Three months into retirement and I am loving it...loving it. Sewing, gym, shopping, quilting, quilt shows, motorcycle riding, friends, church, more sewing. Life is good.
Friday, October 25, 2024
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
THANKSGIVING AND POST-THANKSGIVING 2021
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week. Jack and Olivia came to visit...and Olivia did all the onion chopping and hand dish-washing going for two days! Molly and Ben came for dinner, and Molly made the most wonderful Cherry pie and two Bourbon Pecan pies I have ever tasted. It rained, so my plan of sitting outside did not pan out. We even had a bon-fire ready to go...however it would have been a smoky dud if we had tried to start it.
I even got the Christmas tree up, although to be honest, it pretty near whipped my butt. I had loaned Ben my "pre-lite" 6 foot spruce, but after all the moving and stuff the top part would not light up anymore, so he had stored it and bought him a new tree. I was just going to put lights on the top and make do, but in the confusion of packing up Chances stuff for Virginia and the rest of Beth's (ex- daughter-in-law) stuff...many things got removed to the local dump. Alas, my fancy half lighted tree was one of those items. Ben saved the day though. He looked in his attic, and lo and behold he found a Christmas Tree box, with an actual tree in it! It was an older spruce where each limb is color coded and hooks onto the main trunk. It has a heavy duty fold open base and it was a quality tree when they purchased it years ago. Said tree had no instructions...but seemed pretty clear cut. Fire up that first glass of wine and lets get started. Dave has snuck out to the other room, after the yearly argument over having a Christmas tree. He may be Baptized as a /Southern Baptist now, but those Pentecostal roots run deep. I call him my "closet Pentecostal"...the Christmas tree hating kind. Anyway, so I have stacks of tree branches everywhere. I start...I am working semi-from the bottom up, just at least one of each size branch in place to remind me where they go...and the damned branches just keep falling off. Fire up glass of wine number two, put on the Christmas music, hunt for my readers so I can see the letters on the branch ends. I had worked the night before, I had only slept 2 hours, my cognitive skills were already pretty sketchy. I send Ben a Text that I am having a hell-of-a-time with the tree because it is different that what I have put together in the past, He ad Molly offer to come over after the pies come out of the oven. Well that is an option I can live with! LOL. I notice that one of the branches looks bent...so I lift up on it as I am pushing back...OMG...THEY LOCK IN PLACE. Now I have to back-track and LOCK IN PLACE every previously mangled branch I have managed to get in place. Awesome! Text Ben Back "Don't come...figured it out". LOL. Fire up glass of Wine number three. Fly through putting all the other branches on. OMG, the needle fall-out. Grab the vacuum cleaner and clean the floor. Now is time for fluffing the branches. This part took an additional hour. OMG, the needle fall-out...repeat of the vacuum cleaning, dog who hates the vacuum has now left because she is terrorized. Fire up glass of Wine number four....by now the box of wine is getting low, lol. I pull out the new strings of lights, find an extension cord and plug them in...all of them work. Starting at the bottom and working to the top I place all 600 multi-colored LED's strategically so that any thin area of the tree will not show. Then comes all the glittery ornaments. I am down to just a few glittery stars...and on to Wine glass number five when JACK AND OLIVIA arrive. I am still standing (barely...my poor feet are hurting, but my balance is great). Olivia helps m with the last of the ornaments. I start packing up the ornament boxes and stuff I didn't use and I find another box of ornaments...I mean at least one hundred more ornaments...nope nope nope nope...we are done. (DAVE has already deserted to the bed). Jack helps me put the boxes in the attic (I do the stairs and he hands the crap to me). I vacuum one last time. Done....Glass of wine number six is chilling in the glass. Did I every tell anyone I am not much of a wine drinker? I mostly don't care for the taste, but todays boxed wine was mighty fine.
We stayed up a while. Olivia made guacamole, I made tater salad (needs made the day ahead so the flavors are all good). It was fun. Go to bed late. Next morning...gee why is my head hurting? Dave got up at 5 and started roasting the Turkey. I get my first cup of coffee (throw in a shot of Pecan Praline Whiskey to deal with the wine headache) and we are off to the races. Make a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and biscuits with butter and whatever kinda jelly ya want. OJ, goat milk, water, coffee, tea...paper plates (cause I am that kinda gal who hates dishes). We got a call from my Nephew Michael about this time...good to hear from him. I wish he could see this Ornate Tree I constructed by myself! I the put the dressing in the oven and got the last minute items on to a slow simmer. (Can't do without that Turkey gravy!). Dave didn't think I should make breakfast since we would have so much food for lunch, but he ate anyhow. Thanksgiving dinner was planned for 2 and we actually started at 3, when Ben, Molly and the pies arrived., so I was glad I had made breakfast. We also had pies that Jack and Olivia brought, pumpkin and chocolate, so all the bases were covered. We had so much food I was in a coma. Later realized we didn't put out any cranberry sauce...lol...it was not missed. the good thing was that it was cool enough, we just kept everything covered on the bar and it was snack at your own risk. LOL. Paper plates made clean up a snap...and bless Olivia's heart over there doing the hand washing. We had so much fun.
I had to work the day after Thanksgiving, so Jack and Olivia left around Noonish so I could get my nap. I knew it would be busy the days following the holiday, and it has been...like insane crazy busy. I pulled into work with an ambulance pulling into the ER bay. I see CPR in progress...oh HELL...run in, don't worry about clocking in, throw my work stuff in the break room, grab my stethoscope and pen and get to work. This little lady had been down for awhile before being found, so she did not make it. Sad for the family the day after Thanksgiving. So the shift started with a bang and just kept going from there. I think I clocked 12,000 steps that day.
And that my friends...is how our Thanksgivings roll...good one day and crazy the next.
Friday, June 18, 2021
So you think you can Walk?
April 30th. A day to remember or forget. I got up to get ready for SAMA training. Had to be off the night before, so had slept pretty well. Got up really early, or at least it felt that way, but my day was getting ready to start with a BANG.
From time to time we keep the Grand-dog named Pepper who is a 65# black lab and we have our black Lab Layla 100# girl. So, I let them out at about 7 a.m. and go to fix their food. I have to leave by 7:30 to be hospital by 8 and I am already cutting it close. I hear thunder (no no no no no). I hear heavy raindrops...the floor of heaven literally opens up and the rec room is a caliopy of sound (metal roof)...is that hail I hear? I rush to let the dogs in...slide down the hall in my stocking feet, hit the step into the rec room....the edge of the step...like one inch of the step and come down hard on my left heel. All my weight...all of it fell on this heel...this heel that has had inflammation...SCHREECH! OMG....PAIN WORSE THAN NATURAL CHILDBIRTH.... cannot catch my breath....pick myself up. crawl to the rocking chair and get back on my feet and hobble to the door to let in two very soaked pups. It is literally raining cats and dogs.
Dogs fed. I am still barely able to hobble. It is still raining. I have texted to check to see if the class has been cancelled, because it is raining so hard...nope class still on. Locate umbrella, get into car (a little wet, but ok.) Drive to the gate...and find it closed (dang it...forgot about that), get out...can't hold the umbrella when having to hold onto the car door to walk. SOAKED TO THE SKIN...AND IT IS A COLD RAIN! Finally get to hospital, the classes are downstairs...alllllll the way on the other side of the building.........wow.
So after all that I did get x-rayed 3 days later, not broken, told it was a sprain. Pain persists. I am working on this ankle and it is not getting better. Go back to primary doc get scheduled for MRI. Still hurting, still working....still managing. Well guess what...it's a complete tendon rupture...torn...completely, tendon gone with 6 cm of retraction....sooooo
Surgery on 6/16. What I didn't know? That I would be on crutches for two weeks...two weeks...OMG.
Tuesday, June 8, 2021
MEMORIES OF A 7 YEAR OLD (1965)
In my head I am hearing Bobby Gentry singing "Ol to Billy Joe"... "It was the 3rd of June, another sleepy, dusty, delta dayyyyyyy", but actually it was the End of August and the first day of school in Idabel, OK. I was 7 ( almost 8) and President Kennedy had been murdered and buried the previous fall. Momma and Daddy had split up again and were embroiled in a divorce. Momma had moved us back to Oklahoma to live with Grandma and Grandpa while she got back up on her feet. Times were hard and jobs were scarce...but momma was trying.
It was hot and muggy that early late September morning. It had rained overnight, but now moisture just hung in the air in a fine mist. We were ready for school waiting in our new clothes. Grandma had made me a pretty blue dress, decorated with rick rack and a big bow tie on the back. I had new shoes and white socks. It was so humid that you could literally taste the air. It had rained overnight and the Oklahoma red dirt road was a river of sticky mud.
The bus was late, but being kids we didn't worry. Since it was the first day of school, grandma was monitoring from the front window to be sure the bus stopped for us, since it was gonna be the first time we ever rode the bus. Of course , since my Great Uncle Sam lived next to the bus driver, Mr. Ayers, he was already alerted to the newest Williamson clan members that would be gracing his blue bird bus, so the it wasn't likely he would forget about us.
