Things You Should Never Do To Your Pet.

I definitely see myself as one of those crazy moms that dress up their children in ridiculous seasonal outfits. Cute little sailor suits in the summer. Crazy festive style bows for the holidays. Argyle sweaters for the fall. The possibilities are endless and exciting! But I don't have any kids... so when I get into the Christmas spirit and have a lot of free time on my hand what am I to do?

That's right... I've got three dogs. (muahahaha... *evil laugh*)

So in a festive mood last night I decided to share it with my pets and dress them up and pose them in ways that no self respecting animal should ever have to tolerate. It was all spawned by the cute little pet accessories I saw at the store.

Can't you sense his holiday cheer?? Now seriously... if they didn't want you to do this to your pet then they shouldn't make those gosh-darn-so-cute little Santa hats and Of course I bought stuff for all three dogs.

He is ready and willing to stand in for any of the eight reindeer should the need arise... well... at least he should be ready to do that by the way he looks. I find it amazing how dog's eyebrows say so much. Because, despite all the cheery Christmas paraphernalia, he is sternly communicating to me how much he wants to chew my camera and those stupid antlers on his head.

And of course a group photo. No one can escape the Christmas fun! Despite their apparent misery I think this photo shoot was one of the cutest darned things ever.


Now, I think I am going to go out and purchase a couple of those itchy holiday sweaters for my future grandchildren. Lord help them...

Reason #647 Why I Love my Job

Sometimes people call 911 for the most non emergent, ridiculous things ever (granted somehow in their minds its an emergency to them - or not...). And then there are times where people call 911 and its a legitimate problem.

Take this person for example...

Someone out in the rural divides of the Green Mountains developed acute severe chest pain. 911 was called, an ambulance was requested, and I arrived at the patient's side about half an hour later. My husband was the paramedic on duty for intercepts so I had an extra incentive to call for a paramedic to help me care for this patient. The pain was unbelievable... the kind you know without a doubt that its legitimate.

So my husband was dispatched to meet with me en route to the hospital. When he met up with us and climbed into the back I had the 12-lead ready to go (Only paramedics can actually acquire 12-leads here in Vermont). We ran it and this is what we found...

yup... that's a STEMI. And don't ask what's going on with V3... it just had a moment.

A closer look of V4, V5, and V6.

And this is what the Zoll said...

Thank you, Zoll for pointing out the obvious!

Unfortunately here in Vermont, particularly North Eastern Vermont, we do not have clear cut STEMI protocols, let alone a team of people waiting to be activated like at the bigger hospitals or a cath lab. Heck... we don't even have an orthopedic surgeon on call most of the time. But I felt better knowing that I started the chain of events that led to the rapid diagnosis, treatment, and transfer of care to a specialized hospital for this patient. I may not have been able to do anything except legitimize this patient's chest pain and get the ball rolling, but when time is muscle (cardiac that is...) I feel like I made a difference.

And that's just reason #647 why I love my job.

Pretty Much Picture Perfect

Vermont is finally starting to look a little more like Vermont. Just in time too, because it really doesn't seem like Christmas to me without some snow. I've been spoiled with a white Christmas every year I've been up here.. so since 2003. According to Vermont folk-legend you have to spend at least six winters up here to not only drive in the snow, but also to convert from flatlander to implant. It apparently takes a lot of time to earn a Vermonter's trust. I'm lucky I slipped in under the radar and married in. Most people have a much harder time.

So a little-bitty winter storm came through our area. Even though we did not get a lot of snow its okay... I'll take what I can get. And of course I took pictures.

Driving around was a bit of a challenge the higher in elevation I went. Snow and slush covered the road and weighed down the trees. The poor little birch trees were bending over almost in half! Because it rained first, when it changed to snow it stuck to practically every surface. I absolutely love it when snow cakes every surface of everything.

Because I was on duty for the ambulance all day I had to stick close to home, but there seems to be no end of photo-fodder in Island Pond. As the sun began to set -- at some ridiculous time around 4pm-- I could tell it was going to be a colorful one so I headed back into town to set up to catch it.

If I could ever think of a town that belongs on a post card Island Pond would be it...

Thanksgiving at The Cabin

I have never had a greater appreciation for my mother in my life than I did after Thanksgiving dinner was over and everyone had left. --granted I have yet to birth children so I imagine that will change my perspective one day. But I had never been more exhausted in my life and I have no idea how my mother has prepared Thanksgiving dinner so faithfully (and happily) all these years!

It was 9am... I already look exhausted (down right disheveled actually...) as I shove my hand inside the rear end of a turkey. Ahh... the start of new traditions.

Shortly after the turkey was in the over I began cooking and didn't stop for about seven hours. I realized that pretty much every single dish I cooked was orange. Sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, roasted carrots, and a pumpkin spice dip were the orange items among a few other things...

I felt like a real housewife. The other day I had gone to L.L. Cote's, which is a variety store of types, and purchased nice little napkins and moose napkin rings even! Then I set the table in a way that made me reminisce to the days where I was a bus girl at a fancy little restaurant years ago. Forks on the left. Spoons and knives on the left. Don't forget to turn the knife so the edge is towards the plate. And make sure the glass is just above the knife. ...oh so unnecessarily technical.

