Anniversary Trip - Day 3

We saw whales! Okay, that was the punchline but I had to get it out there. So this day we started off with sleeping in and then a leisurely breakfast of Frosted Flakes (which is apparently our official do-it-yourself travel breakfast). The plan for the day was hiking and seeing whales, so we got the dog's backpack all ready to go so he could help carry our gear. Mr. B though the Beast could carry our water, but once I put our water bottles (two Siggs) in his pack I realized it was too heavy for him. My husband still disagreed with me but finally relented when I put the pack on the dog and he refused to move! So we packed it full of our snacks for the day (no-bakes I made before we left, crackers, granola bars and fruit leather) and his tennis ball, doggie bags (not the tasty treat kind), mini tube of sunscreen (for us, not the dog), collapsible water dish (we didn't want to share dog slobber) and his regular harness. We decided that as the humans of the group, we would carry the water for us all :)

Now that we were packed, we piled into the car and drove out to American Camp. If you are wondering about the patriotism of the name, check wikipedia for more info on the Pig War - San Juan Island has both an American Camp and British Camp. Anyhow, so we got to the park and then set out to see if any orcas were out and about yet today. The Beast took his job as pack mule and trail blazer very seriously! We got out to a great looking point (where we saw a speck of a dorsal fin on our last trip) and camped out to eat cookies and look for whales. After only a few minutes of looking (with the encouraging sign of a clump of whale watching boats nearby) we saw whales! Once we'd seen a few dorsal fins (and presumably their attached whales) surfacing the hubby decided to go and see if the closer viewing point had a trail to it. About a minute after he had set out an orca surfaced less than 100 yards from the shore! So I gathered up the Beast and booked it to join Mr. B on his rocky outlook. From here we watched a pod pass by (not sure what pod, since we didn't have a handy whale watching tour guide with us...I think the sign at the lighthouse had said the K pod was in this area) and saw a couple mom-baby pairs! We even saw a tail flip, and a whole body leap out (what is that in whale terms?!) from a ways away! Basically it was incredibly awesome, and even when we decided that most of the pod had passed by and it was time to continue hiking, I still kept looking out to the water to see more. No pictures though, as I'm sure my timing would have been crap and I wanted to see the live action through my real eyeballs, not my camera screen! We did take one more mini-break to check on the pod though.

So next we hiked down to some of the beaches, which made lovely natural dog parks for the Beast, as he was not about to scramble up the rocks to escape or swim out to join the whale pod! Not only did he get to fetch with the tennis ball that we brought, but he found his own, gloriously water logged ball on the beach - which was a squeaky one to boot. So that kept all of us amused for a while, and we finished off the rest of our snacks.

With the dog exhausted, although still exceptionally thrilled with his life (who wouldn't be?!) we decided to head back to our place and drop off the Beast while we went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary (which was technically today, which is the 1st). We got a bit sidetracked on our way back and decided to drive out to check out the Southern Beach before we headed back. On our way we saw two foxes! The Beast was pretty much oblivious though and missed his opportunity for interspecies education. So then we made it back to our place and dropped off the semi-conscious dog into his crate and set off to find a nice place for dinner. We walked around the town and decided on either Nice Place #1 or Nice Place #2 for dinner (figured we could splurge a bit, being our first anniversary and all). So we had already walked by NP1 the other day so we went and checked out NP2, which was incredibly difficult to find and randomly located behind some kind of warehouse and not visible from the road. Unfortunately, they were super expensive and the menu was pretty limited and too fancy for our tastes. So we thought we'd go to NP1 as the menu looked pretty amazing yesterday and they had a deal for a multi course meal for two for $70. We were pretty proud of ourselves and trotted over there, only to find out that the restaurant was closed on Sundays. WTF mate?! Now we were annoyed and hungry, which often leads to desperation. So we then settled for an unoriginal location, but dependable since we ate there last year, and had a tasty, filling (but not snazzy) meal.

Finally satisfied on at least a gastric level, we went back to the studio to free the Beast. We spent the evening oh so romantically, watching Mythbusters while finishing our 550+ piece puzzle (damn you random person who did this puzzle last for loosing a piece! who does that?!).

