Work has been really tiring this week. And then my clinic partner had to leave abruptly this morning, so I had to take some of her patients in my already full morning. But, with teamwork we got it all done in good time. Yay team! My NP came in to help with the afternoon, thankfully.

9. This year is the 40th anniversary of the release of the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – have you ever seen it? Bueller…. Bueller…. Bueller…..
Loved that movie. Still like it. It's where I encountered the band Yello.


10. Have you ever owned a Tamagotchi?
They were in my time, but no.


11. Would you consider yourself superstitious?
I'm in medicine, of *course* I'm superstitious! Many things we won't say for fear of Murphy listening. ;)

4. Do you have any travel plans arranged for this year?

Not anything already set. I haven't been able to really take a vacation for two years, but this year is looking much better. I need to go up to Montana and see my mom (in a nursing home) and my sister. She's finally finished the floors in our family home, so I can get a bed to sleep in instead of a freezing air mattress (so cold).
I may try to go to Dallas in the next few months for the FEI World Cup, but I want to make sure business is going well. Also, not sure if my sister can go.

Work tomorrow. Joyous. lol

Is anyone else watching the new Aliens series? I signed up for Disney/Hulu so I can get it. Unfortunately my TV is glitchy, and hates this show more than others (it's getting old, and drops the wifi connection randomly), so I am seeing it in pieces.

I need to watch it again in a dark room. It's definitely got callbacks to the movies, and the feel of the lore from the books, but there's so.much.there.
(see, no spoilers).

Also watching Project Runway, which my TV doesn't hate as much. Very interesting so far.


Sorry I disappear. I am often busier during the day at work, and when I get home I just want to read and relax. Or go to the barn. lol There is a plan, but not following it just yet.

Work: Going okay for summer. Hopefully going to get a partner mid-October.
Church: Choir restarted practice this month. We restart at church the first Sunday in Sept.
Horses: Zolar is finally out of shoes after his lameness 'vacation.' *crossing fingers it stays that way*
Dogs: Annie still tries to strangle her brother with his collar while he randomly bite her ear. Fun times.

I really think about posting in the early evenings, but when it gets to evening I just read until I have to go to bed. Sorry.

Things have happened. I have again put myself in the position of wondering if I'll have enough money to get me through the summer. Luckily this year I do have some savings going into the summer, as opposed to last year. Also, I don't have to carry the vaccine expenses, which help. Also, one of the girls is out on maternity, and the more expensive NP has been taking a lot of time off.
I was supposed to have a partner by now to share expenses, but the company spent 4 months trying to get one of the local peds to join. That makes me cranky. It was never going to work out because of our practice styles, so it is frustrating that it took so long for them to figure that out. They claim she just recently told them no for sure.

I has asked my GSD breeder for another puppy in Jan/Feb, which was about the time she had finished distributing a litter. So we had to wait until last week! So I got Helga Ann "annie" last Tuesday. Honestly, I was not looking forward to having a puppy because I know how hard it can be especially at first. O.M.G. She woke me up every two hours the first night, and three hours the next night. Friday night she managed until 5am. Last night woke me up twice. I can't wait to kick her little ass outside at night, but she's not quite big enough.
I told Balky for the last month to please not eat his sister. At first, when she came home, I thought he had ignored the 'not' part. He would put his mouth around her head, slam her down with a paw, or get too excited and bite her leg when I picked her up. *sigh* Got a playpen for the yard, so I could clean stalls without her.
By yesterday I could feel comfortable leaving her with him for quite a while, but still put her in the playpen when I went to town. Today I went to church, and then got groceries with no playpen!
Oh, and she has been coming to work with me. :)



The reason my savings isn't quite as high as it could be right now is because I bought another horse. Because I am an idiot(horse person). He's a son of my stallion (who just qualified for regionals in PSG, I1 and I1 Freestyle on Memorial Day weekend) and moves even better than my stallion. Also, my trainer knows I am a sucker, and will buy things on payments.
Daddy is on the left, "OJ" is the top one on the right.

*finally met the new neighbors today. The poor things think that my yard is wild and untamed just because I am busy. They don't know I'm also farm raised, a hippy from a private college in Oregon, and an episcopalian. I have bugs, at least 3 kinds of birds, and TOADS this year! Haven't had toad babies for a long time.
(I am also lazy. And my mower is in the shop. And I don't have time. The reasons above are still mostly true.)

*This is Iams. He likes to sit in the dog food bowl. He will obligingly hop out when asked.


*Baby toad!! Not as many as last time I had them, but I've seen at least 4. Two of which were in piles of manure. I suppose they're wet, so... Ick, still.


(pretty sure they're toads.

*Got a fly sheet for Zolar. He says the gnats still annoy him when they buzz near his face, and I say he needs to go find his fly mask that he lost in the back pasture.

*Work is okay. My nurse practitioner 'B' is coming back for real from a month off on Wed. (she worked 3 days last week). Her mom died, who she and her kids lived with.

