Slow weekend... out takes

This was a slow weekend. I needed some down time. I was going to visit my parents, but my father is back on chemo and the side effects resulted in a request to stay at home. Given my fatigue, that was probably a good thing, but given my knowledge of his disease....I worried from a distance.

We went to the ranch for some run around time. I snapped this shot of Gabi:
For some reason, I really like it. The dried weeds form a nice frame...the tall grass in front is a little distracting, but what is one to do?

The dogs had a blast. I think they are going to enjoy the ranch.

Dumber than a mouse?

OK. I do not like rodents living THIS close. I have set traps. In the process, I nearly flattened my thumbs. I just watched the mice gnawing on a trap. What is wrong with this picture....hmmm?

The good thing about living in the country...

There are some very good things about living in the country. One is the space. I love living on 5 acres, but I love the "field" (i.e. the whippet ranch) that I purchased last winter even more.

"We" have been fencing. Today, I went up to look at the fencing which is nearly complete.

The above photo is taken from the ranch (or cow) side towards the whippet side which will be smaller.

We had a good time running around with the dogs being dogs. Look at the following and tell me that dogs don't smile:

Yes, we were well pleased with our fence:

The whippets seemed a little more "activated" and prone to wondering off than normal. I didn't make anything of it. I also didn't make anything of the large pile of excrement I found. The pile looked like a cow patty, but I figured the rancher or fencer had a horse out there when the fence was going up. There were tire tracks from a pick up on the perimeter. Don't ask me why....I assumed that they had brought a horse out.

All of a sudden, Gabi went running off to the tank at the south end of the property (for those not familiar with the lingo and "tank" is a pond). She would not come back when called. Once, again, I didn't think anything of it except that, perhaps, she was hunting. Gabi seems to be the keenest hunter in my bunch. I was only half way down the field. Charlie followed her, but Mati and Hudi stayed close.

Imagine my surprise when I met the cows....I guess the cow patty did belong to a cow. I did not see Gabi.

The "well-behaved" whippets (and that term is used VERY loosely in the context of this story) decided that they would go after the big bunnies. Although the rancher who owns the cows had told me that he had no problem with me running my dogs on the cow side, I was not intending to test this process with all my dogs at once. Packs of dogs will do things that one or two would not consider doing.

This whole set up was not my cup of tea. I managed to call Hudi, Mati and, eventually Charlie back to me, but Gabi was not wearing her listening ears. I decided to head back to the van, because I feared my ability to keep the dogs with me when there were such big bunnies in the neighborhood was probably limited. Unfortunately, the cows decided to cut me off at the pass, so to speak.

We zigged and zagged, but the cows seemed to KNOW. In the photo below, the position of the van is highlighted with the red arrow....see the problem?

Now, if anyone is a cow expert, please look at the above image and tell me if these are cows from the neighborhood Welcome Wagon, coming to bring me a basket of warm cow patties, or if these are cows from the 'hood, here to protect their turf and knock me and my skinny little dogs into the next county. I chose to assume the latter, thinking that would probably be best for my longevity. If the cows were friendly and now offended by my lack of hospitality, so be it.

In the end, the human managed to fake out the cows with her zigging and zagging eventually reaching the safety of the van. I kept telling myself what my realtor had commented when showing the land, "cows are really stupid", but underneath it, I also knew that they could probably smell my fear. Cows are BIG. There was no doubt in this city girl's mind who would win the battle of cow vs. city girl. I was all ready to give it to the cow.

Once to the van, I decided to drive across the field to "rescue" the errant Goober Girl. Picture this: the pearl white Toyota Sienna mini-van driving across a field of cows....not your usual ranch transportation. I was already feeling out of my element, and this only added to that feeling. I was also very worried about Gabi. I hadn't seen her since she had gone tearing for the pond. I feared that Gabi had listened to her collie side and was herding cows, perhaps being knocked senseless in the process. Thankfully, once I drove the van to the far side of the field she came running out of a tall clump of grass, ever so happy and looking quite pleased with herself (I have no clue what she was doing with the cows).

Do you think this city girl needs to go back to the city?

The trouble with living in the country....

I love being in the "country." Recently, I started feeding the birds....so nice and tranquil....until:
I grew up with a hamster....I loved Jenny, unless she was out of her Habitrail...then she was a Evil Rodent with big teeth that would like kill me if I stepped on her (I had a vivid imagination).

While at Home Depot pondering Rodent Riddance methods, I was told that if I put out mothballs, it would help keep them away. Hmmmmmm. Since the mice seem to be living under the deck, and the dogs can't access that area, I may give it a try.

About being green

Our world is toxic. I am becoming convinced of that. The conveniences that we have generate an incredible amount of waste. Perhaps, I shouldn't have purchased that "green" car, and it's still gas....just gets better mileage. I think it's watching Planet Green on cable.

There is an interesting article in today's New York Times: Our Ocean of Plastic. Good gravy! Plastics from Asia and Russia are washing up on the Alaskan shores (not to mention all the plastics from the good ol' U. S. of A.). Reading this article has cured me of any desire to swim in an ocean.....but, people, we are supposed to be stewards of this world. What are we doing?