(Teh goggie iz not imprezed wif teh puzzal of kittehs)

Anniversary Trip - Day 2

So, now where had we left off? Oh yes, we were heading off to Friday Harbor on the ferry! Usually we both traipse up to the passenger portion of the ferry and admire the view and pick out the islands we want to buy with the millions we intend to have later, but this time we had the Beast in tow. Apparently WA state ferries frown upon critters wandering around above the car deck, even if they are dutifully tethered to their owners. So the dog was stuck in the car, and being the overprotective dog parents that we are, we didn't want to leave him there by himself! (because, you know, he could somehow unlock the door and get out and then see shinies in the waves and jump off the ferry and end up like the horse in The Ring...and we don't want that) Mr. B dutifully volunteered to babysit the Beast, because that meant he could catch up on some sleep that he missed while being held over at work the night before. So I left the snoozing boys to go admire the lovely land we live in (or rather, hunks of land in water, but you know what I mean). I quickly got bored of my own company however, and trekked back down to the car to join the napping cuddle puddle.

Blared awake by the loudspeaker announcing our arrival, we were here! Driving off onto land and then off to...the dog park! Yes, we were on vacation and we were off to the dog park. But I tell you what, you stick the Beast in the car for almost 2 hours and then on the ferry for another and you try and interact with society with him in tow without some good fetch time in between and then you tell me what you think! Anyhow, we were pretty impressed overall with the Friday Harbor dog park (though apparently not impressed enough to take pictures, I'm still not used to this blog thing yet). It's right next to the fire station and is a giant fenced in square with a smaller square in the corner fenced off for small dogs (which, when we got there, was inhabited by an elderly lady and her Jack Russel which made this horrible high pitched squeaky bark that I was convinced was some kind of ill bird crying, until Mr. B told me it was the dog). The Beast got to run around to his little heart's content, and chase plenty of tennis balls. There were definitely less dogs at this park than we are used to in Seattle, but I suppose most of the people on the island actually have yards for their dogs (as we explain to the Beast - personal dog parks!). After we drained off some of his energy we needed to catch up on ours and find some lunch.

At this point we realized that it was still a bit to early to get keys to our place, and so we had no where to stow the Beast while we ate (no desire for boiled dog later by leaving him in the car). So we found ourselves a nice fish and chips place (where neither of us had fish or chips) that had some outdoor seating, where several sets of parents had already set up camp with their small children. While we ate our somewhat artery clogging but tasty meal, we reflected on our luck that at least our pest of a small creature (who would not sit still, needed to sniff anyone that came near, eat napkins if possible and lick the floor) was able to be tethered to the railing while all the (adorable and yet incredibly distractable and moderately destructive) toddlers ran amuck.

After eating we walked over to our studio vacation condo and let ourselves in. It was a nice little place with a kitchen, flat screen TV (unfortunately with cable, bah, Mr. B has some sort of disease that makes him compulsively channel surf whenever he comes within 3 feet of a remote control) and a very comfy bed that was taller than the Beast (no wet nose torpedos in the morning!). Once I wrenched my husband away from Mythbusters we decided to troop out to Limekiln Park (aka Whale Watch park, apparently it has some of the best on shore Orca watching in the world) and start our goal of eventually seeing some whales. We first had to introduce the Beast to the idea of whales, so that he could use his keen doggy senses to let us know when the Orcas appeared. Being a country dog from the middle of the state he was still getting used to the giant body of water thing, so we started slowly. He particularly thought he sort of resembled the coloring of an Orca, at least compared to this sculpture!

This is the park at which we spent most of our time looking (in vain) for whales on our honeymoon, so we started with our traditional hike down to the lighthouse to see when the last whale sighting was. Of course it was much earlier in the day and not where we were right then. Oh well, we got some fun pictures of the dog in front of the trees Mr. B likes (does anyone know what kind these are?) and got the only picture we have of the both of us together on the trip! We didn't see any whales, but we stuck around for the sunset and were not disappointed! Though I was slightly jealous of the cruise ship we saw intercepting our lovely view.

