The Taming of the Shrubbery & Recent Events

Hey all!

Sorry it's been so long, these last few weeks have been super busy! I finally managed to move all of my stuff into my new flat, with the help of Pookish's new car, and got all my furniture. Now I finally feel like I have everything I need to live here.

Anik and I had a grand adventure last Monday. Since we had a day off, we decided to go to Home Base (kind of like the British version of Home Depot), and get some stuff with which to tackle the front porch, which was covered in this massive viney plant and dandelions. So we got some planters, some bulbs to plant, some soil, and some gardening gear, and realized, after we had purchased all of this stuff, that we had, in fact, bought more than we could carry. As we were fretting about how to get it home, the cashier goes, "Just take the cart!" Anik and I looked at each other, shrugged, and said "Ok." So we dragged the shopping cart back to our flat, full of plants (and managed to spill some on the way), and then brought it back. Definitely got some weird looks on that adventure, but it was well worth it.

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Taken about 5 hours after the Taming of the Shrubbery began
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The window box that will eventually go on my back window, if we ever receive the keys
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The rest of the day was spent taming the shrubs. I sadly didn't have the foresight to take a 'before' picture, but suffice it to say that it looks infinitely better. We even had a neighbour walk by and say "It's so nice to see someone is finally doing something about that porch!"

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My room, in it's nearly complete state. Since this pic, I have added dark blinds to the window, and painted a few of those wall stickers to have blue flowers instead of gray, and I have one more sticker to put up.
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Another view
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This past weekend I was in Linlithgow with my friend Stu for an afternoon, and took a walk around Linlithgow Loch. It was very pretty, and there were swans everywhere. They weren't afraid of people at all, and came right up to the edge of the Loch to try and bribe food out of people. It was very cool, even though a bit chilly. We didn't go in the Palace, cause we were limited on time, but sometime I'd like to, it looked interesting. I'm trying to put up pics of swans and the palace, but for whatever reason my internet is being stupid, so I'll have to upload them later.

Other than that and flat stuff, we've been studying for a small exam this Friday, and writing a "Consultant's Report" on one of our EMS placements, also for Friday. A CR is basically an analysis of a farm, citing all the things they did right and wrong, and what could be improved upon. I'm a bit worried about mine, because the farm I went to for EMS (the Good Shepherd Farm) was more a hobby farm than anything else, and not only did they do nearly everything right, but it was so small that a lot of the things you'd normally write about in a consutants report don't really apply, whereas Anik is going crazy with her CR cause the farm she is analyzing apparently had a lot of issues. So I'm just going to do the best I can given what I have to work with, and hopefully they'll take into account the differences in farms when they grade them.

The exam on Friday is on Epidemiology, which is basically statistics and assessing diagnostic tests and so forth. It is not really my forte, and is not really anything I'm interested in at all, so studying for it is rather painful, but since I took biostatistics in a previous life, which is basically the same thing, I'm hoping it will help me through it.

This Sunday we leave for lambing down in Yorkshire. I'll be there for 2 weeks, while Anik and Pookish will be there for 3. It should be fun. I'm excited to see baby lambs being born, and excited to see a bit of England.

Anyway, I've got to go to a practical just now (Clinical Examination of the Ox), which should be fun and smelly. I am still not a fan of cows, but I'm trying at least to not be terrified of them. I'm not sure why I am, cause the first time we worked with I was fine, I just more and more discover that I do not like cows. They are too big, and I don't like the idea of dealing with an animal that could severely injure me by kicking me or headbutting me. I much prefer dogs that you can squash to the table when they get uppity (only when necessary of course).