The Smell...of Derm

As soon as I walked in the house I could smell it.  Quick check of the trash can - not it.  Brain scan - no pets, no babies and therefore no random "accidents"...could a dead animal have snuck in today, died and already started to smell?  I wonder...Then I see David.  He is wearing blue latex gloves and his scrubs.  He is reaching into a plastic bag in the sink.  I see blood - on the counter, in the sink.  Everywhere.  Wooziness.  He explains.  In the bag, which has been stored in our freezer for months apparently, is a pig's foot.  And on our dining room table is a cow's tongue.  The smell is dead flesh and blood.  And a little bit of latex from the gloves.  Never a dull moment.

David just started his dermatology rotation today.  Which means suturing practice.  And new plans for dinner.  Yes, the picture below highlights the cow tongue on our meat cutting board (makes sense), then on top of our cookie sheet.  On top of our dining room table.  I don't blame anyone for never eating baked goods from our house again.

So I am now sitting in our tiny office with a bag of corn chips and a bowl of salsa.  The fact that it has no air-conditioning does not matter.  It smells so nice.  I might add a bit of meat to my dinner once the smell leaves my nostrils and becomes a distant memory.  Then again, I might not.

Prayers for David would be greatly appreciated in this new rotation.  It is the area he would like to work in once he graduates and he is working so hard on suturing to make sure he does a good job.  Prayers for me in the midst of suture smells would be fantastic.  This is why I do marketing.  Marketing does not smell.  It does not vomit. It doesn't bleed...that is, unless it's just really bad marketing.  God made a good match with us.  David also kills the bugs.  It all evens out. :)

In my last post I didn't finish our Colorado story.  I can't let you miss the finale.  It's so us.  We packed up Mikel's Pilot to head into Denver a little early so we could meet the Batemans for lunch.  Never underestimate a Morgan when it comes to packing for a trip.  Then add 3 more.  This is what you'll find...Oh, my.

Now, I must confess that David and I alone had seven bags just between us.  But in our defense, we had snow and sun plus a night of camping.  Bless their hearts, after David and Mikel put in an hour or so of luggage Tetris we were finally off.  And we only feared decapitation by way of flying bags two times before pulling in and seeing these friendly faces.

We got to catch up with Heather while Riley and Debbie ripped open Splenda packets, threw the contents on the table and lapped it up with their fingers.  Guilty!!!

And Andrew joined us a little later.  They all look great and seem to really love Denver.  So glad to catch up with them.

After the last few weeks, we have no travel plans.  Just lots of hanging out in St. Louis.  We hit the zoo a few weekends ago.  Love, love, love the zoo!  We even got to pet the sting rays on this trip.  And we spent some time in the primate exhibit, where I have found my new fav.  The lemur.  Who wouldn't like a lemur?!  These crazy guys are adorable, have long and sometimes stripey tails and flaunt their acrobatic skills because they are HAMS.  Total posers, too.  Look at this guy!

We had our friends, Dave and Autumn Casey, over for sushi.  Julie and Bill gifted David some small octopus from the fish market.  So we decided it would be a great re-gift for the Caseys.  Let's just say Autumn is the one with the strong stomach in that relationship.  Poor Dave didn't look too good after the first, very loud bite.  But he held onto it.  Interesting...Do all couples have one person with a strong stomach and not so much with the other?  Hmmm...I would love to hear your thoughts.

The only other exciting news we have is about our house in Fayetteville.  We have prayed and come to the decision to put it on the market.  The renter's contract ends on July 31st.  We hope to have it on the market after the following weekend.  Joseph Hayes, David's great friend and best man, will be our agent.  Prayers for God's wisdom, provision and protection would be appreciated.  Not to mention a petition that the house be a blessing to whomever gets it next.  It sure was for me.  We shall see what God has in store.  What a comfort that He is the giver of all good things.

Well, I think it is time for a turkey hot dog and some blueberries.  David sprayed some Lysol with bleach in the sink and on the counter before heading off to play some tennis.  No report on the cutting board and cookie sheet.

We love all of you and would love to know how to pray for you.  Take care!

Closing out spring in Colorado

I absolutely adore every season change.  Adore them!  And I am so thankful to have a hubby who loves to get outside and enjoy God's creation with me.  We have been like little kids who hear the sound of the ice cream truck in the distance.  After saving up our little "Colorado" envelope for months, off we went with huge eyes of excitement for our four Colorado trip together.  And we loved it!  Here's the scoop...

David and I flew into the Denver airport on May 5th (yes, I am behind) for a night camping under the stars of the Morraine Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP).  Yes, loved ones.  That was super-moon night!  It got pretty cold that night, a baby cried for about six hours and their public bathrooms were closed...ugh.  I have officially decided that backpacking with a privy is the way to go.  Not to be discouraged, we woke up at 7:00 a.m., loaded the car and headed for KIND Coffee.  After filling our bellies with delicious coffee (my first full-caff experience since the unfortunate Johnson Shut-ins experience and after surviving Mikel Morgan's death blend) and gluten-free pumpkin muffins, we headed for our rental for the rest of the week.  Check out the view!  A river and elk with sweet scrambling peaks in the background - right up our alley.  What a blessing!  Couldn't wait for Debbie and Mikel to get there.

  The next morning we hustled around to get a hike in before heading to the airport to meet up with the Majors.  What a site and what a hike.  Did I mention it was in the 60s when we landed the day before?

On our way back from the airport to Estes Park, we stopped to visit with Aunt Mary.  Love her!  She is such a sweetie.  Quite a feisty one, I tell ya.  After that stop and a crazy big trip to Wal Mart, we finally started our official week of hiking.  David did a great job of choosing new hikes we had never done before.  Tuesday we selected one that was in lower elevation to help everyone acclimate well.  Caught a great pic of the guys and another of Mikel, Debbie and David. 

 

As the week went on it got warmer and back into the upper 60s.  Glorious!  We did a pretty fantastic hike on Wednesday.  I would say it was fantastic once we got to the top.  We were on vacation time, so we didn't even get out to the trail until 3 p.m.  And no one had been fed.  Any family on my side is raising eyebrows at this point knowing what happens when you don't feed Missy the Pooh.  Some random, and rather unappreciated, couple told us we had forty-five minutes until we hit the top at the point when this picture was taken.  So we were all-smiles.

Well into an hour and a half later, we still had not reached the top.  Mikel recommended we stop for a snack.  I don't even remember getting the food out of my pack and into my hands, but I was shoveling it in faster than a chipmunk on a cracker binge.  In the midst of the lightheadedness and dizzying excitment over nothing more than an apple and M&Ms, David announced he was going to check out the top.  Debbie and Mikel were murmuring about retiring this one.  We pressed on, people!  And we were so glad we did.  Look at that view! 

Needless to say, the next day we were huge fans of taking a more "relaxed" hike.  Mikel stayed home to deal with some 3M business.  David, Debbie and I hit the trail.  It was another sunny day - perfect for shorts. 

And we finished up the week with one last hike on Friday...in the snow.  We couldn't have been more pleased.  We headed to Bear Lake, but from a different route than we had ever done before.  We ate lunch right next to the snow-covered lake with gloved hands and finished it off with hot chocolate straight from the Jet Boil.  Nothing like a good snow storm before heading back to a midwest summer, right?  Praise God for Colorado - we needed that break!

I'll post details for our trip closer with the Batemans and our trip to FL. 

For now, know that we love you all and miss you terribly.

Missy