Anniversary Trip - Day 1

Finally, something interesting to blog about! That and I have some time off from my clinical rotations so now I have time to blog... Anyhow, the hubs and I just recently got back from our anniversary trip! We trekked out to Friday Harbor, in honor of our "mini-moon" after our wedding last June (well then why are you going in August you ask? that is a story for another day! our wedding day was June 7th but we celebrate our anniversary on August 1st...we're weird, I know). So here is the recap of our adventures (and some pics, though between the fact that we aren't good at remembering to take pictures, and editing out the personal ones, there aren't a whole lot!).

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to hit the road early. Actually, I got up bright and early while Mr. B snoozed because he had been called into work last night and didn't get home until the wee hours of the morning. So I continued my bustling about and getting everything ready - I'd spent the night before cleaning and packing up, and baking some cookies to take with us. I tell you what, we are going to need a u-haul to travel when we have kids! Taking the dog requires packing up his bag with food, toys, treats, leashes (oh I long for the day that we can just clip a leash to his regular collar and be off! no more humane contraptions to avoid strangling while walking) and other miscellaneous travel items (portable water dish, water bottle to fill said dish, backpack - yes, he has his own backpack). And then, we have to fold up his crate and bring that, along with his blanket. I swear, the dog had more things than we did! But anyhow, once I had everything coordinated other than husband personal items, I woke up the hubs himself. I find getting up awake and out of bed to be terribly low yield and annoying, but apparently giving him a 5 minute countdown until I let the Beast in to wake him up the wet and cold dog nose way is very effective.

We (well, I, considering that I orchestrated the entire event) were aiming for an 8:45am launch time, and we left at about 9am which was pretty impressive. However, we couldn't go straight up to the ferry, we had to stop at the bank first. One of the joys of being an apartment manager is that you are not only at the beck and call of your tenants 24/7 (supposedly) but also taking care of rent. And we had planned our lovely trip over the beginning of the month, so we had to be crafty in our rent depositing so as to not get behind on our 24 hour deposit rule. Since the 1st was a Sunday, and thus we couldn't deposit rent that day, it actually helped us out a bit (and also thanks to all of our wonderful tenants who pay rent early, bless you!). So at any rate, after making sure that we had the building phone forwarded to our cell (that's right, oh lovely tenants and potential-tenants, we answered your calls while we were watching for orcas! that's dedication right there) and our back up building entry plan in place (while electronic card entry may be high tech and secure, you would be amazed at the frequency people forget their cards or they stop working...and we're not even getting to the power failure issues!) we then hit the bank to deposit some checks. The Beast was a bit disappointed that I left him in the car while I ran in - he has all the businesses memorized that give him treats, and this Bank of America is in the Beast Fan Club!

Now that we had our work taken care of, it was off to the races to get to the ferry terminal! You would think that there would be a passenger/vehicle ferry that leaves from Seattle to Friday Harbor, but no, we had to drive up to Anacortes, which is about a 1.5 hr drive. We've done it several times so you think we would have the drive down, but when we hit Mt. Vernon we both start having flash backs of getting lost, prompting a frantic discussion of remembering past mistakes so as not to repeat them. Luckily, we remembered that the Mt. Vernon calamity was while locating the tulip fields, not the route to the ferry terminal, and that our ferry terminal direction issues happened in Anacortes - so we were still a go for now. And magically, once we hit Anacortes, the intersection of great confusion had actually been redesigned as a fancy roundabout and was perfectly logical to get to the terminal! Imagine that - traffic revision that actually makes sense. We were quite impressed. We were also very impressed with ourselves when we pulled up to pay our ferry fare and found out that we would make the ferry that we were aiming for!

