Wild game party
Last night we had another successful barbecue/party to celebrate the end of the semester's classes and to eat the delicous animals that Richard has killed which have been taking up most of our freezer space for the past few weeks.
Unfortunately Richard himself was unable to join us, which was very sad since all the meat came from his hunting. This is because Richard was in the emergency room at the hospital having tubes inserted in his chest. Yesterday morning as he was walking back from the river he suddenly had excruciating chest pain and shortness of breath; he went to the emergency room and his chest x-ray showed a pneumothorax on the left side, meaning his left lung was leaking air into his chest cavity and consequently had collapsed by about 40%. This is not a good thing, and they have no idea what caused it; apparently spontaneous pneumothorax is more common than I would have thought, and tall skinny white males under 40 years old (which pretty much describes Richard) are at higher risk than the general population. So yeah, I went and saw him once yesterday before they put the chest tube in, and then today I went and hung out at the hospital and studied for about five hours. He can't leave until the lung has healed itself and isn't leaking anymore, at which point they'll be able to take out the tube. I saw his x-rays before and after tube placement, they are pretty cool.
Very sad that Richard couldn't come to barbecue, but apart from that it was heaps of fun. About 30 people showed up in all. Leith and Sara and I spent all day cleaning house and cooking (and not studying, of course); we had roast turkey stuffed with good old Pepperidge Farm stuffing, roast goose stuffed with a couscous/wild rice/apple/hazelnut mixture that was quite yummy, and venison steaks marinated in red wine/blackcurrant juice and cooked on the grill. Everything came out perfect and delicious; I particularly liked the goose. Other people brought various side dishes and desserts.
We also surprised everyone by providing a pinata shaped like a sheep and stuffed with all sorts of yummy candy. Leith and Sara and I spent hours making this pinata! It was awesome. It even had a scrotum containing chocolate testes. It was strong, too, took a lot of whacks to break it open, and the scramble for the candy was fun because it was pitch dark in the yard. Good times, good times.
So now that all that is over I was actually able to start studying for exams today. Not too stressed about this exam period because we only have 6 exams, and three of them are only worth 5-10% of the grade for the entire course. Can't wait to get through them, though, and then we get three weeks off, part of which I get to spend in Australia! Hurrah.
Final note: The naked calendars have been printed! They actually look pretty good. I'll be sending a bunch to the US for Mom to distribute, so let me know if you'd like to purchase one in support of drunken naked vet students. :-)
Unfortunately Richard himself was unable to join us, which was very sad since all the meat came from his hunting. This is because Richard was in the emergency room at the hospital having tubes inserted in his chest. Yesterday morning as he was walking back from the river he suddenly had excruciating chest pain and shortness of breath; he went to the emergency room and his chest x-ray showed a pneumothorax on the left side, meaning his left lung was leaking air into his chest cavity and consequently had collapsed by about 40%. This is not a good thing, and they have no idea what caused it; apparently spontaneous pneumothorax is more common than I would have thought, and tall skinny white males under 40 years old (which pretty much describes Richard) are at higher risk than the general population. So yeah, I went and saw him once yesterday before they put the chest tube in, and then today I went and hung out at the hospital and studied for about five hours. He can't leave until the lung has healed itself and isn't leaking anymore, at which point they'll be able to take out the tube. I saw his x-rays before and after tube placement, they are pretty cool.
Very sad that Richard couldn't come to barbecue, but apart from that it was heaps of fun. About 30 people showed up in all. Leith and Sara and I spent all day cleaning house and cooking (and not studying, of course); we had roast turkey stuffed with good old Pepperidge Farm stuffing, roast goose stuffed with a couscous/wild rice/apple/hazelnut mixture that was quite yummy, and venison steaks marinated in red wine/blackcurrant juice and cooked on the grill. Everything came out perfect and delicious; I particularly liked the goose. Other people brought various side dishes and desserts.
We also surprised everyone by providing a pinata shaped like a sheep and stuffed with all sorts of yummy candy. Leith and Sara and I spent hours making this pinata! It was awesome. It even had a scrotum containing chocolate testes. It was strong, too, took a lot of whacks to break it open, and the scramble for the candy was fun because it was pitch dark in the yard. Good times, good times.
So now that all that is over I was actually able to start studying for exams today. Not too stressed about this exam period because we only have 6 exams, and three of them are only worth 5-10% of the grade for the entire course. Can't wait to get through them, though, and then we get three weeks off, part of which I get to spend in Australia! Hurrah.
Final note: The naked calendars have been printed! They actually look pretty good. I'll be sending a bunch to the US for Mom to distribute, so let me know if you'd like to purchase one in support of drunken naked vet students. :-)