Hello, first day of school. (Do I look nervous?)

Check out my scrubs. I look totally legit, don't I? They are going to let me touch people this semester. Real people. They're even going to let me give meds. One day I have to go to a flu clinic and give shots all day. At the end of the semester I follow a patient through an operation. Admission, pre-op, procedure, post-op, recovery. Everything. I hope it's a cool operation and not something dumb like eye surgery (boring).

Picture #2: Third semester books. Insane, huh? When I went to the bookstore, they put my books in a box. Bag? Not going to cut it. You should have seen me trying to get from the bookstore to my car without losing anything. Silly.

Yay, back to school!

How come I can't wink?
(There was an actual point to this exercise, besides giving me something to blog about.)

I think we figured it out. We have two fruit trees on either side of the big tree in the front (the same one that fell on top of the house). One tree is a prune tree (I just threw up a little in my mouth) and the other, the one I took pictures of, green plums. Green plums! Oh, the possibilities! Seriously, help me think of the possibilities.

Just picked up my last book from the bookstore. The LAST used copy. It took some pretty serious restraint to keep from doing a little dance in that isle. The rest of my books, ordered online, will be here tomorrow. I inserted my divider tabs into my notebook. I am so ready for school to start. I have decided not to buy a parking permit for this semester. Ask me how that's going when it starts getting rainy right around Octoberish.

So, this tree in my yard. Something is growing on it. Some kind of fruit, I think. It kind of looks like a tiny green plum. What the heck is it? I don't know but I won't be chopping the tree down until I find out...

I'm putting together a good mix for Great Harvest. We start early in the morning so it has to be pretty upbeat. Help me out, will you? The theme is HOT. (Get it? You know, because the oven is hot...) 

You may have seen or perhaps just noticed in previously posted pictures that our garage is a bit scary (that may be an understatement). We used to have these crazy thorny jumbles of bushes lining one side of it. It was just like the part on Sleeping Beauty when Maleficent makes those thorny bushes grow really fast so that Prince Phillip can't get to Princess Aurora (did I remember all those names or did I have to look them up? I'll never tell). Anyway, winter rolled around and they all dried up and then it started to get nice outside and I found the perfect opportunity to get rid of all those nasty, thorny bushes. And I did just that.

Well, well, well, the end of the summer rolls around and do you know what that means? Apparently it means that it's time for those nasty, crazy, thorny bushes to start producing blackberries. Yes, I completely dug up who knows how many years of blackberry bushes. Wiped them right off our property. At least there are plenty of those messy, ugly, mean looking bushes on our neighbor's side of the alley. We went over last week and again tonight and we just whipped up 6 delicious looking cans of blackberry jam. I wonder how many jars I could have had. Do you think I should share a can with the neighbor we stole the berries from or is that just weird?


Our zucchini plants are massive this year. Ridiculous. So big that Russell is having trouble harvesting (did I just say harvesting?) the veggies at the appropriate time. This ginormous zucchini (and me pretending it's a telephone) is the result.

How would you like a recap? It's been a couple days, hasn't it? Two things I'm thinking about:

1. Camping. Russell achieved step 1 - admitting he has a problem. We drove for a long time on some crappy forest service roads and passed up some pretty good spots. He just can't get over that feeling that just around the corner is the most perfect, most highly prized camping spot ever to be discovered. When I say a long time, I'm talking 4 and a half hours, people. Forest service roads aka dirt paths, more like 4 wheeler trails. Anyway, we found a spot, built a fire, ate tin foil dinners and made s'mores. I don't know how you guys are thinking but as far as I'm concerned, that is exactly what camping is about. Fire. Dinner. S'mores. I thought I managed to snap a picture of dirty Otis before my camera batteries bit the dust but no such luck. Bummer.

2. Hygiene. I cannot wash my hair ever other day, so just go ahead and forget about every three days (as suggested by my color girl). I have decided instead to quit blow drying. As one problem is solved another presents itself. I can't go out with wet hair - that looks terrible - so either I have to shower at night or wake up early enough for my hair to air dry. I have been faced with some pretty tough decisions these days, haven't I?

I can't stop thinking about a little old lady that I met at work a couple weeks ago. The first time I went into her room there were quite a few family members visiting. Everyone seemed pretty upbeat, cheery even - including the patient. When I went in the second time she was alone. I asked if everyone had gone home and she said yes. She said she was glad because seeing them made her tired. She said that she didn't want anyone to worry so she didn't let them see how tired she really was. I keep thinking about her - maybe because I felt a little sad for her, I don't know. She was really pleasant, she only stayed overnight and then went back home. I just can't stop thinking about her.

Quick side note: Could I possibly be getting attached to a turtle?

Meet Mrs. T. She'll be hanging out around the Dukes for the month of August. I tried to get a video of Otis and Mrs. T meeting but it seems that every single rechargeable battery in my house is dead. Just my luck. Well, just your luck I guess - it was hilarious - the meeting.

This week is going to be awesome. I only have to work two nights and we are camping this weekend. Russell wants to scout out a possible hunting area for the fall and I'm all for it. And so is Otis. He loves getting out into the wild. Don't worry, I'll get those batteries all charged up.

Wish me luck on my 90 day eval at the hospital!