The turkey did take about three hours longer than it should have. So much for the estimates on the turkey packaging. Thank goodness we had one with one of those little timers in it, which Shawn was all but convinced was defective two hours past estimated cooking time. Just as he was about to carve into the turkey to inspect the done-ness of the meat the timer popped. He set straight to carving it.

For the first time since we have owned our home we sat down and ate a meal at our kitchen table. It was nice. Family all crowded around, conversation, and good food. Of course there was a ton of left overs that I tried to pawn off on my in-laws. With only partial success I will now be experiencing tryptophan overload for the next week or two at least.

Even after all the exhaustion and painstaking experience of getting acquainted with my oven and mixer I enjoyed it. The accomplishing feeling of producing a whole meal, feeding everyone, and then having your kitchen clean at the end of it all like nothing happened. (so maybe that's why my mother does it?). It has all the feelings of a new tradition in the making...

Indian Summer? Seriously?

Today if I look outside I see spots of green grass. It was damn near 55 degrees today and we have yet to even have an inch of measurable snow! C'mon... this is Vermont! Northern Vermont at that. I've got sweaters and boots waiting to be worn. My car has snow tires that need to be put to use. And most importantly I have a brand new snowmobile with only 200 miles on it from last year that is begging to be driven all over the trails!

This is what Vermont should look like this time of year:

I took this video November 20th or so just two years ago!

Snow. Plenty of snow. Vermont is not subject to real seasons like the rest of the country. Our winter begins after Halloween and goes until Easter. Spring doesn't exist... we just have Mud season. And then two months of summer before Fall arrives.

But for some reason this year the seasons aren't cooperating. There is no snow. Winter has delayed its kickoff. We've been teased with these warm temperatures as soon as we've put our short sleeve shirts away and brought out the sweaters and fleece. The landscape is just plain brown... dead... and I can't wait for a fresh blanket of snow to cover it all up because its getting harder to find the beauty in this lingering fall.

Corn Chowder?!

Ok... first a pie... now corn chowder? I'm getting a little crazy here...

Cooking is WAY different than baking. If anyone tells you its not then they don't do much of either. I can bake pretty well (provided I pay attention to timers), but cooking is a completely different story. It was not so long ago that I finally mastered how to make scrambled eggs and for some reason today I decided to move on to something a little more challenging. Well actually... A LOT more challenging. Maybe it is the fact that Thanksgiving is coming up and I have been volunteered as the host for our family's feast. I needed to test the waters. A boost of confidence to get me ready for the "big game" that is this Thursday. (...lets ignore the fact that I am in over my head for now.)

So corn chowder was my choice. As Shawn headed out to hunt for the evening I headed to the kitchen. Nothing is more perfect than coming home to a meal of corn chowder after a long hunt in the woods.

All the ingredients lined up. Even bacon... gasp!... I have never ever cooked bacon in my life and it seemed daunting. But I took a moment to reflect in the monumental task ahead of me. Oh, and where did I find myself a corn chowder recipe? This site call Tasty Kitchen, which I am also using as a resource for Thanksgiving. You can type in a single ingredient and then retrieve a plethora of different recipes you can then choose from.

Cooking the bacon actually went really well. Not a piece was burned. And for those skeptical about the pot used to cook bacon rather than a skillet... well that's what the recipe called for. All the bacon grease was to be saved and the soup to be made in that pot. See... there was a madness to my method... er.. you know what I mean.

The recipe said it only took an hour to cook, but I completely disagree. It took three hours to put everything together and allow it to simmer the appropriate length of time, but the end result actually resembled corn chowders I had seen elsewhere. That was a good sign.

Finally the chowder was poured out into bowls and ready for Shawn and I to test. Shawn was a willing test subject for the chowder, but not so willing to have the testing process photographed. He did however say off the record that the chowder was "extremely good.". "Awesome." and he even wanted seconds.

Success.

Now bring on Thanksgiving! Wish me luck!

I Don't Have to Look at My Food Anymore!!

...and I mean that in the most literal translation possible.

Since we've owned our home we've done relatively little to improve it. I think its because we are young and think our house is quite nice anyway. Plus, we don't have a huge expendable income. We are, after all.... just starting out. So when we decided to finally get doors for our cabinets it was kind of a big deal.

One of the great things about a small town is that there is always SOMEONE you know that does SOMETHING you need done. Need your roof fixed... there's a neighbor for that. Need your lawn mowed? Well there are about half a dozen people that'll do that. So when we needed cabinet doors of course there was a friend of ours that could make them and put them in for us! ...and they even gave us the "friend and fireman" discount. How handy?!

So our friends not only built the cabinet doors, but also came over and installed them. They are pine doors so the fit right in with the whole cabin interior. And the fact that they are very light colored makes the kitchen look bigger and brighter!

...pardon my dirty kitchen counter.

The best part... I don't have to look at my food anymore! Its going to wonders to my appetite. Snack now requires effort rather than me just turning around and glancing across the house at what's in the cabinets. No more snacks and cereal (my weakness... ) staring at me in the face making my belly growl. So perhaps this will help avoid putting on the "winter weight" this year that is such a common occurance when the Vermont snows force you to barricade yourself inside your house and hibernate.

Now onto another project... hmmm... what's next?