Tuesday, September 4, 2012

autumn rain means sleeping days

but first a few from the weekends trek to denali highway and the like. who knows where or if i'll head off somewhere my next stretch off. probably between homer or valdez or just a day in hatchers pass. this was a shot from a little walk out at tangle lakes campground. the fireweed is topping off. we all watch the fireweed, it's a sure sign of summers end and autumns begining.
just finished my week up of work. it's a holiday today so last night i made overtime. always nice. had a touch of a headache on saturday and the charge kindly sent me home at 1 am. headaches are a bother, mostly i can just work through them and it was starting to get better, but i was happy to take the split. my patients weren't bad. the old guy had gotten very confused and agitated the night before. not sure why they take people over 80 years old to heart surgery...it's really tough on them. by my third night with him he was coming back around again. i asked if he knew where he was, he said, "i'm in hell". true enough, but in fact he really did know he was at the hospital. the first night he'd gotten a hold of his 4 chest tubes, stripped them up nicely, but thankfully didn't pull them out. lots drained out and his numbers improved. sometimes you just get lucky.
my last night i was up in the peds icu. nice assignment and i heard the codes being called downstairs. the one patient had been coding off and on for at least 24 hours, he's young and he's no longer with us. my heart goes out to the family. it's gotta be so tough having to make those decisions. i do miss the days when the medical team was allowed to stop the madness. now icu's are torture chambers so that families know all has been done. it's what the people seem to want in our world, but i suspect in that moment they would have preferred the staff would have just ended their misery and not made them be the one to do it.
the fall colours were so fabulous on either ends of the denali highway. the middle part was a bit behind, probably changing now. anchorage is heading down the rabbit hole to fall as well. each time i hit the trails the changes are dramatic.
got lucky and hit the breaks in the rain for my walks during my stretch. i do always sleep better when it is wet and windy. for sure feels like fall out there. the temperature change i can feel in the bones as they say.
figured out i am probably one of the most senior if not the most senior nurse on the night shift in the adult unit. they are going to self scheduling. i have a seperate contract for my schedule, but i also have most seniority...the few perks of aging, right? just lots of the newer nurses on nights. i'm always surprised at how confident some of them seem despite the experience. many people just use the intensive cares as a stepping stone to other careers in nursing. it's often required or recommended. just a different attitude though in those people.
was telling a few of the peds folks today that it is a different personality that goes into peds than that goes into the adult icu. those pediatric nurses are just super nice people who went into nursing because they really wanted to help people. overall anyway. adult icu nurses tend to be more technically driven and more of the adrenaline junkies. i know i have become a much more kind and patient nurse having worked in the peds with these amazing people. their nice has rubbed off on me a bit.
measured my hair last night at work. from my scalp to the ends is 23 inches. i've been debating chopping and donating and doing a short do for a bit, but then again...i really do enjoy the long hair. i know it would grow back. my hair, and nails as well, grow at a pretty rapid rate. still it's hard to do the chopper and trying to decide what kind of style would work for me. you just need 10 inches to donate so i should have enough hair.
if i don't chop it i need to start changing up how i style it so today i bought some hair clips and stuff. we shall see.
took the dogs to university lake today. fun, ran into a few girls i paddled with several years back. we almost passed by each other but i stopped and it just clicked who they were. hopefully, we'll meet up again via facebook. we do know a lot of the same people and they were really nice couple. great to chat with them for a few.
got lucky and made it home before the rain/hail started coming down. for like 10 minutes in came down incredibly hard. it was impressive. i posted a video to facebook. no idea if it does it justice. i remember getting those sort of rains in south dakota from time to time. the streets just fill up and become mini rivers. can't recall that happening here before though. the hail was pretty good sized and had quite the bounce. happy i wasn't out there for that mess. great to watch from inside though. i think it only happened at this end of town.
this next few are on the richardson highway headed back down towards paxson.
generally, i try to just breeze past the many angry political posts that show up on facebook. i try to just stay out of the fray. i really don't think it serves any purpose. frankly, some of the people that are filled with such wrath over the politics are just miserable in their own lives and too afraid to make the changes that could bring them happiness. the frightening thing about that though is that this is how those horrible nationwide murder sprees happen. the anger just builds until one side just feels justified in completely taking out those with opposing views or those they believe are the cause of all the misery...which really is caused by themselves.
i'm convinced we are surrounded by people who would love to commit murder if only someone would assure them it is justified and they will not be held accountable. it's happened over and over in our world. often called ethnic cleansings. it all starts with people who feel angry and powerless and just need someone else to blame.
the alaska pipeline. it follows you along the richardson highway.
i do laugh though as many of the angry posters are staunchly religious. seeing some of the posts today i had to wonder how the arguments would alter if these people were trying to argue their points with god himself or with jesus. would they be so quick to want to leave the poor to suffer or want to protect the rich. people holding signs up in protest and anger...how would they react if jesus came walking by? today's arguments were about taxes and the government taxing the haves to give to the have nots. well that is the perception anyway. one guy responded that god is all about freedom. apparently he hasn't read the old testament. many religions have tons of rules to live by. that doesn't seem to be a god who is all about freedom to me.
having read the words of the bible, especially those of the new testament i'd have to say jesus wasn't one to support people being exceedingly wealthy, especially if they were unwilling to share that wealth. i could see him liking a guy like bill gates who has obtained wealth but also works very hard to give and help others less fortunate. i just find some of the views of the religious right contradictory to what i believe were the views of jesus. would love to hear jesus's response to some of the arguments i hear.
i understand that people don't want the government to dictate whom and how they share their wealth, but i also see that obviously those who talk the talk don't walk the walk or we would have no poor. just like those who are for saving every life don't seem to step up to the plate and make sure that those lives are taken care of after they are saved. idealism just doesn't get the job done. the problems continue to exist. maybe some of these churches should spend more money on those in need and less on buildings and corporations. my personal view is that the big organized religions are little more than tax shelters for large corporations hiding behind crosses.
put a fire in the fireplace this evening. you blink in this state and another season is upon you.
these are back at university lake. this one tree is ahead of the game. looks awful pretty.
a pair of white ducks has shown up at the lake. i suspect they are domestics dumped off. i sent a note to fish and game today. don't think these guys will fare well over the winter and not sure what should be done about it. hopefully, they can get re-homed. they are awful cute!
the other ducks seem to really like them.
blossom checks them all out.
a few native ducks. many of the ducks will stick around all winter.
the white ducks stick out though.
i had fun taking pictures of them. couldn't locate them today and saw some bear scat, worried they'd been eaten. they could end up on someones plate i guess.
gonna watch "silkwood" tonight. it's an old meryl streep flick. 1983. not sure i ever watched it.
put my hair up a bit different today. will have to do some internet searches and change up the hairdo a bit. experiment.
i'm hoping i can get in the pool tomorrow. could be chilly if they just filled it back up. the fill it with seemingly ice cold water.
blossom got a nice swim in today. she loves to swim but isn't so thrilled with the rain. not keen on hoses either. she really could use a bath though. get a layer of stink off.
the beavers have just about got this tree taken out.
fall leaves
the bridge at university lake. slept great today so didn't make it to the lake til after 4pm i think. ran into amy again. we've been bumping into each other there alot this week. too bad we haven't coordinated that better. she has got a big baby bump at this point.
liked the roots.
fall leaves collect on the sides of the lake.
guess i'll curl up with my little video player and watch my movie. thanks for stopping by.

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