Fat cat vs bubbles

Fat Cat: O
Bubbles: 1

At home

While Marc and I are taking day trips around the area every few weeks to make the most of our time in the UK, we are also enjoying the things closer to home. For example, this weekend we enjoyed going to the farmers market, where they sell eggs from the chicken farm Marc worked at (we also found a local soy farmer who makes delicious smoked tofu). The market is held near the castle, beautiful view, and is right next to the french sector of Edinburgh which was fun to wander around.

We are also taking advantage of a free nutritional clinic through the veterinary school to help two of our cats. While we have gotten Midnight down from 21 to 17 pounds, he still has a few pounds to go, along with another of our cats, Twilight. Our focus right now is to get them more active; overall they love there toys, and it isn't a problem. I picked up some bubbles for them, and most of the cats will pounce and play, but Midnight is terrified of them! We have no idea what might have caused such a strong aversion. We are trying to remove this strange bubble phobia by associating some of his feeds with bubbles, hopefully that is all that is needed.

As we are on a tight budget, we are also doing lots of home cooking. Last night Marc made some delicious from scratch pasta sauce, and I put together some noodles. Yum!

Puffins!

I didn't get any good puffin shots from the seabird sanctuary because it was all video, but from the Isle of Staffa trip my friend travis and I got these wonderful shots :)

North Berwick Seabird Sanctuary

Another wonderful daytrip to the beautiful seaside to visit North Berwick (though the scots do not pronounce many w's that do not start the word, so it is 'Berrick'). Very nice town, had a much more relaxed feeling than most towns here. Things were more spread out, not so crowded. Great views of the sea, and is near several isles. We went to the seabird sanctuary, which does not have any birds, but instead has wonderful high def cameras placed on the isles where there are large breeding colonies of various breeding colonies including puffins. At the right time of year, (fall-winter) there are also breeding grey seals. The cameras have great focus, zoom, and cover large portions of the isles. They let you get right up with the birds, without disturbing them. A great system.

The town also has two nice castles, an old abbey, and an extinct volcano that gives a great view of the city kind of like arthurs seat in edinburgh. It had what looked like acacia trees growing on it...which would be weird in Scotland, we don't really knowhow to explain that.

Continuing along the Coastal Fife Pathway

Marc and I continued our journey along the coastal fife pathway. We picked up where we left off in Aberdorn, and made it up to Kingshorn. We had great timing; we made it to the Aberdorn castle when they were reinacting battles and got to see the cannons and muskets, and when we went through Burntisland there was a carnival. Marc was especially impressed with the hard core scottish golf course we came across; you can see the white tee-off point at the bottom of the hill, and at the top the red and white pole marking the balls hopeful destination. The views could not be better along the water :)

Edinburgh Dungeon

Marc and I have finally finished all the touristy things we wanted to do within the city...only took us a few months :) There are just so many things to see, you have to live here to really get to everything. Our tourist visits finished up with the Edinburgh Dungeon, a haunted house with historical themes. We were tried by a jury for witchcraft and crossdressing, sent to a torture chamber, sent to arrest cannibals, shown anatomy from cadavers procured by Burke and Hare, given a pep talk by William Wallace's ghost, and finally were sentenced to the gallows. Alot of fun, Marc's inner tech nerd had a field day.

Marc's Travel Tales!

Hi all.

It is my first post on the blog.

I have been here in Edinburgh studying veterinary medicine at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Studying my butt off! Normally I spend a lot of time near exams studying in the library (see picture of generally what happens when the body is cut). In addition, all veterinary students are required by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons to perform 12 weeks of animal husbandry on farms (1 week pig, 1 week poultry, 1 week cats and dogs, 1 week small mammals, 2 weeks dairy, 2 weeks lambing/sheep, 2 weeks horses, and 2 weeks free choice).

I recently finished 1 week working on a poultry farm. I choose an organic free range laying hen farm for my studies. The farm I was at was called Bonnington Farms. It was really nice. They have 3 hen houses with a total of roughly 6000 hens. The farm is part of the soil association organic certification scheme, which is the highest form of organic and animal welfare scheme (there are 5 levels in the UK). The hens were quiet happy! And very curious! They would come up to you to see what you were doing (see the picture of them looking at me on the fence).
The farm also raises organic beef and sheep/lambs. Look at the amazing pictures of real happy cows and happy hens!
The hens are so happy they didn't want to see us leave (they were chasing after us)!


I recommend this farm to anyone who needs work experiences for veterinary studies and anyone looking for purchasing humane eggs/meat. You can find their eggs either in the expensive supermarket Waitrose (under the brand name Dutchy Eggs) or if you want to support them directly, purchase their eggs at the Edinburgh Farmer's Market.

Mandy and I are planning awesome fun things to do this summer in between my farm work. We'll keep you updated!

St Andrews

I finally went up to St. Andrews and met with my potential doctorate advisor. It is a small town, only a few streets, but it is right on the water and in the summer is a huge tourist attraction. The town has nice shopping areas, an old cathedral, a castle, and of course golfing. The schools marine center is right on the water; the student offices have this view of the beach.

I was very impressed with the professor and his students, the program is exactly where I would like to be. Unfortunately it is still a waiting game; the grant for the research expenses will not be awarded until July and Dr. Janik does not want to admit me until he knows I won't have a shoestring budget to do research with. So continue waiting, fingers crossed that school will still work out. So far the grant seems to be progressing well and it looks hopeful, but we will see.

Meadows Festival and Scot Whiskey Experience

Marcs cousin David is in town, and the three of us enjoyed a lovely Sunday out. We visiting the Meadows festival full of sales and carnival rides, visited the national history museum, walked the royal mile, saw street performers, and indulged in the Scottish Whisky Experience. There were four whiskies from the largest production areas, and I was surprised to find I liked the smokey flavor the best.