bought some silly eyewear a few weeks back when i realized that our monday walk was falling on halloween. turned out to be a fun and simple way to seize the day as it were!! no matter how old one becomes one never wants to lose the ability to just be silly from time to time. i probably have more than my share of silly but there are so many serious people out there that there is no doubt extra silly to be had. blossom was only tolerant of this photo session for a brief time. cute mug though!! 
the silly eyewear that was leftover from todays walk went into the candy bowl. i live in a neighborhoods of zero lot line homes. these are attached homes...like a duplex but they are purchased seperately. i was adamantly against buying into a zll when i was house shopping. they are common here because despite the fact that alaska has vast land, much of it is federal/state or native owned. anchorage has some limits to building space. eventually i came to see that i would have all i needed in this home, they are great starter homes so that means loads of younger families around me and thus loads of trick or treaters. a tight community also means it's a shorter hop from porch to porch. considering all the snow falling down on the trick or treaters less time in the cold is always good. rio got up from the couch to greet kids with blossom but after so many kids and doorbells, she started to choose to just stay on the couch.
the costumes are often tough to see as the kids must bundle up to go out there. they also must be watchful of moose who share the streets with the trick or treaters. the kids loved the candy i handed out, but those leftover glasses were the biggest hit. a few saw them in my candy bowl and requested them special. perhaps next year i will have to re-think my candy only past and add some cool trinkets. one mom from down the street stopped to take pictures of her kids with their new eyewear...they were so excited! she rang my bell again to show me the pics. it's a fun way to meet the neighbors. as you can see i put a baby gate up on my front door. this allows the dogs to be the ones that greet the trick or treaters. mostly the kids love this. only one dad seemed anxious about the dog thing. 
blossom was in a new costume this year. i tried on an older jester costume i had for her but i think it must have been from her baby days as it was a wee bit too small for her. she has a cute grape costume from last year, but should a dog really wear the same thing year to year? of course, rio is wearing the same thing from last year. hard to find costumes made for dogs in her size category. this outfit on blossom was marked as XXL. she's only 80 pounds. luckily dogs are not aware of thier size and are not bothered one bit about going up or down. she was quite tolerant of her halloween digs. as long as it's not on her head she seems to be chill about it.
lit the pumpkins and waited for the kids. was actually going to try and sneak in a shower, but the kids started up pretty early and i finally just turned off the lights at 8:45. once the older kids start coming it's time to close up shop. i've never had any issues with older kids, but i figure from 5:30 to 8:30 is enough. the dogs really were quite exhausted from all the greetings. i suppose that could be stressful for a watchdog. i think they had fun though. i could tell blossom always just seems baffled by it all! as you can see snow fell over the weekend. the ground was frozen when i walked on saturday in the bog. once the ground freezes any snowfall is going to stay. we will be a winter wonderland through late april, early may now. lots of slickery roads and lots of cars sliding about. nothing too major as far as accidents luckily.
got a call from a co-worker this evening. apparently my patient last night had a bit of a lice issue. i didn't feel at all itchy til i heard this news. now to treat or not to treat, that is the question. i'm sure i've been exposed many times and never gotten it, but it's just such an icky thought. great to hang at home and enjoy the fire and kids. no point putting a movie in as the doorbell never seemed to stop.
blossom popped in and out. all the dogs at the dog walk today were revved up...they all just love snow!
gotta say i love amy's new hat...it's perfect for her. she brought her new puppy, lyca rose, out on the monday walk. everyone was totally excited to meet the new puppy...oh we all enjoyed her friend sri as well, but hey, people will always be upstaged by an adorable puppy!
we stopped at the creek on the way back to the cars for our eyewear halloween photo extravaganza! lots of fun. blossom took another turn with the glasses.
lyca looks so tiny at boddhi's feet. she was a wee bit frightened in the parking lot but eventually she was running with all the big dogs feeling pretty happy with herself i think!
family picture with lyca and ekko...loved it. i didn't take the picture, pj did, she had my camera to take the picture below. it's one of my favorite of the day though. so cute!!
