snow is falling upon the land...

 it does make me happy!! someone had put this happy face in the tree stump.  a bit later i wrote laugh with twigs in the snow.  part of my mini quest to write various positive words in things found in nature and perhaps use that as next years cover for the calendar or fill up december...not sure yet.  we shall see.  should write down some words in case i get stymied.

 got an on call the other night and though i was close many times to getting called in i never was.  i did call in to make sure they had both my numbers for a back up.  JoEllen was the supervisor.  i apologized for the confusion on saturday night.  we actually just laughed about it all. should have known a certain complainer nurse in the ER had been the one to call JoEllen about me having the phone.

 since i was on call tuesday i met Lena for a walk out at North Bivouac wednesday.  she's missed the monday walk so she brought the decoration she'd had to add to our little tree out there.  the skies were blue and it was so pretty out.  just amazing light.

 took a few photo's of the tree a bit closer in so you could see how it all came together.  the red bulbs are from another tree that had been decorated out there by someone else last year.  i didn't want to leave them out there to bust up over the spring and summer.  wonder if the people who brought them last year will recognize them this year.

 did get 2 solid nights of work in, both in the peds icu.  may be there a bit more with the respiratory season approaching and staff changes.  you never know.  i clocked out no break last night as carrie and i were the only picu nurses and we really were too busy to break each other.  often as a nurse, you let it slide when you don't get a break, but when i only have time to rush to the bathroom a few times or there isn't anyone qualified to give you a break well...they can pay me to keep working.

 oddly there was a newer employee there.  i think she is supposed to be learning the icu?  i tried to help carrie as much as i could especially when i noticed how useless this person was.  she never offered any help to anyone else and just did her own thing.  some of that thing was sitting on the internet looking at dresses and whatever else.  some people are not good team players.  would be tough for me to sit on my arse looking at the internet while i saw others running around like crazy trying to get stuff done.  the charge as helping but the charge has other things to do.  i must have given her a look or maybe she heard me ask carrie if she'd gotten any help from her.  pretty sure i saw her glare at me a time or two.  i do not have a poker face.  if you tick me off, my face will show it.  also it seems if you are trying to master new skills in a new unit one would think you would be more involved and try to pick up whatever you could.

 we all managed to get through the night.  Lena had found this cute birdhouse.

 most of the stuff still looked like it was up on the tree.

 i had attempted to string the whole peanuts, it occasionally worked but was too much work, most of them i just tossed down under the tree like a skirt.

 we took a side trail, just cause.  the light was so pretty.

 don't think i got out my rebel, these are all with my little powershot.  i get lazy at times

 today i repeated rovers run.  went there tuesday i think.  didn't sleep well, knowing i was on call.  i was the last resort for multiple scenarios so i'm pretty surprised i didn't get called back.

 we all get silly in the wee hours especially after a somewhat stressful night.  this morning i walked into a conversation and instead of saying "what?" i said, "gerbil?".  that made us all laugh.  we did have fun despite being busy.  there are some really nice folks in peds. do miss them.  fun to be up there this week.  i am getting used to float pool and never knowing where i'll be.  i'm almost a tiny bit bummed when i work in the same place two nights in a row.  not totally, but i think i've adapted to the variety and change fairly well.  in february it will be a year.

 ran into old friends on the trails as well this week.  a little older guy stan who lost his wife a few years back and lives with lymphoma i think it is. he always stops and chats...he and his little dog issac.  another regular is also a bit older with two doodles.  that lady is so fit.  she could easily beat me in any race, ski, walk or run.  i always look up to people who keep getting out there and enjoying nature.  have met many nice folks out on these local trails.

 we met at noon so these are taken somewhere between 1-2pm i think.  always amazing to me how low the sun is on the horizon.

 blossom was missing her buddy mani and Lena as well.  she was trying to go home with them.  i nearly had to drag her to my car.

 we circled back to stumphenge and then back down the tank trail.

 snow today with more coming.  impromtu trek to oceanside bluff park tomorrow for sledding.  should be fun...when isn't sledding fun.  so i do want to wake up early and get a walk in with the dogs. figure i'll try and get them down on the beach before sledding and then leave them in the car while i sled for a bit.

 partially watched that old holy grail movie, monty python i think.  some funny bits, but i hadn't ever seen it all the way through.  my life is now more complete i guess.  it won't be getting high ratings from me, but it's nice to watch something brainless from time to time.

 used my smart tv to watch a documentary i think it was.  an elderly man of 84 in kenya learns that with the new government school will be available to all...he clearly includes himself in all and decides to go to school and finally learn to read and write.

 not everyone was keen on him getting an opportunity to learn at that late age.  he did learn to read and write and eventually even went to the UN to speak on education opportunities.  he passed away in 2009, Maruge.  he'd lost his family and went to prison several times and was tortured in trying to combat british rule.

 i like movies from other lands or about other places as so often we only know a bit of our own history and don't always know what others have been through or what they still go through.

 took the dogs to the bog the other day.  rio has walked the past few days.  it wasn't so icy out anymore with a bit of snow packing on the surface.  anyway, as you can see the sunset was lovely.

 someone put this chair out there on the lake.  guess they wanted a nice spot to sit and enjoy the mountains.

 strange news this week.  at nelson mandela's funeral all these world dignitaries spoke.  the security was supposed to be tight of course and yet..

 the sign language interpreter was apparently not interpreting but just waving his arms around.  how does a thing like that happen?

 in other strange news one of our soldiers died while in greece, can't recall the surroundings or the situation, but apparently an autopsy was performed there and his heart was removed and not replaced.  his family is a bit upset about this.

 another soldier went missing over the weekend and his body was found on the basher trailhead, which is up campbell airstrip road so another trailhead i have been known to walk.  he was found less than 2 miles in.  did he slip on ice, kill himself, was there foul play?  they didn't give much more information.  another guy out in eagle river that had been reported missing was found in his crawl space.  they suspect he went in his crawl space to do some work and a huge cement slab under there crushed him.  sad.  at least the families will have closure since both bodies were found.

 many are never found.  that is always worse for families.

 rio in her coat out walking today.

 i woke late and decided to make a run to the post office before i walked rovers run.  i was in and out of there in about 20 minutes which is great.  i still have a few boxes to prep and ship, but i won't be as worried about getting those there on time.  waiting for some more cards to arrive so i can finish my cards.  otherwise, mostly i'm just enjoying my tree and have some local stuff to do.

 snow was coming down as i was walking and it was getting dark.  like to put the flash on and watch all the flakes reflect as the picture takes.

 no makeup today.  trying to get out the door.  i do forget on a fairly regular basis.  oh well...nobody seems to be looking anyway.  haha!

 a few more from texas. figure i'll just toss them in here from time to time.  this is my niece Claire and her kids.

 and me.  these are at the stockyards in Dallas/Fort Worth.

 cool building and statue.

 it was hard to keep the whole lot of us together out there. i got behind and Claire was nearby with her kids.  saw these cute long horn cows that people were charging $5 to let you sit on them and take pictures with your camera.this one looked especially cute decked out for the holidays so i paid the $5 and got claire to get her kids up there.

 they were cute and i think the kids had fun.

 those are some long horns!!

 aww...sweet!!

 better get to bed so i can get out and walking early tomorrow and then sledding!!