Seven thirty came and went...school started at 8 am sharp. We were 13 miles from town, so the bus surely should have arrived to pick up it's newest riders. Suddenly we saw a scraggly group of High School students, followed by the grade school kids and even the littlest kindergarden kids trailing behind, walking up the muddy hill to Grandpa's house. One of the high school boys told grandpa that the bus had made the curve onto the wooden bridge, but because the wheels where lined with the sticky red dirt mud (clay) the back wheels had slid completely off the bridge. That particular county bridge did not have any guard-rails...not even a wooden barrier between the bridge and ten foot drop down to the muddy water. This nameless creek, had swollen to a small river overnight, and the bus was threatening to drop all the way into it's muddy depths.
Grandpa to the rescue! Firing up his trusty rusty tractor...which by the way had no brakes, just a clutch to slow it down, and he was ready to roll. Teen-aged boys rode the fenders armed with chains and hooks to pull the bus out, and off he went... not like today, when the "children" would be coddled together calling mommy or daddy on their cell phones, nope the older boys were excited to be able to help.
While Grandpa was rescuing the bus, Grandma was rescuing the young ladies new shoes! She was drawing up well water and bringing buckets out with rags so the girls could clean off their new shoes (white of course because it was summer) of the red Oklahoma clay. Some of the richer girls were complaining of the mud splatters on their nylons. I was just glad that I hadn't had to walk and ruin my new white socks...I was very proud of those beautiful white socks!
Grandpa and the Highschool boys got the bus back on the bridge and up the hill. I remember Mr. Ayers coming in to use the phone (we had a party line) to call the bus barn so that they would know the bus was o n it's way and not disabled in any fashion.
So Grandpa saved the day...and I made my entrance into the 3rd grade late. From there on after I always tried to be fashionably late because there is nothing like a grand entrance!
Saturday, May 8, 2021
Sol,you can't walk???
So last night was cra-cra...It was totally insane from the second I got there. Bed 1 detoxing, bed 2, discharging, and before the disinfectant dried already had another patient. People lined up in the hallways, homeless frequent flier in an imaginary hallway bed (wheelchair, sitting over by the blanket warmer)....just noise and call bells, and phones ringing.
Nine hours into this Sh!t storm (it is a Friday night), local PD bring a young guy in in a wheel chair. This guy looks like he works out...really healthy looking, claims he can't walk and they stick him in a hallway bed. I go to lunch (not my assignment). Come back, they are trying to find a bed to move him too so he has privacy for a EKG (CHEST PAIN...short of breath...yeah, same song 2nd verse....all he wants is a ticket to Fort Worth which is HOME to...well where he lives homeless. He had been sent to a psych facility in the Valley, and because he met someone there and was getting along so well...some rocket scientist (ie: dumb ass) decided to send him "home" in the same ambulance...to a city he had never been before....cue some cutsy music...and family discovers an additional psycho-unstable person "living" with their family member and freak out and call the po-po....who obviously don't know what to do with him since (1) he hasn't broken a law (2) he isn't psychotic (2) he gives them an out...but suddenly not being able to walk (could this be a fear of the police psychosis...vs..."I know how to use the system"?)
Three back to back admissions and said "can't walk patient" is sucking up ER hours by the $$....and all we are really doing is feeding him and giving him his prescribed meds. Psych won't take him because he isn't unstable ....not hearing voices....not hallucenating...just hungry and "can't walk". Miraculously after about 7 days of this the Social Worker "found funding" for a bus ticket and he happily climbed the steps to the bus....suddenly cured of all ailments.....
Now I wonder why our taxes are so much?????????????? At least he was a legal citizen who got helped out of a bad situation.
Saturday, February 27, 2021
Into a World of Insanity
Into a world of insanity, I am sailing my ship. As Seattle burns and people yell and shake their fists at one another, I wonder when this chaos will end? Probably never. The real end is the end of our way of life. Freedom....is an illusion. I used to not be afraid to drive across half of the country with only my 14 pound dog by my side. Now it is more advisable to carry something a little more lethal than a barker. I have upgraded since then to a 110 pound Lab who is a sweet-heart who will take your arm off if you reach in "her" vehicle, yet will lap you up with love if she is standing outside it with you. I also have my CHL and I keep myself protected at all times. I drive 22 miles back and forth to work, and 15 miles of that is the "dead zone" for cell service. Coming home between 1 and 2 a.m. basically the only road traffic is the drunks leaving the bars, oil-field workers tired and trying to get home, and me and the hogs that keep jumping out in front of my car!
So, insanity....or maybe age-related memory? Well, so yesterday I get to work and get my stuff ready to go in. I get my work shoes and put in a new bag (I take home to Lysol and clean every-day and only wear my street shoes in and our of the facility due to CoVid). I go to change into the unit scrubs (we still are not wearing any personal scrubs back and forth in order to not be bringing home extra germies), and I cannot find my darn shoes. Figure I had a senior moment rushing out of the car and set them back down in the seat. I change, tell co-worker that I will be back because I need my work shoes (no way are my canvas street shoes gonna support my feets for 12 hours of up and down the hallway!). I go out to the car, imagine my surprise at finding my lunch sitting on the seat...what the heck....where is my shoes...oh crap!!!!! Carry my lunch in, exchange it for my shoes in the refrigerator (still tied up in the bag). I nonchalantly pull them out, and put them on...and OMG they felt WONDERFUL, ice cold. LOL, so life is about the little things.
So this has been a busy week at work. I personally have cared for two CoVid positives, multiple ear aches, chest pains, abdominal pains (two of which turned out to be appendicitis and went for surgery), snake-bite that turned out to be a "nail" bite, We had a super crazy detainee from County that came in covered in blood...wasn't my assignment so I tried to avoid the screaming, spitting, blood slinging fiasco going on in the first pod. I don't know what kinda drug is going around out there, but the crazy has been deep lately. The last DPS DUI possible draw left me pretty traumatized. Gal decided to give me the CoVid cough (didn't even know that was a thang) and threatened to spit in my food at a local diner where she claimed to work (I have been there one time and wasn't impressed with food offerings....so pretty sure no worries about her spitting in my grub). Pretty sure the threats, coughing on me after pulling off her mask and trying to smear blood on me constitutes Assaualt on a Health-care worker...and I told her so. She was screaming and cursing and acting out for her audience (we of course were full and people were coming out of the woodwork to watch the show). I was just glad the officer had his body cam on. Someone finally called security who came and helped. Ms Cutie pie's hand-cuffs got moved from the front (a suggestion of detainment) to the back (which pissed her off more royally than she was originally). I was wishing we had one of those chairs they show on COPS where they put them in the chair and roll them into a room to kick and scream and spit until they get tired! Yup...jail detox was in her future
So, insanity....or maybe age-related memory? Well, so yesterday I get to work and get my stuff ready to go in. I get my work shoes and put in a new bag (I take home to Lysol and clean every-day and only wear my street shoes in and our of the facility due to CoVid). I go to change into the unit scrubs (we still are not wearing any personal scrubs back and forth in order to not be bringing home extra germies), and I cannot find my darn shoes. Figure I had a senior moment rushing out of the car and set them back down in the seat. I change, tell co-worker that I will be back because I need my work shoes (no way are my canvas street shoes gonna support my feets for 12 hours of up and down the hallway!). I go out to the car, imagine my surprise at finding my lunch sitting on the seat...what the heck....where is my shoes...oh crap!!!!! Carry my lunch in, exchange it for my shoes in the refrigerator (still tied up in the bag). I nonchalantly pull them out, and put them on...and OMG they felt WONDERFUL, ice cold. LOL, so life is about the little things.
So this has been a busy week at work. I personally have cared for two CoVid positives, multiple ear aches, chest pains, abdominal pains (two of which turned out to be appendicitis and went for surgery), snake-bite that turned out to be a "nail" bite, We had a super crazy detainee from County that came in covered in blood...wasn't my assignment so I tried to avoid the screaming, spitting, blood slinging fiasco going on in the first pod. I don't know what kinda drug is going around out there, but the crazy has been deep lately. The last DPS DUI possible draw left me pretty traumatized. Gal decided to give me the CoVid cough (didn't even know that was a thang) and threatened to spit in my food at a local diner where she claimed to work (I have been there one time and wasn't impressed with food offerings....so pretty sure no worries about her spitting in my grub). Pretty sure the threats, coughing on me after pulling off her mask and trying to smear blood on me constitutes Assaualt on a Health-care worker...and I told her so. She was screaming and cursing and acting out for her audience (we of course were full and people were coming out of the woodwork to watch the show). I was just glad the officer had his body cam on. Someone finally called security who came and helped. Ms Cutie pie's hand-cuffs got moved from the front (a suggestion of detainment) to the back (which pissed her off more royally than she was originally). I was wishing we had one of those chairs they show on COPS where they put them in the chair and roll them into a room to kick and scream and spit until they get tired! Yup...jail detox was in her future
UPDATE: 5/1/21 Same OFFICER comes in and I ask if he remembers the above incident....yup he says...I said...you had your body cam on for all that right???? He said "yup, and guess what?" "What?" I asked.... "well" he says " that incident is used as a training exercise for new officers...."....LOL...I am a STAR!!!!!!