blossom had no interest in taking a family portrait and rio was a bit less than cooperative as well. it was still a cute picture. i was going to figure out some sort of costume for myself but in the end the glasses were simple and effective.
a few group shots that came out not too badly. pj, lena, tanya, amy, sri and me and the various dogs that showed up...kiska, saffrom, manny,boddhi, ekko and lyca...where are my dogs? blossom is behind the camera, literally and rio is wandering. probably not good for a blind dog. oh well. all was okay in the end.
this fun picture of lena and tanya was another favorite. fun and relaxing walk after working 4 nights. wrestling alcoholics in full blown withdrawl is not an easy task. they just don't show that stuff on those happy hospital shows. guy was strong like bull. took loads of drugs to manage him. with the bad withdrawls you end up intubating, which we did. these patients will stop breathing before they stop hallucinating and thrashing about. looks horrible. i have no desire to ever put myself in a situation where i would marry or date someone who has issues with alcohol. it's a very ugly thing. oddly, these people always seem to have partners. i told them, if this guy was my fiance i'd bring the engagement ring in, put it on the bedside table and walk away. of course my male co-workers thought that was harsh and laughed.
the little creek has overflowed. the bridge is a bit flooded. ice dams form in waterways, big and small and when those break the water flows rapidly over and floods whatever is below. blossom was thrilled. she wore her little jester collar, which was simple and cute!
we have interns in the units. so often now it seems they are planning thier next step. the icu is just a place to get the required icu experience before moving on to greener pastures. i realize this happens frequently, but i also feel that often the young nurses feel obligated and pressured to do this. almost felt like i wanted to give one permission to just enjoy being an icu nurse. he really likes it, but is trying to figure out what he should do that will meet his criteria...which by the way sounded very much like being an icu nurse. if you aren't upwardly mobile in our society you are apparently a loser. so i'm a loser i guess. families do seem to look relieved when they ask how long i've been a nurse and i'm able to give them a fairly respectable resume. i remember seeing the light in nursing school. some of my fellow classmates were so not going to be icu quality...but i realized that most nurses don't actually work in icu's. there are so many nursing needs and those needs can be filled by a wide range of people with various skill/intellect levels. i'm in no way saying that nurses that aren't in the icu are less skilled or intellectual, just that not every person that graduates from nursing school is going to be good at all area's of nursing. there are tons of options available which is why nursing is a good career. 
lyca walked almost the entire way unaided. amy had prepared to carry a tired pup, but she wanted out and wanted to walk again rather shortly after being picked up.
boddhi spent the walk on his leash. he can be a bit of a brute if an unfamiliar dog is at all alpha. mostly, he just seems protective of his pack. we are introducing a new pack member to him here. 
hoping i haven't gotten lice. that would be so disgusting. did get ring worm from a feline patient once. that was gross enough.
blossom in a rare position of power. she still would never grab that tennis ball from this tiny pup and instead waited for the pup to walk away. lyca is not aware what a passive dog ms blossom is yet.
lots of puppy pictures...puppies are cute though, who could resist!
lyca did the same thing that manny did on his first monday walk...took refuge under the car! 
my girl blossom is always a happy dog, gotta love her!!
the pumpkin contest at providence happened today. this year i was working all weekend so was not involved in the prep. the peds units are pretty competitive with these things and it looked like they took a great deal of time prepping for this challenge. i do hope they are rewarded for thier efforts. it was quite impressive.
this was one from the lab. most of the other departments focused on thier one pumpkin...that isn't the case with peds. they start talking pumpkin late summer. 
the silly eyewear that was leftover from todays walk went into the candy bowl. i live in a neighborhoods of zero lot line homes. these are attached homes...like a duplex but they are purchased seperately. i was adamantly against buying into a zll when i was house shopping. they are common here because despite the fact that alaska has vast land, much of it is federal/state or native owned. anchorage has some limits to building space. eventually i came to see that i would have all i needed in this home, they are great starter homes so that means loads of younger families around me and thus loads of trick or treaters. a tight community also means it's a shorter hop from porch to porch. considering all the snow falling down on the trick or treaters less time in the cold is always good. rio got up from the couch to greet kids with blossom but after so many kids and doorbells, she started to choose to just stay on the couch.
