Random spring photos

The daffodil wins! The tulips were looking like they were ahead for awhile, but this daffodil was the first of our flowers to actually bloom (post-crocuses, that is).


Here's a cute photo of Jasper that Alex took at obedience class last week.


Jasper is doing quite well with the loose-leash walking, did a good job of ignoring a bunny tonight and responding to "come" instead, and has not eaten or rolled on any dead things since last weekend.

We're looking forward to spending this weekend in Chicago with Lucy and Steve. Jasper will get to spend the weekend at his wonderful dogsitter's house, where he is able to loll happily all over the furniture and has another dog to play with.

He came with me to the humane society down the street this evening, where I gave the new volunteer orientation talk. It's nice to have a "demo dog" there, and Jasper is definitely coming out of his shell...he stuck pretty close to me, but also let other people approach and pat him.

Today I actually started my packing list for the upcoming Arizona rotation. I finally got my basic schedule for the rotation. I'll spend the first two weeks on consultant services (one does a lot of laparoscopic procedures, the other does mainly breast cancer surgeries), then two weeks on chief resident services (even busier), then a week in the ICU and a couple of days with the anesthesia team before coming back home. As I think I've written about before, we gave this away rotation a lot of thought when the crumpet came along, and considered whether I should just stay here instead. However, the general consensus in the med school is that the schedule will be lighter in Scottsdale than here (no in-hospital call, for example), and I will probably be needing my sleep as I move into my third trimester! Pushing surgery to fourth year wasn't a very appealing option, either, since I will want to be on call even less with a newborn. So, off I go to Arizona. Alex will visit twice, Mom is coming for a week, and Dad will probably be coming once, too. I'll also be in Hanover for my reunion one weekend. So I'll have plenty of company, and will be back in Minnesota at 33 1/2 weeks of pregnancy, well ahead of the 36 week travel deadline. The crumpet has been strictly instructed that she is not to be born in Arizona!