Everyone In Pennsylvania Loves Roller Coasters.

Because they drive on one every day. These roads are crazy sometimes. They go up and down, right and left, sideways and slantways and longways and backways and squareways and frontways and if you didn't get that movie reference then I sympathize for your childhood. And now I want chocolate. I try to enjoy the scenery most of the time but everyone else uses the speed limits as speed minimums and I can't go anywhere at a leisurely pace without someone (I'm sure) thinking "Go back to Michigan, ya bitch." Kidding, they probably don't swear since everyone I've met has been unnecessarily and wonderfully nice. But I go places and see stuff anyway!

I haven't updated in a couple weeks because I was lazy and now you get to see that much more. That is, if you read it all, which you should, but I won't tell you what to do. It's mostly pictures anyway. If you're squeamish, well...you've been warned.

7 Springs Mountain Resort - Hotel

The ski hills, getting set up for the wine and food festival over the weekend.

I, of course, work weekends.

Aunt Yvonne, you should come visit in a few months when these are covered in a majestic white powder and you can glide and slide (or tumble, like me) to the bottom!

AWESOME HILLS

I applied for a part-time job here, hopefully as a waitress since I hear the tips are sweet. Otherwise as a cashier at the ski resort or spa. Either way I can't really lose. I mean, look at it! Hopefully I can also get the employee discount and finally spend a winter snowboarding for real. Any boarders know of good, cheap (oxymoron...) boards/equipment?

I found Somerset high school which means I found the track which means I CAN RUN!

What a nice lookin' track. Just look at it.

And bleachers! I can kill my calves and quads in the same workout!

I also went back to the Laurel Highlands State Park again, to ride my bike this time. There is a road that runs through the park, with trailheads all along the way. I had the bright idea to just ride on the road. It's 6 miles long and took me 40 minutes. Yup, average 9 mph. Cool. NOT. Did I mention it's a fuuuuuureaking rollercoaster?? I want to tape my camera to my helmet and show you just what I mean...maybe if I'm feeling ambitious this week. But the downhills are pretty awesome.

During an "easy" part of my ride.

AND I WENT TO THE FAIR! There are so many fairs around here, I can actually believe it because it's very country and there's not much else to do. I took a personal drive one day just to find it and look around. It was a lot of fun, I had my first stromboli and went with a pretty cute guy. Go me!

View from the road. 

The farm next to the fairgrounds.

Yes, this is real life, not photoshopped one bit.

Aaaand what all the females have been waiting for, this is Blaise, a self-proclaimed city guy. I took him to the rodeo, which actually kinda sucked as far as rodeos go. But we had fun, ate stromboli, went on the rides where he picked the purple slide and the purple bumper car. ...?

I was trying to think up what slang meaning this could have, but I ruined it by using Google.

Via retiredtractors.com:

All of the John Deere two-cylinder Tractors from the original Model D in 1924, to the last series in 1958/1960 were called "Johnny Poppers" or "Poppin' Johnnies" because of their distinctive exhaust note.

Those wind turbines are fuuuuuureakin' HUGE.

I wonder what Wilma did in her free time.

Things at work are going very well, I just finished my 3rd weekend as an equine veterinary technician! I like everyone there, and I think everyone likes me. So far, at least! This past weekend there were no emergencies (good for the horses, not necessarily for me), but the 2nd weekend had a doozie. 

Told ya. He cut it going out of a gate that was partially open. About an hour later, all stitched up!

I also placed my first catheter, and successfully! Thanks to Becky for bringing Nova in to practice :)

And this kid! 

He's been here a long time because of a joint laceration that is taking its sweet time healing. He's kind of a dick, but we chalk it up to being a 2 year old. We all can't help but love him!

I Clean Up Poop And I Love It.

Well, I do way more than that but I seriously mean that I'm loving it. I started training last Thursday through Sunday (but from now on it's Fri, Sat, Sun). I think everyone likes me so far, but I haven't met everyone yet and I'm still trying to be on my best behavior. Ha ha ha. On one hand it's extremely overwhelming to try and learn everything: the way the hospital is run, the priorities and protocols, setting up for various emergencies, all the little details, yada yada. I know it takes time and experience to become proficient, but I just want to impress everyone and be trusted AND not make any big mistakes. That is probably my biggest fear - to cause harm to the patients. They are already here because they're hurt somehow, and the hospital should be a place of healing. I don't want them to be here longer than they need to be. Even though the big decisions aren't directly in my hands, it's still a lot of pressure to be responsible for a life. A big part of my job is to administer treatments, and pharmacology was not my strong suit. So I double and triple check the 5 rights (mini lesson for non-medical readers: make sure you have the right patient, drug, dose, route (how it's given: IV, orally, etc.), and at the right time).