Anyone who has ever ridden any of these ferries knows that actually making your intended ferry is an art (especially now with budget cuts and less scheduled ferry runs). To guarantee that you make your intended ferry (other than being a fancy commuter with privileges you pay for) you pretty much need to get to the terminal right when the prior ferry finishes boarding. Well actually, to guarantee you make your ferry you walk on, because I have yet to encounter a vehicle ferry that fills up with people! But we're talking about folks with wheels here (that would be us). Anyhow, if you take that approach then you are stuck at the terminal for maybe 3-4 hours. Granted, the Anacortes ferry terminal has a lovely beach to walk on,

but there are other things you probably want to do with your time other than kill time at the ferry terminal. So then the art comes into play - you need to factor in the day of the week, if there are any holidays (if you are heading to an island on a Friday of a 3 day weekend, you will need to camp out for the required hours if you have any hope!), how many ferry runs there are that day and how desirable you think your run is, what the weather is like (if it's supposed to rain on the island, or if it's supposed to rain in town and not on the island) and what your horoscope tells you in the paper that morning. At any rate, we got to the terminal a little over an hour ahead of time and made the ferry with plenty of time to spare! So the Beast got lucky and we took a leisurely walk along the beach and he got to smell lots of seaweed and a few dogs too. Soon after that we were loaded up and heading off to San Juan Island!

(Note: due to lack of photos, these pictures were snagged from the interwebs thanks to google - don't worry, there will be some pictures of our actual trip yet to come!)

Typical Bizonion morning

What is a day like in the Bizonion household, you might ask? Well it starts off with being in a nice warm bed, happily asleep and perhaps snuggling like the kitty brothers are here.

5:45 am - My alarm goes off and is promptly snoozed, Fatcat takes this as a sign that I need some presto molesto and promptly proceeds to stomp on my bladder as if I will pee out grape juice ready for fermenting afterwards.

5:53 am - Alarm is snoozed again, husband is still oblivious and now Ninjacat has been disturbed by my repeated attempts to thwart Fatcat and so he decides to evacuate the bedroom. His swift exit prompts the Beast to wake up from a sound sleep and chase after him, only to return to his spot in the bedroom and fall back asleep (not without sticking his wet nose in my face first of course)

6:02 am - Alarm goes off again, and even though I am supposed to get up, the animals have all settled down and no one is bothering me so I decide I will just rest my eyes for 2 minutes and then get up.

6:13 am - Crap! That was NOT two minutes! I leap out of bed (okay so I rapidly stagger out of bed) and head to the shower, and almost accidentally decapitate Ninjacat as he runs in after me. Now begins the carefully orchestrated morning routine designed to maximize sleep time while still calculating in my lengthy shower.

6:37 am - Out of shower, head kisses for Ninjacat and then let in wailing Fatcat so they can both jump in the tub and start licking up the water.

6:41 am - I hear yelling from the bedroom: "you are not my wife! YOU ARE NOT MY WIFE!" and run in (concerned as to what random woman has tried to climb into bed during my absence) only to find my sleeping husband mumbling to himself while the Beast runs off in fear that I might have seen his stealth attempt to snuggle up on the bed (which is NOT allowed!). Fully conscious debrief later that day revealed that the Beast had army crawled onto the bed to spoon with Mr. B until his furry coat was discovered to be inconsistent with my (non-furry) self.

6:43 am - Now dressed for clinic, with hair still dripping wet, I attempt to coax the Beast from his apparently deep slumber (despite his escapades minutes prior) to come outside and empty his bladder. He pretends to be in a deep coma, arousable only by picking him up and hoisting him into a standing position.

6:47 am - Now that the dog has peed on a suitably smelling tree and I have pried the unidentifiable, drool-soaked object from his jaws, we run back inside so I can eat some breakfast before dashing off.

6:55 am - While eating my cereal and warding off Fatcat from jumping on my lap and covering my pants in his fur, I check my email on my ipod to make sure that no tenants have had any dire crises overnight that they chose to communicate via email and/or school has not announced a mandatory mental health day for all 4th year medical students (it will happen someday, I know it will!).

6:57 am - I realize that if I don't hurry up I will miss my bus, so I move to the kitchen and start making a peanut butter sandwich while finishing my cereal. The Beast is now fully awake and he tries to convince Fatcat that the game of "bite the kitty tail" is a wonderful way to start the morning.