the costumes are often tough to see as the kids must bundle up to go out there. they also must be watchful of moose who share the streets with the trick or treaters. the kids loved the candy i handed out, but those leftover glasses were the biggest hit. a few saw them in my candy bowl and requested them special. perhaps next year i will have to re-think my candy only past and add some cool trinkets. one mom from down the street stopped to take pictures of her kids with their new eyewear...they were so excited! she rang my bell again to show me the pics. it's a fun way to meet the neighbors. as you can see i put a baby gate up on my front door. this allows the dogs to be the ones that greet the trick or treaters. mostly the kids love this. only one dad seemed anxious about the dog thing. 
blossom was in a new costume this year. i tried on an older jester costume i had for her but i think it must have been from her baby days as it was a wee bit too small for her. she has a cute grape costume from last year, but should a dog really wear the same thing year to year? of course, rio is wearing the same thing from last year. hard to find costumes made for dogs in her size category. this outfit on blossom was marked as XXL. she's only 80 pounds. luckily dogs are not aware of thier size and are not bothered one bit about going up or down. she was quite tolerant of her halloween digs. as long as it's not on her head she seems to be chill about it.
lit the pumpkins and waited for the kids. was actually going to try and sneak in a shower, but the kids started up pretty early and i finally just turned off the lights at 8:45. once the older kids start coming it's time to close up shop. i've never had any issues with older kids, but i figure from 5:30 to 8:30 is enough. the dogs really were quite exhausted from all the greetings. i suppose that could be stressful for a watchdog. i think they had fun though. i could tell blossom always just seems baffled by it all! as you can see snow fell over the weekend. the ground was frozen when i walked on saturday in the bog. once the ground freezes any snowfall is going to stay. we will be a winter wonderland through late april, early may now. lots of slickery roads and lots of cars sliding about. nothing too major as far as accidents luckily.
got a call from a co-worker this evening. apparently my patient last night had a bit of a lice issue. i didn't feel at all itchy til i heard this news. now to treat or not to treat, that is the question. i'm sure i've been exposed many times and never gotten it, but it's just such an icky thought. great to hang at home and enjoy the fire and kids. no point putting a movie in as the doorbell never seemed to stop.
blossom popped in and out. all the dogs at the dog walk today were revved up...they all just love snow!
gotta say i love amy's new hat...it's perfect for her. she brought her new puppy, lyca rose, out on the monday walk. everyone was totally excited to meet the new puppy...oh we all enjoyed her friend sri as well, but hey, people will always be upstaged by an adorable puppy!
we stopped at the creek on the way back to the cars for our eyewear halloween photo extravaganza! lots of fun. blossom took another turn with the glasses.
lyca looks so tiny at boddhi's feet. she was a wee bit frightened in the parking lot but eventually she was running with all the big dogs feeling pretty happy with herself i think!
family picture with lyca and ekko...loved it. i didn't take the picture, pj did, she had my camera to take the picture below. it's one of my favorite of the day though. so cute!!
blossom had no interest in taking a family portrait and rio was a bit less than cooperative as well. it was still a cute picture. i was going to figure out some sort of costume for myself but in the end the glasses were simple and effective.
a few group shots that came out not too badly. pj, lena, tanya, amy, sri and me and the various dogs that showed up...kiska, saffrom, manny,boddhi, ekko and lyca...where are my dogs? blossom is behind the camera, literally and rio is wandering. probably not good for a blind dog. oh well. all was okay in the end.
this fun picture of lena and tanya was another favorite. fun and relaxing walk after working 4 nights. wrestling alcoholics in full blown withdrawl is not an easy task. they just don't show that stuff on those happy hospital shows. guy was strong like bull. took loads of drugs to manage him. with the bad withdrawls you end up intubating, which we did. these patients will stop breathing before they stop hallucinating and thrashing about. looks horrible. i have no desire to ever put myself in a situation where i would marry or date someone who has issues with alcohol. it's a very ugly thing. oddly, these people always seem to have partners. i told them, if this guy was my fiance i'd bring the engagement ring in, put it on the bedside table and walk away. of course my male co-workers thought that was harsh and laughed.
