Star Wars

Joseph likes to "watch" TV. I think he gets it from his daddy or it could just be a guy thing. The other day Star Wars was on and he seemed particularly interested. Made his daddy proud! I think he really liked R2D2. I couldn't help but shoot some pics on my iphone.
"Star Wars is on! This rocks!"

"Oh no....they captured Hans Solo!"

"Is he going to be ok?"

"They are going to go rescue him? That's a relief. Now show me more R2."

"YAY! R2 D2!"

"This is the best movie I've ever watched."

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

I'm back! And do I ever have a doozy of a recipe for you today! I think I made these a couple of weeks before I had Joseph. I found the recipe on http://www.thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com/. It's an awesome blog...you should check it out. She has some really great recipes. Anyway, she had talked about how she made these during her 9th month of pregnancy and that inspired me.

Here's what you need: 3/4 c sugar

1/4 c butter, softened

1 Tbsp water

3/4 c semi sweet chocolate chips

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 c flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 c peanut butter chips plus another 1/3 c or so for garnish

1/2 c semi sweet chocolate chips plus another 1/3 c for garnish (I realize this is the 2nd listing for chocolate chips)

3/4 c peanut butter





Put the butter, sugar, and water in a bowl and microwave on high for one minute or until butter is melted.

Add 3/4 c chocolate chips and stir until melted and smooth.

Stir in flour and baking soda.

Stir in egg and vanilla. Allow to cool.

Stir in 1/2 c each peanut butter chips and chocolate chips.

Spoon mixture into greased muffin cups (makes 12 regular sized) and bake at 350 F for 13-15 minutes.

The tops should sink upon cooling, but if they don't (like mine), you can mash the tops down a little to make room for the peanut butter.

Microwave peanut butter for 45 seconds. Then spoon into indentions in brownies. Top with remaining chips. Ta Da:

Check out this gooey goodness:

Michael thought that they were better once they cooled completely, but I liked them both ways. I couldn't wait for them to cool to take a bite!

I'm not dead...

I just had a baby, and, as I'm sure most of you know, they are a huge time sink!! Joseph was born March 22nd at 3:39 PM. This was the day before I was scheduled to go to the hospital for an induction. I'm really glad that he came naturally...well not THAT naturally...I had an epidural. I'm not that tough!
Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know that I do have some stuff to blog and soon I will be posting new recipes, etc..and maybe a few baby pictures! I think I have one for every day he's been alive! So keep looking for new things here at the "Non-Sciencey" Animal Scientist!

My Last Day at UK

So today is my last day of work at the University of Kentucky. I don't know that I could have picked a quieter last day. It's not only Friday, but Friday of spring break. Also, one of our graduate students is defending today, so all the professors that would normally show up are in the "little room" questioning her. It's also March Madness time...and as you would expect, UK pretty much shuts down while the tournament is going on. I think all of us were streaming a game on our computers yesterday afternoon. Basketball is serious business at UK. No science is happening here during that time.
Why is today my last day? Well, as probably everyone who reads this knows, I am having a baby. Child care is crazy expensive and Michael and I decided that it just wasn't worth it to pay so much when I make so little. So, I will be a stay at home mom to little Joseph. He is due March 21st (this Sunday) and if I don't go into labor first, I have an induction scheduled for Tuesday. It was recommended that I not work Monday and get some rest, so today is my last day.
I'm not feeling sad about moving on from this place. Yes, there are some things about UK that I will miss. I will miss some of the students, but all of them will be moved on to better things in the next few months to a year. I feel comfortable leaving them at this point since their research is done and lab analyses taken care of. I will miss the really pretty, really expensive cars in the parking garage (probably driven by doctors). I will miss driving by the Castle on Versailles Road twice a day:
I will not miss the traffic that comes from driving by the castle on Versailles Road twice a day.
I would say that I would miss the lovely University with all it's nice green space....but this is about all I see on my side of campus: That used to be a lovely green area, but now it's a hospital....another one. The medical center is just going to take over the Ag Campus soon. :(

Then I get to drive up to this beautiful castle:

It's so beautiful! JK! It's a horrible concrete block of a building.

But I will at least show it's better side (in better lighting):

This was taken from the top level of the parking garage...where I parked if I was lucky.