*Choir has a month off now. We've had no practice the last few weeks, which is nice for cleaning stalls. (aren't I exciting?). Instead of choir during this time he asks for volunteers to do solos-singing or instrumental. Mine is the last Sunday before we restart, so plenty of time to practice my song. :) I've totally done it once already. For real. *nods*

*Oh, B movie peeps, DO NOT watch 'The Final Storm' (2010). It sounds interesting, but is really thinly veiled 'End Times' crap. I gave it 0 out of 5, which means I either didn't finish or fast forwarded through it.

Actually posting!

Biggest reason is that I watched The Wandering Earth this weekend, and LOVED IT. It's Chinese, and I watched it in Mandarin with english subtitles. Such a good disaster film. It even made me cry at one point, and I didn't hate it. lol I was even thinking about it the next day (during church, when I was supposed to be listening. oops :)



Choir started again last Wednesday for practice and Sunday for service. He had us do two anthems and an introit. Start big, I guess. It feels nice when everyone is happy to have us back.

Also last Wed was the last Truckin' event, and I got to dunk one of the priests in the dunking booth. Last throw! Also, the band was an 80's tribute band, and it was awesome. Me and an old DJ sang all the songs while we ate. lol



We're almost starting school here (Tues and Wed), which means work is crazy busy, and all the parents who haven't gotten ready before now are calling and yelling at us because their lack of planning is our fault. Nope, doesn't bother us at all. :/ But we still love the kids.

Then we usually get a 3 week break (not so crazy) until they all start coming in sick. But who knows nowadays.



Damnit Jim I'm a pediatrician, not a marketing genius! I'm on a small nonprofit board, and one of the things our area foundation does is run a giant Day of Giving program where you try to get donors to give you money through them, and they raise something called an amplification fund. Whatever percentage of money we ourself raise vs everyone else we get that percent of the amplification fund. Oh, and we have a week to do this. lol We've done it several times, but never really put much effort in it. This time I had to go to the mandatory training and it was quite inspiring. They had other nonprofit leaders who had done well give tips and ideas for getting more donors. So now I'm kind of pumped, but also somewhat freaked because this isn't my thing, and no one else on the board will do it really, and yikes! I have a few ideas for social media, so wish me luck.

One of the ladies that does clothes for kids said she posts three times a day!!! Which is great. Unless you are a small nonprofit that puts on classical musical concerts mostly involving a certain beautiful organ. lol Got ideas, though. They may suck, but hey, it's a try.



My gas company had to come in and restart my pilot lights after some work this morning, and luckily a friend of mine could come and be there for that. However, in the doing, they invited in every one of the billion flies currently hanging around my farm.
Also, fucking flies.


Cedar is taking Zabacaxi to a show this weekend. They're doing Intermediaire I, trying to get one more score to qualify for regionals, and starting a freestyle at the same level. Cedar is really good at freestyles. And, she said the music is going to be Aladdin. hee! Hopefully she can get someone to video that.


Zolar and I are still working at building up muscle. It's hard, but as a dressage person I do like a circle, so also satisfying. Our Dressage for Pilates clinic is coming up mid Sept, so hopefully we'll see some good improvement before then (so she doesn't yell at me. lol Maybe I can distract her with my shiny new saddle.)

Mostly. Haven't gotten back up with Hudson & Rex because I had gotten so behind. Eventually I'll get there.

( spoilers for Doctor Who, La Brea, and Day of the DeadCollapse )

Blown Away has a Christmas special! Yay! More cool glass blowing.

My mare is a complete pig. It would be so much easier to clean stalls if she could, you know, poop outside. And then not stomp it into the bedding, and lay on it.

I have gotten a reservation for the local state park for Friday. I'm going to take said mare trail riding with some other horse people. eek! Wish me luck. We've gone before with my coach, but only once. Luckily, C said that there would be some newbies there.

Going to spend Thanksgiving tomorrow with my friend and her family. They're fun. Even though they tend to watch football in the afternoon. lol

Work is okay. Very busy Monday through Thursday especially. Trying to figure out how to fit in the essays/blog that I do. I do it both for patients and for me. Writing an essay helps me figure out details about things and how I want to think about them.

Choir is cool, for the most part. There are only 2 1/2 sopranos, which can feel a bit lonely when you're the only one there hoping your fellow sops will show up. OTOH, on St Andrew's day we had bagpipes, drums, and gonfalons. And then for All Saint's Day we did When the Saints go Marching In, and it was awesome.

I think that's it for now.

We were black eyed peas. They let me do my own makeup, so I'm one of the only ones with a giant black eye. lol I'm standing on the chair to the right with my hair in a bun.

*After watching 'Making the Cut' on Netflix, that has fashion designers that already have business experience, watching Project Runway is like watching babies. lol Still watching it, though.


*Why is it that cats need to sit on phones and remotes? They're not warm. But, I suppose, God forbid we pay attention to something that isn't them.


*Kitty (3yo german shepherd) has become way clingy the last two weeks. She insisted on going to work with me Friday before last. I thought she would get really bored, and give up, but then the next day she wanted to come in again after I let the horses out. (it's what we do when she goes to the groomer).