the little creek has overflowed. the bridge is a bit flooded. ice dams form in waterways, big and small and when those break the water flows rapidly over and floods whatever is below. blossom was thrilled. she wore her little jester collar, which was simple and cute!
we have interns in the units. so often now it seems they are planning thier next step. the icu is just a place to get the required icu experience before moving on to greener pastures. i realize this happens frequently, but i also feel that often the young nurses feel obligated and pressured to do this. almost felt like i wanted to give one permission to just enjoy being an icu nurse. he really likes it, but is trying to figure out what he should do that will meet his criteria...which by the way sounded very much like being an icu nurse. if you aren't upwardly mobile in our society you are apparently a loser. so i'm a loser i guess. families do seem to look relieved when they ask how long i've been a nurse and i'm able to give them a fairly respectable resume. i remember seeing the light in nursing school. some of my fellow classmates were so not going to be icu quality...but i realized that most nurses don't actually work in icu's. there are so many nursing needs and those needs can be filled by a wide range of people with various skill/intellect levels. i'm in no way saying that nurses that aren't in the icu are less skilled or intellectual, just that not every person that graduates from nursing school is going to be good at all area's of nursing. there are tons of options available which is why nursing is a good career. 
lyca walked almost the entire way unaided. amy had prepared to carry a tired pup, but she wanted out and wanted to walk again rather shortly after being picked up.
boddhi spent the walk on his leash. he can be a bit of a brute if an unfamiliar dog is at all alpha. mostly, he just seems protective of his pack. we are introducing a new pack member to him here. 
hoping i haven't gotten lice. that would be so disgusting. did get ring worm from a feline patient once. that was gross enough.
blossom in a rare position of power. she still would never grab that tennis ball from this tiny pup and instead waited for the pup to walk away. lyca is not aware what a passive dog ms blossom is yet.
lots of puppy pictures...puppies are cute though, who could resist!
lyca did the same thing that manny did on his first monday walk...took refuge under the car! 
my girl blossom is always a happy dog, gotta love her!!
the pumpkin contest at providence happened today. this year i was working all weekend so was not involved in the prep. the peds units are pretty competitive with these things and it looked like they took a great deal of time prepping for this challenge. i do hope they are rewarded for thier efforts. it was quite impressive.
this was one from the lab. most of the other departments focused on thier one pumpkin...that isn't the case with peds. they start talking pumpkin late summer. 
they had an angry birds theme. i must admit that i do not have an angry bird app so in that way it was a bit lost on me, but obviously i am aware of angry birds. it was quite impressive. i was encouraged to head down and support the team...i did. easy to support a team that is as motivated and engineering as this.
below is the full table display. it's alot to take in. there were still a few empty tables, so i'm not sure what those pumpkins looked like. not sure who won yet either. 
this was the entry from the other department i work in, the adult icu. nicely done chest view. 
the pharmacy pumpkin was original as well.
one of our docs is always real fun. she was in the spirit of the day! in peds..one can generally get away with having a bit of fun and cheering everyone up!!
again, i don't think i wore anything halloween ish last night. oh well. the kid i had would not have been the least bit impressed.
the before shot of the frost...and frozen...before the snow. the potential tiny riders and i will now turn in for the night. ick!
below is the full table display. it's alot to take in. there were still a few empty tables, so i'm not sure what those pumpkins looked like. not sure who won yet either. 
this was the entry from the other department i work in, the adult icu. nicely done chest view. 
the pharmacy pumpkin was original as well.
one of our docs is always real fun. she was in the spirit of the day! in peds..one can generally get away with having a bit of fun and cheering everyone up!!
again, i don't think i wore anything halloween ish last night. oh well. the kid i had would not have been the least bit impressed.
the before shot of the frost...and frozen...before the snow. the potential tiny riders and i will now turn in for the night. ick!
Very clever pumpkins!
ReplyDelete