Baby Birdeeeeee!

 I spy.....

Wow, so 3 weeks went by pretty quickly... sorry about that.

I survived midterms!!! Yay! Did pretty well on all exams except for one... stupid virology. Not failing or anything, but no where near my performance in all the other classes. That's ok, I'll get you in the end, virology.

Lots to update y'all on. Yes, I did just say "y'all". Deal.

Mid-semester break was a blast. I slept. And slept. And ate. Lots of eating. Lots of sleeping. A bit of volleyball and a bit of beach. But mainly, food and sleep. Ahhhhhhh.

One of my friends here is leaving this weekend, he got accepted to a US vet school, and they didn't require that he finished this semester to be accepted to their school, so he got half his tuition back and is on his way back to the states! We're all very excited for him, but sad at the same time. We'll miss you B6! Not to mention he is abandoning his volleyball team too... being the captain and all....  So, congrats to my classmates who're moving back to civilization, enjoy!

Lets see, a got to do my first necropsy, it was very interesting and fun. Sad case of a loved pet falling ill, but we got to learn a lot from it. I even presented our report in front of my entire class (about 130 students) and wasn't horribly nervous!

Bacteriology has proven to be *gasp* fun! We're streaking and plating and culturing, sub-culturing and identifying all sorts of bacteria. I swabbed my laptop keyboard and cultured the swab. A week later, a bit terrified of what I might find, I found myself relieved to have only found a small amount of what I believe to be staphylococcus. Whew! Its normal flora on the skin, so it makes sense to find it on my keyboard. Gooooo vet school!

Ok, I've tortured you long enough with my boring school life, would you like to know what the "baby birdeeeee" title is all about??

Welp, there is a baby bird on our little porch! And a nest. And another unhatched egg, and a mommy and daddy bird. They're a cute little bird family. This is their story as I know it...

About 10-12 days ago Momma bird decided to build a nest on the plastic chair sitting on our porch. I happened to be watering plants later that day and decided to remove the nest. I mean, why would a bird think that a porch we go out on daily would be a good place to nest??? Go pick another spot, Momma bird. Well... the next morning Momma bird had already rebuilt the nest and layed an egg. I guess she was desperate. I didn't have the heart to remove it again, not with an egg already layed! Momma started incubating the egg right away, and that evening we noticed a changing of the guards, so Daddy bird took over for the night shift. Two days later, a second egg was layed! Now I got super curious and wondered how long it might take for eggs to hatch if they were fertile, and how well the birds would incubate the eggs.

Since then, the birds have been there without fail, incubating their egg, running off only when we open the door to water plants and sneak peaks at the little white eggs. Via google, we managed to estimate that it'd take somewhere between 10-14 days for them to hatch, if at all. We waited patiently... er... Matt did, I haven't been able to stop checking every time I walk by the window. Then today, when I came home from school, I was sad to see only one egg on the nest. How could it be??? Only one egg?? What happened to the other??

Mom or Dad bird got spooked and flew off when Matt was sweeping so we took that opportunity to go outside and look for the other egg. To our relief and surprise, one of the eggs hatched! And now we have a cute little wet baby birdy on our porch. And one little white egg that hopefully will hatch in a day or two. And Mommy and or Daddy bird have been attending to this little adorable bird. Soooooooooo cute.

Pictures? Why would I bother taking pictures? uhhhh.... you don't believe me? Yeah, I wouldn't believe me either. Here they are!

The first egg layed, about 12ish days ago

Mom or Dad bird, not sure how to tell them apart

BABY BIRDEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! And egg. See how it is still wet?!?! It only hatched within an hour maybe of me taking this picture considering how warm it is here.

Being smothered/kept warm by Mom/Dad post hatching. And egg.

Stay tuned in for more pictures and updates!!!

An Ode to Oregon

because my favorite state needs a bit more love.

Today, the love comes via Squishy Paste, a blog written by a friend living over on the East Coast, also missing home. Please go read her latest post. Oh how I miss you, Oregon.

