The crops are planted.......

but we are in dire need of a rain.

I'm thrilled to death the crops are planted and I now get to see my husband before ten o'clock each night!

At the same time I'm also worried sick we have not had a good soaking rain to get the crops off to a good start. Our part of NE Kansas has only received about 0.1 inch of rain this May, the average rainfall for May in this area is 4.8 inches. Mother Nature has a lot of catching up to do in the next seven days.

Washing my car usually stirs up the rain clouds.  For example, I washed my car last Friday, and it did rain very briefly on Saturday morning. I am thankful for that little shower, but the crops are going to need more moisture to take off and grow.  I've decided that tomorrow I'm going to wash AND wax my car, pray vehemently for rain, and do a rain dance.  If this doesn't bring in those ominous black thunder heads, then I don't know what will.

Please pray for rain for our farmers.  If we don't get a nice soaking rain soon, it is quite possible there may not be a crop to harvest this fall.


Here are a few pictures of Adam and my father-in-law planting this spring.

Adam setting the planter monitor before he starts the field.

Here he comes with the first pass.

The rows after Adam planted the first pass.

This field isn't big enough for both of them! :)

Getting the tender lined up to refill the planter with seed.

These little guys need some rain!!

Three-Fifths of a Pharmacist

FINALS. ARE. OVER.

The stack of notes for my comprehensive finals.

My classmates and I wrapped up our third year of pharmacy school last Wednesday! We made it through and we have now completed three-fifths of the program at UMKC!  This year was by far the toughest one yet and we are thrilled to put it behind us.

The last two weeks of the semester were filled with exams, due dates for homework assignments, and then comprehensive finals for Pharmacotherapy I, Pharmacology II, and Toxicology.  After spending countless hours cramming for finals and reading over 1500 slides for the pharmacology final I am ready to enjoy my last summer as a student and take a much needed break from school!

I would like to thank all the people who have supported me throughout this hectic, chaotic, and stressful year.  I would not have been able to make to May without you!  Your words of encouragement gave me the drive to keep studying and push through the tough times.  Thank you again!

The past three years have flown by and it is hard to believe there are only two years left of school before I'm out on my own practicing pharmacy.  I have mixed emotions about this.  On one hand I look at the massive amount of information I have learned so far and it is just incredible to me.  Then on the other hand I am scared to death because I feel like I have only learned a thimble full of information compared to what I will be expected to know in two years. There is still A LOT left to learn. As with any profession, the majority of the training and knowledge about the job comes from hands-on experience.  My classmates and I will be able to apply our book knowledge with hands-on experience while we are out on rotations this summer and during our last year of school.

I am currently gaining experience in a hospital setting.  This is part of a school requirement and is called an IPPE (Introductory to Pharmacy Practice Experience) rotation. It is a two week rotation that allows us to observe and work in a hospital setting in order to gain experience in this type of pharmacy practice.  Up to this point I have only had retail experience, the first two days of the hospital training has been eye opening.  It is amazing all the things a pharmacist does and is responsible for in a hospital. The technology employed in this hospital is incredible. There are robots, computerized records, and vacuum tubes that send orders and medications to different floors. I will hopefully have a post later on with pictures so you can have more of an idea of what I'm talking about.

Although there is still a plethora of information left to learn before I graduate, I am grateful for the chance to finally apply what I'm learning in school to an actual pharmacy practice. I'm excited about the rest of my time at the hospital setting and the other aspects of hospital pharmacy I will be learning about.  I'm also looking forward to enjoying my summer break and being home to help Adam out on the farm!

Have a great summer!  I hope you get to enjoy the warmer days and take some time to relax!