getting the day started....

 

after working night shift for several days it's often difficult to flip back to days. up til after 3 am last night.  slept a lot yesterday...needed it i guess.  some days it's like that. 

i was also sucked into another good book.  love getting on that run of books that suck you in. last nights book was "the girls with no names", by Serena Burdick.  the author had learned of these Christian run centers for women/girls who needed reforming.  supposedly hookers but any girl could be placed there if their family or society deemed them a problem.  many of these places made loads of cash working these mostly young women to the bone doing laundry or other menial labors. 

so she wrote a novel that incorporated this into the story. 

many died in these religious institutions for destitute women.  she wrote in the post novel that there were at least 25 of these in the United States. girls of all ages were placed here if deemed immoral.  what immoral was pretty subjective.  the one she based it on was called the "house of mercy". it was in New York. the time was the early 1900's. 

the book i read right before that was "broken little things" by Nicole Baart. a little girl is caught up in the middle of scandal. part mystery, part sad tale of the choices people make. 

we are all broken in some way.  it's easy to take personally the broken behaviour of others.  often you are just the recipient of their brokenness. 

when you are hurt by others it's good to try and not take it personally, it's usually their crap that has just been washed onto you.  we all live these secret lives.  we don't want anyone to know our truths so we hold things in and those things tend to come out no matter how hard people try to keep them.  they come out usually in events or moments that seemingly have zero relationship to the hurt inside of us. 

the bag has finally been put up.  no more trips planned at the moment.  the darkness is falling and it's time to cabin up and ride out the winter.

i'll head out for a walk with the pups soon.  with my stretch of work i had figured i'd avoid walking the dogs and see if not moving helped Ivy....seems to me at this moment that she does better moving so we will head out for a walk in a bit here. i have her knee support in my pack if she seems to need it. 

want to delay any big dog surgery expenditure until after this election and results. things just seem so crazy and there are radicals on the right who are actually prepping for civil war.  i don't think they will successfully start that civil war but they call themselves militias...they are really nothing more than domestic terrorists and i wish we would just call them that and begin to shame them for their behaviour.  sadly shame is a lost  emotion these days.  shame keeps people in check.  there doesn't seem to be any half way about it.  either people have so much shame they are stunted in any and all behaviour or they have zero shame at all. 

i finished my week of work. this week i worked ICU, ER and then RCU.  that is Renal Care. i work there a few times a year it seems. that place tends to be busy for the first few hours and then settles in a bit.  nobody pees, many are missing legs and everyone has a lot of evening medications and blood sugar checks.  renal patients can tolerate low blood pressures...their bodies have adapted to wild variations in electrolytes, blood pressures....

ER always has it's moments of Covid exposure.  the Med-Surg unit on 4th seems to be getting the bulk of the Covid cases.....they are often the forgotten heroes out there i think.  the ICU and ER get the bulk of attention for their work with these patients but 4th floor has a large population, especially as many are getting less ill with this but still ill enough to be hospitalized.  their work helps keep the ICU caseload lower.  so kuddo's to the nurses on the 4th floor, included the many from float pool that spend many shifts up there. 

we've only had 1-2 vents this week at any given time that are covid...a good sign.  the Alaska death toll is 70+ at the moment.  

the valley with its many covid deniers are starting to have bumps in their numbers. not sure if they will change their tune and start masking up.  so many are so far gone on the covid stuff.  trump has proclaimed victory...saying repeatedly it's over, behind us. he's waved the white flag which is funny as earlier in the pandemic he was all "we are at war, i'm a war time President"...instead of going to battle though he cowered in the corner hoping the enemy would just forget we existed. 

such a coward really. he whines that the media is mean to him and his followers try to defend and protect him.....shouldn't a President of the worlds most powerful nation have a bit more of a spine? why do his followers feel the need to protect him like he is a child? it actually makes him appear weaker, as he is incapable of fighting his own battles.  he needs to be coddled and protected.  

while it is great that this pandemic hasn't really impacted children, the fact that it doesn't impact children makes it more difficult to fight.  in the days of polio the entire nation was on board in the fight and the prevention of spread.  nobody likes to see children die or become disabled but apparently, watching elderly and adults with pre-existing conditions is much easier for many in our society to tolerate.  

the attitude is that they are expendable or that they deserve to get sick and/or die. such compassion. 

