I climbed the volcano. Yes, made it up the 3,792 feet to the to the summit. I don’t know how I can still walk. Actually, I don’t know how I even got up to the summit! Kudos to me for not having a heart attack!
Over two hours up and and almost two hours down. I burned 1800 calories. We started at 9am and were back down the mountain around 2pm. These picts/video was taken at high noon. It was really dark under the canopy.
Tragedy has struck. Matthew James Willis succumbed to injuries he sustained in a fatal automobile accident at approximately 12:30 am on the island main road. He was returning from a fellow student's birthday party catamaran trip.
Matt was from Las Vegas, Nevada. It's really sad, I've been sitting next to Matt in class for the past 2 semesters and we were group partners once. I didn't hang out with him outside of class, but he was a pretty great guy in class. He had some pretty fantastic tattoos too. I think it's safe to say that our entire class will miss Matt.
The accident was almost in front of campus and from the looks of it, it was pretty sudden. This is the news report and a photo of his car:
One dead, one injured in early morning collision By Ryan Haas Reporter-SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - MATTHEW Willis, a student of the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (RUSVM) was killed around 12:30 a.m. this morning when the vehicle he was driving collided head-on with another on the Island Main Road between RUSVM and the International University of Nursing.
Willis was thrown from his vehicle and killed when his westbound car collided with a white Ford Explorer [P2145] driven by Austin Gumbs of Shadwell Housing, who was travelling towards Basseterre from Old Road. The fourth-semester student was pronounced dead on the scene by the District Medical Doctor.
SKNVibes spoke with the Head of the Traffic Department, Inspector Vynetta Henry, at the scene of the accident and she confirmed that the deceased driver of the gray Nissan Sentra [PA552] was indeed a student of the RUSVM.On arrival at the scene, a unit of the Emergency Medical Services rushed Gumbs to the Joseph N France General Hospital where he was treated for minor injuries and discharged.
Traffic in the area was blocked for three hours, with dozens of cars lined up on both sides of the cordoned scene, as emergency workers cleared the mangled wreckage. Onlookers had no choice but to watch the clean-up efforts as they waited patiently to reach their destinations.
The car was extensively damaged while the front right side of the Ford Explorer was badly damaged. This marks the second head-on collision in the area in 15 days with the last occurring on June 7, no more than 30 yards away and sending three young men to the hospital for serious injuries.
Police officials continue to investigate the incident and SKNVibes will provide further updates as information becomes available.
I wish I had something more to post about Matt (or even a good pict of him), but I'm just at a loss for words.
Michael and I went to Nevis today (Jossie chose to run a Behaviour Clinic instead). We walked around for hours! Good thing too, because I had a slice of cheese cake right off the ferry that a kids charity was selling. I haven't had cheese cake... in well, since I've been here, and it was topped with fresh fruit. I haven't had blueberries in a really really long time too.
Nevis has a hot springs (sorta) within walking distance of the ferry. The water was pretty scuzzy and there were naked people bathing in it! They said it was the 'Nevian way' to bathe naked with ye' ole melons hanging. I was too shy to get a pict of it (that and I didn't want to have to give them money). The water was very hot, as hot as a spa (110.F), and had no fish. Did I mention it was really scuzzy?
We then walked to a nearby gas station and caught a bus. It has Bob Marley stickers all over it. Hmmm, suspicious? The driver dropped us off along a dirt road and pointed us toward the botanical gardens. He said it was a bit of a walk, but he didn't mention we'd be walking for over an hour! 
By this time it was getting close to mid day, and mid day in the Caribbean is pretty hot. We stopped to rest several times, walked through road construction, and finally found our destination.
As you can see, the botanical gardens were worth the walk. They had orchids everywhere-- on in the dirt, in the palm trees, on the walls. The orchid garden was probably an acre in size. There were all colors: red, purple, blue, green, yellow, and some with brown spots.
There was also a huge rain forest thingy complete with a fake Aztec/Inca temple and screaming green Amazon parrots. 
We found the overpriced gift shop after that and went upstairs for lunch. Unfortunately, they wanted to charge an arm and two legs for lunch, so we had a snack.
The snack was really good. It was 3 chicken strips, 3 jerk chicken wings, and blue cheese dip for $12US (plus 20% tax and tip). Way over priced, but it was really good.
