It's always 70 and sunny in Pullman, WA!

  One of the deans of our Vet school used to always say, "It's always 70 and sunny in Manhattan, KS!" Obviously he missed the summer days that were frequently between 105-109 degrees, the spring and autumn storms, and the frigid, windy winters.I'm sure there were some days that were 70 and sunny...but they were few and far between.

  In Pullman, WA however, it is frequently 70 and sunny! This week has been bright and beautiful. Every day has been warm in the sun, cool in the shade and sunny (except for an early morning rain storm). I have been spending some time outside, but unfortunately the majority of my time has been spent inside doing a multitude of things from job searching to cooking to volunteering. My main ventures out of doors have been to walk to the vet school to volunteer.

  Now before you start thinking I am being an excellent person by not driving to school, there is actually quite another reason I have resigned myself to walking to volunteer. Over the summer we had a parking pass that a departing intern gifted to us. Unfortunately school has started up again, which means new parking passes. Max and I were planning on getting one until we realized the cheapest passes were $215.00. Since we are still battling the insurance company payments, we decided that for the time being it is best to hold off. While this will most likely continue through the fall, I'm not sure how we will fare in winter.

  It's really hard to believe school is back in session. Aside from a little more traffic and students waiting at the bus stops, things aren't that different. There was a football game last night and we couldn't even tell! After living across from the stadium in Manhattan for four years, it was amazing to know there was a game going on and that we were still able to live our lives normally.

  Last night was a little difficult. Max didn't get off work until around 7:00. I waited for him in the intern office for 2 hours because I wanted to walk home together. On our way home we discussed me trying to lose weight and our Internet troubles, because I have been really frustrated about both of those things lately. By the time we got home I was quite depressed. Max got on the phone with our ISP and got the Internet functioning again. Then because I was down and out we decided to make pizza for dinner and headed to the store. We gathered the ingredients and Max surprised me by buying turkey pepperoni, which tastes just as good but has half the calories of regular pepperoni! He made our pizza, which was delicious, and then we spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

  This morning I got up and felt pretty good. The sun is shining, I have things to do, and I feel a little better about life in general. Everything will work out, and I am very blessed to have such a wonderful husband to help me get through the day!

Walks with Dolly and life without Max

 Yesterday was a pretty good day. Max was actually home! Dolly and I got to spend almost a full 24 hours in his company! It was splendid. To celebrate we went for a long walk. Dolly was very excited. I have been letting her off her leash on some of the paths because no one else is ever really on them. Because of that she has been getting quite adventurous and walking into the shallower areas of the river.

  As we approached her favorite place along the river the other day she got really excited. She was running all over, barking, trying to play with us and causing general mayhem. Max and I found a way to get across the narrower area of the river and over to a little niche in the shore that had all sorts of cool rocks and pools. Dolly was hesitant to come over, but after Max showed her how, she got even more excited. So excited that she jumped into a very deep pool of water, which she had assumed was shallow.

  It almost took no time at all. One minute Dolly was flying through the air, there was a terrific splash, a flash of horror across her face and then she shot out of the water to dry land. For a moment Max and I just gaped. Dolly ran far away from the pool, shook herself thoroughly and stood looking embarrassed and mildly wounded.

  Of course Max and I could not contain our laughter, and I think Dolly was a little upset with us for that. We began to try to coax her back to the other side, but of course now she didn't want to go anywhere near the water. Max finally was able to escort her over to the other side, and Dolly walked up the hill, signifying she was done for the day. Poor Dolly.

Walk now? Walk now? Walk now?

  Anyways, this morning Max is back at work. It was hard to get him to go. He has been on overnights for 2 weeks with no breaks and now he has to work days this weekend. Yuck. I was really hoping to go to the farmers market, but alas I have no money with which to go, so I am staying at home instead.

  I have plenty to do here, so no worries about that. What I really need though is Max to be home. Everything is so much better when he is around. He really is quite the ideal husband. He cleans when I don't ask, makes dinner for us, does dishes, folds laundry, takes Dolly out. Even when he is really tired and just wants to relax. I have been trying to come up with ways to help make his life less monotonous, but having just finished my own bout of depression I am still working on getting my inspiration back.

  Aside from doing things, it's just nice to have Max around. It gets pretty lonely here with Dolly sleeping most of the day. Even with distractions when the house is quiet it gets difficult to stay motivated. Luckily we will soon be in Seattle, which will give me all sorts of exciting things to do for awhile. For two weeks Max will be at a critical care doctor learning the secrets of emergency medicine. While I wish I could join him in the learning process I think I will have lots of fun stuff to do while he is busy.

Soo sleepy...hate overnight shifts....Zzzzzz...