Sunday, October 31, 2010

HAPPY HALLOWEEN....plus moose and bear tracks in the snow!!

happy halloween...!! i quite enjoyed myself. the dogs were rather accomadating to my insanity. they wore their costumes without complaint. what is it about dogs and kids in costumes...not much more adorable. the neighborhood kids had fun with the girls. i put a baby gate up and then would stand behind the door and open it. the dogs would be the first thing those kids saw. they seemed delighted and laughed when i came around the door. many said they thought the dogs themselves had opened the door. so i guess we tricked them...and then gave them treats. blossom is a bunch of grapes and rio was a flower!
blossom didn't get the whole thing. she loved that all these kids came to the door, but was a bit confused and sad that they all left. several friends had good numbers of kids this year. here and in other states it seems, according to sources at facebook. maybe trick or treating is on the rise!
i remember as a kid we had a great deal of freedom on halloween night. often a parent or older kids would peruse the neighborhood and always someone had to stay home to hand out candy. as i looked out in my neighborhood many porch lights were out. when i was a kid mostly all the porch lights would be on and just a few houses would be dark. of course, years ago we all got the full sized candy bars. i did that one year, when i had to leave for work. i could only hand out candy for like an hour or so. those kids faces were classic when they saw that regular sized candy bar slip into thier buckets and pillow cases. we always had pillow cases.
at some point the scares began with kids getting hurt or candy being infused with glass or metal shards. life just changed and trick or treating changed with it. good to see more kids able to get out and do halloween right. it just pleases me to see families walking together around neighborhoods going door to door.
while the kids came and went i watched some classics. first was "beatlejuice" and second was "poltergiest". both classics at this point.
took the dogs out to n. bivouac trails the past two days between shifts. yesterday we ran into these bear tracks in the snow. so apparently, they have not denned up yet, though it is getting chilly out there.
i took off on a side trail and ran into the tracks again. this trail is great in winter. couldn't quite get through yet for all the tall grasses. soon enough. water is freezing up everywhere and won't unfreeze til may.
above close up of back paw and below close up of front paw.
the prints were so clear in the snow. we've just gotten a light dusting such as this on my end of town. they thought maybe tonight, we'll see. it's rather cold out there. i went to pull the tops off the pumpkins outside to light the candles, but they are frozen. i had to lite them from the decorated bits.
work was not bad. first night the one patient was a bit cookoo from weeks of treatments. his head had cleared a great deal by the third night i had him, though at that point he was awake enough to attempt to hit on me half the night. guess i should just be flattered that some still find me attractive. had to spend the last hours of my shift being nice, but dodging all the attempts to hit on me. my second night was kept busy with a woman with a very high blood pressure and very low heart rate. took me some time to get the resident to give me a drip...she wanted to put a patch on to bring down the pressure....in the icu we generally use drips and iv pushes for that. finally, one of the intensivists was explaining stuff about the ventilator....so i interrupted and asked the doctor if there was any adjustments he could make on the ventilator to get the blood pressure down. he then noticed the blood pressures in the 230/100 range....i got my drip!! sometimes in nursing you just have to find your own unique way to get what you need for your patients.
it's so nice to be able to get outside in between shifts. just a great way to unwind and you just never know what you'll run into out there. i know lots of folks who go for 10-14 mile hikes occasionally, but i'm pretty amazed what i run across just getting out somewhere every day.
took the calendar i made to work to show around. it got many positive reviews, so that is always fun. the mugs arrived yesterday as well. those came out well too. should be a nice addition to christmas for friends and family i hope.
i was also treated to run into this big bull moose the other day in the bog. see..daily walks can bring many wondrous sights. this may be the same bull i saw in my neighborhood several weeks back.
he's got quite the impressive rack. couldn't get too close as i had my girl rio and she was starting to catch a scent. fun to see him, watch him and get a few pictures anyway.
tomorrow is a "competency" fair for work. i have to miss my monday walk...boo hoo. perhaps i can force myself to awaken early and get out there. was thinking of trying to do something fun for those who do show up. i think lena plans on going and hopefully tanya will as well. we'll see how motivated i can get in the morning. will have to keep an eye out for that bear as well i guess.
yesterday out on the trail i ran into my friend gillians dogs with a pet sitter i've used in the past. gills two doodles have been quite a handfull for the pet sitter. she is a professional sitter. very nice, very good, but also a bit strange. she had my girls for a week once and she wrote like 10 pages of notes to let me know every time she came over, what she did. just a bit odd. she was quite shocked to see rio out and about walking. i guess she had in her head that rio was an invalid. she did have the brace then, but i always walked her. she was happy to see rio so active. we ended up walking together back down the tank trail. she said those bear tracks had actually been out there all week. frozen in the ground.
here blossom waits by the door. the evening was confusing for her...
tanya's husband and daughter stopped by for thier trick or treat. blossom was very excited to see them. love that the kids all sport big coats over thier costumes. poor maddie was quite chilly...the kids all hit a few houses and then run back to the cars that are kept running and heated up.
after each kid left, blossom stood at the door and watched them. she didn't seem to get why they all left so quickly and didn't stay to play with her.
all in all a sucessful halloween night. a good time was had by all. hopefully, nothing bad happened to mar the holiday. the above picture showed blossoms headress well. she is just so dang cute...!
rio didn't seem to notice her get up...she is so sweet. the flower totally worked for her.
have gotten in a few episodes of "all creatures great and small". the books and show took a break while the vets were off to war and when the series continues the actress who plays helen has changed and helen and james have 2 kids. it was a bit strange at first, but i think i like this second helen more. she's playing the role more as i would expect a farm girl of that day to behave.
this picture gives you a better look at the grapes...! blossom waits to go outside and lay on the deck, all decked out of course. she is usually pretty intolerant to any sort of costume, but from the moment i put this one on she was all whatever. maybe that is the maturity of now being 5!
good night and happy halloween...hope everyone had as much fun as i did!!

1 comment:

  1. Hey there. I just stumbled upon your blog. We live in Virginia in the Blue Ridge foothills between DC and the Shenandoah valley. Halloween is a big deal here. It's a 140 house neighborhood. We had hundreds of trick or treaters! Halloween gets bigger and better here each year. Been living in this neighborhood since 1989 and have never been disappointed!

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