Next we wandered over to the cactus garden and found some really huge awesome caterpillars! They were so cool and I have no idea what they were, but they were really cool. I think I'm going to give them bonus points for eating cactus.
I hate cacti. I love kitty-a-pillars.
As we left we asked the guard which direction to the main road would be quicker: left from where we came, or right a new adventure of walking. We chose the path not traveled yet: right.
We walked and the path was fairly level, then it got hilly. It was like a mountain. I'm not sure which was further, the left or the right, but there was a food hut on the walk toward the right. We stopped briefly to grab a bite of coconut cake, and continued on.
The road snaked thru the shacks of Nevis. It felt like we walked forever until we finally found a bus stop. We hopped in a bus, but the guy wanted to charge us way too much. I eventually haggled him down to something more reasonable (even though there are supposed to be set prices, which he still exceeded) and he drove us to the Four Seasons Resort.
The Four Seasons was nice, but I think the Marriott is nicer. The Marriott is definitely larger, but the Four Seasons definitely has a nicer beach. As we walked around we got looks as though he was a really rich old guy and I was the big boobied blonde trophy wife. I thought it was funny since i get the same looks when Dad and I go places. People have dirty minds these days.
We walked down the beach until we found a more affordable bar to partake in adult beverages and settled on some crummy lounge chairs. I covered my face and took a nap on the beach. Sure is nice to be in vet school in the Caribbean... or earning my DVM while I'm on vacation.
We were awoken by a screaming local woman asking to know if we were "the archaeologists." I was unbelievably ticked, but held it in quite well. We checked out the bar for food, and since it was so overpriced, we decided to hike to the main road to catch a bus back to town.
A rasta man stopped to pick up up and he asked where we were from. We told him we lived over on St Kitts and that everyone kept trying to over charge us. As we got out he said the ride was on the house, but I paid him anyway. He recommended a few Jamaican restaurants for us too (we were hungry).
On the way, we swung by Alexander Hamilton's birthplace, which was closed, and we continued to search for food. We found the Jamaican restaurants , which were closed too, and we continued to wander in circles. We found another food hut and had some fabulous home cookin.'
By 7pm we were back at the port ready to catch the 7:30pm ferry back home. And and and, I didn't get sick and vomit on the ferry ride there or back!!! (I think that's a first.)
Here’s the Big Bad Wolf (ie Salty). She looks really threatening.
Mama pig (a.k.a. Patches, a.k.a. SQUEAK!) has been leaving the dog to pi sit for her. Yes, Salty, the dog. The monkey killing dog. The dog that bit her previous foster mom. The dog that beats up all other dogs ('cept Rudder cuz he's bigger and sits on her).
I'm so amused. Patches just crawls over Salty then runs over to my fridge. Jossie has termed the sound the fridge door makes as it opens as the "universal guinea pig call." It works every time! She puts her two little hands up on the lip of the fridge and squeak squeak squeaks for some yummy fruit treat. Pretty soon I'm going to have 4 pigs in my fridge begging!
I decided to name the tri colored baby "Hog" even though no one voted for it.
Just kidding, I really don't care what they're named, so my new little handsome will be "Squeaker." He's getting cuter by the day. He's the little stinker at the green food bowl.
On occasion, Patches will lead her brood out to wander (poop in) the apartment. She also makes a V line for my front door whenever I open it. She's been doing a great job eating my weeds.
Salty doesn't mind when Patches is gone because the babies are so fun to watch! One of them walked up and bit her back toe, but Salty didn't move a muscle! It's like they're her babies! When they separate and get lost, Satly freaks out and tries to get them back together. When the cat mistakes them for tail-less rats, Salty transforms into a monster. She's even snipped at Rudder for getting too close to them.
The piglets are getting old enough now that I let Salty watch them during the day. I can't believe she hasn't eaten one yet, although I don't see much meat on them.
Pig roast for one, any takers?
Mother Pig sends her three little piglets out into the world to "seek their fortune."
The first pig builds a house of straw. One day the big bad wolf came and knocks on the first little pig's door and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in." And the little pig answered, "No, no, I won't let you come in, not by the hair on my chinny chin chin." "Well," said the wolf, "then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in." So he huffed and he puffed and he blew the house down and swallowed the first pig (or the first little pig ran to the second little pig's house depending on the version you go by).