7:02 am - I am now attempting to multitask while brushing my teeth and throwing the rest of my needed items into my bag: sandwich - check, ipod - check, dermatology text book (to not read on bus so as to not gross out fellow bus passengers with frightening skin disorders) - check, novel (for reading on the bus on the way home, on the way to the hospital I sleep) - check.

7:05 am - I should be leaving for my bus right now but I need to say good bye to the husband, so I sneak into the bedroom (much to the animals' dismay) and wake him up for a good bye kiss. He has no idea what is going on and mumbles something unintelligible but still manages the kiss part.

7:06 am - Bedroom door is left open so that the Beast can give Mr. B his own version of a good morning kiss (wet nose attack!) and then I am off and running down the stairs to the bus.

7:07 am - Thank goodness the bus was late again! I have settled into my perfected sitting up nap (while avoiding drooling on my seat mate) for the 15 minute bus ride to my transfer point to another bus. I am off for another fun filled day of "I itch all over" and "what's this funny spot?"

And that is how I start off my mornings!

Introductions

Welcome to the Bizonion family! Due to my psychic mind reading skills, I know you are wondering what the heck is up with the Bizonion thing. No, it is not my last name. No, it is not anyone's last name (that I know of, if you are a true Bizonion lurker, please come forth!). It is just a silly name I came up with one day while walking around with my (soon to be) husband talking about what a strange (or bizarre) little family we were, and that each little layer you peeled off (like an onion!) revealed even more craziness. Hence, the term "bizonion" (still don't get it? (you are a bit slow) bizarre + onion). This was also before we were married yet and I was trying to convince him that we should create a new last name for us to take, because I was incredibly annoying that I was the one needing to do all the name changing, but somehow he was not convinced to officially become a Bizonion. Which I still think is a shame, but I do admit that Dr. Bizonion doesn't sound like someone I would want giving me health advice. Anyhow, I digress. Let me officially introduce you to the Bizonion family unit (if I say the name enough times it will sound less and less weird):

Lady & Mister Bizonion: Sadly we are not royalty, rather far from it actually, but I like the names anyhow. In 4-5 years we will be Dr-squared (in 1 year for me, 4-5 for Mr. B) but this

works well in the meantime! We are both in our mid-20s, celebrating our first married anniversary this summer, and are enjoying the poverty that comes with being perpetual students. Mr. B is pursuing graduate studies in psychology and in his spare (ha!) time also works in an inpatient psychiatric ward - so he is full of fun stories about interesting things.

Fatcat: (he specifically requested a dignified photo for his introduction, since he is a bit peeved about his unflattering psuedonym, this was the best I could find) We adopted the brother kitties about 3 years ago, before we were even living together. Fatcat was not fat at the time, and seduced me with his cuteness, as Mr. B had already picked out Ninjacat. He has since then proved that his only survival skill is his cuteness, as he is remarkably stupid for a cat, and is much too overweight. But do not underestimate the cuteness! His powers are strong (and yes, he is on a diet now). His favorite activities include: "presto molesto" (a spontaneous purr/kneading attack on unsuspecting victims, which often ends as abruptly as it began), feeding the Beast food from his dish, distributing fruit (such as tomatoes and cherries) from the dish on the counter to the inside of our shoes, getting his massive tummy rubbed and shedding copious amounts of white fluff onto black clothing items. He dislikes: not being fed, having his fat jiggled while being laughed at and being tattled on by the Beast when he jumps on the counter.

Ninjacat: Looking nothing like his brother, he is sleek, agile, usually rather intelligent, and stood out as a kitten for his athleticism and determination to kill the fluffball on the end of a string. However, he has an impressive assortment of suicide attempts that include swallowing several feet of ribbon and getting himself stuck in a ceiling. His favorite activities include: being a ninja, snuggling under the covers when it's cold, licking plastic, being spun around on a linoleum floor, eating wires/cords/string (basically anything linear and potentially dangerous or inconvenient), running into the bathroom right before the door shuts and meeting new people. He dislikes: the Beast, when his brother squashes him with his fatness, having his paws touched and being locked in closets when he is accidentally using his ninja skills.