so many just have to look the other way at so much to continue to support this pos.  it's a choice....they have made a choice.  many have once again marked the circle next to his name.  they are accountable for that choice.  even more so after the last 4 years.  there are 545 children who were ripped from their parents arms that may never see their parents again because this administration decided this was a good idea...that it would deter others from trying to seek asylum in our nation.  that alone should cause shame in any who support him, but instead they continue to make excuses and blame others.  

i wonder if one day they will wake up and start to see the truth of what has been going on in this administration that they have been kept from knowing because of the places they choose to get their information from. will they be shocked or will they just continue to believe it's all a smear campaign.  

i think much of that depends on the results of this election and what trump does after.  he hates to lose or be seen as losing.  will he just disappear if he loses, take off some place? will he carry on like he actually won and that there was fraud? will he continue to tweet and hold rallies for months/years to come? will he defect to another country? he doesn't seem capable of stepping down with grace, he has no grace.  he has no class. 

it has been fun to see Obama out on the campaign trail. he's finally speaking out.  for these past years he has been pretty much silent.  now he's like a comedian, enjoying getting the jabs in on trump.  as he lives in trumps head this is a thing of beauty.  trump has hated him for years....jealousy. so obvious and so pathetic.  so easy to manipulate. 

ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate...hate is easy to manipulate.  that is where we are and where we have been for years.  not sure how we move forward.  how did Germany move forward after Hitler...?  how do you deprogram such a large chunk of the population? 

better get a few things accomplished today.  my mailbox has been stuck. need to pick up some lock stuff and see if that helps.  my key isn't working.  i do want my mail!!

my cards and calendars have already arrived.  i think i could sell a few calendars so i may order another batch just for sale. not that i'll make any money as they cost pretty much what i'm selling them for, but still fun. 

the leaves are all gone, this is the last of the iphone shots from September.  it's time for ice and snow. 

Covid Cat has been inside more and more.  his collar was off yesterday i was outside searching for it but found it in the office. 

happy to have him inside more.  

we all are.  he's for sure made his mark in the house. i just realized it's Halloween today!! eek.  i better get moving.  

not sure if there will be any trick or treaters but i do want to get ready for distance candy delivery.  figure i'll put up a ramp using one of the rain gutters i put up for the cat.  i can send a candy bar down that into the waiting open bag for candy.  

all i was thinking this morning was i had to pay bills..now i'm all it's Halloween.  

now i must get cracking. 

did have a bit of an exposure in ER the other day.  thankfully i was wearing the mask and shield. i was working as hold nurse all night. after midnight they called in another resource nurse to do holds with me. 

as it turns out they gave her report on a patient that wasn't a hold patient yet but was still an ER patient.  not ok really. i didn't find that out til later.  the charge was all, we may have to switch one of your patients and have you take the ER one.  i was annoyed though and just said no, take her up front.  then, as it turns out, she was covid +. 

i was annoyed as well because she'd had a covid isolation sign on her door and the ER nurse had needed me to check blood. i specifically asked about the sign and she said, "no, she's not really a risk" the Dr has also said she wasn't a risk as he didn't want her CT to be delayed.  so she was taken off the precautions to get the CT. 

so no...i made them transfer her up.  they can't give Float nurses not trained to ER their patients, even if they think they will be admitted because float nurses take specific acuity patients.  that is determined after a patient is to be admitted.

had to take a hit of the inhaler.  hate that feeling after, all jittery.  

breathing better. i've had a cough these past several weeks.  change of season. no fevers or other symptoms.  just my usual.  so i have hit the inhalers a bit more and taken some cough medicine. i'm prone to post cough emesis, which is super annoying. 

above is the bog by my house, below is sunrise on the drive home from work. 

this is bog as well. 

not sure where to walk today.  was thinking of heading to powerline .  

these are at Cheney Lake, another walk near my house.  it's within walking distance.  

haven't done much street walking with this pair. if she has knee surgery i will have to though for a bit. 

these leaves kept attaching to my shoes. 

it's time for ice bugs....which are shoes with cleats built in.  

may toss in some xtratuffs to switch to for errands after. 

thankful for A.  the nurses on 4th for all they do for the covid patients, may need to get them some goodies  B.  good books to escape into  C. my little liberal crew in the family...i love that we are all on a group text now!!  :-)