The second pig builds a house of sticks. The big bad wolf came and knocks on the second little pig's door and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in." And the little pig answered, "No, no, I won't let you come in, not by the hair on my chinny chin chin." "Well," said the wolf, "then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in." So he huffed and he puffed and he blew the house down and swallowed the second pig (or the first and second little pigs run to the third little pig's house, again, depending on the version) .
The third pig builds a house of bricks. The big bad wolf came and knocks on the third little pig's door and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in." And the little pig answered, "No, no, I won't let you come in, not by the hair on my chinny chin chin." "Well," said the wolf, "then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in." So he huffed and he puffed but he couldn't blow the thrid little pig's house down.
So he attempts to trick the third little pig out of his house, but the pig outsmarts him at every turn. Finally, the wolf threatens to come down the chimney, whereupon the third little pig boils a pot of water into which the wolf plunges.
The End.
(3 Little Pig Story from Wiki)
Patches, around 6pm today, had three little pigs! They are too cute! One looks just like Patches too! Two are mostly black, but have her white blaze. (You can hear Patches squeek and Jossie talking in the background.) They are one hour old here.
So what pray tell does one do with so many piglets? A pig roast! What?! Well my grill is too small for a normal sized pig, which is why there are guinea pigs!
(Just kidding!)
Friday one of my green leather flip-flops broke. This, of course, had to happen 10 minutes after I arrived on campus on a day when I’m stuck in class until 5pm.
As I walked about with one shoe on and one shoe off, a few laughed, but no one had anything I could sew it back with. Thinking on my feet (pun intended) I went to the nurse’s office for some bandage wrap. The nurse must have thought that I was nuts for wanting to bandage my flip-flop, but I taped it up anyway.
Several more laughed and thought I should toss my broken shoe, but I hobbled about campus for the rest of the day. Today, as I lounged by my pool, it occurred to me that I could fix my shoe.
I called upstairs to Jossie, who brought down part of our surgery pack (that we’ve gotten in preparation for 6th semester). I selected a suture pack thingy with black thread then went into my pack to search for my needle holder.
Keep in mind, I haven’t sutured since the break, and even when I did, I was terrible… little animals beware! I started to sew my shoe back to it’s base. First a square knot to hold it in place, then loop after loop to get it fixed. Great idea since the needle was curved and the leather was rough, as I would never have been able to complete such a task with a standard needle and thread.
So I tied the mess off and it seems to be holding quite nicely. In retrospect, I should have paid more attention to the writing on the packet; I hope I didn’t use dissolving suture!
On Thursday May 22, the pups' vitals crashed and I rushed them in. After several hours the larger one went into seizures. We were able to stabilize him for a few hours but he eventually died. The next day we did a necropsy on him. He had severe pneumonia and only had half of his brain (which was the consistency of not quite ready Jello). Never seen anything like it. We've narrowed what we think they have down to Canine Distemper or Canine Herpes.
The smaller pup didn't look much better. I wouldn't move and the IV he was on didn't seem to be helping. After 3 days in ICU, he started to seem alive again and I was able to take him home (to my house, not the owner's). For the next week I tube fed him his formula every two hours around the clock (that's 12x/day). I also was given permission to take the week old pup to class every day. Having a puppy in class makes me the popular kid. He's really cute.
There was a Parvo outbreak on campus too. Half a dozen students' puppies had to be euthanized, so I've been really protective about who touches the pup. His owner calls me about 8x a day to ask how he is. He's really a fat little pup, and the owner always seems happy when I give him updates or sees him.
Now he's 18 days old (born May 15) and he's doing much better. His eyes are open, he's off antibiotics, he's drinking ravenously from the bottle about 5x a day, and he's starting to walk. Salty has been pretending he's her puppy.
In other news, Patches has been renamed SQUEAK! This was her decision, as that's what she answers to... either that or the fridge door opening. She is so fat I think she's going to explode any day now. I've been keeping Mango the Mouser out at night because I think he'll kill her babies (if she ever has them). I can feel them in her, their noses and their little feet feel well formed. I think there are four, but definitely three. 
She's been very demanding these past few days, but not noisy like she typically is. She has the run of the house minus my bedroom, where even the dogs are excluded. I set up a big pen for her in anticipation to her pups/piglets coming. Should be an experience!
Even better is that they already have homes. 
I'd like to keep one female baby so Patches has a buddy and quits following the dog. Jossie wants a male baby so her WeeBee has a friend, and another friend at school wants one. You can see her in the video running around, and in the pict she's checking out the basket I keep the puppy in.