Monday, May 18, 2020
WHY WHY WHY....
So this is my whiney post....in that I NEED TO VENT.....
To cover staffing (since many nurses are being laid off...who would have thought that would EVER happen??? Nursing is one of the most stable job fields in the country!), my manager has moved me to what is called "midshift". Technically you come in from noon to midnight. You either get a group to care for, assist with what was usually fast track (except fast track is closed as that wing is reserved for the CoVid-19 patients we never got, or you do Triage. Now I like doing triage, it get's hairy when a lot of people sign in at one time, but you get the most interesting conversations and back-stories with people. Sounds ok right???? Well the unanticipated problem is that mid-shift, means the busy time, and with us running the entire shift 1 RN and 1 tech short, you hit the floor running. Everyone is taking turns triaging , unless their patient is circling the drain...and guess what, the day nurses get to CHOOSE which patient's YOU take over...so...yup...the needy, the confused, the patient's with lots of stat orders...guess which one you are getting...ALL OF THEM. The easy peasy, give a Tylenol and discharge...THOSE are not your patient's...Put on your BIG girl panties...because you arn't getting a potty break or a lunch break until 11 pm tonight, if you are lucky.
So Friday I had one of those shifts that makes you wanna pull your hair out, except I didn't have to because the little old lady in 4 was doing it for me. I gave her her call bell when I got there and showed her how to use it...and believe me, she took to the teaching well. Her provider and family members had all skedaddled before I got there...and now I know why...they needed to REST! To say she was independent is an understatement. To say she was impatient...well a rattlesnake had nothing on her. To be honest, I felt quite sorry for her...for the 1st 2 hours. But after being scratched, clawed and my hair pulled, I was not quite as happy to run to her room. I got there at 12 noon and she went to the floor as an admit at 8 pm. I will say that was the busiest 8 hours I have had in a while. I clocked 16,652 steps .... 30 steps at a time from the nurse station to her bedside, get whatever she wanted, come back, go back to the station, for her to think of something else she needed. Nothing satisfied her. Get her up, put her down, put my head up, put my head down, get me a drink, get me a fan, sit me up, lay me down, put me on the potty, why do I need medication, why do I need an IV, why can't you feed me, where is the food, why don't you have food, why don't you just stay in here. Why do you raise your voice when I scratch you....it hurt?? Oh look you are bleeding, why did you put your hair up like that ? (after she managed to get my ponytail with both hands as she drug me down onto the potty chair with her...LOL) She may have only weighed about 170, but my back was killing me by the time I took her upstairs!
I had gotten a TDC pt in bed 6, which is pretty much the room we use for any incarcerated patient, because it is at the end of the hall, and we don't have people walking by trying to see in the room and rubber-necking. After about 4 hrs of hearing me in and out of the other room, the officers were laughing at me...well until they saw the little lady was actually drawing blood on me (scratches)....dang...anyway, I finally got her comfortable, or she was a wore out as I was, because I had her sleeping when I took her upstairs...and it wasn't from medication. Upstairs, could not find the receiving nurse, so I put this lady in her bed, by myself and called for the nurse to the bedside so I could do a safe hand-off.
After lady in 4 went up, the rest of the night was pretty much ok, until I got the trama, guy with abrasions literally all over most his body from a motor vehicle incident. Went to CT with him, did all the usual stuff, IV, VITALS, so on. Came back, it was 10:00 pm, 1 hr to I'm off, still had no lunch break after 11 hrs, I did drink some tea so I wouldn't go into renal failure...anyway, now I have all these abraisons that have to have asphalt scrubbed out of them. Horribly painful for him, labor intensive for me...and thank God a tech had arrived, We worked side by side....Poor guy. Anyway, by the time 12 pm rolled around, I still needed 30 min to finish charting (1/2 a peanut butter sandwich in my hand!!!! Manna from heaven.). A storm was rolling in and I was trying to beat the wind and rain. I got out...soaked with sweat, exhausted and drove home. Not too much rain driving, missed the dead hawg in the road (I've hit 2 dead hawgs and messed up my car so I am getting better at finding them in the dark.LOL.)
Got home just as the storm hit, and it was a dozy. We got 2 inches of rain, mixed with a little hail I think. I had sweated through all my clothes and wanted a shower, but it was lightening and thundering and the power was popping on and off (we have a well pump) so a shower was out, I had to take a basin bath. Dave told me I stunk...of work sweat...and that he had never in the whole 14 years he knew me to come home smelling bad...lol...I told him I earned every cent of my money that night...and had the sweat to prove it.
To cover staffing (since many nurses are being laid off...who would have thought that would EVER happen??? Nursing is one of the most stable job fields in the country!), my manager has moved me to what is called "midshift". Technically you come in from noon to midnight. You either get a group to care for, assist with what was usually fast track (except fast track is closed as that wing is reserved for the CoVid-19 patients we never got, or you do Triage. Now I like doing triage, it get's hairy when a lot of people sign in at one time, but you get the most interesting conversations and back-stories with people. Sounds ok right???? Well the unanticipated problem is that mid-shift, means the busy time, and with us running the entire shift 1 RN and 1 tech short, you hit the floor running. Everyone is taking turns triaging , unless their patient is circling the drain...and guess what, the day nurses get to CHOOSE which patient's YOU take over...so...yup...the needy, the confused, the patient's with lots of stat orders...guess which one you are getting...ALL OF THEM. The easy peasy, give a Tylenol and discharge...THOSE are not your patient's...Put on your BIG girl panties...because you arn't getting a potty break or a lunch break until 11 pm tonight, if you are lucky.
So Friday I had one of those shifts that makes you wanna pull your hair out, except I didn't have to because the little old lady in 4 was doing it for me. I gave her her call bell when I got there and showed her how to use it...and believe me, she took to the teaching well. Her provider and family members had all skedaddled before I got there...and now I know why...they needed to REST! To say she was independent is an understatement. To say she was impatient...well a rattlesnake had nothing on her. To be honest, I felt quite sorry for her...for the 1st 2 hours. But after being scratched, clawed and my hair pulled, I was not quite as happy to run to her room. I got there at 12 noon and she went to the floor as an admit at 8 pm. I will say that was the busiest 8 hours I have had in a while. I clocked 16,652 steps .... 30 steps at a time from the nurse station to her bedside, get whatever she wanted, come back, go back to the station, for her to think of something else she needed. Nothing satisfied her. Get her up, put her down, put my head up, put my head down, get me a drink, get me a fan, sit me up, lay me down, put me on the potty, why do I need medication, why do I need an IV, why can't you feed me, where is the food, why don't you have food, why don't you just stay in here. Why do you raise your voice when I scratch you....it hurt?? Oh look you are bleeding, why did you put your hair up like that ? (after she managed to get my ponytail with both hands as she drug me down onto the potty chair with her...LOL) She may have only weighed about 170, but my back was killing me by the time I took her upstairs!
I had gotten a TDC pt in bed 6, which is pretty much the room we use for any incarcerated patient, because it is at the end of the hall, and we don't have people walking by trying to see in the room and rubber-necking. After about 4 hrs of hearing me in and out of the other room, the officers were laughing at me...well until they saw the little lady was actually drawing blood on me (scratches)....dang...anyway, I finally got her comfortable, or she was a wore out as I was, because I had her sleeping when I took her upstairs...and it wasn't from medication. Upstairs, could not find the receiving nurse, so I put this lady in her bed, by myself and called for the nurse to the bedside so I could do a safe hand-off.
After lady in 4 went up, the rest of the night was pretty much ok, until I got the trama, guy with abrasions literally all over most his body from a motor vehicle incident. Went to CT with him, did all the usual stuff, IV, VITALS, so on. Came back, it was 10:00 pm, 1 hr to I'm off, still had no lunch break after 11 hrs, I did drink some tea so I wouldn't go into renal failure...anyway, now I have all these abraisons that have to have asphalt scrubbed out of them. Horribly painful for him, labor intensive for me...and thank God a tech had arrived, We worked side by side....Poor guy. Anyway, by the time 12 pm rolled around, I still needed 30 min to finish charting (1/2 a peanut butter sandwich in my hand!!!! Manna from heaven.). A storm was rolling in and I was trying to beat the wind and rain. I got out...soaked with sweat, exhausted and drove home. Not too much rain driving, missed the dead hawg in the road (I've hit 2 dead hawgs and messed up my car so I am getting better at finding them in the dark.LOL.)
Got home just as the storm hit, and it was a dozy. We got 2 inches of rain, mixed with a little hail I think. I had sweated through all my clothes and wanted a shower, but it was lightening and thundering and the power was popping on and off (we have a well pump) so a shower was out, I had to take a basin bath. Dave told me I stunk...of work sweat...and that he had never in the whole 14 years he knew me to come home smelling bad...lol...I told him I earned every cent of my money that night...and had the sweat to prove it.