The 8th floor was my home....over on the left side....with no windows. Well, I did end up moving out of the lab into the conference room a couple months ago. I couldn't handle being in the same room with our worthless narcoleptic lab tech who makes way more than the rest of us....and snores...and takes his shoes off and props his feet up.....and never uses a fume hood. You want your nose hairs burned out? I can tell you where to go! How many times did I try to get him fired? Plenty.


But anyway, it's my last day! I will miss my supervisor most days....but I generally won't miss the bipolar nature of our professors on this floor. They should seriously have to wear signs! I won't miss people who microwave fish and stink up the floor (I would rather smell rumen fluid). I will miss the research and helping the students with it. I won't miss the elevators of death and I CERTAINLY won't miss paying $400 a year to park a mile away from my building. Where am I parked today? Not a mile away, nope, it's my last day:

Will I be staying longer than 15 minutes? Certainly.

Weekend Closet Extravaganza

We had some lofty goals of productivity this weekend. We didn't get everything done, but we got close. I still deem it a sucessful weekend. One of the major projects we wanted to accomplish was a closet redo in the nursery. I wanted some shelves and places to store toys, etc. Michael bought a closet system that he thought would work, but alas, the nursery has a really small closet. So....I got a closet redo instead: Daysie has still not decided if she approves or not. I love it though. My closet was only JUST big enough for this to work.

So, it was back to Lowe's/Home Depot to try to find something to suit me in the nursery closet. After much stress (I get stressed out about silly things like closet systems), we settled on a wire rack system and got it all set up yesterday. I'm also very happy with it now that it is all installed. Plus, there is plenty of room to grow because Lord knows, this child is just going to accumulate more stuff! Here it is:

I have a very short to do list left to get ready for little Joseph. I plan to get that done in the next few days. I'm in the normal delivery range now, so this little guy could come at any time!

SHEEP!

As I said before, Michael, Shelby, and I went to my parent's house in Tennessee this past weekend. It's lambing season for them and sheep and lambs were everywhere! Well, not "everywhere"...I mean they have them well contained.

Sheep, like any other animal have very different demeanors from sheep to sheep. Some are sweet: And some are not:

This ewe was a touch looney. I liked messing with her. She REALLY liked getting her picture taken, so I made sure I did that often. It's a wonder she didn't stomp her hooves off.

Oh and if you are wondering how to shut sheep up (they love to hear themselves talk), there is only one way:

Feed them. It's harder to talk with their mouths full. Sheep are polite like that!

It even works for the lambs. A nifty little tidbit about sheep: Lambs and calves both nibble at grass/hay/solid feed from a young age mimicing their mothers. However, lambs are actually able to digest and use that solid food at a much younger age then cattle. Their rumens (the stomach compartment that breaks down grass and hay) develop much more quickly in sheep then in cattle. Rumens are essentially nonfunctional at birth. I think rumen development is fascinating. I would say it rates up there with fescue toxicosis as one of my favorite ruminant nutrition topics. Anyway....back to fun pictures of sheep. I will leave you with some cute lamb pictures.

Peaceful lambs:

Contemplative lambs:

Looney lambs (equals future looney sheep? I don't know, more research is necessary)

"Focus"

I was going to do a post about this past weekend that Michael, Shelby, and I spent at my parent's house in TN. However, I'm gonna have to split it up. I have too much material. It was a GORGEOUS weekend. Saturday was exceptionally nice. After all the snow and nastiness and cold that we've had this winter (and it looks like it's back today), it was a lovely break. I spent some time playing fetch with the dogs.
Shyann, my parent's dog, lives to fetch. Well, she lives to "do" stuff. She's a border collie in every way. She just wants to do. She has such focus and intensity. You can see it in her eyes:
She could fetch until she passed out. Fortunately I'm over it before that ever happens!

Her favorite toy is her Bad Cuz:

SOMETIMES Shelby will even get the ball:

This doesn't happen very often. He always gets to the ball first, but Shyann swoops in and grabs it. He has the speed...just not the focus. He's only part border collie....part beagle. The border collie part says, "Get to the ball....get the BALL!" The beagle part says, "SQUIRREL!"


I mean, look at this intesity:

Can you blame poor Shelby for being like, "It's cool...you can have it."

This is the same intensity that Shyann brings to all endeavors. Take the following picture for example:

Pure focus. Keeping her eye on the prize.

Yep, that is one focused dog:

This is Shelby's "focus" face:

Then the beagle part kicks in and goes "SQUIRREL!":

He's just happy to be here.

"I LOVE the farm!"