little disasters....welcome break up!

 

saw the sides of the shed buldging. peeked inside and the roof was partially collapsed. not safe to enter at this point below.  above is what i returned from work to.  a neighbor said there was a lot of noise around 1:30 am and then a lot of dogs barking after that.  thankfully, both dogs and cats are fine and safe. Covid Cat likes to hang out in the shed. not anymore. hoping he's avoiding it. 

i have put a claim in with insurance and i'm hopeful it will cover the replacement. a bit nervous as there are lights inside so the electric, plus a jug of gas.... now that the roof has collapsed i'm hoping that is the extent of the falling. now it's just a matter of melting the snow and beginning some removal. today i reached in from the side and grabbed out a few things.  not the things that are more expensive like the seats to the element and the lawn mower. should have snapped a photo of general stuff inside. i know the papasan chair was in there as well. my bike is in there as well, now that i think of it. 

this also happened this week. the little free library is still intact. it just detached from the post and fell over.  it's on the deck and the books are covered on the deck as well. another spring fix. 

this was when i first noticed the buldging.  see Covid Cat inside. i miss my sunshine and flowers already. 

my third near disaster was noticed this morning when i realized i'd sent one of my ear buds through the wash. it was in a pocket. i'm listening to music as i write on the ear bud so i guess it survived okay. just needed to be charged up. 

two nights work done, two to go.  a two week work week is lovely.  not sure how long i'll last at that either though. really just need to retire from here and find another job. will live a bit poor this summer and hope to make a change in the fall sometime. enjoy this summer. i can pick up a shift here and there. we will see how the paycheck looks. 

my body really is getting tired of bedside nursing.  it hasn't been a bad career really.  hell at times, especially during the pandemic. it allowed me to work just 3 shifts a week and enjoy a great and adventurous life while i was young enough to enjoy it all. i see far too many who wait too long to live and do the things they want to do. our bodies just can be very different as we get older.  all those kayaks i carried, the hikes i did...all just so much easier with a younger, healthier body. 

i have never been rich but i've always been able to be independent. bought a house.  took care of my household of pets. covid took the wind out of my work.  i don't think healthcare has recovered. it may never.  those who worked through may not.  many have left the bedside. the younger ones don't last long at the bedside. humans have just gotten less grateful and more hateful.  that is the truth of it. 

corporations run the hospitals now more and it's a corporate/capitalist business.  there is very little appreciation for what we do during our shifts.  there was absolutely zero gratefulness from hospitals for those who stuck it out.  i've heard of one tale of a hospital that gave a real bonus for those employees who stayed.  mostly, we are just a number to them.  they need bodies and could really care less how good or bad those bodies are at their jobs.  mostly, i'd say that is because upper management is clueless what it mean to be a patient, what it means to take care of those patients and their families.  it's only about the bottom line. profit.  profit is the only thing that matters anymore. 

the job post covid is starting to normalize a bit except that the faces and experience have changed dramatically. it used to be a better balance of experienced and inexperienced nurses and nurses that were core and nurses that were travel staff. now it's a smathering of experienced core nurses surrounded by totally green staff and travelers, many of the travelers do not have that much experience. in the past they required much more training and experience before someone branched out to travel nursing.  now they start traveling with very little experience. it's frankly quite scary in hospitals. i know we generally have it better here than other parts of the country.  the south, especially Florida are really scary. so the patients keep getting sicker and the staff has same ratios but with far less experience and support. 

those that stayed have way too much responsibility heaped on them with no appreciation.  they work extra because the numbers are bad and they care about their co-workers.  they know what it means to work even more short staffed and with so little experience. our hospital is in union talks. we may end up in a strike by summer. 

i also note that there are far more men in nursing.  interesting to me....it will impact things going forward...as will the younger generation, who will not put up with the work loads that previous nursing staff accepted. they scamper from the bedside as fast as they can. if they want to keep nurses at the bedside for longer than a few years, these hospitals will have to give more. Covid also proved that there was money out there to be made.  bedside, staff nursing was a fools game really. i predicted they will have to pay more contract type wages as the expectations will rise. so far the hospital/corporate greed continues.  

the birth rate is declining. someone noted...why would anyone want to bring children into this country that is doing such a terrible time with womens health issues, healthcare in general. destroying schools, taking away rights.  allowing gun nuts to get all the guns they want and look the other way at all these mass shootings. the corporate greed is demanding more babies to join the work force and yet they take all the money and make it impossible for the generations coming up to have adequate housing.  cars are crazy expensive. the cost of living nuts.  we have far too many at the top taking all the resources and stealing from the regular folks.  it's not sustainable. their greed and selfishness are destroying all this nation once offered. 

we had our walrus lecture last Tuesday. i think it went really well. myself and two of the board members....thanks guys! i made the walrus cupcakes...thanks pinterest.  they were a hit.  we had bags to give out and Fish and Game did a great job. lots of interest in going out to this amazing place. hope they get more action on the cameras out there this year.  he said he already had 30 folks signed up for this summer. 

REI was very excited as we filled up and even had a waiting list. it was a pretty day so that dropped off the count a bit but still a full room and happy folks at the end.  i was nervous all day.  it as a lot of new folks, fish and game and REI so i wasn't sure how it would all go. it went well. i talked too fast of course. being in front of folks.  that is how i roll. 

i'm chipping away at the driveway. it's melting fairly quickly.  still had several inches of ice on the driveway.  i have the ice chipper. do a bit each day.  it's part of the work out. the trails are looking worse and worse. walking will be a bit rough for a little bit.  probably need to go up high.  powerline.  they get super punchy fast though.  we will maybe pull more leash walks. the bears will be waking up so leash walks are not the worst idea with Sunny. 

Ivy loves her tennis ball.  needs chase time. her non-surgical knee has been a bit sore of late after walks so she would actually do good to have less tennis ball time. 

almost done with this fun trip photo's. it's been fun to keep popping them in as it was just such a fun week. 

i've gotten a few trips to low tides in Homer planned out.  also Tonsina in April. we have that boat trek for Alaska Geographic. that is in May.  

my back and knee has been sore for a few weeks now. so annoying. 

a few more from Orca Island.  beautiful place/escape.  spendy but worth it. 

so happy we were able to end the week here and relaxing. 

we didn't have the best weather that 24 hours but it was still beautiful

we relaxed here in the evening. 

stops to see the flowers on the way back

love this bridge.

grateful for A. just 2 shifts/week B. the ear bud survived the wash. C. that there were no injuries to humans or pets with the crash of the shed and that we had gotten the roof shoveled, better the shed than the roof.