That, of course, immediately made me worry about Sally (11.5yo Kangall/Great Pyr) because it signaled to me that she was slowing down and not entertaining Kitty as much. It's taken me a bit to calm down again about that. I decided to go back to sitting with the dogs for a bit after I'm done at the barn. I can pet Sally and throw the ball for Kitty. Also bought some more wobble wag giggle balls . She loves them. Then breaks them. lol

I also checked with her breeder to see if there were any puppies coming up. May be time to get a new puppy. A little boy. There may be a litter coming sometime soon. (yes, a breeder. I need a healthy puppy that doesn't have issues preinstalled. I can install my own issues, thank you.)
The idea of having to deal with another T Rex, er, GSD puppy is a little scary. I still have the puppy crate. May need a new dog box. Although I was thinking about maybe getting a heated dog house. Not sure.


*I have new barn cats!!! Yay! I was really worried that I was going to have to beg some from another farm since I had lost my last one. I did see a snake go under my haystack a few weeks ago, which scared me a bit, but I think it was big enough to eat mice. Maybe? But they don't work in the wintertime.

But, I've seen three different mostly feral cats. And, since I was kind of cranky about work, I eventually named them after not quite nice medical terms/abbreviations.

#1 is a medium grey tabby. Officially LGFD, but I call him El Gee. (Looks Good From Door. Mostly because that's about all the closer I can see him from)
#2 is a white with creamy orange spot on the back. Call him FLK. (Funny Looking Kid)
#3 is a creamy orange. Finally came up with Tracks. (as in train tracks. as in "train wreck." started with orange cream, which was way too cliche).

Find the cat.



*Work is changing immensely. For the past 20 years, my call group has gone to the hospital to see our own patients and babies. We have seen sick kids on the weekends in our clinics when we've been on call. Yes, it can suck. No, we didn't always get paid for it*. But it was rewarding seeing our kids, and making relationships with the staff on the different floors. I have been (and still will be until the new year) on multiple committees, and have learned so much from them.

However, we have had two doctors retire in the last 6 months, and no replacement anticipated any time soon. So, at our post last retirement meeting, most of the remaining doctors declared that they were getting older, and wanted to stop. They actually had well thought out reasons, which, after thinking about them, made sense. Also, if they weren't going to be going, then that would leave me and one other person to be on call - yeah no. All the other pediatricians in town have long ago stopped going to the hospital, and I understand that in general in bigger cities, we're among the last of pediatricians to stop going. It's possible because pediatric hospitalists became a thing about 5-10 years ago (we would never leave our kids to be treated by non pediatricians).

It was a bit heartbreaking, to be honest, and it still occasionally makes me sad. OTOH, I'll get to be a regular person. Sort of. Work M-F, no weekends or holidays. No nights being woken up four times by the hospital. It's a little heady. lol So, as of Nov 1, 2021, we're clinic only. Luckily, I have good relationships with both main hospitalists, and they've promised to take good care of my kids.
And I can always change my mind and go back to the hospital. But I probably won't. Because free weekends.



*the only doctors who are paid to be on call are those that are on a call schedule to be available to the ER if needed. Mostly surgeons. They get paid by the hospital for that. The rest of us have to pay an answering service to answer our calls, then get woken up for free. So, be nice to your primary care provider.

Charlie is driving me nuts. He keeps not sitting on my lap. Then will sit on the couch arm and look disgusted. Then stand on my lap and not sit. He is being an asshole. Which, you know, thai cat. ;)

I have been watching the Olympics. A lot of it I've been watching in fast forward. :) It's a great way to watch volleyball. Drives me nuts that they'll show the whole volleyball game, and then only a part of the diving. Golf has its own frigging channel. They only showed a little of the equestrian so far. I love that mental health has been important.
I love the soccer chick with the purple hair. She is very exuberant.
I thought the skateboarding would be cooler. Haven't been able to see the BMX trick riding. The BMX racing was kind of meh, and dangerous. Haven't seen any climbing, either. And they only showed a little surfing-our girl winning was all.

Have also been trying to survive the pre-school well check season. Since everyone waits until a few weeks before school starts (no matter how much we warn them and call them before that) it's a crazy time. And then my NP got covid, and we were a person short last week.
Wish us luck. We only have to survive until the end of next week. And then hire two more front office staff, half a medical assistant, and a whole nurse. (one of my current nurses is moving to another state maybe next month. every time it gets pushed back, I am not sorry. even though it makes her sad. We like her.)

Also trying to get riding in 5-6 days a week. And cleaning stalls and runs still since I haven't found anyone to take over yet. But, we finally have another schooling show scheduled for the end of this month.
Hey, but I've been having some revelations, which is good. Like, I have to ride the whole test, not point him at a letter and let him go. (long story).

Did I mention full choir started this week, too? Which means I spend Wednesday nights at the church. (Unless covid gets really bad, then the church closes. maybe)

And minimal sleep. (see above).

Now Charlie has gotten completely disgusted with me, and went to lay on the back of the couch. And I feel bad that I obviously didn't give him exactly what he wanted. Cats are jerks. lol