The Beast: He has no resemblance to the beast from The Sandlot, but compared to the kitties he earned this nickname anyhow. The newest addition to the family, we adopted him from a rescue that pulled him from death row about 6 months ago. We have no idea what his mix is and have deemed him a "super mutt" (maybe some cattle dog, corgi and shepherd?). We are still in the process of gradually converting the country dog into a city dog, and he now boasts a few tricks (while still not managing to walk on the leash properly), now knows how to swim, and is 95% housetrained. He would love to be best friends with the kitties, but has somehow only managed to convert Fatcat to some level of tolerance and Ninjacat is still convinced that he is the devil himself. His favorite activities include: chasing tennis balls, eating anything that will fit into his mouth (especially tissue), getting belly rubs, pulling all the fluff out of stuffed toys and then eating it, peeing, trying to catch the light reflecting from his tags (otherwise known as "shinies"), going on road trips to fun places like the family farm and running around like a maniac at dog parks. He dislikes: getting locked out of a room, having to be tethered to a leash on walks, not getting to wrestle with the kitties and not getting to jump all over people to say hi.

That's it for now folks! Now you know the players for future entries. And before anyone asks, there will be no human additions to the family until AFTER residency, at the very least (translation: at least 4+ years from now). We can barely keep our heads screwed on properly with the zoo we have currently and the thought of some tiny creature, with the potential of mastering the English language, depending on us is a horrifying thought.

Hello blog world!

So this is my very first blog post ever! My husband has been harping on me to start a blog ever since I wrote some blurbs for our wedding website a while ago and apparently amused him to some degree. I used to journal ever since I was a kid (even when I was in elementary school and would circle all the words I didn't know how to spell, like a good little first grader!) but it's been really sporadic and now I average maybe one journal entry a year. So, I thought writing my own blog would be a fun way to document the craziness of my life, let my husband think I have a "hobby" (who has time for those things I ask you?!) and give me yet another activity to add to my list of productive procrastination diversions.

Disclaimers:

• I do not promise to write regularly, in fact, if I am on call every 4th night sleep will trump everything and I will not find staring at a computer screen to be a priority and I may go AWOL for a few weeks.
• I enjoy parentheses (who doesn't?) and will use them at a rate of approximately one set per sentence.
• I did not major in English or photography, my grammar may be shoddy and my photos will definitely be less than perfect.
• I don't know anything about designing webpages and will use whatever template on blogger has the most green in it, and then only consider upgrading if my readership extends beyond my immediate family.
• I have a lingering fear of crazy internet stalkers (probably left over from my mother's outrage at my father putting pictures of us kids on his website when the internet was just rolling out - "you put pictures of our children on the WORLD WIDE WEB!? but they will be kidnapped!!!) and will attempt to maintain some anonymity with the use of pseudonyms and lack of identifying human pictures (you will however see plenty of the furry beasts) and any other such trickery I see fit.
• Any stories involving patients will have so many details changed that HIPAA will have nothing on me, and you couldn't figure out who I was talking about even if you were there for the H&P yourself.

At this point you may be asking yourself, why am I reading this blog? And what is it going to be about anyhow? It is going to be about my life. I (excuse the cliche) wear many hats: medical student, apartment manager, newlywed wife, self proclaimed urban enviro-hippy, daughter, mother to three furry creatures (Fatcat, Ninjacat and the Beast - the animals wanted pseudonyms too) , frugal 20-something, sister, poorly motivated homemaker, even less motivated crafter. I may choose to write about anything from how the dog ate my hat today (that was actually yesterday, and it is still a tragedy) to how the little old lady I saw in the ER the other night told me I was a "kind soul" but then assaulted a nurse the next day.

So without further ado, I introduce to you the Bizonion family blog. May it inform you, inspire you, amuse you, update you, but most of all I hope it will at least make you laugh. And Ninjacat says that if you are half as happy with this blog as he is with his box, then life is good.