life is good...

 

always love the fireweed.  got the bills paid and it's after 10 already. just finished a stretch and i slept well today.  will i stay up a bit and paint the rocks and look at old photo's from the big camera from this year.  i've been slow and it is time to get those calendars and Christmas cards made. 

haven't seen any deals fly by but shutterfly usually has deals and so it's good to get the order in early...also because the joy killer dude is still in charge of the post office...why is that?!?

covid..our in hospital numbers have seemed to ease off a bit.  the place is packed to the gills with patients though.  worked ER holds last night and there were nearly 30 holds, but only a few of those were covid positive. the 4th floor unit was all covid a few weeks back and now there are non-covid patients in there again.  

great niece!  so adorable!

in addition to lots of holds in the ER they have put floor patients in the post anesthesia area and in the pre-natal unit...just to ease up the ER load.  it really backs everything up when nearly every room is filled with hold patients.  just can't move the regular ER patients through.  longer waits.  

it's not good for the admitted patients in the ER as the staff there really isn't trained so much as floor nurses and all that means.  so the place is generally still a mad house but at least the covid numbers have dropped off slightly.  

amazing how quickly i forget what i did and where i worked.  this last three nights i did a sitter gig in peds/picu then i worked peds and then the last night i was in the ER with mostly holds.  last week...hmm.  ER i think and i know i did get one night of on call/low census which i happily took. those have been non existent.  

spent my between shift time hunting for rocks and walking at Ruth Arcand Park.  it's my new obsession, these rocks.  i did not go today.  trying to make it a between shift walk more, this time of year it's a bit dark and dreary out so it will be fun for a bit before things freeze more consistently and other stuff opens. 

i have had slacker times where i just laze about between shifts so the dogs must be thrilled at my new obsession since it's been a great motivator.  

you see rocks on the fb page that entice you into the woods.  last week there was an otter rock that i never found and others missed.  it was a bit of a nice reminder to enjoy the rocks and the walk and not become too obsessed with any one particular rock. 

there was another rock i had seen that i had gotten kind of obsessed with...a few weeks later someone returned it to the woods and i ran across it.  i doubt that amazing otter rock will return but in the end you just remember that it wasn't your rock to find.  someone else needed it more or just that this whole rock thing is a fun distraction and it's best to enjoy it rather than let it take over. 

it's a fun thing to do, also a good practice.  create things and then just throw them out there and let them take their own journey.  you really just never know who is out there that needs their day brightened or what will brighten peoples days.  there is no politics involved. just create and release.  if you find a total keeper that is just an added bonus.  there are rocks i paint that i haven't been able to release yet....for each in their own time. 

anyway, good walks and a few rocks. 

watched a bit of a program on race/racism and the south and the civil war.  how in the south especially they just whitewashed the history of it all.  

my Mom always had some racist views that crept into the conversation more than i probably realized.  the hope is that each generation will improve.  i think we all have some views or long held thoughts that we have to come to terms with. none of us are perfect in this.  we certainly did not get the whole picture of what was going on. 

i think it was sugar coated even more in the south though.  like the slaves were well cared for.  i think a view was even that they were better off as slaves than they had been in their native lands...the word savage comes to mind. it's what people believe when a way of life is just too foreign for them to accept as acceptable. that somehow we did the blacks a favor by saving them from their savage lives in Africa. 

there is no way to sugar coat the history.  times change..when you know better you do better, right?

many like to say things like, my relatives didn't own slaves...

everyone in the south benefitted from the slave labor.  all in the nation did really.  forced labor made for cheaper goods. the wrong has never been righted. i do not have all the answers.  making things more fair seems a step in the right direction.  i'd also add in that it would probably be great if we didn't have politicians who tried to prevent their votes from counting

sometimes just recognizing the disparities.  many on the right get very offended at the idea of privilege. the fact is many of us did live a life of privilege.  yes my family was not wealthy but we also did have some legs up.  these start generations before we arrive. 

the dogs on either side are barking like crazy. my dogs are happily sleeping inside but i always fear that someone will assume it's my dogs barking.  it's really annoying to me and i love dogs, but this is not appreciated.  i have asked the one for her number so i can let her know if there is an issue. some one did report there is a bull hanging out in the area...maybe it's in the green space behind the houses.  

