It's official, Fall is here.

When I left school today, it was sunny and gorgeous out, but I needed a jacket. That my friends, is how I know fall has finally started. Soon, it will start raining for days on end, and that means we live in Oregon.

It has been a long couple of weeks. My externship in Portland went great, I really enjoyed working the veterinarian I was assigned, and look forward to hopefully working for that company after graduation. 

Then my grandfather passed away. I think I've thought about him every day since then. Little things remind me of him. Like seeing a clip about NASCAR on the internet. Or overhearing the word "ornery" being used. Or talking about the sound of the electric peppermill which he used at every dinner ever since I can remember. I'm so glad I was able to leave my externship early to see him. It meant the world to me to speak with him one last time, and hear how proud of me (and all of us grand kids) he was. 

Remember the signature book I was going to start? Well, I wanted to start with family, but never quite got my act together about it. Now I've decided to finally give it a go, and here is how it starts:

I came home in time to finish my senior paper and prepare for my presentation. It went pretty well, I think.  I love the topic and am very glad I had the opportunity to learn more about a new area of veterinary medicine. 

Now I'm onto anesthesia. It has been an awesome rotation thus far. I like the technical side of anesthesia and knowing how to gauge your patient's anesthetic level by deciphering the million wires leading to a monitor and the dozens of numbers it produces. Also, I get to watch some pretty awesome procedures while doing it! Today I saw a new method of a "tie-back" surgery in a horse (to help it breathe better), and last week I got to see a splenectomy on a cat. Tomorrow I'll get to watch several skin masses be removed, an adrenal gland removed, and a liver lobe removed! Yes, all in the same patient.

Now, some pictures to make you smile.

A rat on a cat. Found on Tumblr. Awesome timing of the photo!

Found on tumblr. Just adorable, right??

Found on my camera, this was Christmas 2011. She is a bit more gray these days.