A Blogger Returns to the Fold

I'm back. Yes, really. Try to contain your excitement.

This past weekend Matt and I went camping with Emily and Rick at Gardner State Park. It's apparently the prettiest state park in Texas, located in the hill country west of San Antonio, and along the Frio River (which is not, incidentally, that cold - more on how I know this later). We got there just before sunset on Friday. Our campsite was in an area along the river (maybe 50 yards, a hill, and some brush away from it). We had neighbors on one side (Aggies the second night, complete with 3 dogs, an African Grey parrot, and an alternative lifestyle) but no one on the other side, which made for some pleasant privacy. We got a fire going, pitched our tent, and Rick and Emily made us some excellent hamburgers. A few s'mores later and we were ready to hit the sack. It got down into the 30s that night, which made for some chilly camping...that plus Rick's snoring made for a slightly restless night, but it was also made infinitely better by the loan of one of Rick's air mattresses to Matt and me.

On Saturday I awoke before the sunrise to build up the fire. It was COLD! I guess that's what happens when you camp in November :) After some bacon and eggs by camp-chef Rick and a mug of hot chocolate (actually, a red plastic cup from Peggy Sue of hot cocoa) we were ready to tackle the day. The park has lots of little trails through the hills so we figured we would just wander around on those, making sure to hit the two caves listed along the way. It was great hiking weather - not a cloud in the sky and a high in the 70s - and it was definitely beautiful, even for a Texas fall landscape. We had great views of the Frio River, which is shallow and crystal-clear, and the hills. We met a huge troop of Boy Scouts from Uvalde as we hit the Crystal Cave...the cave wasn't that deep or particularly crystallized, but it was a cave and therefore automatically cool. We hiked around some more, got lost about 5 times (the signage left something to be desired, and we were thankful the trails were less than a mile long each since we kept getting off track), and ate lunch on the ... hill. Can't really call it a mountain - it was about 1800 ft above sea level. We saw the other cave, which was smaller but narrowed down in a very gradual and thus appealing way. I squeezed myself down into it, making Matt nervous but having a grand time getting dirty and being adventurous. :)

After the hike we returned to camp (after hitting up the little store for syrup and Cinnamon, and ice cream bars for Matt and me). We planned to go sit by the river, but with the sunny heat of the day and our tired feet, Matt and I decided to dip our feet in and see how the water felt. It turned out to be very pleasant (not too cold at all). So, naturally, we began walking around in the river and discovered we could walk to the other side without getting into more than 6 inches of water. Then we walked up the river along the other side. I had a couple close calls and got one arm soaked when I stepped on a slippery rock (the ones in the current were totally grippy but the ones out of the main flow were covered in algae and treacherous). We also happened across an armadillo during this excursion. He was rooting around in the bushes (we didn't have our camera but I did get a couple of shots with my phone). After getting back to our starting point, we decided to try going down the river for a bit, and that's when I slipped and fell into the water. I didn't hurt myself or anything, but I didn't get 100% soaked. Luckily, with the sun and the mild temperature of the water, I was absolutely fine! I didn't even have to change clothes right away, and instead explored down the side of the river and laid on a sunny rock for a while. Then I showered and changed into warm clean clothes, and Matt and I lounged around the campsite while Rick and Emily went off to try their luck fishing.

Saturday night dinner, again prepared by our most competent camp-chefs Emily and Rick, was fajitas. Matt and I set up our own tent for the second night, to escape the snoring, and because we love our tent and can set it up in all of 5 minutes. We had some more s'mores and built a roaring fire. It didn't get as cold Saturday night, which was very nice. On Sunday morning Rick made us some french toast and pancakes, we soaked our last few hours of pyromania, and then we packed up camp and hit the road.

Highlights of the trip:
- Emily tries to tell us a story and the three of us hear "only one of my nipples is real" (what she really said "only one of my dimples is real" relating to a time in her childhood time when some punk hit her in the face with a baseball bat)
- Bees swarm our picnic table on Saturday afternoon and Rick begins attacking them with flip-flops to cripple them and toss them in the fire, shouting comments like "oh, it hurts, doesn't it?"
- I catch a tiny frog by the river on Friday night
- one simple word: FIRE

You can find pictures of our trip, as well as some other new ones including, of course, a million of Piper, on our web site. I have yet to get the pictures Emily took of our trip, but I will add them soon.

Backing up a bit, last week was my 24th birthday. We went to Dallas on Monday afternoon and had a birthday dinner at Amore with Mom and Dad (fresh in from a wedding-planning trip in California) and Carolyn. Then on Tuesday I got new running shoes with Dad and we jogged at White Rock Lake. I had lunch with the 'rents at Cisco while Matt participated in "Field Day" with his work (yes, like elementary school, tug-of-wars and all). We had dinner at the Roberts with Luke and Susie, when I got to open my presents (best ever: kakuro book - you just think sudoku is fun, try this). On Wednesday we had a birthday lunch with John and Susie at Bubbas, I had an appointment with Dr. Z, and then Matt and I came back to College Station. It was a great birthday! Another great part of last week - Amanda was in town on Thursday for an American Chemical Society presentation, and I got to spend lunchtime with her catching up. :)

So, chances are the majority of my readers are at this point wondering either 1) why haven't you blogged in 2 months, or 2) how did you pull these fun activities off if you're knee-deep in vet school. The thing is, I haven't really known how to approach this topic on my blog, a very public site on the internet, where I don't mind talking about my activities and whatnot, but not exactly the most personal medium on the planet. But enough time has passed now, and things are moving along, that I might as well just get it out and move on so I can, if nothing else, start bringing you more of the blog posts I know you hunger for. So...In June I was diagnosed with depression. This may come as a surprise to some, or not to some. It was kind of both to me. Anyway, so Dr. Z is my psychiatrist that I've been working with since then. We've been doing the whole talking thing as well as anti-depressants. It was those medications that ended up being the smoking gun for the seizures I had in July-September. I've gotten off those and onto something else now that seems to be working well, and I had an MRI and EEG to make sure that it was the drugs, and not my brain, that was causing the seizures (I get the official results next week but all signs point to good news). Anyway, so with the seizures and the anti-seizure medicine that made me feel stupid, drunk, and sleepy, as well as the depression and some fun insomnia, vet school wasn't so much happening. It was either 1) try and muddle through, possibly fail out or pass without learning anything, or 2) take the medical deferral they were thoughtfully offering so that I could get a guaranteed spot in next year's class and get my things together. I took option 2. So right now, I'm not in school, and this is how I have time to go camping, visit Dallas, play Warcraft, work on my kakuro/sudoku/crossword skills, run, watch DVDs like seasons 1-3 of nip/tuck, hang out with Matt, and sit outside with Piper as she sniffs around and eats grass. All I have to do with A&M is let them know by January 15 if I want to come back. And on that note...I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving! BTHO t.u.!