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Wuhan Flu, Chinese Flu, CoVid19, The Year That America Changed 4-Ever
I have watched so many video's and Presidential updates, and Governor Abbott (Texas), and heard from the Hospital leadership, read the CDC web-site...my mind is exhausted. We are only in the early days of this pandemic and already the nurses are getting exhausted. Long hours, shortage of supplies (they say we have plenty publicly...but staff meetings....well not knowing how long what we have has to last...it is getting scary). We have people running in the door and stealing our box of masks (set out in triage for the "coughers"). Supplies disappearing out of the rooms as boxes of gloves just walk out...(peoples pockets, bags, ect.).
People are going insane...the whole Toilet paper hoarding thing and toilet paper wars....our grand-children may look back and laugh someday, but right now...the insanity is real.Toilet paper??? Well I figure we go through about 2 rolls a week. People who are on quarantine or who are "sheltering" in place, are going to be using at least double their usual amount. Why? Because all hours normally spent at work or school, with the natural body elimination processes happening elsewhere... well that is all happening at home now.
I think back to the stories my grandparents told of the Great Depression and how they survived it. People shared...there may have been little to go around, but they shared. Jobs were scarce. Clothes were repurposed to make clothing for children or quilts for the cold winter. Gardens were planted if someone was able to hang onto their land. Produce was shared or canned for winter. People just simply knew how to survive without Star-bucks and McDonalds. Today, a majority of the population only buy enough to last 2-3 days at the most. The idea of buying food for a 2 week period is foreign to them. Most people simply do not know how much they consume!
We are only two people, but we do consume a lot. Egg's 1 dozen a week (no problem between Ben's Chicken's and our Ducks we could eat only eggs if we had to...I hope not!), Noodles, oh, perhaps one package a week, rice 2 lbs a week (we also make home-made dog food with it), Meat …. well there ya go....probably 4 lb Beef a week and 2-4 lbs of chicken a week. Veggies, canned (bleh, not much unless it is my own canned pinto beans...which I love and eat at least a quart a week) , frozen veggies 4-5 packages a week, cilantro, jalapeno's celery, lettuce, tomatoes, avocadoes, onions....yes yes yes, we love our fresh produce (not much growing here except cactus...which by the way is edible), bread a loaf a week, sometime more, one gallon of tea a week (plus 6-8 of the individual size for my work), bottled water 1/2 case a week (we are blessed with good well water, the bottled water is just convenient for work), then there is juice (a 6 pkg of the small apple juice weekly, 1 large orange juice every 2 weeks and the same for grapefruit juice)...then there is the luxuries...beer and wine, 1 box of wine a week and a 12 pack of been a week. I will occasional bake a cake or buy a small cake, we don't do many sweets. I do love my Tortillia chips though! Mandatory that I have two bags on hand at all times! LOL. The dogs and ducks consume 40 lb of dry dog food every 2 weeks. That is just for 2 people and 2 dogs and 8 ducks. When I go to the grocery store every two weeks, my buggy looks like I am stocking up for the Apocalypses (because we live 22 miles out of town I try to get everything on one trip to avoiding wasting extra gas and time).
People are simply not using the good brain God gave them. I went to the store two days ago to get my produce, some bread and try to round out my monthly shopping before all the food was gone. I didn't even bother going down the water isle, as I saw people fighting over the last case of water (now mind you this was at 7:30 in the morning and store had been open for only 30 minutes), I bought two different bottles of detergent as my brand was gone, and I still need to wash my uniforms and shoes (well mostly undershirts and shoes since the hospital is trying to decrease the possibly spread of the flu, but having the nurses change into hospital scrubs at work, and then back into street clothes at the end of shift), everything I wear into and out of the hospital I consider "contaminated" because you cannot possibly not touch stuff after changing...so they have to be laundered, I degress. There was no bleach (it's ok, I ordered some before the pandemic hit, so I am good for now), they did have fresh milk, so I texted my friend who was looking for milk for her little boy, they were putting out fresh produce, so it was fairly stocked. People in front of me in line had a lot of stuff pulled off the line to place back because they were not following the concept of rationing certain items to "2" per person. They literally had two carts filled up with every kind of soda pop available. No nutritional value what-so-ever! No food in either cart... really... none.
I do see people stepping up to try to help each other. I carried extra chicken and duck eggs to work and placed in employee fridge to give to anyone that needed them. Another lady that also has chickens did the same thing. The stores here have been out of eggs for about a week. Somewhere, some egg producer is probably trying to get his eggs shipped out. Here, the people I work with were glad to have free eggs. The duck eggs were the last to go....American's think only the chicken eggs are good...my Pilipino friend was ecstatic to get Duck Eggs!!!!! She told me a new way to do them, and I am going to try it...you soak them for a week in salt water, then boil them....! I am looking forward to this delicacy.
A church group has offered to start sewing some of the-hand-made surgical masks for the hospital, CDC estimates that the supplies will be running out in the coming weeks and is suggesting nurses cover their faces with bandana's to avoid getting the Corona virus...anyone who is working with this, knows that is a horrible suggestion...we are placing these patient's in the strictest of respiratory isolation (the same precautions we take for TB). Basically CDC is saying, "something is better than nothing" ...but get ready to kiss your ass goodbye, cause a bandana is basically nothing!" So we are appreciative of our community! Actually I am looking at a design to do myself today...I have sewing machine, fabric...and time on my hands (not really, but not working today except the mandatory call in meeting that I got up early on my day off for...again...but...staying in the loop is very fluid now-a-days!)
The stock market....crazy beyond all belief. My retirement funds are probably all gone...but who knows....maybe I will just work until I die....ie: wearing a bandana for protective equipment...at least I have goggles and a gas mask. LOL.
Well the ramble is done.....time to check the web for the newest bad news....
I have watched so many video's and Presidential updates, and Governor Abbott (Texas), and heard from the Hospital leadership, read the CDC web-site...my mind is exhausted. We are only in the early days of this pandemic and already the nurses are getting exhausted. Long hours, shortage of supplies (they say we have plenty publicly...but staff meetings....well not knowing how long what we have has to last...it is getting scary). We have people running in the door and stealing our box of masks (set out in triage for the "coughers"). Supplies disappearing out of the rooms as boxes of gloves just walk out...(peoples pockets, bags, ect.).
People are going insane...the whole Toilet paper hoarding thing and toilet paper wars....our grand-children may look back and laugh someday, but right now...the insanity is real.Toilet paper??? Well I figure we go through about 2 rolls a week. People who are on quarantine or who are "sheltering" in place, are going to be using at least double their usual amount. Why? Because all hours normally spent at work or school, with the natural body elimination processes happening elsewhere... well that is all happening at home now.
I think back to the stories my grandparents told of the Great Depression and how they survived it. People shared...there may have been little to go around, but they shared. Jobs were scarce. Clothes were repurposed to make clothing for children or quilts for the cold winter. Gardens were planted if someone was able to hang onto their land. Produce was shared or canned for winter. People just simply knew how to survive without Star-bucks and McDonalds. Today, a majority of the population only buy enough to last 2-3 days at the most. The idea of buying food for a 2 week period is foreign to them. Most people simply do not know how much they consume!
We are only two people, but we do consume a lot. Egg's 1 dozen a week (no problem between Ben's Chicken's and our Ducks we could eat only eggs if we had to...I hope not!), Noodles, oh, perhaps one package a week, rice 2 lbs a week (we also make home-made dog food with it), Meat …. well there ya go....probably 4 lb Beef a week and 2-4 lbs of chicken a week. Veggies, canned (bleh, not much unless it is my own canned pinto beans...which I love and eat at least a quart a week) , frozen veggies 4-5 packages a week, cilantro, jalapeno's celery, lettuce, tomatoes, avocadoes, onions....yes yes yes, we love our fresh produce (not much growing here except cactus...which by the way is edible), bread a loaf a week, sometime more, one gallon of tea a week (plus 6-8 of the individual size for my work), bottled water 1/2 case a week (we are blessed with good well water, the bottled water is just convenient for work), then there is juice (a 6 pkg of the small apple juice weekly, 1 large orange juice every 2 weeks and the same for grapefruit juice)...then there is the luxuries...beer and wine, 1 box of wine a week and a 12 pack of been a week. I will occasional bake a cake or buy a small cake, we don't do many sweets. I do love my Tortillia chips though! Mandatory that I have two bags on hand at all times! LOL. The dogs and ducks consume 40 lb of dry dog food every 2 weeks. That is just for 2 people and 2 dogs and 8 ducks. When I go to the grocery store every two weeks, my buggy looks like I am stocking up for the Apocalypses (because we live 22 miles out of town I try to get everything on one trip to avoiding wasting extra gas and time).
