the knowledge about them.)
Anywaywho, that's the idea. We'll see what happens.

Two Tests to Take

I finished the large animal medicine and small animal medicine exams. Dr. Sisson (cardiology professor for SAM) informed one of the students that it is not possible to get an 'A' in the class. I wonder if he was serious -- it seems like it would be possible, if a student tried hard enough.

I have theriogenology on Thursday and small animal medicine on Friday.

If any of you would like to write an appropriate guest editorial, share some original poetry, or start a discussion, feel free in my absence.

New Facilities

Yesterday I got to monitor anesthesia for a dog spay in the new small animal hospital. It was a good introduction to the fancy anesthesia machine with oodles of monitoring devices, and a good intro to the surgical prep room and surgical suite. Dr. Baltzer will now expect great things of me come clinical rotations next year. It'll be my first day on the anesthesia rotation, and they'll say, "Here's the dog Claire. I'll be back in half an hour and expect to see him premeded, induced, intubated and ready to the leave induction." Well, probably not, but we'll see.

Finals start on Monday, so this blog will be a semi-dead place until next Friday.