1. I do not aspire to be a hydrologist. I just need to get through this project and come out with an okay (not amazing, plain old pass is perfect) grade on the other side. Presentation in one week, paper due in two weeks. My topic? Can I see a change in creek discharge, precipitation or temperature in one creek in N.Van looking at 35 years of data and can I see what the effects of PDO and ENSO might be. Yeah. Interesting but not easy for me at all.
2. We have figured out a way to stop Ty from barking! It is a formula that looks like this:
Barky dog (Ty) + Barky dog (Taz) = quiet
This formula makes no sense but seems to work! We have a drop cam that we use to spy on Tyler, and if Taz is with him he is far less stressed and therefore quiet. Toby is always home with Ty but it seems that because Toby hides under our duvet during the day, Tyler feels alone and gets upset. This has been a source of stress for us because Ty has been bothering our tenant. We really like our tenant and want her to be happy. We have been taking him with us, sending him to my folks (thanks for that Mom and Dad!) and have been planning to make sure he isn't alone at certain times. This is a big breakthrough. I did put him back on clomicalm and think that has also helped. Oh, and he is now totally addicted to peanut butter stuffed kongs....
3. The kids are so, so funny. 95% of the time I find them hilarious and entertaining and fun to be around. I think that is a great percentage for parenting a 3 and almost 6 year old!! Rob finds them equally entertaining. They are just pretty darn neat little people. They have their moments for sure (Maelle, ahem, has been known to bite.....) but on the whole are just great.
4. Grandparents & Rob have been instrumental during this year of grad school. My parents take the kids on Wednesdays and Loic Friday afternoons (and the dogs too). Rob has been awesome on weekends when I work on school stuff. Barb (aka East Coast Grandma) came out and really helped out over spring break, which is now two whole weeks. A big thank you to all. I need to think of a proper end of class thank you.
5. Still loving my garden. Loic and I spent an afternoon in the front garden this week and it was great! I also spent an hour or so out there with Maelle. It is nice that they are at such great ages. Loic built his own little garden and Maelle moved wood chips around for an hour; during these times I could weed and plant and putter - amazing! It doesn't get a ton of attention right now but it will all be ok. A lot of what I have out there is low effort - blueberries and raspberries just need to ripen and be eaten, garlic isn't ready until August and other warm weather plants don't go in for a month. Oh, I did put in peas and lettuce and radishes by seed though.
6. While classes and the work load can be intense, this year has so far been pretty good. I love the program and I *think* I have balanced it all well, aside from a low point at last fall's apple festival (sorry to Dad, Rob and Erin for that day and the tears that ensued) and a few rough days this term. All in all I have positive feelings about my decision to do this program and about the program itself. I do, however, reserve the right to continue to complain about statistics and the fact that I can't do them on my Mac!!!! And that my math skills are not awesome. At all.
7. Thumbs up for trading! I have traded a few hours of stats tutoring (thank god) for dog training. What a great trade. I really like the woman who helps me with stats, and I like her daughter and dog. I have helped her daughter clicker train their nice dog and next week we move on to some rally and agility; the perfect trade.
8. Now some pics from Maelle's third birthday and the garden.
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| I am concerned that we might need a pony in a few years :) |
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| Love, love love my front garden! |
- E (and three cheers for blogging!)
I hear ya loud and clear on the stats! It was just about my undoing in grad school.
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