People are simply not using the good brain God gave them. I went to the store two days ago to get my produce, some bread and try to round out my monthly shopping before all the food was gone. I didn't even bother going down the water isle, as I saw people fighting over the last case of water (now mind you this was at 7:30 in the morning and store had been open for only 30 minutes), I bought two different bottles of detergent as my brand was gone, and I still need to wash my uniforms and shoes (well mostly undershirts and shoes since the hospital is trying to decrease the possibly spread of the flu, but having the nurses change into hospital scrubs at work, and then back into street clothes at the end of shift), everything I wear into and out of the hospital I consider "contaminated" because you cannot possibly not touch stuff after changing...so they have to be laundered, I degress. There was no bleach (it's ok, I ordered some before the pandemic hit, so I am good for now), they did have fresh milk, so I texted my friend who was looking for milk for her little boy, they were putting out fresh produce, so it was fairly stocked. People in front of me in line had a lot of stuff pulled off the line to place back because they were not following the concept of rationing certain items to "2" per person. They literally had two carts filled up with every kind of soda pop available. No nutritional value what-so-ever! No food in either cart... really... none.
I do see people stepping up to try to help each other. I carried extra chicken and duck eggs to work and placed in employee fridge to give to anyone that needed them. Another lady that also has chickens did the same thing. The stores here have been out of eggs for about a week. Somewhere, some egg producer is probably trying to get his eggs shipped out. Here, the people I work with were glad to have free eggs. The duck eggs were the last to go....American's think only the chicken eggs are good...my Pilipino friend was ecstatic to get Duck Eggs!!!!! She told me a new way to do them, and I am going to try it...you soak them for a week in salt water, then boil them....! I am looking forward to this delicacy.
A church group has offered to start sewing some of the-hand-made surgical masks for the hospital, CDC estimates that the supplies will be running out in the coming weeks and is suggesting nurses cover their faces with bandana's to avoid getting the Corona virus...anyone who is working with this, knows that is a horrible suggestion...we are placing these patient's in the strictest of respiratory isolation (the same precautions we take for TB). Basically CDC is saying, "something is better than nothing" ...but get ready to kiss your ass goodbye, cause a bandana is basically nothing!" So we are appreciative of our community! Actually I am looking at a design to do myself today...I have sewing machine, fabric...and time on my hands (not really, but not working today except the mandatory call in meeting that I got up early on my day off for...again...but...staying in the loop is very fluid now-a-days!)
The stock market....crazy beyond all belief. My retirement funds are probably all gone...but who knows....maybe I will just work until I die....ie: wearing a bandana for protective equipment...at least I have goggles and a gas mask. LOL.
Well the ramble is done.....time to check the web for the newest bad news....
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Friday 13th, full harvest moon....
Had busy shift. Not as Cray Cray as I expected...
I did have a patient that I have seen before. He was an inmate. In for OD on unknown substance. Standard workup:::call poison control, take recommendations, review medications listed yada yada yada...only difference is that in addition this dude is a "cutter". His cutting is a part of his psychiatric illness...that apparently is not under control with his current medications. He has used a razor blade fairly creatively on his chest, upper abdomen, both thighs and up and down his left calf. None of the injuries are life threatening, none require any real I intervention except cleansing. He is apparently a long time cutter judging from the various stages of healing cuts from his feet, to his neck.
Now, I do have some psychiatric nurse training having worked at a psychiatric facility I do have some personal experience with a friend who was also a "cutter". My friend "K" had experienced horrific sexual child abuse at the hands of her father, since the age of 5. When I was close to her, many years ago, she had been going to therapy and getting her past behind her. She had been hospitalized at one point, and discharged and all was better., or so everyone thought. One day, I don't remember the exact details, but I noticed some cuts on her. We spent a lot of time together, going to the pool and to karate lessons and such. I had noticed her limping. She admitted to me that she had been "cutting" again. Well, I was quite the dumb-ass, and did not even realize that was a "thing". So she explained to me that when "things" got too hard to handle, her memories, the trauma, something could bring it back, and she would take a razor blade and literally slice off the soles o f her feet. Additionally, she would start cutting on her thighs or upper arms, where it could not be seen under her uniform. I was at a loss as to why or how anyone could torture themselves this way. I was not in the medical field, and to say the least I was a dumb ass...but I did care. I asked her to explain how this helped her. She told me that by focusing on the pain of the cuts she could close out everything and everybody that was causing her pain in her life. That focusing on the current pain , negated all the other pain she had in her heart. Well, I thought that was pretty fked up, and I suggested that maybe she needed to call her counselor because I was pretty sure cutting the soles off your feet was not in her recovery plan,.,.Fast Forward a few weeks later...and I get a bizarre call from her telling me she was going to kill herself by slicing her wrists with a knife. She sounds very strange. I made her promise me she would not harm herself. She kept telling me she was seeing her counselor the next day. I made her promise me to put all the knives away …. right now...and told her I would call her counselor to confirm her appointment. (at the time I had children in school and lived 15 miles from her). She said "ok" in a very child-like voice. I called her clinic (Lord even knows how I knew who to call, and they told me everything was confidential and they could not tell me if she had an appointment.) I demanded that I talk to a counselor and I told them that if someone did not call my friend RIGHT NOW... that she was going to commit suicide. I gave them her number and hung up. I then called my friends husband. This SCARED the shit out of me...how was he going to react. He was a VERY HIGH UP in the chain of COMMAND where I worked. I COULD EVEN LOSE MY JOB! I told him he needed to go home RIGHT NOW! IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!! That if he did not lock up his knives he would not have a wife to go home to tomorrow.
Well, he did go home. The counselors did call. My friend went to what she called "The Farm" for about 6 weeks. While she was gone, she made me a ceramic egg, with a crack and gave it to me when she returned. After her visit to "The Farm" she did not have much to do with me. Never called. Did not meet me at the pool. I became an unwanted friend. I literally lost the best friend I ever in my life had, because I tried to save her. That was over 30 years ago. I still have dreams about my friend. I still have dreams where we are holding hands and walking and talking together. The last time I spoke to her, around 8 years ago, I asked her if she remembered calling me, and she said she remembered nothing at all about the events surrounding her going to "The Farm", but that it changed her life.
Now, back to my patient. After he was awake, alert and going back to his unit. I told him "Ok, this is none of my business, but I know If I am pissed off about something, the last thing in the world I would do is cut myself, cause that crap freaking hurts!". He actually made eye contact (a biggie) and said "well, you just ask God to take away the pain, and it don't hurt no more". So I say "You believe in God?". He says "Yeah". I said "So, I am stepping on my soap box right now, and I want you to hear me out. (he nodded his head yes, so I continued) I ain't no expert or anything, but in my opinion we all have a job that God wants us to do...do you have kids (he says yes). Do you have family (yes), where are there (he says Gainsville). " I said "well that is a far piece from here, so it's probably pretty hard for them to come visit very often, but that is not to say that they don't love you", he hung his hed down, "I believe that every person born on this earth has at least one job that they are destined to do,,,it may not be much, it may just be a kind act or telling somebody about God, or a kind word, that changes someone else's life...I have always felt that we have a job in God's plan....and if we choose to commit suicide, that we leave this earth with our job unfinished, we have not completed God's plan for us. " "I think that God has a plan for you, and I don't think that you have fulfilled that plan yet, do you?" He looked at me and said "no, I think you may be onto something there." At that point I mimicked stepping off a platform and said "I am stepping off my soap box right now. Please, just think about what I said.". He said "I respect that, I like how you said that. I will think on it".
So, weather I have made a difference in his life or not, time will tell, but I came home thinking that , for a moment in time, I have touched someone in a way that is meaningful.
I did have a patient that I have seen before. He was an inmate. In for OD on unknown substance. Standard workup:::call poison control, take recommendations, review medications listed yada yada yada...only difference is that in addition this dude is a "cutter". His cutting is a part of his psychiatric illness...that apparently is not under control with his current medications. He has used a razor blade fairly creatively on his chest, upper abdomen, both thighs and up and down his left calf. None of the injuries are life threatening, none require any real I intervention except cleansing. He is apparently a long time cutter judging from the various stages of healing cuts from his feet, to his neck.