Basically, I just don't want to screw anything up.

On the other hand, I'm with horses. All. Day. Long. I get to see whatever routine or rare case that walks through the door (and stays over the weekend). I get to interact with them, take their vitals and check how they're feeling. I get to pet them and love them and tell them I love them and feed them and clean up their poop. Just this weekend I was able to get my hands dirty, really, and reflux a colic horse (long explanation short: colic is a horse owner's worst fear. It's an upset to the GI system with various causes that can be fatal. Google it if you want more info. And since horses cannot throw up, we do it for them by refluxing - pass a tube through their nose into the stomach and get rid of its contents). This particular horse was a Gypsy Vanner, and they look like this:

Basically a smaller, paint draft horse, but so pretty! Anyway it's a smelly, gross procedure. He had surgery performed on Tuesday and hadn't eaten since then, so we were basically getting rid of the stomach acid and bile. If it doesn't initially come up and out through the tube, another method is to create suction. You know how that's done? Put your mouth over the end of the tube and suck or blow on/in it to create negative pressure. Not as sexy as it sounds. I'm not particularly grossed out by it, I mean, it's part of the job! Not really a surprise that I'd be doing unpleasant things. This had to be done every 2 hours or so until (hopefully) the amount of reflux is nearly gone. When I left on Sunday he was being refluxed every 6 hours because the amount was decreasing, so I hope he's gone by this weekend!

In non-work related news, Somerset has a little (seriously, it's tiny) farmer's market every Wednesday.

These are both pics of the same table, there were 3 or 4 other tables but they weren't as pretty as this one. You have to be pretty for me to take a picture. But they also had veggies AND Amish bread which I will be buying tomorrow because it looked so freakin good.

So that's what I did last Wednesday, I started work on Thursday (12 hour days are SO. LONG.) until Sunday and I did abso-freakin-lutely nothing yesterday. I felt like a bum but it was great. I even slept in until 8 am! If you know me at all, I am one of those rare gems that is 100% a morning person. If I'm not up before 8 something's wrong or I had a little too much fun the night before. Is there really such a thing as too much fun? I'm not so sure. 

I Have Cankles And A Southern Accent.

Just kidding, I don't have a southern accent, but EVERYONE else does. I don’t consider Pennsylvania to be that far south, so I forget they speak differently than I do. Slight culture shock. 

I drove down to PA on Monday. About a 9 hour drive gave me awful swollen cankles, one of the reasons I don’t like long car rides. It was weird to leave knowing that I wouldn’t be back for a while, and it still hasn’t really hit me that I’m on my own now. On the way I stopped in Columbus to see the Benedetti family, and I finally met the adorable Luca, their newest addition. I had lunch and Graeter’s ice cream which is so good I can hardly stand it! (Second best ice cream in the country!)

My first night went well, I met my new roommate, Stephanie. She’s doing a two week externship at the equine hospital and will only be here until Saturday. I haven’t been able to see or talk with her much, but she’s short, blonde, cute and goes to Ohio State as an aspiring veterinarian. I guess there’s a 3rd roommate, Eric, who apparently is at his girlfriend's all the time. I’m not sure he even exists.

The weather couldn’t get much better, I hiked in the Laurel Highlands yesterday. They don’t call it the lowlands for good reason! This is no rinky-dink little trail. It’s so steep and root-y and narrow in so many places. I went on the lake trail, so most of the time I was one misstep away from rolling down the hill into the water. After catching up on the show, The Walking Dead, I entertained the thought of what I would do if a herd of zombies were passing through. But I figured I could outrun them since they’d trip on the roots or something. I was sweating, tired and it was so fun!

Otherwise I’ve done boring things, went to the grocery store for food and a toothbrush because I forgot mine. Good job, Rachel. But, I’m alive and well and trying to experience everything that I can!

My last moments in MI!

Driving from Columbus to WV

Just a cool bridge

Woohoo!

Day 2: Hiking trip

There's a beach on the small lake, the trail I found is on the opposite side.

The beginning of the trail, the river/lake is on the left.

A cool couple of shrooms

Some of the trail

Found something that probably used to be something

At the end of the trail!

Coming back from the other direction

The dam

This is what everything looks like. Seriously. But I love it!