purging papers is always fun!

 gave my shredder a work out tonight.  those little piles of papers start to weigh down on you sometimes.  Jan always seems a good time to make a run at the various piles that collect in the house. i guess i do my spring cleaning early.  good to go through papers in preparation for taxes...it's about that time of year

 these are just from bog walks this stretch of work.  had to push past the lazy and the need to skip the walk..i have been walking almost daily for over 15 years. now is not the time to stop.  Blossom was happy to inspire. life is so much better when you just can take an hour or two a day and walk outside! even better if i can find some twigs that i can write WALRUS ROCK with.

 so two days of bog walks.  no moose sightings.  strange.  i think they are taking advantage the lack of snow and enjoying foraging in relative peace.  with our normal snow pack the moose tend to congregate in the Anchorage bowl and make due with the plants that we have here...more humans and traffic to dodge.  people are known to complain about the inconvenience of having moose in town, but can you imagine the complaints the moose would have about the humans!!

 Humans have far more annoying habits than moose do...you can be sure of that!!

 was in a black and white mood the first day.  always a nice change.

 three nights work down.  the first two nights i was in the adult icu.  my first night my patients were pretty easy and both would be going home the next day...my second night was busier but those two patients will no doubt not be going home...when you get admitted to the icu you either get better or you die.  those are the options.

 made a trip to the MRI one night.  nurses don't generally enjoy road trips with patients.  that is because most roadtrips (that is what we call taking patients down for cat scans or MRI's), well road trips are work.  most of the time it takes a great deal of time to disconnect a patient from all the various things they are attached to for said road trip.  when you return all the various lines and tubings are all in  a twisted mess and now upon return you have to sort it all out...the spaghetti (another nurse term for the mess that occurs when the many lines required to monitor and maintain life get twisted in a ball).  spaghetti happens even when patients are just laying there for days in the bed...how?  nobody knows but nurses are forever trying to keep it all straight and neat.

 i was starting to get excited about these kids putting big gaping holes in their earlobes...figure we could thread the lines right through that hole.  MRI is an added bonus as no metal is allowed.  not on the patient or the equipment or the staff.  such a bother.

 day two i wrote walrus in moose poop..still no moose spotted.

 apparently they flushed a patients medical marijuana stash down the toilet.  the law passed that will make it legal in Alaska.  my suggestion was that they put a vending machine in the waiting area with marijuana treats...my thinking is that this would make family members so much easier to deal with.  my families were no problem this week but some days...well it can be nuts.

 do we hasten death in the icu...the honest truth is yes.  on the flip side of that, the only reason the person is alive is because of medicine.  when we compassionately extubate someone we often will load them up with narcotics right before we do that.  always funny to me how against euthanasia people are...if they only knew!

 my last night was in the peds icu.  that place has been hopping for weeks.  i will no doubt be spending a few more nights there in the next few weeks.

 today i slept great.  woke close to 2pm.  thankfully the sun is lingering a bit later now so i was able to get to the dog park at University Lake with the girls.  no pictures taken there today. though there isn't as much poop out there as one may expect..the urine is quite prominent.  could really need a new thick layer of snow to coat it all and make everything look pretty again.

 ended up walking and talking with a person..that is how dog parks work.  i have met many nice folks out there.  you all have dogs in common i guess.

 Blossom is investigating an area that looks like a moose had bedded down recently.

 lots of smexting for the girls these past few days..they always smext more at the well used local parks.

 in case you missed my definition of smexting...it's not a real word but i think it will be!! dog communication.  smelling and micturating.

 a bit of the sunset as i walked through the bog yesterday.  came home and took a 20 minute nap before work.  often all i need is 20 minutes.

 knee report.  for sure a bit swollen after 3 nights of work.  will be icing it as i turn in tonight.

 was hoping to get to the pool tonight, but was late getting to dog park which put me late getting to CostCo.  so cat litter, laundry and piles...at least i didn't totally waste the evening.

 the walrus are always on my mind.  still hopeful....seems like every article in the papers talks about budget issues.

 guess i better get my knee iced.  enjoy your day!

grateful for: A.  silliness, where would we be without it B.  helpful co-workers C.  being a nurse, i don't say it enough but i have really grown to enjoy it most days...not an easy job at all though.