Now, I do have some psychiatric nurse training having worked at a psychiatric facility I do have some personal experience with a friend who was also a "cutter". My friend "K" had experienced horrific sexual child abuse at the hands of her father, since the age of 5. When I was close to her, many years ago, she had been going to therapy and getting her past behind her. She had been hospitalized at one point, and discharged and all was better., or so everyone thought. One day, I don't remember the exact details, but I noticed some cuts on her. We spent a lot of time together, going to the pool and to karate lessons and such. I had noticed her limping. She admitted to me that she had been "cutting" again. Well, I was quite the dumb-ass, and did not even realize that was a "thing". So she explained to me that when "things" got too hard to handle, her memories, the trauma, something could bring it back, and she would take a razor blade and literally slice off the soles o f her feet. Additionally, she would start cutting on her thighs or upper arms, where it could not be seen under her uniform. I was at a loss as to why or how anyone could torture themselves this way. I was not in the medical field, and to say the least I was a dumb ass...but I did care. I asked her to explain how this helped her. She told me that by focusing on the pain of the cuts she could close out everything and everybody that was causing her pain in her life. That focusing on the current pain , negated all the other pain she had in her heart. Well, I thought that was pretty fked up, and I suggested that maybe she needed to call her counselor because I was pretty sure cutting the soles off your feet was not in her recovery plan,.,.Fast Forward a few weeks later...and I get a bizarre call from her telling me she was going to kill herself by slicing her wrists with a knife. She sounds very strange. I made her promise me she would not harm herself. She kept telling me she was seeing her counselor the next day. I made her promise me to put all the knives away …. right now...and told her I would call her counselor to confirm her appointment. (at the time I had children in school and lived 15 miles from her). She said "ok" in a very child-like voice. I called her clinic (Lord even knows how I knew who to call, and they told me everything was confidential and they could not tell me if she had an appointment.) I demanded that I talk to a counselor and I told them that if someone did not call my friend RIGHT NOW... that she was going to commit suicide. I gave them her number and hung up. I then called my friends husband. This SCARED the shit out of me...how was he going to react. He was a VERY HIGH UP in the chain of COMMAND where I worked. I COULD EVEN LOSE MY JOB! I told him he needed to go home RIGHT NOW! IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!! That if he did not lock up his knives he would not have a wife to go home to tomorrow.
Well, he did go home. The counselors did call. My friend went to what she called "The Farm" for about 6 weeks. While she was gone, she made me a ceramic egg, with a crack and gave it to me when she returned. After her visit to "The Farm" she did not have much to do with me. Never called. Did not meet me at the pool. I became an unwanted friend. I literally lost the best friend I ever in my life had, because I tried to save her. That was over 30 years ago. I still have dreams about my friend. I still have dreams where we are holding hands and walking and talking together. The last time I spoke to her, around 8 years ago, I asked her if she remembered calling me, and she said she remembered nothing at all about the events surrounding her going to "The Farm", but that it changed her life.
Now, back to my patient. After he was awake, alert and going back to his unit. I told him "Ok, this is none of my business, but I know If I am pissed off about something, the last thing in the world I would do is cut myself, cause that crap freaking hurts!". He actually made eye contact (a biggie) and said "well, you just ask God to take away the pain, and it don't hurt no more". So I say "You believe in God?". He says "Yeah". I said "So, I am stepping on my soap box right now, and I want you to hear me out. (he nodded his head yes, so I continued) I ain't no expert or anything, but in my opinion we all have a job that God wants us to do...do you have kids (he says yes). Do you have family (yes), where are there (he says Gainsville). " I said "well that is a far piece from here, so it's probably pretty hard for them to come visit very often, but that is not to say that they don't love you", he hung his hed down, "I believe that every person born on this earth has at least one job that they are destined to do,,,it may not be much, it may just be a kind act or telling somebody about God, or a kind word, that changes someone else's life...I have always felt that we have a job in God's plan....and if we choose to commit suicide, that we leave this earth with our job unfinished, we have not completed God's plan for us. " "I think that God has a plan for you, and I don't think that you have fulfilled that plan yet, do you?" He looked at me and said "no, I think you may be onto something there." At that point I mimicked stepping off a platform and said "I am stepping off my soap box right now. Please, just think about what I said.". He said "I respect that, I like how you said that. I will think on it".
So, weather I have made a difference in his life or not, time will tell, but I came home thinking that , for a moment in time, I have touched someone in a way that is meaningful.
It was a Full Moon that actually DID NOT SUCK!
So my dear sweet hubby pointed out to me Saturday night that it was a full moon Saturday night, which was sure to indicate some craziness going on in the ER. I nay-sayed him, made the sign of the cross, knocked on wood, searched for some holy water and got dressed for work. I neatly braided my hair, I did the little cute twist braid for my still growing out bangs, I even dashed on some lipstick and mascara, all in hopes that the night would go well. Got to work, remembered I forgot to apply perfume or put on earrings, but I am not there to be beautiful...so whatever! So I start out with naked ears, thankful that my deodorant is "fresh apple scent".
I walk into the unit, and discover that I am blessed with the trauma bay (again) because I am working with two LVN's (absolutely well seasoned and a blessing to work with...except because they are LVN's still pending to take the boards for RN, that means there is extra work for the RN, because there are several duties not allowed to be designated to the LVN), but that is neither here nor there, because we call this two gal's "the twins"...they look nothing alike, but are best friends, and one or the other is always there to help when things get hairy.
So I take report, go and transfer pt in bed 1 to where-ever the heck he was going. And.....don't remember the rest of the story.....
I walk into the unit, and discover that I am blessed with the trauma bay (again) because I am working with two LVN's (absolutely well seasoned and a blessing to work with...except because they are LVN's still pending to take the boards for RN, that means there is extra work for the RN, because there are several duties not allowed to be designated to the LVN), but that is neither here nor there, because we call this two gal's "the twins"...they look nothing alike, but are best friends, and one or the other is always there to help when things get hairy.
So I take report, go and transfer pt in bed 1 to where-ever the heck he was going. And.....don't remember the rest of the story.....
Friday, June 14, 2019
Today was a good day.
So today I did some happy things. To the pond...for Layla to chase balls. Good cooking....smoked turkey and carny gustada…, yummy.
To the bar for a couple of beers. "Haybarn" ….pretty fun. The best part...My son came for a while to pick up the pico I made for him...One step at t time. Maybe my life is going to be better, and I won't need to find a strong oak branch??
To the bar for a couple of beers. "Haybarn" ….pretty fun. The best part...My son came for a while to pick up the pico I made for him...One step at t time. Maybe my life is going to be better, and I won't need to find a strong oak branch??
Sunday, June 9, 2019
The Auction
ACK! Slept until almost two pm....and I didn't even work last night! Just got hit with that summer time heat wave type of laziness.
Yesterday, we went to Goliad, Tx to an old-time house auction. It was mostly equipment. They were auctioning off the life-time of a couple, the mister had died, don't know if missus was sent to a nursing home or merely was selling to move closer to kids. The place was beautiful. Huge beautifully maintained home, yard, outbuildings and probably about 100 acres of mature trees and hay fields. I heard that the place sold for 2 and 1/2 million dollars....I can't even fathom that much money!
I suspect the mister was ex-military, in that every nut and bolt was pretty much categorized, and in a container with listings of what was in the container.... literally hundreds of small containers. Old coffee can's all painted gray with white lettering, neatly organized. HUGE workshop ...and I do mean HUGE, you could have put 4-6 gigantic tractors in there and still have room to work around then! There was also what looked to be a fairly new addition to the side that even had a pully system so a motor could be lifted out to work on. The entire thing looked pretty professional. I wish Dave could be so organized...we spend hours looking for stuff, just to find it where we over-looked it the first time!
In the house everything is prestine. One reason I think the missus is probably still alive is that there are no personal photo's or anything personal except some old clothing and shoes in the ladies closet. She was quite a sewer. There are finished stuffed animals and things here and there. Her sewing room, well it's about as organized as mine, with draws stuffed with odds and ends. There is no fabric stashes and no sewing machine. That tells me, as a seamstress and a hoarder of all things fabric, that the lady is alive and well and stuffing more animals for grandchildren somewhere.
The auctioneer was trying to whip up a buying frenzy, which was going quite well, seeing as it was over 100 degrees in the correlated steel workshop. People were paying new prices for old stuff....shop fans, ladders, you name it...this dude had two of everything, just in case the first one failed!
There was a little old lady there that was bent over with arthritis. She was leaning against a work-table and looked ready to collapse. She was just watching everything. I struck up a conversation. Within in 30 minutes I had pretty much her medical history, knew her daughter could sew up anything without a pattern, her only son had died in a helicopter crash, she gave me a cookie receipe …..she was quite charming and lonely. I never saw one person come in to check on her....she was probably around 80 years old. My hubby was fetching some water from the cooler, he gave her a bottle and she was so surprised! I eventually had to wonder away, because the heat was getting to me...but she was still there even when we finally left. The only thing I bid on was a garden tractor wagon....that had an extended tongue welded on, perfect for me cleaning the yard! I felt like a winner though, because I got to meet someone and hear their story....it was really a great day.
Yesterday, we went to Goliad, Tx to an old-time house auction. It was mostly equipment. They were auctioning off the life-time of a couple, the mister had died, don't know if missus was sent to a nursing home or merely was selling to move closer to kids. The place was beautiful. Huge beautifully maintained home, yard, outbuildings and probably about 100 acres of mature trees and hay fields. I heard that the place sold for 2 and 1/2 million dollars....I can't even fathom that much money!
I suspect the mister was ex-military, in that every nut and bolt was pretty much categorized, and in a container with listings of what was in the container.... literally hundreds of small containers. Old coffee can's all painted gray with white lettering, neatly organized. HUGE workshop ...and I do mean HUGE, you could have put 4-6 gigantic tractors in there and still have room to work around then! There was also what looked to be a fairly new addition to the side that even had a pully system so a motor could be lifted out to work on. The entire thing looked pretty professional. I wish Dave could be so organized...we spend hours looking for stuff, just to find it where we over-looked it the first time!