Meanwhile, I'm getting another reminder of home... thunder, lightning, and downpour rain. Yipee!


1 midterm down, 3 to go. Wish me luck, and sanity.

A bit random...

but it's what you're getting, like it or not.

First off, a taste of Oregon, brought to you by Best Buy (the Kittian grocery store, not the other)

Ok, you got me, only two are from Oregon. BUT LOOK! There is TILLAMOOK cheese!!! And SOY YOGURT! and SOY CHEESE!

You: "But Laura, why is there pasta sauce there too??"
Me: "Oh that... yes, I eat tomato pasta sauce now."

Be amazed. Or shocked. Either is acceptable.

Spaghetti.... still no. Give me a few more years to muster up the courage for that one.



Did I mention that we got a bunch of free stuff from the girl who moved out upstairs?? Well we did, and in that loot were a bunch of potted plants that were very healthy and growing like crazy. Then Matt left. Errr... the green thumb left. So here they are today... a bit less healthy, a few less alive... but still kickin!

Thought you might like the view my flower get to enjoy too.... I know I do...

And they seem to attract this little guy who hangs out daily now. He's pretty cute. Haven't thought of a name for my new friend yet. Any ideas??

Then as I was transferring pictures I found the previously lost Matt's Birthday dinner pictures... well, take them for what they are.

Not sure....

But I think that Sangria bowl....

may be empty...

and who doesn't love a mullet + mowhawk??? (a mullhawk??)

(which I braided)

Had a nice chat with my land-lady this evening. She had her nephew over to measure the windows. She is going to try and have the rolly-down metal window covers installed in the next couple of months. She also informed me that she is pretty confident that this year will be hurricane-hits-St. Kitts-for-the-1st-time-since-1998-year. So.... that'll be fun, right? Apparently, in 1998, the eye of the hurricane hit St. Kitts twice. First time her house was unharmed. 2nd time? Ripped her front door off and shattered her windows. 

Rolly-down metal window protectors... yes please!

But for now, the seas are calm and the skies are gorgeous....

(taken from my balcony this evening)

Back to the grind... TGIF everybody!

This is St. Kitts...

It's been quite a trying week.

My internet has been out most of the week, thankfully it is working currently. I've been fighting with The Cable (yes, that is the name of the cable company here) to get it fixed and to fix billing errors, but somehow they manager that I keep getting transferred to is never there... interesting...

Also, we (as in the entire island) have been out of power a lot this week. Here is why: St. Kitts News If you don't want to read the article, short of it is that the power generators on the island are failing one after another and they can't seem to get them fixed. Sweeeeeeet.

The weather has been... how can I describe this... well, monsoon like. Yes, monsoon-ish. Raining HARD, most of the day. Wait, Laura, aren't you from Oregon? Shouldn't rain be no problem for you? Well yes, thank you for noticing blog, I am from Oregon and normally I enjoy rain, but it is a bit different here. In St. Kitts the roads get washed out, gaughts are flooded and carry little cars away. (Gaught, by the way, appears to be a St. Kitts-ism for a gulley that transects a road to try and carry water from uphill down to the sea to prevent flooding. Not sure if anywhere else calls them gaughts, but they label them here as such.) If you want to see what the next 10 days will look like here, just check this out. Now, my absolute most favorite part of this whole monsoon weather has definitely been my 2nd story apartment flooding.

Wait, whaaaaaaaaa?

Yup. 2nd story apartment. Flooded. Ish.

One of my windows has a problem with it, and somehow managed to appear 100% closed, but was not, and instead of keeping water out, seemed to funnel gallons of rainwater into my apartment behind my couch and desk in a matter of hours. It took all of my freshly cleaned towels then some to mop up all of the water. It was like having a cute little waterfall from my window sill onto my floor. Cute, if it were outside. A royal pain if inside your house.

So, that's about it. Studying has been oh so exciting.... meh.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend all! I'll be in class on Monday, so enjoy your day off (if you have it) for me!