i think they just stopped...fingers crossed.  

nope, just started back again.  nuts!

i have that TNCC class on Monday and Tuesday.  i really need to improve my attitude about it all. easy money.  i'd rather just do my regular stuff.  so at least working peds i was able to get the pre-course stuff completed.  that will be less hours there.  sadly they have it starting at 0700...getting up that early can be headache inducing.  just so far off my body's rhythms.  it was a real pain getting into the course.  the guy who runs it...he's super nice and enthusiastic but he said he'd sent it to me 4 times...i'd gotten pdf's of the link, not the actual link.  finally i got the actual link from him. 

beautiful beaches in Homer.  will have to look at the weather for a day trek tomorrow. maybe anyway. 

the class is two days long and has all these annoying mnemonics. they don't make sense.  you then have to go through scenario's that fit the mnemonics not reality.  i know you'd be doing this stuff concurrently but you must go through this mnemonic list exactly.  half the time you don't even have to say what the mnemonic means you just have to say things like avpu or sample for kids....do you really know what it means? 

love this draped sea star.  so artistic.  

got a surprise package from my sister.  very nice of her to do that.  some little yoga skeletons and a kitty timer.  very cute. 

we also have a very extensive group of courses for stroke training.  it's very detail focused and i'm not very detail oriented.  there is a reason i'm not a neurosurgeon...many reasons actually.  anyway, did get one of those parts completed while i was doing the sitting gig the next night. wait....the first week i did ER, peds and then on call. the next week it was sitter in picu, peds and then ER.  go brain!

nothing like all this required education crap in the middle of a covid surge.  

there are loads of travelers and FEMA folks around. mostly they seem great so it's nice to have the extra hands. you can't bring in so many at one time and expect them all to be the top tier though.  one last night came out of our co-workers patients  room and kind of laughed at her (another traveler) because she'd said the patient was on dopamine when really it was dobutamine...then he went on to say he'd turned it off because the blood pressure was low....i'm all you turned it off? then he was yes, her blood pressure is in the 80's...so i'm trying to kindly explain that the dobutamine will help the blood pressure rise.  he'd kept saying he was actually an icu nurse.  he went back in and restarted it but at a lower rate than the set rate the order said....by this time i'd come into the room to check things out.

so it is helpful but it's still a lot of new people who don't know where things are or how things work here at times.  like i said, mostly they have been good workers and i'm very appreciative of the help.  they get paid regardless, which is why i'd gotten the on call.  they will start leaving early December i think.  so hopefully, we have more regular staff and regular travelers. some are already talking of extending.  hopefully as well, our numbers start to chill a bit. 

this week i had less interaction with the covid patients.  not none, but less, which is nice. 

i did also get my jury duty summons.  great timing right.  it's for December.  that may not be too bad as i suspect many lawyers/judges will not want to have some major case that runs through the holidays. 

love all these sea stars.  

that is my exciting life as usual. 

the pups are doing well. Ivy is back to leaping at near pre-surgery levels.  i talk and talk to her about it but it's almost like she doesn't speak human at all! i consider them bilingual.  their grasp of English is much better than my grasp of dog. 

on my sitter gig i got some reading in as well.  can't just do education all night.  gotta change it all up to stay awake 

sorry, i am shopping and reading off and on as i write.  focus girl.  it's easy after a stretch to be a bit brain numb.  these Fema nurses are working 5 12 hour shifts per week.  

Elton John has a new album....? anyone heard it?

it was beautiful out today.  last night there was snow.  i need to get a few things cooking.  blizzacks for the cr-v and the tile work for the bathrooms.  i wanted to get flooring done.  got a bit off but it's time to start making plans again. 

the family in the early hour on Bishops Beach.  tide pool time

upside down sea anemone.  

was going to do Moose's Tooth take out but it was a 2 + hour wait.  nuts!  

i guess it is Friday.  

well, i have bored you with my words no doubt, but i hope you enjoyed the photo's.  so many beautiful things to see in this world.  enjoy

off to paint perhaps....and maybe try to look at a few photo's from the camera.  should be some cool whale shots. once i sit down and start going through them it will be fun. 

thankful for A. a night of on call. B. that i got the joke and am a wee bit nerdy.  C. my new painted rock fun