In the house everything is prestine. One reason I think the missus is probably still alive is that there are no personal photo's or anything personal except some old clothing and shoes in the ladies closet. She was quite a sewer. There are finished stuffed animals and things here and there. Her sewing room, well it's about as organized as mine, with draws stuffed with odds and ends. There is no fabric stashes and no sewing machine. That tells me, as a seamstress and a hoarder of all things fabric, that the lady is alive and well and stuffing more animals for grandchildren somewhere.
The auctioneer was trying to whip up a buying frenzy, which was going quite well, seeing as it was over 100 degrees in the correlated steel workshop. People were paying new prices for old stuff....shop fans, ladders, you name it...this dude had two of everything, just in case the first one failed!
There was a little old lady there that was bent over with arthritis. She was leaning against a work-table and looked ready to collapse. She was just watching everything. I struck up a conversation. Within in 30 minutes I had pretty much her medical history, knew her daughter could sew up anything without a pattern, her only son had died in a helicopter crash, she gave me a cookie receipe …..she was quite charming and lonely. I never saw one person come in to check on her....she was probably around 80 years old. My hubby was fetching some water from the cooler, he gave her a bottle and she was so surprised! I eventually had to wonder away, because the heat was getting to me...but she was still there even when we finally left. The only thing I bid on was a garden tractor wagon....that had an extended tongue welded on, perfect for me cleaning the yard! I felt like a winner though, because I got to meet someone and hear their story....it was really a great day.
Saturday, June 8, 2019
today....the 8th of June. Well seems like I have been absent from the blog-o-sphere for 4-freaking ever. LOL. So much has happened. I read my old blogs and wonder who in the hell I was way back when. My puppy love Abby has been dead now for 6 or 7 hears and I still can't say her name without tearing up. Izzy is so old her muzzle is grey, she has bad breath, bad teeth, is deaf , almost blind and asthmatic...we expect to find her cold any day now....We have a 3 year old lab named Layla who I love soooo much, she loves me too, gets in bed to just lay by me in the mornings. We have changed everything in our lives in the last year. Moved to close to Beeville, old Farm house, 10 acres, a pond, privacy .... close to my son Ben and my daughter in Law Beth. Chance, my oldest grandson, just graduated the Naval academy and is in Advanced training.
So yes, I have been despondent, almost to the point of suicidal. I have cried and prayed and cried and prayed, then prayed some more. nothing seems to change, and my mood has not improved much. We were at the pond today, and Dave wanted to know why I was weepy and sad....how can I tell him, it's just the family stuff.
Anyhow , I am off this weekend, and hopefully things will turn around. I have been sad for so long. I have lost weight and I don't feel like doing much except sleeping. Sometimes I wish that I would just never wake up. Life is just too hard. I am so tired of trying to please everyone in this damned world. I am tired of people talking bad about me, patients who curse me, patient's who hurt me...I have not had a pain free day in over 2 months...thank you miss overdose cutie who fucked my shoulder up beyond all belief. I am tired of taking pain meds, muscle relaxers and using rubs and heat on my shoulder to no avail. I hurt day and night...I am so freaking tired of the pain~.. AND yest I am depressed. I am 61 and it seems like no one gives a flying fk if I am alive or dead .... except when it makes them feel better
pity party ove.r
So yes, I have been despondent, almost to the point of suicidal. I have cried and prayed and cried and prayed, then prayed some more. nothing seems to change, and my mood has not improved much. We were at the pond today, and Dave wanted to know why I was weepy and sad....how can I tell him, it's just the family stuff.
Anyhow , I am off this weekend, and hopefully things will turn around. I have been sad for so long. I have lost weight and I don't feel like doing much except sleeping. Sometimes I wish that I would just never wake up. Life is just too hard. I am so tired of trying to please everyone in this damned world. I am tired of people talking bad about me, patients who curse me, patient's who hurt me...I have not had a pain free day in over 2 months...thank you miss overdose cutie who fucked my shoulder up beyond all belief. I am tired of taking pain meds, muscle relaxers and using rubs and heat on my shoulder to no avail. I hurt day and night...I am so freaking tired of the pain~.. AND yest I am depressed. I am 61 and it seems like no one gives a flying fk if I am alive or dead .... except when it makes them feel better
pity party ove.r
Thursday, August 9, 2012
A Taste of Summer
My summer so far has consisted of trying to ride my motorcycle as much as I can. This has been slowed down somewhat my record heat waves in our area. I thought it was hot here (100 to 101 degrees when you are this close to the coast is pretty darn hot), until I texted my brother who is on a motorcycle trip from Texas to the California coast. Well, actually from there he will go to Seattle then up to the Sturgis Ralley, in whatever hedonistic state that might be.
He traded his bike for another Honda (not being a hater...but gee) and added a sidecar for his new wife, who is not yet an enthusiastic rider. He got a portable air conditioner for the sidecar, and a smoked top to cut the sun down a little. The air conditioner requires ice in it and is powered from the bike battery (which as I understand it pretty much requires that the bike be running). So far so good, right? He put extra fuel cells in with an electric pumping system so he doesn't run out of gas in the desert or some equally deserted area. So far, so good, right? What he didn't expect...118 degrees in Arizona. What he didn't expect....the gas in his tank boiling and causing vapor lock. Boiling???? He insists that when you take the cap off the gas is boiling! Three. P.M. Arizona. 118 degrees. Guess what....the sidecar air conditioner is not working. Finally after about an hour he pumps more fuel from the fuel cell, which is technically cooler (or the gases vapored off relieving the vapor lock...but then who knows) and was able to crank the bike. He told me that his wife walked around holding an umbrella over him while he worked, as there was of course no shade.
Lucky Jack...taking an umbrella to the desert in the middle of a heat wave. Guess who suggested that? Could it have been his marvelous sister? Of course it was...but Jack doesn't remember it that way. I just know that I had seen that idea for keeping the dogs out of the sun when there wasn't a tree to park your bike, and I thought it was a great idea. Jack did too...and since it was his idea...it worked.
They are back on their trip. They did not camp in their pull-behind pop-up tent-trailer last night. They opted for a hotel with a full blast air conditioner and I don't blame them. They have been meeting the most interesting people, like the truck driver (biker too) who helped them find a bike shop, and whose wife took my sister-in-law somewhere to cool off. You meet new friends on the road.
So, taste of summer...it's not so hot at 101 degrees when you compare it to a gas boiling 118 degrees.
He traded his bike for another Honda (not being a hater...but gee) and added a sidecar for his new wife, who is not yet an enthusiastic rider. He got a portable air conditioner for the sidecar, and a smoked top to cut the sun down a little. The air conditioner requires ice in it and is powered from the bike battery (which as I understand it pretty much requires that the bike be running). So far so good, right? He put extra fuel cells in with an electric pumping system so he doesn't run out of gas in the desert or some equally deserted area. So far, so good, right? What he didn't expect...118 degrees in Arizona. What he didn't expect....the gas in his tank boiling and causing vapor lock. Boiling???? He insists that when you take the cap off the gas is boiling! Three. P.M. Arizona. 118 degrees. Guess what....the sidecar air conditioner is not working. Finally after about an hour he pumps more fuel from the fuel cell, which is technically cooler (or the gases vapored off relieving the vapor lock...but then who knows) and was able to crank the bike. He told me that his wife walked around holding an umbrella over him while he worked, as there was of course no shade.
Lucky Jack...taking an umbrella to the desert in the middle of a heat wave. Guess who suggested that? Could it have been his marvelous sister? Of course it was...but Jack doesn't remember it that way. I just know that I had seen that idea for keeping the dogs out of the sun when there wasn't a tree to park your bike, and I thought it was a great idea. Jack did too...and since it was his idea...it worked.
They are back on their trip. They did not camp in their pull-behind pop-up tent-trailer last night. They opted for a hotel with a full blast air conditioner and I don't blame them. They have been meeting the most interesting people, like the truck driver (biker too) who helped them find a bike shop, and whose wife took my sister-in-law somewhere to cool off. You meet new friends on the road.
So, taste of summer...it's not so hot at 101 degrees when you compare it to a gas boiling 118 degrees.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Crazy Day
You know the day is gonna go to crap when it starts out with a rat in the room. Yesterday as I sat here at my computer doing Facebook, the dogs went crazy and there was a flash of a HUGE rat butt, scurrying under the bed, then a flash, under the cabinets, then a flash...oh yeah that was me jumping onto the guest bed. I squealed and screamed and banished a forgotten length of door trim like a sword, but my hero, Super Dave, slept on through it all in the other bedroom. Abby and Izzy, chased and growled to no avail, the rodent got away somehow.
The rest of the day did not improve. Patient load was horrendous, just a really busy group of really sick people. Personally I managed to prick my finger with a sterile needle, run into a wall and cut my elbow on the dry erase board, fell over a dynamap breaking it and hurting my leg....and last but not least to add insult to injury I put my hand in my pocket and my bandage scissors had come open, lacerating my finger.
