WARNING: GROSS ANATOMY of a CAT in FULL COLOR

There are two stainless steel probes that you see sticking out of two holes. The top hole is the esophogus which is where the food goes down. The bottom hole is the trachea. It's hard to see but there is a little flap just below the bottom probe called the Epiglottis. This closes when we swallow our food. Occassionally we can rush through eating, or folks mix eating with drinking, and laughing and we literally "swallow down the wrong pipe". If this Epiglottis fails to close, one ends up choking and thus the Hiemlich maneuver is performed.

At the top, my thumb is holding back the stomach. Just below, the yellow J-shaped area, is the Ilioceccal junction. This is the junction between the large and small intestine. I thought this area was interesting as many of us have had our appendix removed. A cat does not have an appendix, but we obviously do. The appendix is usually located right in front of the cecum, but in my case, I was "retro-cecum" meaning my appendix was behind the cecum and they had a little more cutting to do to get to it.

This is the poor cat that I dissected in Biology. I named him "Mr. Ed" for the the "education" he has given me! He really was a great cat and had superior muscle tone and just a little fat, which made it alot easier to work with, compared to others. These cats are not "farmed" but rather were house cats that were "put to sleep" and their owners wanted them dedicated to science and research.

I hope you enjoyed the little mini-lab I put to gether for you. I need to het back in the lab and photograph these frogs we dissected; they were huge ! The one I had, just fit into a one gallon plastic ziploc bag. I named him too....JEREMIAH...., after the song, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog...."

Okay, I need to get back to studying! Enough for now.

4 WEEKS UNTIL SPRING BREAK

What's with the picture and what does this have to do with Spring Break? Well, I was going through the photo archives when I came across this picture of me on my very first Spring Break. I was attending Olivet Nazarene University and took my first AMTRAK train ride to Springfield, MO with my friend, Sarah. You know, you gotta love that 80's "big hair"!!!

Anyway we are just four weeks away until our Spring Break. This time I will venture by plane, with my family in tow, to Phoenix, AZ to see John's sis and family. Although I sport a crooked nose, some wrinkles and a few gray hairs, the same excitement of adventure and a break from school is still there!

School is getting more intense. In my BIO lab we have managed to memorize the entire skeletal, muscular, tissue and visceral systems...not just on humans, but cats and frogs as well. The purpose of studying all three is to show the evolution and the differences between mammals and other species. Aside from a few different muscles, the main differences occur because of the opening in the pelvis area called the os coxa. This area, coupled with the alignment of our vertebral column and hard pallete, allows abductor and adductor muscles to pass through the os coxa and thus allows us to stand, walk upright, squat, sit, and give live birth. This is quite a contrast to a frog's alignment which is right at 180 degrees and is thus responsible for his vertical, hopping movement. Who knew that two little holes and a few degrees could make such a difference in mobility!

I had my first two tests of the new semester last week and got a 94 and a 99, so we're off to another good start! This week we started a new unit in genetics. We are now leaving Mendelian genetics and heading to Evolutionary Genetics which includes: Incomplete Dominance, Polygenesis and Pleitrophy. Creation is so AMAZING!!!!

Algebra is a breeze and is kind of like a Sudoku puzzle for me; it's fun! I try to arrange my schedule where there is an easy class mixed in with the more intense ones so this has been a good fit.

After 11 years, I am now done cleaning the fire stations for Foothills and I will clean one last time this Thursday for Dr. Miller. It will be nice to tone down the pace. With 79 hours given to Whitley's school, 30 hours a semester of community service for my Honors courses, remodeling projects, motherhood, and full course load at school....running a full fledged business was just too much; there are only 24 hours in a day. I should know fairly soon if I will be awarded 2 merit scholarships, which will help offset the income loss, but give me much needed hours to study!

Today has been a great day; I finished my taxes!!! I even have the first quarter for 08 in ship-shape!!! That is always such a good feeling and even better when everything comes out to the penny..., no missing receipts,etc. I got the dog immunized and made a reservation for her to be boarded while we go on break. I placed some calls for a cleaning sub (Town Centre and 1 residential client left), while I'm away. The last thing on my list is to start my running routine back up as Spring is just around the corner!

Well, that's the scoop. 28 days and counting...
until SPRING BREAK!

Justice is Served....,

to one deserving little girl, nearly two years after she was removed from a life that most likely would have lead to drugs, alcohol abuse and the like. Our prayers have been answered and she is now with the most incredible family that is so deserving and capable of loving her and nurturing her to adulthood.

This past Monday we were honored to attend the final hearing for the little girl you have always known as Elyse. There were lots of tears; tears of release, tears of thanksgiving, tears of joy! Elyse's new family is big in size and equivically as large in love. The family had a nice group of supporters and we were thrilled to share their special day with them.

Right in the middle of court, "Elyse" squirmed and wiggled and said, "G-Me", "I want G-Me" and came running down the aisle and plopped right on my lap. I wondered it it was her way of saying "thank-you", but whatever the case, I was so thankful that she was officially in a good home and had her "forever family'.

Thank you again for all your prayers, love and support and the way you made this little girl feel so loved in the brief time that we had her. Thank you to those her helped me through my time of grieving after she left and lent a comforting word or listening ear. We can never thank you enough! Court is hereby, adjourned!

Fe-BRRRRRRRR-uary!

[picture is what new master shower is shaping up to be]

How cold is it? So cold that you freeze when you get out of the shower??? Let's just say these days, it hardly makes it above freezing, and with another rate increase in heating this month, we're ready to go back to buffalo skins and striking a pile of wood with a flint!

Luckily, we are all busy and are only at home in the evenings. The days are filled with work or school and evenings are homework, harp lessons or church.

Whitley had a reall nice report card, all A's, except for reading. She is an advanced reader, but she is still is struggling with comprehension and rushes to write stories (which is writing is lumped in with her grade). She has really enjoyed skiing this winter and has now advanced from the bunny slopes to the blue runs; must be the Swede in her! So far she has been to Loveland, Aspen and Snowmass. The next day they plan to go skiing is on President's Day and she is hoping to go to Vail.

John & I have been hammering out the details to the master bath still. We decided we are going to pull the cast iron tub..., something we are now both excited about, but our backs have yet to express any enthusiasm. We decided since we had a tub downstairs, one tub was enough and that we would just go with a shower with a bench seat in it for stretching, etc. Our last decision in this area is what type of shower door: stainless steel trim sliders or the seamless glass door. The last area to consider is how the vanity area will be as we are adding another vanity. I think we are going to go with really dark cabinets, a light countertop, travertine vessel sinks and 2 framed mirrors with a dual sconce in the center....this could change from one posting to the next.

I have now been back in school for two weeks and am settling in to a routine again. The Biology Labtime is now advancing and we are well into "histology" which is the study of tissues (smooth, muscle, cardiac, connective). We will be dissecting a frog, a mouse and a cat this semester so I am really excited! I am starting on my Math courses now and this is my first Algebra course in almost 20 years. I had to switch classes because the first class I was in had a traditonal blackboard and I was constantly sneezing, itching and having my throat close up. It turned out too be a blessing in disguise as my new class, which has a whiteboard, only meets on Fridays for 3 and 1/2 hrs. and I think the prof. does a much better job teaching. Prior to the change, my old class met on Mon/Wed and then I had class until 9:30 pm for the Biolgy lecture/lab, so my days were really long then. For the first time in my life, I must thank my allergies for something!

Well, that it's for now, better go stoke the fire so we can stay warm!