Last night, I went to local Starbuck's with one of my work colleagues. Although in Smalltown American, it looks like any Starbuck's, the clientele as a little different. In the corner, sitting in two winged back chairs, were two older gentlemen. My colleague knew the one and introduced me, "this is So-and-so (I hate to say this, I didn't catch the name), he's one of the city counsel-men so if you have any gripes, let him know." I took my opening, "Hey, I do! How about getting some organized recycling here?" I have been trying to find some place to recycle goods -- there is an organization that takes newspapers, pop bottles and card-board, but nowhere for many other recyclables, and I am tired of storing them for trips to the Big City. His response, "A lot of people have been asking about that." WRONG RESPONSE! If a lot of people having been asking about it, why aren't we looking into it? They are passing all sorts of crappy ordinances to "clean up" Smalltown America, but if we don't do something to raise awareness of how much we are polluting, and we don't do anything to cut down on our "footprint" not having fences in the front yard is just somehow missing the forest for the trees, the boat for the ocean.....you get my drift.

So, I will continue to do my little part. I am collecting my soda bottles and newspapers. I collect the magazines and glass to haul into the Big City. I am thinking about getting solar panels, but so far, I have found only one contractor in the metroplex. Still, one is better than none, and he does serve this area.

Don't get me wrong: I know that I do a lot to have too large a carbon foot print, but I am slowly trying to modify my behavior. I continue to drink Diet Coke in all of those plastic bottles, but I am weaning myself of that habit. As I see people getting cancer that just shouldn't be getting it, I am becoming more and more convinced that our world is toxic, the additives to make our food pretty are toxic, the stuff we spew into the air is toxic, the run-off in our oceans is toxic.....no, I won't be able to go all green by tomorrow or next month or next year....however, I think it is very important for all of us to try to do our part, however big or little that part may be. Hug a tree...or better yet, go plant one!

Going Green

I have been trying to think in terms of "Green" . The options sometimes seem too limited at times. Recently (and hopefully, only transiently), my commute has increased significantly, putting 100 miles on the car (50 each way) once or twice a week.

The van and I have never bonded. Now, with gas prices, although I am getting a respectable 23 mpg, I would like something that does better. The van is going to stay with me: I need a "family" car however, for trips without the dogs, I think this will do just fine:Unfortunately, like all good gas conserving cars, this (Mini Cooper Clubman) is on back order. Mine will arrive in September. Think it will come with a whippet inside (yeah, I cheated and modified the picture). The 37 mpg hiway will be a nice change, and I think with some creative thinking, I can probably travel with part of the pack.

My brain is about to explode

Ahh, the joys of going to a big meeting. I heard the rumor that the prediction was that this year's ASCO has 33,000 attendees. There is something moving about that many people cominng together in the name of fighting cancer. My brain is about to explode: a combination of information overload and caffeine withdrawal (why is it so hard to find simple tea or Diet Coke at events like this?).

ASCO has been exciting in some ways, disappointing in others. I came to my current position the long way: taking a decade foray into basic science and research before pursuing medicine full time. Sometimes, listening to talks, I feel frustrated by how much we don't know...why has it taken so long....but then I hear something where it does seem like we are beginning to molecularly characterize tumors so that, hopefully, some day, we can tailor therapy (and dare we dream, also avoid toxicity?).

I am currently in full canine withdrawal. For some reason, I was coming back to my hotel room on the 15th floor, I thought that there would be a dog...but of course, not. No dog. Lousy conference. Even the security dogs have seemed to be on the scarce side. Used to be I saw the dogs every day.....but, no...they have HUNDREDS of security people to keep the oncologists in line -- no standing at the back of a room during a conference (why do we have to sit?? My sitter is sat out!), no stopping in a hallway. This meeting is regimented.

Chicago is nice, but there are far too many people. I don't see how people live here (not to mention, far too few dogs).

I did find this nice cow....I guess they try to make even people like me, yearning for the ranch fell at home. Somehow, a brass cow just isn't as nice as a real cow. I hate that I won't have much time with my dogs before having to rush to work, but it will be good to see all those brown eyes and brown noses.

So, what is cool about the meeting?

I attended a session about non-small cell lung cancer in the non-smoker. It was a tad on the disappointing side, but it did confirm what I had already suspected -- that they are finding non-smokers tend to live longer, even when they present with metastatic disease than do the smokers. There is likely a molecular basis for that-- in general, non-smokers more commonly present with adenocarcinomas (a flavor of lung cancer), and more commonly have mutations in the EGF receptor (allowing higher response rates to a certain class of drugs). Of course, I wanted to hear that there was a cure for that da** disease, but -- not yet.

I attended a few of the breast cancer sessions. I find it interesting. When I was in training, women with Her2neu amplified breast cancer were considered to have a poorer prognosis. Now, because of targeted therapies (Herceptin and Tykerb) those women have a BETTER prognosis when presenting with metastatic disease -- at least for the first two year. It's nice when the science really impacts the clinic.

Finally, my old friend Ras seemed to be the star of the meeting (slide stolen from the plenary session on KRAS and colon cancer):
Way back when I was an impressionable mind, I became interested in cancer while reading a Newsweek article about oncogenes. They had discovered c-myc and the ras (Kirsten/Harvey mutations) oncogenes and it was thought that the cure for cancer would follow in about 10 years. Unfortunately, regulation of the cell cycle has proven to be much more complex than 2 or 20 or 100 oncogenes....they are multiple pathways with multiple interactors that can all go awry during the process of turning a cell into a cell out of control. However, recently it has been discovered that in colon cancer, mutations in KRAS will confer resistance to EGF-receptor mediated drugs (like Erbitux). It is a small but important step -- this will help us to avoid treating patients with drug that they don't need to see as they won't help them. Hopefully, we will determine more of these cause/effect relationships between tumor gene expression and response to therapy.