The cure for all this craziness and bouncing off the wall (literally...hahaha), Dave had me a hot bath and a glass (not shot) of Tequila Rose! He may not have saved me from the rat today...but he did indeed save me! My Hero!!!!
The rest of the day did not improve. Patient load was horrendous, just a really busy group of really sick people. Personally I managed to prick my finger with a sterile needle, run into a wall and cut my elbow on the dry erase board, fell over a dynamap breaking it and hurting my leg....and last but not least to add insult to injury I put my hand in my pocket and my bandage scissors had come open, lacerating my finger.
The cure for all this craziness and bouncing off the wall (literally...hahaha), Dave had me a hot bath and a glass (not shot) of Tequila Rose! He may not have saved me from the rat today...but he did indeed save me! My Hero!!!!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
MEN!!!
WHAT, IS IT A CRIME TO SLEEP. Anytime we are watching a movie and I nod off...and yes...I have been prone to nod off during any kind of film for the last 30 years, just ask my kids...my husband acts like it is a crime. He is gets pissed off if I cannot quote the last few sentences the characters on the PRETEND life have been saying...WHO THE FUCK CARES....I AM DOZING...IT ISN'T A CRIME~! Get a life......
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Me and My Mutts.
Dave and I traveled with friends to Texas Hill Country. We rode our Motorcycles on the Three Twisted Sisters...my most challenging ride yet. It rained all night Friday night and we woke to the welcome sound of water running over rocks in the Frio river, right in front of our cabin. Here is a picture of me and the dogs later that evening hangin out on the porch. The temperature had dropped to the 30's and my Valley Dog's were freezing!
Friday, November 11, 2011
What Happened....did I die???
It looks like riding a Motorcycle... and addiction to FaceBook really can cause death. Apparently death of my blog that is...since I haven't blogged since like March of this year. I spend a lot of time on FaceBook, until today, when it appeared my account was phished. I was forced to reset my password, and now I am locked in password hell, the sign on takes me to reset password, which takes me to sign on, which takes me to reset password...et nauseum. I cannot actually get on my account to check my friend and family posts, it is driving me crazy!!!! Literally crazy!!!
Ok, so today I am up at the butt-crack of dawn, it is an amazing 37 degrees outside, and it is 90 in our bedroom. My hubby is cooking me one brain cell at a time...I woke up with a raging headache and have been hanging out in the cool, unheated side of the house for hours. Now I am cold...my free are frozen. To alieve my discomfort I have been hunting for socks to no avail. I finally found the solution....work gloves. So I sit here in front of my computer wearing yellow gloves on my feet, looks a bit like a duck...wondering if my hubby will find me frozen and think I have gone off my rocker?
Back to : Motorcycles: I have graduated from my Honda 1300 VTX to my new love: Harley Road King Classic. I am addicted. I even rode in 52 degree weather (with wind chill I was definitely chill). My new bike has cruise control, which is great for my weak wrist and power....dang....I catch myself hitting 80 when I think I am going 60. Loud pipes.....the coolness factor (not many women can handle this size of a bike), braids flying behind me....life is good.
Ok, so today I am up at the butt-crack of dawn, it is an amazing 37 degrees outside, and it is 90 in our bedroom. My hubby is cooking me one brain cell at a time...I woke up with a raging headache and have been hanging out in the cool, unheated side of the house for hours. Now I am cold...my free are frozen. To alieve my discomfort I have been hunting for socks to no avail. I finally found the solution....work gloves. So I sit here in front of my computer wearing yellow gloves on my feet, looks a bit like a duck...wondering if my hubby will find me frozen and think I have gone off my rocker?
Back to : Motorcycles: I have graduated from my Honda 1300 VTX to my new love: Harley Road King Classic. I am addicted. I even rode in 52 degree weather (with wind chill I was definitely chill). My new bike has cruise control, which is great for my weak wrist and power....dang....I catch myself hitting 80 when I think I am going 60. Loud pipes.....the coolness factor (not many women can handle this size of a bike), braids flying behind me....life is good.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Spring Break is in the Air
Here, near Padre Island, spring is here...how do I know? I see College Kids everywhere...on tv, in cars...and how the hell is it that all those girls can find fantastic bikini's and fit and jiggle in them everywhere???? Did I get old? It was just a day or two ago, I was the chick in the teeny tiny swim-suit, basking in the sun. Now I look for a little more adequate coverage and cover all my exposed skin with sun-screen.
Did I grow up, or just get old? Hummmm, maybe it was that damned AARP card I got in the mail today, makes me want to run naked down the beach yelling "NOOOOO I'M NOT OLD!!!", but that might get me locked up for insanity, they probably wouldn't buy the "Early Onset Dementia" excuse. Dave thought the mail run was excessively funny today, as I have been teasing him for years about receiving the AARP offers in the mail. I think he secretly contacted those damned people and put my address on their database. Bummer. He better look out, I see more roses in my future.
Last week I had to return two bras to Victoria Secret that didn't fit. The salesgirl conned me into letting her measure me...then proceeded to show me the ugliest bras I had ever seen, I wound up taking two of them just to shut her up. I asked to see something more stylish, and got one with lace on it....what the hell, I'm barely over 50 for God's sake...I am not ready for 18 hour comfort yet! Then to cheer myself up following the Victoria Secret depression causing incident, I headed over to the local nail spa to get my feet done. The nail tech, who was Vietnamese and barely spoke any English kept trying to talk me into additional services. I finally decided, OK, wax the upper lip. So into the inner salon room we go. She carefully spreads hot wax on one side of the mustache area....RIP...she looks at the used wax strip and says "WOW"....omg, NOT 'WOW'. Humm, "lady, do you want me to do the chin?"....now she is looking at my face closely, and I think, "Oh, holy hell, now I have a beard????", "Yes" do my chin....she proceeds to spread hot wax from EAR TO EAR....RIP.....needless to say, it was horribly painful, and now the skin on my chin is all irritated. I felt like the OLD BEARDED LADY from a circus....
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoo, my darling husband, felt sorry for me and brought me a dozen Pink Roses with Lilies to work to cheer me up. My coworkers all thought he was apologizing for something. So I had to tell the Victoria Secret, ugly bra's, waxed lip, "Wow" story...and somehow, by the time I get to "WOW", it's not depressing anymore, but actually funny as hell.
So, I think I am ready to hit the beach, in a modest swimsuit, for spring break, with my newly waxed face and new AARP card.
Did I grow up, or just get old? Hummmm, maybe it was that damned AARP card I got in the mail today, makes me want to run naked down the beach yelling "NOOOOO I'M NOT OLD!!!", but that might get me locked up for insanity, they probably wouldn't buy the "Early Onset Dementia" excuse. Dave thought the mail run was excessively funny today, as I have been teasing him for years about receiving the AARP offers in the mail. I think he secretly contacted those damned people and put my address on their database. Bummer. He better look out, I see more roses in my future.
Last week I had to return two bras to Victoria Secret that didn't fit. The salesgirl conned me into letting her measure me...then proceeded to show me the ugliest bras I had ever seen, I wound up taking two of them just to shut her up. I asked to see something more stylish, and got one with lace on it....what the hell, I'm barely over 50 for God's sake...I am not ready for 18 hour comfort yet! Then to cheer myself up following the Victoria Secret depression causing incident, I headed over to the local nail spa to get my feet done. The nail tech, who was Vietnamese and barely spoke any English kept trying to talk me into additional services. I finally decided, OK, wax the upper lip. So into the inner salon room we go. She carefully spreads hot wax on one side of the mustache area....RIP...she looks at the used wax strip and says "WOW"....omg, NOT 'WOW'. Humm, "lady, do you want me to do the chin?"....now she is looking at my face closely, and I think, "Oh, holy hell, now I have a beard????", "Yes" do my chin....she proceeds to spread hot wax from EAR TO EAR....RIP.....needless to say, it was horribly painful, and now the skin on my chin is all irritated. I felt like the OLD BEARDED LADY from a circus....
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoo, my darling husband, felt sorry for me and brought me a dozen Pink Roses with Lilies to work to cheer me up. My coworkers all thought he was apologizing for something. So I had to tell the Victoria Secret, ugly bra's, waxed lip, "Wow" story...and somehow, by the time I get to "WOW", it's not depressing anymore, but actually funny as hell.
So, I think I am ready to hit the beach, in a modest swimsuit, for spring break, with my newly waxed face and new AARP card.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The "Bomb"
Closest thing to a bomb yesterday. Secretary was talking to the House Supervisor yesterday and stepped backwards, surgery had dropped off pt and just placed the O2 tank in the nurses station...kinda in the middle, and left. Well secretary knocked over the O2 tank which was full, thank God it only loosened the regulator (as opposed to breaking it off). We got loud, dramatic spewing O2. The House Super was a guy yesterday, and he was able to turn the tank off with his fingers (we would have been scrambling to find a wrench). If the regulator had broken off....bad news.....we were lucky. The House Super looked at how full the tank was...we had something like 2000 lbs of pressure....wow...glad it didn't turn into a missle. Scared the bejesus out of me! LOL.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
